The problem with Scott Taylor is that he acts too much.

I’m sure his acting is accomplished and entertaining, that’s not my complaint. The problem is that all his work on the stage has left him too little time to write. With his wit, his easy good humor, and his experience, Scott has a lot to contribute as a novelist, but has not yet delivered a novel.

We are fortunate, though, that he has delivered numerous short stories. Many of them are collected in his anthology Speckled, released just earlier this year. These stories run the gamut in tone and theme, from the elegiac and mournful thoughts of a dying elder in a world whose youth are utterly oblivious to the cosmic change around them to the wry punchline humor of a family band that accidentally convinces a festival crowd that they’re not only polygamists, they’re apologists for the practice.

All this is written with a charming and simple grace that makes me continue to look forward to Scott’s debut novel.

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