Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson

20 OVER 60. Short Stories. Edited by Betty Weinhouse and David Galef. Regal House Publishing. 266 pages. $21.95, softcover.

Yes, old folks can still write. Maybe better than ever.

Twenty years ago, Betty Weinhouse, a writer and editor, and David Galef, a writer and creative writing teacher, edited a short story anthology they called 20 Over 40. As they say in the preface to this new book, they’d “grown indignant at all the attention paid to young up-and-coming writers.” So they collected stories by writers who were over 40, to showcase the talent that persists and even blossoms as the years go by.

At the time, they suggested they’d follow up in a “decade or two” with another book they’d call 20 Over 60.

That follow-up anthology has just been published, and reading it is worth your time.

I read the stories in random order, and although I enjoyed the first few, and each was unique, I briefly worried that all the stories were set in nursing homes or some sort of community for older folks.

As I delved further into the book, I realized that was not the case. These stories are greatly varied, as in any worthwhile anthology. The unifying theme is the perspective. The stories are written by authors who have lived through many decades and life changes, and their rich experience is reflected in their writing and in their characters.

The authors include writers with whom I am not familiar as well as authors who are widely known – Joyce Carol Oates, Paul Theroux and Richard Bausch, to name  a few.

The stories are variously humorous, sad, eerie, thought-provoking, outrageous – you name it. All reflect, in different ways, the insights that can be gained through a long life. One of my favorites was a very short story in which a woman chronicles her life  through the progression of the meals she has made as family circumstances changed.  Another follows the adventures of a daring older couple whose hobby is stealing fancy peppermills from restaurants. We read about one single woman’s belated experience with online dating. And there are the nursing home stories, yes, but each of those is fresh and original.

In short, the stories are as diverse as would be those in a collection by writers of any age. We don’t all magically turn into cookie-cutter “old folks” just because we live for many decades. These writers just have more to think about and more experiences to mine as they create their stories.