Keeping Time

Keeping Time: 30 Little Stories (2020) is the last book in John Elsing's Keeping Time trilogy. Keeping Time: 70 Little Stories appeared in 2012 and tells stories from his children's growing-up years. Keeping Time: 50 Little Stories (2016) expands the cast of characters to include additional relatives, friends, and acquaintances. These stories are based in fact, but Elsing has used his imagination to sharpen their impact, as many writers do. When Keeping Time: 30 Little Stories (2020) came out, Elsing was asked if he was running out of stories. "No," he said, "almost all the KT:30 stories were written in the past two or three years. 'Direct Object, ' for example, was written last year, and 'The Prairie' was finished a few months ago." All three books are arranged in rough chronological order and include a Table of Contents that makes it easier for readers to find a story they might enjoy. Some of the stories will foster smiles. A few are sad. All of them remind us of the universal aspects of the human predicament.