Review\n"These are wise tales of humanity and our deep need to find it. Don Tassone writes with a big heart and delivers messages that heal. Everyone should read this collection." 
— Paul Daugherty, author of An Uncomplicated Life\n"Don Tassone has a gift. He takes simple life experiences and replays them in three dimensions with color, purpose and meaning. This collection of some of his best stories places you in situations that may be scary, loving, lonely or just plain heartwarming. Wherever they take you, some will nudge you into another way of seeing the commonplace, while others deliver the unexpected. Collected Stories in a great, easy read that will get you hooked on taking sips of life re-examined in a unique style and with a bit of wonder." 
— Kathy Toerner Kennedy, author of Flood of Courage and Aftershock\n"Collected Stories takes the reader on a ride through our purest and most natural emotions. Each story is an invitation to think deeply about situations that may seem mundane but actually hold a special and significant place in our journeys. No matter how short the story in this book, it will remind you of what's truly important." 
— Ann Tassone Poirier, Wonderland Mommy blog\n"Collected Stories reveals the author's ability to give copious details without overkill. First, he paints his word pictures with a broad brush. Then, like an Old Master creating a work of art, he uses his fine-tipped brush, filling in the small spaces with color, passion and authenticity. Tassone nails details like John Isner serves aces." 
— Dee Lorraine, Midwest Book Review\nThis special collection features 50 of Don Tassone’s best short stories. The author has dedicated this book to his granddaughter Alice, who has Down syndrome. He is giving the proceeds to the National Down Syndrome Society.\nFrom the Author\nWhen a writing friend suggested putting this story collection together, I was initially hesitant, in part because "Collected Stories by Don Tassone" sounds like I'm dead.\nBut then one day I was with my beautiful goddaughter Alice. She is one of my nine wonderful grandchildren. Alice is four years old. She has Down syndrome. When I look at Alice, I am reminded of why I write. I write as an invitation to appreciate life more deeply. Alice helps me appreciate life more deeply.\nI am dedicating this book to Alice and giving the proceeds to the National Down Syndrome Society, the leading human rights organization for those who, like Alice, have been given an extra chromosome.

Collected Stories

Literature & Fiction

Tassone, Don

Literary

Toerner Press

Get Back is a collection of twelve short stories by Don Tassone. Though most have been published in different online journals before, this is his first collection of stories in print. These stories share the theme of discovery or actually of rediscovery, rediscovery of talents, pursuits, and loves once held dear, but lost on the way to "success" in life. Don's stories are uplifting and encouraging, encouraging in the sense that they suggest we all might find our ways back, that is, "get back," to the things we once loved, valued the most, and since have lost.
Tassone met with great success in his life, yet it was in retirement that he was able to "get back" to the things he loved, one of which was writing. His stories are carefully conceived and delightfully expressed. They are sure to please sensitive readers.

Get Back: Twelve Short Stories

Short Stories & Anthologies

Golden Antelope Press

Nick Reynolds is a highly successful food company executive. He's also a bully, feared by his employees and estranged from his wife and children. After his latest blow-up at work, Nick's boss orders him to take the summer off and sort himself out. Angry and despondent, Nick sets off, alone, from his home in Chicago for Bar Harbor, Maine. This is the story of what Nick experiences, learns and chooses along the way. It is a colorful and moving portrait of a man who must rediscover who he is and decide whether he can go on.

Drive

In Small Bites, Don Tassone offers readers bits of contemporary life, mostly gentle, mostly optimistic, often instructive. Stories range from flash-fiction size half-pagers to twenty-page studies of how relationships develop, how decisions are made and unmade, how persuasion and collaboration work.
The collection is divided into fourteen tiny Appetizers, twelve substantial Entrees, and fourteen small but intense Desserts. Appetizers like "Friends" and "Run" are quick and easy to consume; they're secular parables, meant to produce a small, "got it!" sense of surprise as readers fill in what's implied but not directly stated. Entrees range more widely, sometimes questioning current forms of connectivity, sometimes underscoring a sense that humans need to trust and to engage with one another. "The Discord in Our Souls," for example, leaves readers puzzling over which of several bad options is least bad. "Beauty Mark" traces a model's reaction to the accident which defaces her. "Everything Is Real" includes a ghost. Most stories in the final set, the Desserts, focus on beginnings and endings--on little acts of courage, sweet though painful memories, manageable ironies.
In Small Bites, Don Tassone combines insights gained during a successful thirty-year career in corporate public relations with those which come from growing up in a middle class American family, becoming a parent, watching people grow. He's the author of the novel, Drive, and another collection of stories titled Get Back. He currently teaches courses at Xavier University, writes, and enjoys cooking up stories like these.

Small Bites: Forty Short Stories

Conventional wisdom holds that story collections should have a theme. In this way, this book is unconventional. The fifty stories in this collection are wide-ranging. Some are serious, others light. Most are gentle, but a few are disquieting. There are fantasy, spirituality and politics here. Many of these stories are slices of life. Most are short. All are an invitation to think more deeply.
 “If there were ever any doubts as to whether Don Tassone could make a successful transition from corporate executive to a creative storyteller, he’s put them to rest. In Sampler, Tassone glides effortlessly between humor and melancholy, politics and romance, sharing his wisdom through the vessel of the narrative. Contemporary anecdotes like ‘A Little More Conversation’ contrast with timeless ones like ‘Barefoot,’ yet all 50 short stories in this collection share a common bond: they stimulate the mind.”— Dominic Vaiana, writer, marketer
 After a long career in the corporate world, Don Tassone has returned to his creative writing roots, living his passion for the written word which first led him to earn a degree in English. Sampler is his fourth book. The others are Drive, a novel, and two other short story collections, Get Back and Small Bites. Don also teaches at Xavier University in Cincinnati. He and his wife Liz live in Loveland, Ohio. They have four children.

Sampler: Fifty Short Stories

Adelaide Books

Review\nA woman from Missouri ends up on the balcony of St. Peter's in Rome in 2055, having just taken the name Pope Francesca. Like "the visitable past" Henry James speaks of, Tassone's future is visitable. The reader can go there, to that balcony, that life; and though impossible now, it seems a possible future when imagination and reason together see what the mind alone cannot see now. I enjoyed suspending disbelief and getting to know Pope Francesca. She has a lot to offer that speaks to the needs of our world today, a lot that makes a woman Pope not so far-fetched as it may seem now. What can be imagined is often not far from what can happen. 
— Murray Bodo OFM, author of Francis: The Journey and the Dream\nFrancesca reminds the reader of an untapped potential of emerging faith and growth within the Roman Catholic Church. Women! To some readers that may be alarming. To them Francesca invites the question, "What is there to fear?" To others who believe Jesus still speaks to his followers today to come follow him, perhaps in renewed and vigorous ways, Francesca challenges, "How will you believe? How will you share the Good News in the 21st century?" To both groups of the faithful Francesca reminds, "Nothing is impossible with God." 
— Patti Normile, author of Following Francis of Assisi\nFrancesca is a moving, thoughtful story about the life of Jessica Simon and how she came to be the first female pope. The plot is rather tense and high stakes, but the story is bathed in such a warm glow that the tone overtakes and it makes for an engaging, cozy read. Overall, Tassone's writing is clean and impeccable, allowing the reader to immerse into the plot without distraction. The story itself is refreshingly hopeful, bringing to clear light the Catholic principles of love and service. Tassone doesn't shy away from some of the dark corners of the Catholic church's legacy, but he also chooses to shine a light on the charity, love and kindness that the church is defined by. 
— yellowbrickfly, Reedsy Discovery reviewer\nIt is 2055, and there’s a new pope. It’s Jessica Simon, an American, a wife and a mother. She’s taken the name Francesca. A lifelong advocate for the poor, she believes the Catholic Church must return to Jesus’ teachings and bring God to life in the world. But powerful forces are aligned against her. They see Francesca as a threat. Some will stop at nothing to stop her. Will Pope Francesca survive? Will she succeed in reforming the Church? In an hour of darkness, can she rekindle the light? 
A woman from Missouri ends up on the balcony of St. Peter’s in Rome in 2055, having just taken the name Pope Francesca. Like “the visitable past” Henry James speaks of, Tassone’s future is visitable. The reader can go there, to that balcony, that life; and though impossible now, it seems a possible future when imagination and reason together see what the mind alone cannot see now. I enjoyed suspending disbelief and getting to know Pope Francesca. She has a lot to offer that speaks to the needs of our world today, a lot that makes a woman Pope not so far-fetched as it may seem now. What can be imagined is often not far from what can happen.— Murray Bodo OFM, author of Francis: The Journey and the Dream 
Francesca reminds the reader of an untapped potential of emerging faith and growth within the Roman Catholic Church. Women! To some readers that may be alarming. To them Francesca invites the question, “What is there to fear?” To others who believe Jesus still speaks to his followers today to come follow him, perhaps in renewed and vigorous ways, Francesca challenges, “How will you believe? How will you share the Good News in the 21st century?” To both groups of the faithful Francesca reminds, “Nothing is impossible with God.”— Patti Normile, author of Following Francis of Assisi 
After a long career in the corporate world, Don Tassone has returned to his creative writing roots. Francesca is his sixth book. The others ar

Francesca: A Novel

Genre Fiction

Review\nEase through this treasure chest of deeply moving, satisfying and complex stories capturing snapshots in time with the precise amount of words. Imagine being a ghost gliding in and out of many lives, gathering up precious reminders of the human struggle and comforted by the messages received. Then, without warning ... FLASH! The warm blanket is stripped away by sobering stories daring us to seek a deeper perspective. Tassone's wonderful way with words has proven that yes, big things do come in small packages. 
— Libby Belle, author of The Juicy Parts: And Other Quirky Stories\nDon's beautiful stories journey through the range of human emotions. Trauma. Sadness. Regret. Turning to redemption. Renewal. And hope. In these short vignettes, we can begin to reflect on our own lives while there's still time to emerge anew. 
— Jeffrey Kass, award-winning author of The Rona Diaries. One World. Two Pandemics and Oreos and a Pack of Marlboro Lights\nWith a master chef's precision, Tassone takes slices of everyday life and serves them hot or cold, never lukewarm. Snapshots is a literary antipasti platter of irresistible bites, satisfying readers hungry for stories that entertain and make them think. 
— Dee Lorraine, Midwest Book Review\nThis collection features 75 diverse short stories arranged by five themes: hope, fantasy, nostalgia, shadow and light. Like snapshots, these stories capture moments and reveal truths we might otherwise miss. 
Ease through this treasure chest of deeply moving, satisfying and complex stories cap-turing snapshots in time with the precise amount of words. Imagine being a ghost glid-ing in and out of many lives, gathering up precious reminders of the human struggle and comforted by the messages received. Then, without warning … FLASH! The warm blanket is stripped away by sobering stories daring us to seek a deeper perspec-tive. Tassone’s wonderful way with words has proven that yes, big things do come in small packages.— Libby Belle, author of The Juicy Parts: And Other Quirky Stories 
Don's beautiful stories journey through the range of human emotions. Trauma. Sad-ness. Regret. Turning to redemption. Renewal. And hope. In these short vignettes, we can begin to reflect on our own lives while there's still time to emerge anew. — Jeffrey Kass, award-winning author of The Rona Diaries. One World. Two Pandem-ics and Oreos and a Pack of Marlboro Lights 
After a long career in the corporate world, Don Tassone has returned to his creative writing roots. Snapshots is his sixth book. The others are novels Francesca and Drive, and three other short story collections: Sampler, Small Bites and Get Back. Don and his wife Liz live in Loveland, Ohio. They have four children.

Snapshots: Short Stories

Journeys Within: Stories

Rochak Publishing

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