Before publishing the collection of short stories Last Courtesies (1980), Leffland wrote Rumors of Peace (1979), a coming-of-age novel for which Leffland is well known. Leffland tells the story of Susie, a teenaged girl living in San Francisco during World War II who copes with her own personal maturation and the terror of war. The protagonist is a bright person, whom her teachers have labeled a troublemaker.

Shiloh and Other Stories (1982) was written by Bobbie Ann Mason, a contemporary of Leffland and a well-known American short story writer. This respected collection of short stories won the PEN-Hemingway Award. In this collection, Mason creates characters placed in a familiar setting for her—western Kentucky, where she grew up. The characters face challenges as their community is modernized.

For an overview of short story authors and their work, a good place to start is...