In Laataandbiegstories en sulke dinge word die leser meegevoer deur onvergeetlike stories wat om die kampvuur lewe kry.

Soms is dit humoristies, soms deernisvol, soms skerp ironies, maar altyd boeiend. Daar word vertel van die nag van die donkie, van Tante wat sag word, van Pollie van die populiere en van die intrinsieke waarde van Victor, die lelike skaaphondkruising.

In Jan Nel se kortverhale herken die leser homself onomwonde; dis juis hoekom mens lag. Die mens, met al sy swakhede, bly tog maar mens, en om te lag is soveel makliker as om jouself te kasty.

Incorporating elements of fiction, nonfiction, drama, and poetry, Diane Glancy's stories are lyrical yet down to earth, often tough and gritty. Experimental, sometimes surreal in form, they nevertheless concern people who are very real-a color-blind young boy who watches planes in flight and imagines color; a shy stamp collector who speculates that he and his friend, like the stamps, could go anywhere via the U.S. Post Office; an old woman who dies in the cold landscape of her inner life but retains her vision; a cynical woman reluctant to take risks with yet another traveling man.

In spite of life's hard realities, Firesticks is filled with humor and hope and a stitching together of cultures, as the crossblood characters search for their identities.