Benjamin Franklin Norris, Jr. (1870-1902) was a talented fiction writer, literary critic, and journalist. His seven novels have been extensively studied. They reflect his belief in Naturalism, that is, that everyone is conditioned by heredity, environment, and chance. His 80 short stories also frequently dramatize his belief in Naturalism. In addition, they are often based on his college life, his life as an art student in Paris, his experiences as a resident of San Francisco, and his work as a correspondent during the Boer War in South Africa and in the Caribbean region during the Spanish-American War. He knew several fellow writers of his era and satirizes some of them. Characters and Plots in Frank Norris's Short Stories discusses their hundreds of colorful characters and critically synopsizes their varied plots. It is hoped that the book will please and enlighten its readers, and lead many of them to his short fiction, often neglected by critics and the reading public. Tragically, Norris died at the age of 32 of a ruptured appendix. Iowa-born Robert Lee Gale has degrees from Dartmouth College and Columbia University, was an officer during World War II in the Counter Intelligence Corps of the U.S. Army Air Corps, serving in England and France, and briefly in North Africa. He taught courses in American literature at American and foreign universities and has published widely, including reference books like this one on Norris, and also including several issued by Word Association Publishers, most recently on Dorothy Parker, Nathanael West, and Jack Schaefer. Retired from the University of Pittsburgh, Gale now lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.