Kate Atkinson first arrived on the scene a few years ago as a short fiction writer. Since that time, she has written several novels, including, "Behind the Scenes at the Museum," a Whitbread Book of the Year.

But with Atkinson’s newest book, "Not the End of the World," she returns to her original passion by combining 12 loosely connected short stories.

"Not the End of the World," is the newest About a Book club selection, chosen because it is a short fiction compilation - a format the group has not tackled for some time.

The apocalyptically book-ended collection (the first and last stories really make up the "end of the world" theme) is a somewhat quirky blend, featuring epigraphs borrowed from Emily Dickinson to the cult TV hit "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."

Many reviewers have commented that each of Atkinson’s short stories stand alone as their own works, but combined, they create a diverse buffet of ideas, voices, reality and mysticism.

Linked together by shared characters and, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," the stories range from civil war shopping trips to discovering the secret of eternal life.

If you want a preview of the book, check the "unofficial" Atkinson Web site at www.geocities.com/kateatkinson14/end.htm, where you can read "Tunnel of Fish," the second story in "Not the End of the World."

Most reviewers have praised Atkinson for her original style and witty one-liners, while some have expressed irritation at the blurry line she creates between reality and fantasy.

Amateur reviewers on Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com, however, give Atkinson’s collection relatively high marks.

One describes it as a "thoroughly fabulous collection of short stories," while another calls "Not the End of the World" "not Atkinson’s best, but a grand ride, nonetheless."

We’ll see what book club members think when we meet to discuss, "Not the End of the World," at 7 p.m. May 5 at The Journal-Standard office.

Kara S. Anderson is a freelance writer who contributes to The Journal-Standard.

To join the e-mail list for the About a Book club, send e-mail to sharon.boehlefeld@journalstandard.com. Include your name and preferred e-mail address.

’Meredith Zane, twenty-five-year-old pharmacology postgrad from California, was working her way round Europe between finishing her doctorate and taking up a junior teaching post at MIT. Meredith was a goal-oriented sort of girl who thrived on purposes and objectives."

 From "Transparent Fiction" in "Not the End of the World" by Kate Atkinson