Praise for After Midnight

Peterson is a terrific storyteller. Everything he writes comes with a hefty dose of heart.

Cherie Kephart, award-winning author of A Few Minor Adjustments

Pete’s stories are a gift to readers who love well-told tales.  His characters, sometimes humorous, sometimes not, are so believable you feel you’re living the adventure.  Reading about their escapades is a delight and a memorable event.

Sharon Singleton, Winner, Escondido Library Short Story Contest 2019

Pete Peterson is much in demand as writers group facilitator, particularly for his meaningful critiques. He lives the writer's life—an example for us to emulate – and Pete is a master storyteller as this collection proves. He spins fun, entertaining tales with vivid language that feels like it came from the pen of Mark Twain. Treat yourself to one of his short stories tonight.

Woodrow Wilson – Author The Champagne Taste/Beer Budget Cookbook and Out of This World Stories

Pete Peterson's writing caught my attention many years ago and I look forward to reading his stories whenever something new comes along.  His glimpses of humanity are genuine and affecting. He has shown me a side of life I never knew existed; I get carried along with the strength of his storytelling and characterizations. This well-tailored collection of his extraordinary stories of life as it was lived in days gone by is a revelation as usual. He's a marvel! 

Faith McCune - PAWSitive Change Coach

Pete Peterson’s stories take readers away from the everyday world and keep them there until they discover what happens next. With his mixture of great writing and thoughtful themes, readers will look at life differently when they reach the satisfying ending of each tale. I look forward to more of Pete’s stories in the future.

Michele Ivy Davis - Author of the award-winning novel Evangeline Brown and the Cadillac Motel

Pete knows how to capture one's attention through his style of writing. He understands a character-real or fictional-and spins the story around the character's iconic feature, attitude and/or accomplishments. His writings are highly entertaining and super engaging.

Elie Hanania – Ph. D. and Thought leader

I met Pete at a Read and Critique group during a tough time in my life. His ready acceptance of people, particularly me, led me to listen carefully when he read from a novel-in-progress about a young man gruesomely scarred by a house fire, who learns to play the banjo and ends up on the stage at the Grand Ole Opry. This story intrigued me then, perhaps moreso today. I was introduced to a previously unknown and primarily rural world where raging floods destroy crops and disrupt families; where house fires burn down houses and burn up people; where desperate men fight back with the only tools they have – their fists and indomitable spirit. Pete’s stories introduce memorable characters who often face large odds – sometimes they win, sometimes they lose, but always the reader is entertained, nay beguiled; heart strings are tugged and new insights on the human condition revealed. Reading his stories will change how you feel and think about people and the world.

Don Willick, Ph.D. Sc. Rel., Dartmouth University, Director: New Literature Studies

Pete Peterson and I go way back to our meets at a local writers' critique group. He'd read from his novel, Family Blood: "They’s one thing Miss Ethel has trouble with, and that’s cookin’," with a Southern accent that yanked us into his settings and plunked us down for a finger-lickin’ feast so well done as to make us smack our lips for another serving. His characters took on flesh and blood with such reality you swear you’ve met them somewhere. He takes us to those faraway places with strange sounding names that keep calling us back.

R.M.Dell'Orfano, Writing Group facilitator - Regular contributor to New Oxford Review's. Narthex Blog Essays