Book Review: Taps at Reveille is an uneven collection, as were Fitzgerald's short stories. Often he wrote simply to pay the bills, so although his writing is of consistently high quality, some stories have more to say than others. Accordingly, Fitzgerald's four original short story collections (especially All the Sad Young Men and this one) are rarer than repackaged "best of" editions. Additionally, numerous posthumous, rearranged collections have been issued: The Pat Hobby Stories, The Basil and Josephine Stories, I'd Die for You (and other lost stories), and comprehensive volumes edited by Malcolm Cowley (1951 - 28 stories) or Matthew Bruccoli (1989 - 43 stories). The 18 pieces in Taps at Reveille explore his themes of disappointment and regret, sorrow and failure, of having to pay for the good times, of longing for an unobtainable perfect love. The collection begins with a selection of eight YA stories exploring Fitzgerald's adolescence through separate alter egos Basil Lee and Josephine Perry (who never meet). Fitzgerald relates to women as well as any male author. The remaining stories are diverse, including ghost stories, historical visions, the bizarre, and his more typical romantic efforts. "The Last of the Belles" and "Babylon Revisited" standout in this collection. The unusual title refers to military bugle calls: Reveille is played at sunrise to wake the troops, Taps is played at lights out. The somber melody of Taps played at the beginning of the day seems a foreboding of what's to come. The cover of my 1971 Scribners edition must be one of the least attractive covers ever printed. Fitzgerald's final collection isn't as good as his second, Tales of the Jazz Age, but is still significant, the last book he saw published. [3½★]
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