Bennett published 96 short stories in seven volumes between 1905 and 1931. His ambivalence about his native town is vividly seen in "The Death of Simon Fuge" in the collection "The Grim Smile of the Five Towns" (1907), judged by Lucas the finest of all the stories; but his chosen locations ranged widely, including Paris and Venice as well as London and the Five Towns. As with his novels, he would sometimes give a story a label, calling "The Matador of the Five Towns" (1912) "a tragedy" and "Jock-at-a-Venture" from the same collection "a frolic". The short stories, particularly those in "Tales of the Five Towns" (1905), "The Grim Smile of the Five Towns" (1907), and "The Matador of the Five Towns" contain some of the most striking examples of Bennett's concern for realism, with an unflinching narrative focus on what Lucas calls "the drab, the squalid, and the mundane".