Urban Oracles
A collection of 15 short stories, and some of them very short indeed, this is interesting fiction by a gifted writer. The stories vary in length from 1 to 16 pages. They also vary in style and technique, from the coolly removed 1-page list of the contents of a dead woman's purse ("Act of Faith") to the intense and shocking stories ("Oso Blanco" and "Resins for Aurelia") that incorporate repetitive phrasing and some elements of mystical realism. The majority of the stories are both fierce and highly sexual, breathtakingly so. Although the works in this book also vary in their level of complexity and polish, they are all thought provoking and stimulating--a short-fiction reader's delight.Ellen Loughran