Careless Weeds: Six Texas Novellas

Pilkington, who co-edited Range Wars: Heated Debates, Sober Reflections, and Other Assessments of Texas Writing , has chosen six talented Texan writers to illustrate the richness of current literary efforts in the Lone Star State and the versatility of the novella form. Although none of these stories breaks new ground in either form or content, each is workmanlike. The stories proceed nicely in chronological order from Jane Gilmore Rushing's Depression-set coming-of-age tale of friendship between two high school girls, through David L. Fleming's rather improbable tale of awakened black pride in the 1950s, and Pat Carr's story of a woman whose two marriages to Vietnam vets have been fraught with very different kinds of trouble. A couple of stories suffer from a certain predictability, but each of the novellas has its own quiet virtues, particularly Carr's cool watchfulness as she gradually reveals the steely resolve that motivates her heroine, and Rushing's generosity of spirit as her narrator grows to understand the rift that separates her from her best friend. The best story, Thomas Zigal's wry tale of a writer's breakdown during one-writer's-conference-too-many, is hilarious with a twist of an ending. (June)