The Other World

The hidden, seamy underbelly of lives that appear civilized and rational is the obsession of these lurid stories by an author known for his fascination with the dark side. In the title story, perhaps the most brutal and cynical of the six, a high school kid terrorizes, rapes and beats female classmates, who then lie about it out of shame. Another, ``Nameless Thing,'' reveals a splinter of hope in the relationship between a dwarf and another circus performer, but ends in a scene of hallucinatory cruelty. ``Raphael'' tells of a rich, lonely transvestite in love with his father's chauffeur while in ``Lights of Broadway,'' a bored prostitute hears from a trick that he's planning to bomb a gay theater to cleanse the world. The last story, ``Vulture,'' is perhaps the best in its portrayal of a dialectic between hope and destruction, as it traces what two men do after they realize a small girl witnessed their crime. Whether set in the Midwest, the Upper East Side, Times Square or the South, Wynne ( Crime Wave ) manages relentlessly to tap into unconscious urges that are probably best kept repressed, particularly since he does little with them once they've been unearthed. (July)