cover image Red Moon, Red Lake: Stories

Red Moon, Red Lake: Stories

Ascher-Straus, Ascherrstraus. McPherson, $8 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-914232-97-1

Enter the laconic world of Ascher/Straus (the pseudonym for Sheila Ascher and Dennis Straus, who wrote The Other Planet ) and everything comes into question. These seven interlocking stories evoke a hallucinatory world peopled by characters so alienated that their very identities are mysteries to each other. Is Pam's brother Rudi a serial killer? Is Rudi's best friend, Don, really his adversary? As their exurban neighborhood is menaced by a string of bizarre murders, these young adults become unmoored; they lose their jobs, their friends and lovers, they drift into states of lethargy. Style overshadows plotalthough the writing is uneven, it is invariably commanding. Vivid, imaginative, quirky images lend a precision to otherwise abstract themes: ``His own theory is that maybe Rudi is just some sort of unhappy prehistoric throwback, if that's the right word. Maybe he was a kid who read a book about the Robber Barons and he got stuck on this idea of becoming one of those walruses with pinky rings who used to preside over board meetings like Roman emperors.'' Sophisticated readers will readily exchange the charted terrains of conventional fiction for the enigmatic adventures offered here. (Nov.)