Wedlock

``She's so ugly she could be on television,'' says a character about her second husband's mistress in the title novella of this quirky collection by the author of Spying on Lovers . Television perpetually flickers in the background in the universe of trailer parks and fast food outlets that Southerner Spencer takes on with grim humor, making this well-documented terrain entirely his own. Pamela of ``Wedlock,'' a 24-year-old ex-cheerleader who works at McDonald's to support her second husband, is unsettled by the reappearance of her first husband, Lon, her high school sweetheart and former Adams County baseball star. With generosity towards his character's flaws, Spencer tells the story of Lon and Pamela's brief marriage, Lon's failure in the minor leagues, her unfortunate remarriage and his defeated return to Adams County after six years. The other works here do not live up to the promise of ``Wedlock.'' ``Things to Come,'' for instance, is a cursory view of a marriage in trouble. But taken together, the pieces sound out a new voice worth listening to, odd and endearing and immensely likable. (July)