Small Change: Shorter & Longer Stories

Story is something of a misnomer for some pieces in this turgid collection, such as Saying Boo to the Intelligentsia, an eight-page history/distribe on the perils of Communism, or The Story of the Theme, which tackles the history of literature by pontificating that there are no more than seven themes . . . in the whole wide world. The English author (Best Friends) does better in his less pedantic and more satiric mode. Perpetual Motion takes vicious but humorous swipes at book publishing and promotion in a tale of a nonogenarian urging his beautiful young daughter to write a bestseller about excrement. (He urges her to send copies of the manuscript to a puritanical prelate and a liberal politician, then milk the publicity their respective reactions are sure to spark.) Only Blazer Whitlock, an artfully rendered and insidious story about a young boy who attracts the attention of his apparently pederastic schoolteacher, has any narrative tension. The collection may appeal to readers who enjoy tales with old-fashioned twists a la 0. Henry, but others will find the writer's fusty sensibility a yawn. (Sept.)