Praying for Rain: Stories

The minimalistic style which Spain has cultivated so self-consciously in this first collection of stories does not show his literary skill to best advantage. Only ``Entrepreneurs,'' with its wry humor, excellent sense of timing and inventive slang, reveals the author's true gifts, in a narrative about a pair of local fishermen who go searching for souvenirs from a spaceceaft explosion (the story was included in The Pushcart Prize Anthology , 1988). A sense of fun is also present in ``Let the Babies Keep Their Hearts,'' about the reckless behavior of two young men who drive trucks for a Colorado mill--behavior that nearly gets them killed. ``Grave Digging,'' set in South America, tells of a young boy who discovers the grave of political victims who have officially ``disappeared.'' Spain thoroughly understands the self-destructiveness and restlessness of young men living on the edge. But when he tries to reach further, grappling, for instance, with the emotions of an aging weight-lifter ( The Weight of the World ), he falls short. (Apr.)