Dream of Old Leaves

Bret Lott, Witte. Washington Square Press, $6.95 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-671-69344-2

These short stories evoke the quiet yet frequently desperate lives of seemingly conventional Americans. ``Lott writes cleanly, precisely and with imagination. Yet most of these tales are dismayingly slight, almost tentative exercises that fail to come to life,'' complained PW. (Jan.)

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