On the River Styx: And Other Stories

Numerous acquaintances of the legendary Edgar J. Watson, said to have gunned down the outlaw Belle Starr, are given voice in Killing Mister Watson , a fictionalized oral history set in the Florida Everglades. PW called this ``an imaginative and haunting evocation of a time and place, and the paradox of the tenderness and brutality with which real and imagined lives are filled.'' Ten tales about people trapped in futile behavior patterns comprise On the River Styx : ``In limpid, lyrical prose, these dazzling stories objectively explore the lack of communication between husbands and wives, between races and cultures.'' (Aug.)