White Trash, Red Velvet: Stories

Fulfilling the promise of his first collection, The Rat Becomes Light , Secreast forges this chain of 12 interrelated stories with links of powerful insight and resonating detail. Although the flip title promises kitsch--and indeed, a collection of salt shakers, velvet furniture and other lowbrow accoutrements are present--Secreast portrays his rural, blue-collar North Carolina characters with compassion and empathy. The opening tale, ``Where the Modern World Begins,'' set in 1952, introduces earnest WW II veteran Curtis Holsclaw, his pragmatic wife Adele and their three children. In the stories that follow, some 40 years pass in the Holsclaws' lives, but while large chunks of time are omitted, references to past events establish solid continuity. Throughout the book, acts of vengeance and gestures of caring share the stage. ``The Magnetism of Woe'' takes place at a wake where mourners insist on opening the closed casket of a man killed in a car accident. Such morbid fascination also motivates one Holsclaw daughter to experimentally climb into an iron lung in ``If You See Me Coming.'' Later, ``Caution Car'' tells how that same daughter vindictively uses a wild boar against her sister's unfaithful husband. Other tales have a crushing poignance, particularly ``The Necessary Arrangements,'' in which Adele plans a funeral for one of her children. Secreast contributes a genuine wit, a wise heart, and a dangerous way with a punchline to this formidable collection. (May)