The Man Who Would Be God: Stories

This short-story collection by Ruffin (editor of the Texas Review ) paints poignant pictures of Southerners leading lives devoid of passion, engulfed by fear or haunted by apocalypse, who confront their demons and break new ground. A tired, broken farmer's wife nurtures indifference toward her merciless husband, but she finds a way to feel again that doesn't jeopardize the only life she has. A couple in a relationship where love has died are forcibly detained by an old woman with a stockpile of food and ammunition for the coming Armageddon, and in their cell the two connect for the first time since the early part of their marriage. A pair of aging flower children live on a drought-stricken farm; as they watch for storms that never come, the man sags into cynicism and the woman continues to believe in rain. A 50-year-old husband and his alcoholic wife return to his childhood home and find a crumbling house that holds out more hope than either has seen in years. In the title story, the unloved and eccentric inheritor of a family empire strikes a bargain with the inhabitants of an impoverished Mexican settlement, offering to provide for all their needs if they will make him their god. (Dec.)