QUICKSILVER

Suburbia can be a dangerous place, according to this debut story collection by Canadian poet McInnis. Alongside the traditional woes of infidelity, alcoholism and cancer, more contemporary troubles plague McInnis's characters: HIV infection, homelessness and mental illness, sudden technological failure. The first story, "Sea Monkeys," launches into an account of a professor's affair with a young graduate student. The professor relishes his married life as part of a "perfect suburban couple," as well as the thrill of his indiscretion, although he soon realizes he can't have both. In the title story, a poet faces off with her silver-haired mentor, a widely admired woman who broadcasts her disdain of those closest to her. "Auguries" deals adeptly with what could be a mawkish subject—a husband and wife reviewing their lives on the day before she will be tested for breast cancer. "Bloodlines" also has a domestic theme, as a mother visiting a preschool picks up and kisses a baby who has fallen and cut his head; her instinctive act of caring turns perilous when it's revealed that the boy has AIDS. In perhaps the most discomfiting story, "A Box Full of Wind," two teenage girls spend their evening making prank phone calls. Their fun takes a darker turn when one of the girls, Kit, calls a one-time high school teacher and impersonates the lover (a former student) who cost him his job. As a potential heir to the tradition of Margaret Atwood and Alice Munro, McInnis is off to a promising start. (Apr.)