Catastrophe and catharsis are the primary concerns in Bjorneby's first collection of short fiction. The volume's best stories explore the perilous intersection of faith and desire. In "Angels in White Dresses," Orson Welles's War of the Worlds
broadcast causes chaos in a small Southern town, provoking a battle between the forces of science, religion and love. "The Hands of the Evangelist" is a portrait of a young man whose awakening sexuality is feverishly entwined with Pentecostal zeal. An ordinary woman becomes the unwitting sexual trophy in a competition between God and Satan in "The Beatification of Beth." Other stories depict female lives shaped by fate. "War Games" and "Christmas Bombings, 1972" both feature Max, a 16-year-old tomboy whose father is an air force colonel in Vietnam, as she tries to cope while shuttling between far-flung military bases. Another war-related story, "Defying Gravity," examines a marriage falling apart on the eve of the Gulf War. As the title suggests, weather is a vital force in this collection, echoing the primal emotions at the heart of several stories. The author engages all the senses with vivid and surprising descriptions of smells, colors, textures and tastes—though at times such writerly acrobatics overwhelm the narratives. Nor do all these evocative images sufficiently illuminate the characters, who tend to remain rather vague and opaque—this is especially true of the title story, in which the two protagonists are defined only by the damage they have sustained. And while some stories flow together nicely, the collection doesn't really function as a coherent whole. This is an uneven debut, but Bjorneby's best stories prove she is capable of excellent work. Agent, Kathi J. Paton. (Oct.)
