Fiction Notes

Jessica Francis Kane's Bending Heaven contains 11 sober, affecting short stories that delve beneath the surfaces of ordinary people's lives and reveal their internal struggles. The setups are simple: a divorced lawyer worries about her teenaged son while she is on a corporate retreat ("Refuge"); a young woman moves to New York and finds the book publishing business is less literary than she expected ("How to Become a Publicist"); two newlyweds house-sit for a well-off older couple and anxieties about their new life together arise ("Ideas of Home, but Not the Thing Itself"). Kane's style is direct yet nuanced, and all her characters feel authentic; this is an impressive debut. (Counterpoint, $23 208p ISBN 1-58243-206-6)

First published in 1972, British author Ann Quin's Tripticks now makes its U.S. debut (her Passages will appear in fall 2002). Disjointed and surreal, it evokes some of the more experimental Beat writers as it tracks its narrator's trip across America. He's followed by his ex-wife and her "gigolo schoolboy" lover; this "pre-punk" journey is interrupted by flashbacks (often of his bizarre, wealthy in-laws), seemingly random lists ("Rococo atmosphere/ diamond dust mirrors/ camel's hair wallpaper") and comic-like drawings by Carol Annand. Quin (1936–1973) was a writer ahead of her time; 30 years later, this book still feels fresh and exciting and should win her some new fans. (Dalkey Archive, $14.95 paper 192p ISBN 1-56478-318-9)