cover image Common Bonds: Stories by and about Modern Texas Women

Common Bonds: Stories by and about Modern Texas Women

. Southern Methodist University Press, $22.5 (320pp) ISBN 978-0-87074-287-3

The sheer variety of perspectives presented in these 32 stories gives this lively collection of both new and previously published material momentum. Two authors take different approaches to one idea: a woman misinterpreting events around her. In Diane Payton Gomez's ``Return of a Bad-News Man,'' the main character thinks she's being followed by a former lover until she discovers he needs help to recall who she is. Pat Carr's ``Hitchhikers May Be Escaping Inmates'' shows the terror-driven thoughts of a woman stranded by car trouble who doesn't know if the men approaching her represent help or a threat. ``Cheers, Everybody,'' set mainly in a ``dingy rathole'' of a bar, is Carolyn Weathers's reminder of deceptions gays and lesbians practiced to survive in the '60s. Harryette Mullen pointedly illustrates the absurdity of conforming to questionable, even painful, fashion norms in ``Tenderhead.'' Ultimately, what is uniquely Texan about these stories is the locale; the experiences portrayed are shared by women in general. Comer is an editor at Southern Methodist University Press. (June)