cover image Flight and Other Stories

Flight and Other Stories

Jose Skinner. University of Nevada Press, $15 (200pp) ISBN 978-0-87417-359-8

Jos Skinner's Flight and Other Stories is a varied, well-crafted and frequently daring collection of vignettes centering mostly around the complex interplay between whites and Latinos in the American Southwest. In ""Archangela,"" the arrival of a Mexican maid begins a young Anglo boy's sexual awakening; he soon learns that he is not the only member of his family drawn to her. Language and desire also inform ""Careful,"" in which a gay teen tries to adjust to a new high school. The characters are complex and fully realized, and Skinner's voice is confident yet nuanced throughout. ( Mar.)