Grind

While Maynard’s debut collection bursts with idiosyncratic characters, the end result is an uneven affair punctuated by the occasional shimmer. Throughout the volume’s eight tenuously linked tales, lives and fortune are lost, and the city of Reno emerges as a locus of shattered souls. “Jackpot” finds a schizophrenic derelict wandering into the Mother Lode Casino, hitting a $12 million slot machine windfall, and then quietly slipping away, without the money. In “Around the Bend,” an old man with a clouded mind escapes his home and drifts to the train tracks, hoping to climb aboard an oncoming locomotive. A mentally impaired truck driver roams the streets in a snowstorm, stopping only to visit the site of his mother’s death, in “Deadheading.” There’s a similitude found in the intellect and actions of these characters that, despite Maynard’s ambition, locks Grind into a repetitive pattern. Additionally, the author’s occasionally abrupt shifts in tone—particularly in “Steep,” a tale concerning rogue skiers turned environmental terrorists—translate as slipshod and undercooked. But bright spots do emerge. The very brief “Letdown” packs a strong emotional punch, chronicling a mother who stockpiles her breast milk even after her child has died. And “Trading Up,” with its psychic pawnbroker, is strangely entertaining. (Dec.)