"Our Desires are Without Remedy: Stories and Essays" by Bruce Petronio (XLibris, $19.99, paper; $29.99, cloth).
This strong debut collection of 13 short fiction and travel pieces features sharply drawn portraits of ordinary people who are forced to confront epiphanies and crises and somehow keep going.
In "A Woman Met a Man," a single mother in a small Wyoming town realizes that the kind, new stranger-in-town she had imagined as a possible husband and future father to her son, is just a likable drifter, who is drifting on.
In "Sonny," published in Arizona State University's Hayden Ferry Review, a hardworking brother sees in himself a shadow of his irresponsible kid brother.
"Defining Gray" by Denise Bjornson (Soaring Turtle Press, $15.95)
A trio of sisters struggle with the disappearance of their mother as far-flung members of their family are slowly and miraculously drawn together. A sequel is in the works.
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"Moisture of the Earth, Mary Robinson, Civil Rights & Textile Union Activist: An Oral History," compiled and edited by Fran Leeper Buss (University of Michigan Press, $22.95).
An account of an extraordinary woman, born on a farm in Alabama, who became a force in the civil rights movement. Leeper writes that Robinson's was "a life guided by a profound religious vision, based on the moral landscape of her childhood." It is a part of the press's series, "Class Culture." An index would be of enormous value.
"Blood on Bare Rock" by Ned Lord (Sneakaboard Press, $14.95).
Ghosts seem to be having a literary reincarnation in Southern Arizona. Rich, bored and newly introduced to the detective trade, Andy Bowers, former Intel engineer, spends a lot of time talking to the ghost of his deceased godfather, while attempting to solve his murder.
With the help of a seasoned pro, Stone Mendez, Bowers sorts through a lot of victims and suspects to arrive at the solution, never once losing his wit and poise.
"The story I told you is like a bikini," Bowers says to a colleague. "You see everything except the important parts."
"The Saving of Aris" by NovaMelia (Outskirts Press, $16.95).
Aristophanes Ball is born into the kind of dysfunctional family with which literature set in the South abounds. No one is happy; everyone hallucinates in this complex and pitiless story where the hallmarks are poverty, despair and just plain bad luck.
The inevitable alcoholism almost seems secondary. British-born NovaMelia moves her story along through dialogue. The characters are the plot, and they develop as they talk and interact with one another.
"The American Publisher: Paying the Cost of Corporatism and Censorship for Writing the Truth about Cuba, Russia and the War on Terror" by Jay Fraser (Affiliated Writers of America, $28).
Fraser launched his publishing firm, Affiliated Writers of America, in 1988 with his book, "Lost Dutchman Mine Discoveries." He has degrees in creative writing and political science from Arizona State University. His most sensational publication is possibly "The Moscow Connection," published in 1994 detailing the arrival in New York of what is identified as the "Russian Mafia," whose primary activity was selling nuclear weaponry and plutonium.
Fraser has had a great time jousting with corporations and governments to keep his small press alive, and much of that struggle is told here. He is now a member of the Central Arizona College faculty where he teaches creative writing and book publishing.
"Patches on My Britches: Memories of Growing up in the Dust Bowl" by James Alfred Davidson (1st Books Library, $19).
Davidson grew up in the Texas Panhandle in the1920s, '30s and '40s where he was one of 13 children in a hardworking ranch family. He has chosen to write his autobiography in the form of a novel. Books like Davidson's can be read as fiction, but they also provide firsthand accounts of the details of daily life in a society long gone.
"European Intrigue: A Spy Novel" by Robert O. McCartan (Wheatmark, $16.95).
It is the mid-1970s. U.S. Air Force intelligence officer Col. Jack Brooks, mixing romance with spy work, goes undercover in Norway to spy on a terrorist organization - similar to the Baader-Meinhof gang. The group is threatening the stability of Europe.
"Thinking of Miller Place: A Memoir of Summer Comfort," by Ethel Lee-Miller (iUniverse Inc., $15.95).
Until they were into their teens, Lee-Miller and her twin, Eileen Erickson, spent summers on the North Shore of Long Island at the home of their grandparents. The small town was Miller Place. In this memoir she warns, there is "no high drama, no intrigue, no edginess" - just the comforting memories of two little girls growing up surrounded by an extended family of relatives and friends.
"My Quest for Creation: A Unique Memoir of a Sightless Runner and His Interactions With the Supernaturalness," by K.C. Rolek (Xlibris, $19.99, paper; $29.99, hardcover).
A noble effort on the part of Polish-born Rolek to present his thoughts on things metaphysical in English. Those interested in spiritualism, reincarnation and associated fields might like to give this an inspection.
If you are an author and live in Southern Arizona and would like your book to be included in this column, please send a copy to: J.C. Martin, P.O.Box 65388, Tucson, 85728-5388. State the price and give the name of someone who can be reached in case additional information is needed. After the titles appear in this column, they go to the Pima Community College West Campus library.
