From Allan Gurganus, author of the beloved, bestselling Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All and winner of the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, here are eleven masterful works of short fiction. First seen in The New, Yorker, Harper's, the Paris Review, Granta, and elsewhere, they are darkly comic stories and novellas about love and money among American WASPs, that majority outnumbered, outflanked, and somewhat out of love with itself. From the Trade Paperback edition. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

With the publication of this virtuoso collection, Gurganus ( Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All ) has again produced a book of literary merit that deserves wide readership. In 10 stories and two novellas written over the last two decades, we meet a delightful array of characters who share the common denominator of white skin, if little else. Narrated almost entirely in an astonishing range of first-person voices, this fiction displays the depth and breadth of Gurganus's skill as a gifted raconteur. In ``Condolences to Every One of Us'' a woman describes a disastrous African package tour that leads to the death of two tourists. ``Breathing Room'' is the story of a man who is overtaken by a once sickly younger brother. At age six, he ``ached to simply arch right over him, to settle like a jar with air holes and enough floor space so he'd not be bored.'' But the story ends in a melancholy tone: ``Bradley's thirty-four, and thriving; that makes me thirty-six.'' ``America Competes'' is a hilarious send-up of arts competitions. ``Reassurance'' is a delicate letter from the grave of a Civil War casualty that takes up at the final line of Walt Whitman's letter ``Death of a Pennsylvania Soldier.'' The final piece, ``Blessed Assurance,'' is a funny, sad, confessional tale told by a man reflecting on his traumatic youth, when he collected funeral insurance premiums from poor blacks. Gurganus is a champion storyteller with particularly American roots, in the tradition of Mark Twain. This is a collection to be savored and reread while we wait for more. (Jan.) From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Gurganus's colorful collection of stories and novellas, written from the mid-Seventies to the late Eighties, is a fine follow-up to last year's best-selling novel Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All ( LJ 5/1/89). Many of the stories are personal, even dedicated to family members, and they have decidedly autobiographical overtones. ``Minor Heroism'' tells of a war-hero father's awkward relationship to his creative, sensitive son. In ``Breathing Room,'' the older son watches as his once pale, asthmatic little brother eclipses him in size and strength. In ``A Hog Loves Its Life,'' Grandfather tried to pass on some country wisdom to his bookish grandson. Gurganus has a fluid, humorous style that gently pokes fun at and yet honors his Southern roots. This is a poignant, entertaining collection. Recommended. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 9/1/90.--Ann H. Fisher, Radford P.L., Va. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

In 1966, as a conscientious objector faced with possible charges of draft evasion during the Vietnam War, Allan Gurganus found himself on a four-year tour as a message decoder on an aircraft carrier. While at sea, Gurganus, who had studied to be a painter, developed the idea for his first successful novel, Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All (1989) after reading an article that described how Confederate veterans were granted pensions in the 1880s, making them prime marital candidates for much younger women. The novel features Lucy Marsden, a feisty ninety-nine-year-old North Carolina widow, and spans the 1850s to the 1980s.

Gurganus's subsequent books include Blessed Assurance: A Moral Tale (1989), The Practical Heart (1993), and Plays Well With Others (1997). He has written a number of short stories that have appeared in periodicals such as Granta, The New York Times, The New Yorker, Harper's, and Paris Review, and in books such as The Faber Book of Short Gay Fiction (1991). Eleven of his short stories are collected in The White People (1991).

Gurganus was born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, in 1947 and graduated from Sarah Lawrence College (B.A., 1972) and the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop (M.F.A., 1974). He has taught fiction writing at University of Iowa, Stanford University, Duke University, Sarah Lawrence College and the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop, and has had his paintings displayed in many private and public collections.

(Bowker Author Biography) Allan Gurganus lives in a small town in North Carolina. The title novella of this book won the National Magazine Prize, & his other honors include the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Southern Book Prize, & the Sue Kaufman Prize from the American Academy of Arts & Letters.

(Publisher Provided) Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.