Inland Shores

this collection is strongly negative. The reader may admire the courage and stamina of a given character, such as Corine in "Retribution," but even she is so backwoodsy that her wisdom is outdone by her remoteness. As a whole, the characters seem like specimens in an exhibit rather than like neighbors and friends. This flaw comes from the fact that the stories have been printed as a collection. They read better, I think, individually than they do in combination. This is particularly evident in the use ofAppalachian speech patterns. A little dialect goes a long way, and when it is "stacked up," as it is in this group of stories, it becomes an obstruction. PatriciaShirleyisafine storyteller,however . Eachofthepieces inDear FloraMae is well worth reading, not only for the characterizationsandtheplots, but also for the strong value orientation revealed in each tale. While the reader may react initially as didShakespeare'sPuck: "What fools these mortals be,"in the longrun that Suotation is changed to the more sympaietic "What fools we mortals be." And, after all, that universalizing of experience is what storytelling should be about. -Barbara Smith Inland Shores How like die grey Atlantic these shores swept by storms and winds and crustal waves extruded from the mande's grasp clothed over, anchored in a net of green. Listen closely, hear wind lap reef of grass, forest, meadow, endless quivering leaves and trembling limbs like waves caressing sand. Summer crickets chirp like shore birds, crying on the edge of wave and wind like killdeer, plover, gull. The terrapin drags the yard with ancient armour, creeps toward the creek to sounds of breaking waves within her head. Does she remember that small Isle where sea sent welcome to her scudding young in their fierce seaward path? The terrapin makes the creek, as in another time the sea birds wheel and scream above their rushing prey. How like the grey Atlantic are these shores terrapin and human left to our dreams amidst the bones of ancient pine and fem, leaving but shell or toodi to mark our wake. -Christyna E. Mecca 66 ...