The Best American Short Stories 1997, and: The Best American Essays 1997, and: The Best American Sports Writing 1997, and: The Best American Mystery Stories 1997 (review)

details of his hoUow ideas. This subplot arrives at the question of forgiveness on the protagonisfs part, since the father has now declined into seniUty, whUe his mother, who has, maddeningly, never blamed her former husband, takes him back to care for him. Like Nobody's Fool, Straight Man is a weU-disguised sentimental comedy in which many of the characters eventually reveal themselves to be not so bad after aU. It will be a particularly entertaining read for academics. (SM) Trutor and the Balloonist by Debbie Lee Wesselmann MacMurray & Beck, 1997, 259 pp., $22.95 The most intriguing thing about this first novel is its irrepressible playfulness, despite its theme of physical violence. The story revolves around Michelle Trutor, who is hiding from her abusive philosophyprofessor lover, and the strange household of the Balloonist where she finds refuge. The Balloonist, nicknamed for the dark glasses and scarves he affects, lives with his twin brother and dour niece in a home haunted by the specter of his cruel older sister, CaroUne, who committed suicide. Trutor takes on the chaUenge of uncovering the multiple secrets of Caroline's life from clues CaroUne has dehberately left behind in the form of maps and a series of riddles. As she unravels the mysteries surrounding the family, Trutor must confront the threat of her former lover coming after her and the antagonism of the town for sheltering a neighbor woman from her boyfriend . The potential bleakness of this scenario is offset by Trutor's forays into Caroline's maps and diaries, and by the riotous behavior of the household. Even while beset by illness and the possibility of ambush by angry men, its members are preoccupied with surviving the niece's awful cooking and outdoing each other in their contest to hang bad art in the parlor. The riddles and maps and histories at times seem convoluted and myriad, but Wesselmann keeps you reading with a rapid pace and moments of startling loveliness, like when the BaUoonist breaks Caroline's tradition of frightening chUdren on HaUoween by transforming the front yard of her house into an enchanted forest. Scenes like this epitomize the half-rueful and more than halfhopeful atmosphere of the novel. The curious balance between melancholy and wit, and the pleasure of observing Trutor's growing confidence , propel the mystery to its conclusion. In the end, it is not the solution of the puzzles that satisfies . Rather, it's the way Wesselmann aUows the horror of domestic abuse to resonate in the narrative, even whUe subverting it through whimsy. (TH) TTic Best American Short Stories 1997 E. Annie Proulx, editor Katrina Kenison, series editor Houghton Mifflin, 1997, 381 pp., $25 190 · The Missouri Review The Best American Essays 1997 Ian Frazier, editor Robert Atwan, series editor Houghton Mifflin, 1997, 226 pp., $27 TTic Best American Sports Writing 1997 George Plimpton, editor Glen Stout, series editor Mariner (Houghton Mifflin), 1997, 323 pp., $13 (paper) TTie Best American Mystery Stories 1997 Robert B. Parker, editor Otto Penzler, series editor Houghton Mifflin, 1997, 357 pp., $25 The current proliferation of creative writing, good and otherwise, has brought an accompanying increase in the number of literary awards and anthologies that seek to single out and honor the best new writing in a variety of genres. Walk into any bookstore that gives a nod to Uterature and you'U find prize anthologies based on region (New Stories From the South, Best of the West), on genre (The Best American Poetry, The Best American Erotica). There's even an anthology of notable fiction that has never been pubUshed elsewhere; and two years ago Scribners introduced 77ie Best of the Writing Wortehops, worthy new stories by students. The quaUty of the work coUected in these volumes depends partly on the nomination and selection process , largely on the editing, and to some degree also on the size of the field from which the writing is drawn. Four deservedly popular and generally well-edited annual prize anthologies are published by Houghton Mifflin: The Best American Short Stories, The Best American Essays, The Best American Sports Writing, and, making its first appearance this year, The Best American Mystery Stories. AU are edited according...