Circumnavigation

In a remarkably fluid collection of stories, Steve Lattimore captures the underside of contemporary western America.

In the title story, an odd, precocious child is left in the care of a man who refuses to claim responsibility even for himself. Not until his codependent ex-wife takes an interest in the boy does he begin to assume control over his life.

In "Separate States" a bitter young girl sorts through her convoluted parentage and her own anger to find that home is where the heart is. "Between Angels" follows Abe, Lou, and Mookie in a serio-comic search for God - involving the Ark of the Covenant and a full-body shave - that reaches a shocking conclusion within the confines of a Fresno warehouse.

Mapped against a landscape of disarray, where both the physical and the emotional run turbulent courses, Lattimore's stories are about heroic rescues. His characters - alienated, destitute, guided by faith or hunches - stand on the brink of revelation, stumbling toward redemption.