NEW STORIES FROM THE SOUTH: THE (2008)

Here is a raw version of the stereotypically genteel South, in which young girls get turned out on the streets of New Orleans by their families (Ingrid Hill's ''Jolie-Gray''), an 8-year-old trails after her father as he takes pictures of premature babies for the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair (Linda Wendling's ''Inappropriate Babies''), and a fiddler travels from Memphis into rural Tennessee to find his long-lost uncle (Robert Love Taylor's ''Pink Miracle in East Tennessee''). Each short story is accompanied by notes from its author, which often prove to be mini-tales themselves. A refreshing collection with nary a mimosa or mint julep in sight.