Stardust, 7-Eleven, Route 57, A & W, and So Forth (1992)

Because of its fresh, quirky style, this debut story collection reads as if it tumbled from the lips of its Memphis-raised author directly onto the page. In Stardust, 7-Eleven, Route 57, A & W, and So Forth, Lear's characters weather emotional loss and physical frailty by savoring momentary epiphanies. In ''Graceland'' a woman comforts a dying nonagenarian by driving her to Graceland but recoils when the older woman confesses her desperate fear of the unknown. Despite occasional unevenness, this is a magnetic book by a writer who has mastered the potential of jumbled syntax. B+