In the much-anthologized "The Birds for Christmas," two hospitalized boys beg a night nurse to let them watch Hitchcock's classic thriller film, believing it will alleviate their yuletide loneliness. Powerfully moving, "Gentleman's Agreement" is a classic father-son story of the fear and the violence of love.

In "Memorial Day," a bayou boy learns the lessons of living from "Death" himself, a fortune-cookie-eating phantom who claims to be "a people person." "Fun at the Beach" is an outrageously hilarious drunkard's dream of steamy sex, death, and dark passions. Richard has been rightly compared with Faulkner for his use of language, and with Flannery O'Connor for his stark moral vision, but his power and sensibility remain his own.