Benedict Thielen's short fiction is distinguished from run-of-the-mill stories by its tone of authenticity (the "authority" of the narrator); superb craftsmanship, especially in the realistic dialogue and deft sense of metaphor, motif, and counterpoint; economic use of setting; sensitive and vivid descriptions of nature; diversity of subject, theme, and character; a penchant for the seriocomic; and freedom from strained effects or fine writing for its own sake. The reader of a Thielen story never needs to question the accuracy or authenticity of the dialogue--whether that of the crude Stevie or the European Karvalishes, whether spoken in French, German, Italian, Spanish, or regional American--or to wonder about the details of places, restaurants, dinners, wines, or the flora and fauna of the seashore and the tropics. Giving shape and unity to the stories are keen psychological insights and a well-defined philosophical perspective. Among the authors Thielen studied and admired were...