Greg Johnson is a Southern writer who seems, in several important ways, not to have sprung from the Southern literary tradition. More urbane than parochial in outlook, more subdued than gothic in tone (at least in his most successful stories), he is a meticulous observer of human foibles and isolation. Although he sometimes is drawn to depicting extreme situations and personalities, he is at his best when he keeps his work understated and focuses on the drama of the ordinary. While his works include critical studies, biography, and a novel, his specialty--and strength--is the short story. He has published roughly seventy stories, thirty-seven of which have been published in three collections: Distant Friends (1990), A Friendly Deceit (1992), and I Am Dangerous (1996). Some of Johnson's stories have appeared in Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards and New Stories from the South: The Year's Best , and Georgia Writers, Inc., has twice...