It doesn't really require the 15 stories in John Sayles's collection ["The Anarchists' Convention"] to prove that Mr. Sayles has a winning way with the short story. In fact, any number of passages could be extracted from his two novels, "Pride of the Bimbos" and "Union Dues," to prove the point. (p. 425)

[The] six stories centering on Brian McNeil in ["The Anarchists' Convention"], if put between covers of a book, would make a substantial novella, and not only in bulk. For in their sequence, these tales constitute a rite of passage from the boy's adolescent fumbling with sex through his Western odyssey and arrival on thé Coast, where the ominous portents of his future cast their shadows over him.

The collection also illustrates the author's approach to his material. A strong determinist strain runs through his work. (pp. 425-26)

Mr. Sayles's characters are end products of their environment. The...