FICTION

VOICES LOUDER THAN WORDS: A Second Collection, edited by William Shore (Vintage: $11; 322 pp.). This anthology of 22 short stories, like its predecessor, is a fund-raising effort to help the homeless. All that the contributors have in common, besides their generosity, is talent. Each sees a world through a unique lens. Robert Boswell, in “The Products of Love,” tells a story about a strange marriage in which neither partner understands the other. Bobbie Anne Mason’s story, “Weeds,” is about Sam and Alma, a middle-age country couple. He feels life whirling by, leaving him in the dust, but she is enriched by finding exciting possibilities in mundane places--tiny hawkmoths flitting through tall weeds, fallen peaches good for cobbler, the possibility that their daughter might somehow make a sorry man into a proper husband. Susan Minot’s story, “While It Lasts,” is about the beginning of the end of a consuming love affair. Minot has a talent for making one sentence speak volumes: “Once one was aware of being in a dream, it was difficult to stay asleep.” This is a strong collection, loaded with talent and experience.