ARE WE LUCKY YET?

it acknowledges how much has been lost already. But the tone remains fresh with sweet (or bruising) sensation. Every character comes rigged with a crazed belief-as the title suggests-that Luck is still somehow bound this way-after an unexpected delay in another time-zone .... The tales are set in trailer suburbia. But their actions seem played out across the Wal-Mart parking lot s only clover-covered median. Sexual relief can be found, but out near the dumpsters of a closed strip-mall steak house .... The writer s steadying empathy and talent for doom, drive the characters toward reckless chance-takings. This creates a tender suspense as hard to shake as the stories betraying faith in Luck itself. Allan Gurganus, Citation for Runner Up in The Grace Paley Prize Competition.