Fine, fine, fine, fine, fine : stories / Diane Williams.

Beauty, love and vanity itself -- A gray pottery head -- Cinch -- Gulls -- To revive a person is no slight thing -- Head of a naked girl -- Rhapsody breeze -- Lavatory -- People of the week -- The romantic life -- Great passion and its context -- Specialist -- The poet -- At a period of exceptional dullness -- Head of the big man -- Living deluxe -- Personal details -- Flying things -- How blown up -- Sigh -- There is always a hesitation before turning in a finished job -- The mermaid pose -- Greed -- Clarinda -- Skol -- The thickening wish -- Lamb chops, cod -- Of the true and final good -- Glimpses of Mrs. Williams -- Girl with a pencil -- Perform small tasks -- With red chair -- Try -- Removal men -- Mere flask poured out -- Bang bang on the stair -- Little bottle of tears -- When I was old and ugly -- Palm against palm -- Human comb.

"The very short stories of Diane Williams have been aptly called 'folk tales that hammer like a nail gun,' and these forty new ones are sharper than ever. They are unsettling, yes, frequently revelatory, and more often than not downright funny."--Publisher website.