Terry Wolverton is the author of nine books, including novels, memoir, and poetry. BREATH AND OTHER STORIES is the first time her short fiction, written over the past two decades, has been collected in one volume. In "Breath," a mother wrestles with how much freedom for her daughter might be too much. In "Sex Less," a lesbian contemplates her waning desire and what impact this might have on her identity. In "A Whisper in the Veins," a man attempts to tell his mother he's been diagnosed with AIDS. In "News," a woman's life is taken over by her preoccupation with the headlines. The characters...

"Why are not my arms outstretched to greet the day, instead of my jaw clenched to withstand it? Why the heart curled into fist of dread?" asks author Terry Wolverton in this collection of 49 lyric essays. WOUNDED WORLD: LYRIC ESSAYS ABOUT OUR SPIRITUAL DISQUIET that explores how what we think of as our social problems are really spiritual problems and poses prayers, practices and perspectives to begin to remedy them.

Do we truly know the ones we love or do we invent them, turning them into fictions, projections of our own desires? When a chance car accident sends author Bryn Redding into a deep coma, a whole luminous life is eclipsed, plunged into a state of darkness. The only glimmers that remain appear through the perceptions of those who love her, but contradictions between these views render them suspect. These images of Bryn conflict acutely for Djuna, Bryn's lover of four years, and Vera, Bryn's mother. Gathered at her hospital bedside, each stakes a claim to Bryn's identity, her past and future....