"Beware of the wise who are young and gifted," wrote novelist Russell Banks in a cover blurb for Pinckney Benedict's first short-story collection, Town Smokes (1987); "They quickly become irreplaceable." Town Smokes had just been published to rave reviews, and many, like Banks, thought of the then-twenty-three-year-old Benedict as a short-fiction prodigy. By struggling to diversify his skills as a storywriter, Benedict has made a contribution to almost every significant prose-publishing niche. To date Benedict has published another book of short stories, The Wrecking Yard (1992); a novel titled Dogs of God (1994); and many interviews, book reviews, and nonfiction articles with magazines such as Bomb and Esquire. With the 1999 release of the feature movie Four Days Benedict made a foray into screenwriting as well. Benedict is primarily known as a writer of short fiction; nine stories appear in Town Smokes, and ten more stories appear in The Wrecking Yard.

The...