Before Ruby Red, William Price Fox published two collections of short stories and two novels. The stories [collected in Southern Fried and Southern Fried Plus Six] … are excellent. In them, Fox moves through the slums of his native Columbia, South Carolina, with much ease and little pretension, producing several memorable "characters" and a number of good, quick scenes that allow no room for the sentimentality that often turns up in stories of the reminiscence variety. The novels, though, are far from being successful. Dr. Golf … is a disastrous collection of golf jokes in the form of an advice column. Only the most dedicated golfer would be entertained by it; but dedicated golfers, I bet, have heard most of the jokes. Moonshine Light, Moonshine Bright … gets things back to Columbia's slums. It concerns two adolescents … who have much time and little money on hand for the summer…. [The slums...