THE COUNTRY AHEAD OF US, THE COUNTRY BEHIND

A first collection of 11 stories--stark, moody portraits of men or boys faced with loss--that are tautly written, austere, occasionally lyrical, and mark Guterson as a writer to watch. The best here are spare and frightening: ""Piranhas"" is a precise drama about a boy who buys first an aquarium of tropical fish, then a second tank of piranhas (""Piranhas are a habit, okay?""). He finally feeds his other fish to the predators, and his parents tell him the fish have to go (""You'll have to find a more appropriate hobby""), whereupon he talks with a friend (the dialogue is very sharp throughout the collection) about killing his parents. ""Opening Day"" is a moving, quiet story about three generations of a hunting family: the grandfather has reached that point where hunting is more trouble than it's worth, and each family member--grandfather, father, son--comes to see the inexorable passage of time. In ""Angels in the Snow,"" a married man ""driven by sex"" remembers a family trip to Las Vegas at age 15, and his lascivious nature leads finally to a marital breakup. ""The Flower Garden,"" more lyrical (and sometimes overwritten), chronicles the heartbreak of adolescence: a paperboy with major-league aspirations fails at baseball and, in the process, also loses his first love. The flower garden itself becomes an aching, natural symbol of that loss. Even a less successful tale such as ""Three Hunters,"" which is austere and moody but too easily echoes Hemingway, is hard to forget. It's not easy to work Hemingway and Raymond Carver's territory with originality, and Guterson can't entirely escape from their shadows. Still, a strong and very promising debut.