<DIV><B>From Publishers Weekly<br> </B>These seven gentle tales set in Minnesota and North Dakota and all written during the 1970s treat fans of novelist Hassler (A Green Journey; Jemmy) to the earliest fruits of his talent. Some are folksy portraits of small-town characters, while others are drier and more plot driven. Both the title story and &quot;Resident Priest&quot; feature crusty, 74-year-old Father Fogarty, a pastor who's leaving his parish after 23 years. In &quot;Chief Larson,&quot; a seven-year-old Indian boy, known (rather improbably) only as &quot;chief&quot; on the reservation, rebels in a small but telling way against his white adoptive family. &quot;Good News in Culver Bend&quot; tracks two city reporters who travel to a small town and discover &quot;the heart of Christmas.&quot; &quot;Chase&quot; and &quot;Christopher, Moony, and the Birds&quot; show how frustrated residents of small towns seek solace. The former, so brief it's nearly a prose poem, hints at Hassler's own adolescent discovery of his talent for fiction; the latter follows a lonely 50-year-old college professor as he goes on a consolatory walk with a student's awkward wife and child, watching &quot;birds on family outings, hopping and halting on the grass.&quot; The cleverest story, &quot;Yesterday's Garbage,&quot; follows a &quot;garbologist&quot; who finds the truth about a murder in a trash bin, and is then led to commit one himself. The publisher plans to issue Hassler's later short fiction in three more volumes, starting in the year 2000. (Sept.) <p><B>&nbsp;</B></p> <p><B>Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information, Inc.</B></p> <B><I>--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.</I>&nbsp;</B><br> <br> &nbsp;</div>