BREATHING TROUBLE AND OTHER STORIES (1973) represents some of Fred Busch's first published work, so it's understandable that the collection is rather uneven - in fact, it often seems kinda "all over the place." The book was published only in England, and none of these stories are included in THE STORIES OF FREDERICK BUSCH (2014), a selection of his best short fiction. Twenty-five years after BREATHING TROUBLE, in an autobiographical essay called "The Floating Christmas Tree" (in the book, A DANGEROUS PROFESSION: A BOOK ABOUT THE WRITING LIFE), Busch wrote of his early years as an aspiring writer, newly married and living in a tiny New York apartment, and how he'd take his typewriter into the bathroom so he wouldn't disturb his sleeping wife and put it "on the closed toilet" where he "sat in that awkward position and wrote my awkward prose. I was a failed poet."

Well, I suspect these are some of the stories that he looked back on and considered "awkward prose." And indeed some of it is. There is one story, "The Age of Gorgeous Travel," that is even about a 'failed poet' and the sad futile feeling of the literary scene around small college campuses in the era of long hair, bell bottoms, casual drugs and sex.

There is a story about racism in small town upstate New York ("I Guarantee: You Are My Man"), that works well; as does "The Whole New Ballgame," told by a boy whose pilot father is MIA in Korea. The title story - one of the longest - about two brothers holed up in a remote shack trying to sort out their various life problems, and a small boy who appears at their door whose grandmother is lost, is also fairly effective - and affecting.

If I had to pick a favorite here - and I'm not sure I really can, having read so many of Busch's later, and much much better, stories - it would probably be one of the shortest, "While Susan Hayward Weeps." Even that particular actress's name tends to date the story, but I am of an age that I remember her well, and, trust me, she was beautiful. The story concerns an insomniac bookseller who is up all night dozing through old movies, with mentions of Hayward, Victor Mature and Richard Egan. He awakens with a bad back on Good Friday morning and finds himself incapacitated on the floor of his store. The Good Friday setting becomes important to the story, because, although no film titles are mentioned, those three actors were all stars of "Demetrius and the Gladiators," which was, of course, a rather cheesy sequel to "The Robe." The bookseller's embarrassing encounter with an early customer is quite humorous. In fact Busch's wry sense of humor surfaces in most of these stories.

BREATHING TROUBLE is not a bad book, but it is certainly not representative of Busch's best work. I consider it an early 'proving ground' for much-improved works to come. Frederick Busch is perhaps one of my favorite writers, so I'm glad I got to finally read this one, having read a couple dozen of his later books. Busch died in 2006, a great loss to the world of letters. I will recommend this book to his fans, but perhaps with some reservations, already noted above.

- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER ( )

http://gr4c5.wordpress.com/2007/01/22/breathing-trouble/ ( )