FICTION

EARTHLY JUSTICE by E. S. Goldman (TriQuarterly Books: $17.95; 200 pp.). The author of this remarkable collection of short stories is a 77-year-old retired businessman. He was captain of the first all-black crew of a Navy minesweeper in World War II; then, after a career in advertising, he moved to Cape Cod and ran a small import business for several years. Not content to simply retire, he has turned to writing fiction. Seldom do short stories leave the reader with so much to think about. The title story tackles a moral issue in which any answer is wrong. Then there is the story in which a man arranges to get even, after death, for his wife’s suspected infidelity--except that he had the facts all wrong. The characters are ordinary, their concerns universal, and their behavior satisfyingly bizarre.