ONCE UPON A TIMES

I have been slowly savoring your summer reading issue all week (“Storyville,” July 18). It is delicious. There is a need for an easily accessible forum for short stories, and your magazine does it so well. You should include more short fiction in your publication. Keep up the good work. JANA PENDRAGON Long Beach

I always look forward to the summer fiction edition of the magazine, but this time I felt disappointed by your choice of authors and stories. Countless aspiring authors reside right here in Southern California. For them, a story printed in your magazine would be a monumental highlight. Such an offering to the reader would be more valuable than an excerpt of something already published or about to be published anyway. The authors you’ve chosen have already made it to the level of being published. Why not encourage new local writers whose stories are of the same quality, but as of yet have not broken through the publishing wall? LAUREN CLARK Pasadena

Great stories! It was one of the few times the cover story made me open the magazine immediately and start reading. Although I usually can’t read more than one short story at a time (bad digestion, you know), I didn’t put the magazine down until I finished the last story, “Queen”--no small feat considering that I have a 6-year-old and an 8-month-old. MARK WILLIAMS La Canada Flintridge

Truly fine fiction is a scarce commodity, but thanks to your July 18 issue I have made a rare find. In reading “The Kite Messenger” excerpt from Ernest J. Finney’s “Words of My Roaring,” I found myself returning to another time. This work was a visual feast, capturing life’s experience with a sense of commonality. Who among us cannot empathize with Avery? He is young, aware and engaging--living life fully, yet appraising its value all the while. I cannot wait to meet the other characters. PEGGY ZIESSAU Medford, Ore.

RIORDAN RULES Thanks but no thanks to Faye Fiore and Frank Clifford for their article on Mayor Richard Riordan (“And Now for Something Completely Different,” July 11). Somehow their treatment of the mayor smacked of sour grapes that their favored candidate was not elected.

Their cheapest shot was attributing Riordan’s charitable contributions to children’s causes to his “trying to save all of the children since he couldn’t save his own.” Shame on you! No one deserves that type of treatment--especially one who opens up his checkbook for charity. Every town in America could use more Dick Riordans--people who have a charitable spirit and are willing to share their wealth with the less fortunate. DAVID M. JETZKE San Pedro

Overall, I enjoyed the Riordan article, but I was perturbed at the authors’ relentless assault on the mayor’s “contradictions”--the familiar “yeah, but” syndrome. He gives millions to charity--yeah, but only because he feels guilty. He has the metabolism of a hummingbird--yeah, but hummingbirds slam into marble walls at City Hall. He has a restless intelligence--yeah, but he’s so absent-minded that he left his keys in the car at the airport. The authors recognize Riordan as a generous, intelligent, thoughtful man, but that, apparently, is just too good. So they had to wipe a little mud on his off-the-rack suits. Hey, we can’t have these types going around breaking the media stereotypes, can we? ROBERT S. WHITE Lakewood

Riordan wants to run Los Angeles like a business. Imagine that! That may actually require some efficiency in government and accountability on the part of the bloated municipal civil service. L.A.’s new mayor refuses to fit the stereotype of the wealthy, white, middle-aged, country-club Republican who is supposed to disdain minorities and have no compassion. GEORGE DU BOIS Laguna Niguel

Talk about poor losers! You supported the less popular candidate for mayor; therefore, your man lost. And your editorializing away from the editorial page doesn’t help you either. So don’t whimper. Accept the will of the people without bellyaching. E. M. CULP Palos Verdes

How does a philosophical millionaire suffering from “Catholic guilt” manage to obtain an annulment from a wife to whom he has been married for 23 years and who has given birth to his five children? What hypocrisy! JO PAPICH Los Angeles

My husband and one of my children suffer from Tourette’s syndrome, and we are waiting to find out whether our other child is afflicted. The disease is more than its portrayal on “L.A. Law.” It is more than merely a blurted word at an inappropriate time, which fewer than half of its victims experience. I find Fiore and Clifford’s political analogy to Tourette’s syndrome in the poorest of taste. BRONWEN M. COHN Northridge

I am wondering why the authors felt the need to describe Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg as openly gay--like it was a piece of earth-shattering information about her? PEARL KELL Murrieta

DEFICIT GAMES As I read each question of “The Deficit Game” (by Scott Shuger, July 11) and discovered each correct answer, my blood began to boil. Then, realizing that this questionnaire highlights only a tiny fraction of the waste in the federal government, my inclination to blame Congress and its out-of-control spending for the deficit has been cast in stone. As long as Congress continues to pass unnecessary spending programs year after year, I will continue to vote for non-incumbents and support term limitations. Congress must be replaced before outrageous spending programs can be brought to an end. R. JAMES MILLER La Canada Flintridge

One question suggests that the salary of the average federal employee is 55% higher than that of the average American. Where did that idea come from? Federal employees’ salaries are actually 30% lower than those of their counterparts in the private sector. Even using your original basis for comparison, does that 55% difference take into account the higher cost of living and educational level of Washingtonians? For that matter, why focus on Washington employees? Only 10% of federal civilian employees actually work there; the rest are spread across the country in regional and field offices or are overseas. BRIDGET GOODMAN Valencia

Wonderful game! I scored 25 of 30, which ain’t bad, but I can’t believe the answer to Question 29. That would mean that fewer than 12% of homeowners pay interest charges (not monthly mortgage payments) of less than $1,000 per month. Better recheck that one. While you are doing that, consider the difference between the deficit, which the headline deck claims is $4.1 trillion, and the national debt, which is actually that figure. We’re in real financial trouble, but it isn’t quite that bad yet. WILLIAM BRADSHAW San Diego

Shuger responds: The 30% figure mentioned by Goodman, although widely quoted, is false. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the average American’s salary is about $27,000; the Office of Personnel Management says the average Washington-based federal employee earns $43,000. That’s a difference of about 55%. Federal employees who live in Washington are not 55% better educated, nor is Washington 55% more expensive to live in than other locales. The answer to Question 29 should have been (b). The situation is even grimmer than indicated by the answer given. The Congressional Budget Office says that by not capping the mortgage deduction at $12,000 per single return and $20,000 per joint return, the Treasury will miss out on $20.5 billion over the next five years--even though only 5% of all homeowners would pay more tax. For Question 24, the answer should have been (b). President Clinton’s budget proposed a 10.7% increase for the House and Senate, and a 19.2% increase for the judicial branch. Finally, reader Bradshaw’s catch on our headline writer was a good one.

PET ROX Ruth Reichl’s “On the Rox” (July 11) should have been more appropriately titled “Dump on Rox.” I appreciate Hans Rockenwagner’s masterpieces. I can’t keep away from his lamb chop with moussaka, and my favorite dessert, passion fruit parfait. So he does adorn his dishes with fried treats; that doesn’t minimize the delicacies that lie underneath. The health-conscious can eschew such creations or order something more suitable. ALYSSA BREMNER Woodland Hills

Not only is the eclectic food at Rox satisfying, but the visual presentation and service is impeccable as well. I especially enjoy the prawns on a corral of fried potatoes with corn-potato risotto (apparently for all the reasons Reichl did not). I found the potatoes perfectly crisp on the outside and moist and tender on the inside; never did I think of the shrimp as dunking their heads into the risotto--they just tasted good. VANESSA RYAN Beverly Hills

DID RED USE ESP? In his article “Which Way to Chavez Ravine” (June 27), Jim Murray quotes the late Red Smith as saying, upon learning that the left-field wall in the Coliseum would be only 250 feet from home plate, “There goes Babe Ruth’s record! Also Roger Maris’!” Since Maris did not set his home run record until four years after the left-field wall was installed in the Coliseum, it is highly improbable that Smith made such a statement. In fact, by the time Maris did set his home run record, the Dodgers had already played their last game in the Coliseum. DAVID P. MIKKELSON Agoura Hills

Jim Murray responds: Oops! Red Smith was good but not clairvoyant. I guess I just overquoted him.