title: Phone Rings
author:  Stephen Dixon 
description: <i>Starred Review.</i> Dixon's 25th book of fiction takes up the themes of his recent novels <i>I.</i> and <i>Old Friends</i>writerly vicissitudes, spousal care, New Deal-era New York City childhoodhere serving as the backdrop for a story about male sibling bonds. After receiving a phone call telling him his older brother, Danhis mentor, idol and closest friendhas died in a freak running accident, Stu Fine mourns their lives together. Ever the experimenter, Dixon tells Stu and Dan's story episodically, as if carefully scanning snapshots from an unordered box, in long associative paragraphs that slowly accumulate to complete a portrait of their relationship: Dan sticks up for teenage Stu, but disciplines him with a belt. He gets Stu, now out of college, his first good job as a reporter. After Stu's marriage, Dan listens to Stu's mania for his daughters' safety, advises him on what to do with his rickety car and offers sympathy for the challenges of caring for a handicapped wife. The tragic, early deaths of Stu's other siblings, his father's involvement in an abortion scandal (which resulted in a prison sentence and the enduring bitterness of his family) and Dan's adventures as a war correspondent during the Korean War complete the picture. This epic account of the life of a family ranks among Dixon's most ambitious novels. <i>(Oct. 15)</i> <br />Copyright  Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
zlib_text: $16,949.00 By Larry Niven When the phone rings late at night, there is a limit
  to who it can be. I had three guesses as I picked it up: a wrong number (all
  wrong numbers are the same person), or Lois, or-I didn't bother to think his
  name. It isn't his anyway. "Hello?" "Hello," he said. "You know who this is?"
  "Kelsey." It's the name he tells me. "What is it, Kelsey? You're not due for
  another four months." "I need an advance. Are you sitting down?" 'Tm in bed,
  you son of a bitch." Reading a book, but I didn't tell him that. Better he
  should be off balance. "Sorry. I just wanted you braced. I need sixteen
  thousand-" "Bug off!" I slammed the phone down. There was no point in picking
  up the book. He'd call again. Sometimes he waits a few minutes to make me
  nervous. This time the phone started ringing almost immediately, and I
  snatched it up in the same instant and held it to my ear without saying
  anything. It's a kind of bluffing game, a game I always lose. "Kelsey again,
  and I'm not kidd