Miranda Weber is a hot mess. In Paula Whyman's debut collection of stories, we find her hoarding duct tape to ward off terrorists, stumbling into a drug run with a crackhead, and--frequently--enduring the bad behavior of men. A drivers' education class pulsing with racial tension is the unexpected context of her sexual awakening. As she comes of age, and in the three decades that follow, the potential for violence always hovers nearby. She's haunted...