For those readers uninitiated into the world of nose-bleedingly hip, post-post-postmodern contemporary fiction, there are only a few things they need to know, things that can be summed up in just a few sweeping statements.

Postmodern fiction is often confusing, and it often lacks traditional story conventions such as a beginning, a middle and an end. Postmodern fiction is also often daring, experimental and shocking. In fact, sometimes, postmodern fiction can be downright cute. Yes, cute. Like floppy ears on a puppy cute.

This "cuteness" comes from the experimental fiction writer's tendency to use gimmicks and novelties in place of story. Some examples of gimmick usage are: authors publishing their stories entirely on a book's spine, authors telling their stories with self-conscious "footnotes" in their work and authors writing hard-to-catch notes to the reader on the book's copyright page. Call it breaking the fourth wall, or call it literary style over substance. Either way, it can be more distracting than engaging to a reader.

Ben Greenman's short story collection "Superbad" and Curtis White's novel "Requiem" both employ literary gimmicks - but with vastly different results. While "Requiem" is clever and complicated, "Superbad" just seems like it's too clever for its own good.

"Requiem's" structure is loosely based on the "Mass for the Dead," the unfinished requiem by Mozart. Filling out the novel are somewhat-connected stories about death and sex. Chapters include e-mail from a porn star, a mini-play about the death of Mozart, a chapter summary of the Old Testament and fictionalized "letters-to-the-editor."

It is a darkly comic novel, but its comedy doesn't come just from its gimmicks. Sure, it's funny that there's a one-page chapter that consists solely of porn-star e-mails, but the substance of the chapter itself is funny. However, White sometimes gets dangerously close to cute.

Take for example, his chapter on the Book of Samuel: "Chapter 8 - David's wars. 1. There were a lot of them." This joke might be cutesy had 200 pages of dense reading not prefaced it. But, since readings before it is quite substantial and hardly cutesy, by the time White winks at the reader like this, they'll be glad for the break.

"Superbad," on the other hand, survives solely on its gimmicks. The reader can pretty much see the table of contents and figure out most of the jokes: "Fragments of 'Microsoft! The Musical," "What 100 People, Real and Fake, Believe about Delores" and "A Big Fight Scene Between Two Men with the Same Name" are all real names of chapters. "Superbad" is pretty much the book equivalent of a sight gag - its humor relies on the reader never having read anything like it and never reading anything like it again.

Sometimes Greenman's gimmicks are funny enough for the reader to ignore the high novelty factor. Take for example the chapter entitled "Blurbs," which consists of blurbs by reviewers, reviewing an imaginary book written entirely in blurbs. One reviewer writes, "Imagine a cross between the blurbs from 'The Bridges of Madison County' and the blurbs from 'Infinite Jest.'" That's pretty funny. However, another imaginary reviewer writes, "'Blurbs' has the advantage of novelty, but it is not simply a novelty."

With this blurb, Greenman seems to acknowledge that "Superbad's" humor almost completely relies on novelty, and he wants the reader to know he knows it. Unfortunately, just because Greenman knows his book's weaknesses doesn't mean they're okay.

"Superbad" is Greenman's first book, while "Requiem" is White's seventh. Greenman has the potential to be a very funny writer, if experience can stop him from using every cute idea he comes up with.