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Columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer STEVE LOPEZ. He's just written his first novel, "Third and Indiana" (Viking) about life in Philadelphia's "Badlands." The origin of the story is a two-paragraph item LOPEZ read in the paper about a 14 year-old boy shot and killed on a drug corner in North Philadelphia. LOPEZ was disturbed by the casualness and brevity of the report. Terry talks with LOPEZ about his new book, and about his popular columns. LOPEZ was last on Fresh Air when he talked about the hate mail he'd received for his columns about the Gulf War.

2: Attorney and writer MARY FRANCES BERRY. She's also a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, and a professor of history and law at the University of Pennsylvania. She was formerly the assistant secretary for education in the Dept. of Health, Education and Welfare. She's written a new book about the tradition of "mother-care" in our society, the notion that women have prinicipal responsibility for childcare. The book is, "The Politics of Parenthood: Child Care, Women's Rights, and the Myth of the Good Mother," (Viking). BERRY argues that women have not always traditionally been responsible for taking care of children, but that society has become accustomed to the arrangement and the existing power structure reinforces it.

Science fiction writer OCTAVIA BUTLER. Because she is black and female, she's considered an atypical science fiction writer. She's won the Hugo and Nebula Awards, science fiction's two most prestigious awards. Butler often describes her work as "speculative fiction" rather than science fiction. She says, "Science fiction, extrasensory perception, and black people are judged by the worst elements they produce." Her main characters are usually black women, and the fictional world they inhabit are racially diverse. BUTLER has written nine novels. Her tenth one is the new "Parable of the Sower," (Four Walls Eight Windows).

2: Colombian journalist MARIA JIMENA DUZAN helped expose the connection between Colombia's drug traffickers and the nation's military in 1988. DUZAN and her paper, El Espectador, were the targets of death threats and attacks. By 1990 all of the members of the paper's former investigative unit were either dead or in exile. DUZAN went into exile, but her sister, a documentary film maker, was murdered. DUZAN returned to Columbia in 1992. She has a new book, "Death Beat: A Colombian Journalist's Life Inside the Cocaine Wars." (HarperCo

Classical music critic LLOYD SCHWARTZ reviews the original cast recording for Roger & Hammerstein''s "South Pacific." (on Sony).

DAVID BIANCULLI reviews the new "Bonanza" telemovie.

2: Actor MICHAEL CAINE. He's made over 70 films, from "Alfie" to "Sleuth" to "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" and "Hannah and Her Sisters." Caine has worked with such esteemed directors as Brian DePalma, John Huston, and Woody Allen. His autobiography, "What's It All About?" (Random House) is coming out in paperback in January of 19

Rock Critic KEN TUCKER reviews the Rolling Stones new album, "Voodoo Lounge (Virgin)."

Jazz critic KEVIN WHITEHEAD reviews the debut recording of Abraham Burton, "Closest to the Sun" (Enja Records).

2: Actor and director GARY SINISE (suh-NEESE). He was a founding member of Chicago's Steppenwolf Theater Company and is best known for his starring role in the Tony-award winning production of "The Grapes of Wrath." Sinise's latest project is as producer, director, and star of the new film "Of Mice and Men," which also stars John Malkovich. The screenplay, written by Horton Foote, is based on the John Steinbeck novel.REBROADCAST. Originally aired 9/24/92.

Classical music critic LLOYD SCHWARTZ reviews the new recording of the work of composer Elliot Carter.

Commentatator Maureen Corrigan on the return of the "dirty" book: Robert Olen Butler''s "They Whisper" (Henry Holt) and Nicholson Baker''s "The Fermata" (Random