Desperation Road by Michael Farris Smith Lee Boudreaux Books/Little Brown and Company, $26.00, 287 pages, ISBN 978-0-316-35303-8 Some writers have such a firm understanding of their sense of place and are able to write about it with such authenticity, that the reader is transported there in mind as she or he processes the printed words . . . almost seeing, hearing, and touching the people, places and events of