I love short stories and look forward to the each year’s edition of the Best American Short Stories comes out. Each year there is a different editor and it is interesting to see what they pick. Also interesting is that each of the authors gets a short bio section and an opportunity to talk about the story. It’s amazing how long these authors have been perfecting their craft and how educated they are. I think the competition is intense for an author to get their works published. Also interesting is what the author’s say about the chosen stories. Some of the stories are worked over and over for years. Others are images they had in their heads and they have been gestating for a time as a story comes out of the image.

I love it, generally. This year I have to say the stories as a whole were a little disappointing. I look for things to happen in stories and in too many of these stories not a whole lot happened. Still I’m glad I read it and am looking forward to the next edition. I give this three stars out of five.