Pages magazine says this collection represents "the absolute best in short literary fiction." This installment exhibits a fresh batch of immensely talented writers, all of whom exemplify the level of accomplishment that has kept this acclaimed series running strong since 1985. Comprising 20 stories, this rich and varied collection features everything from a fresh take on the classic Southern gothic to a velvet-smooth work of erotic suspense.
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" This collection of short stories was alright. I wasn't terribly impressed by any of them. I did like how the author gave a short description of the origin or impulse behind each story, because that's something I'm always curious about. "
— Sarah, 3/5/2013" Why is it I find short stories simply end, instead of having a satisfying conclusion? "
— Shelley, 2/25/2011" This collection of short stories was alright. I wasn't terribly impressed by any of them. I did like how the author gave a short description of the origin or impulse behind each story, because that's something I'm always curious about. "
— Sarah, 1/23/2011Allan Gurganus lives in a small town in North Carolina. The title novella of this book won the National Magazine Prize. His other honors include the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Southern Book Prize, and the Sue Kaufman Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Carol Monda is an Earphones Award–winning narrator and accomplished voice-over artist. She is also an award-winning actor known for her work in Out of Season, After You Left, and The Gentlemen.
Dion Graham is an award-winning narrator named a “Golden Voice” by AudioFile magazine. He has been a recipient of the prestigious Audie Award numerous times, as well as Earphones Awards, the Publishers Weekly Listen Up Awards, IBPA Ben Franklin Awards, and the ALA Odyssey Award. He was nominated in 2015 for a Voice Arts Award for Outstanding Narration. He is also a critically acclaimed actor who has performed on Broadway, off Broadway, internationally, in films, and in several hit television series. He is a graduate of Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts, with an MFA degree in acting.
Ed Sala has narrated dozens of audio books throughout his career. His readings include Harlan Coben’s Tell No One, Stephen Sears’ Gettysburg, and Cormac MacCarthy’s Outer Dark.
Sisi Johnson is “a storyteller for a storyteller’s story.” From folksy to urban, her warm blend of bite and sweetness wrapped in an accessible narration style sets the right tone in such award winning books as Francie and Feathers, and notable books like Romiette & Julio, for which she received the AudioFile Earphones Award, and Dr. Mr. President: Letter from a Slave Girl, for which she was selected to be an Audie Award finalist. A long time resident of New York City, she now resides in Los Angeles and happily travels between the two amazing metropolises.
Pete Bradbury has appeared both on and off-Broadway and at many of the leading regional theaters across the country in plays ranging from Shakespeare and Molière to Edward Albee and David Mamet. He has also been seen on the CBS miniseries Sally Hemings. A former company member of the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, Bradbury received his training in their three-year advanced program. He lives in New York City with his family.
Cynthia Darlow’s unusual voice makes her devotion to the spoken arts a natural fit. As a narrator and veteran of Broadway, off-Broadway, regional theater, film, and television, her characterizations and facility with dialects are unforgettable. Her audiobook narrations have earned her seven AudioFile Earphones Awards. She is a member of The Actors Company Theatre (TACT), whose mission it is to present concert performances of long-neglected, language-driven plays.
Nancy Wu has narrated audiobooks since 2004, winning three AudioFile Earphones Awards. A New York theater, television, and film actor, she has recorded in studios all over the world—from Italy to Switzerland to Thailand. Her credits include Law & Order, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Hope & Faith, All My Children, Made for Each Other, and the Oscar-nominated film Frozen River.
L. J. Ganser is a multiple Audie Award–winning narrator with over six hundred titles recorded to date. Prized for versatility, his work ranges from preschool books to crime noir thrillers, from astronomical adventures in both science and science fiction, to Arctic Circle high school basketball stories. He lives in New York City with his family and dog, Mars.
George Guidall, winner of more than eighty AudioFile Earphones Awards, has won three of the prestigious Audie Award for Excellence in Audiobook Narration. In 2014 the Audio Publishers Association presented him with the Special Achievement Award for lifetime achievement/ During his thirty-year recording career he has recorded over 1,700 audiobooks, won multiple awards, been a mentor to many narrators, and shown by example the potential of fine storytelling. His forty-year acting career includes starring roles on Broadway, an Obie Award for best performance off Broadway, and frequent television appearances.
Johnny Heller, winner of numerous Earphones and Audie Awards, was named a “Golden Voice” by AudioFile magazine in 2019. He has been a Publishers Weekly Listen-Up Award winner from 2008 through 2013 and he has been named a top voice of 2008 and 2009 and selected as one of the Top 50 Narrators of the Twentieth Century by AudioFile magazine.
Tavia Gilbert is an acclaimed narrator of more than four hundred full-cast and multivoice audiobooks for virtually every publisher in the industry. Named the 2018 Voice of Choice by Booklist magazine, she is also winner of the prestigious Audie Award for best narration. She has earned numerous Earphones Awards, a Voice Arts Award, and a Listen-Up Award. Audible.com has named her a Genre-Defining Narrator: Master of Memoir. In addition to voice acting, she is an accomplished producer, singer, and theater actor. She is also a producer, singer, photographer, and a writer, as well as the cofounder of a feminist publishing company, Animal Mineral.