In her introduction to The Best American Short Stories 2021, guest editor Jesmyn Ward says that the best fiction offers the reader a "sense of repair." The stories in this year's collection accomplish just that, immersing the reader in powerfully imagined worlds and allowing them to bring some of that power into their own lives. From a stirring portrait of Rodney King's final days to a surreal video game set in the Middle East, with real consequences,...

Collects two novels and thirteen short stories by American writer Patricia Highsmith, including "Strangers on a Train" in which successful architect Guy Haines is harassed on a train by Charles Bruno, who offers to kill Haines' estranged wife if Haines will in turn kill Bruno's father--and then goes on to carry out the unconfirmed bargain.

We know of no better introduction to the spiritual vision of one of the greatest writers of all time. This anthology vividly reveals – as none of his novels, novellas, short stories, plays, or essays could on its own – the great Russian novelist's fascination with the life and teachings of Jesus and the gospel themes of betrayal and forgiveness, sacrifice and redemption, death and resurrection. Drawn from War and Peace, Anna Karenina, Resurrection,...

Twenty of the best American short stories of 2011, chosen by the New York Times bestselling author of The Secret Chord. The twenty tightly crafted stories collected here by Pulitzer Prize–winning author Geraldine Brooks are full of deftly drawn characters, universal truths, and often surprising humor. Richard Powers's "To the Measures Fall" is a comic meditation on the uses of literature in the course of a life. In the satirical "The Sleep,"...

First published in 1908, this volume contains a collection of short stories and anecdotes compiled for use by public speakers, as well as sections on useful skills for the orator including pausing, impersonation, pronunciation, imagination, etc. Grenville Kleiser (1868-1953) was a North American author best remembered for his many inspirational and motivational books, especially those related to oration and self development. He also worked as a Public...

Selected Short Stories is a collection of some of F. Scott Fitzgerald's most memorable and thought-provoking works. Published in 1931, the collection includes several of his best-known stories, such as "The Diamond as Big as the Ritz," "Bernice Bobs Her Hair," and "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." These stories explore themes of social class, love, loss, and the search for meaning in a rapidly changing world. Fitzgerald's writing style is characterized...

A key figure in the development of American literature, Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–1864) is best remembered as the author of The Scarlet Letter. The New England native also wrote scores of short stories, many of them reflecting his Puritan heritage in their preoccupation with evil, guilt, and sin. Rich in allegorical detail and symbolic imagery, Hawthorne's darkly romantic tales are characterized by the struggle for freedom from social conventions....

It is universally acknowledged that Leo Tolstoy, author of War and Peace and Anna Karenina, was as much a master of the short story as of the full-length novel. This original collection, which features some of his most hard-to-find tales, will enchant longtime enthusiasts of Tolstoy's work as well as new readers. "The Forged Coupon" traces how an act of deception leads to both murder and redemption. "After the Dance" depicts an army deserter's punishment...

In 1913, Rabindranath Tagore became the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, and he remains one of the most important voices of Bengali culture to this day. These short stories, written mostly in the 1890s, vividly portray Bengali life and culture. Tagore's treatment of caste culture, bureaucracy and poverty paint a vivid portrait of nineteenth-century India, and all are interwoven with Tagore's perceptive eye for detail, strong...