The Best American Short Stories 2003

Katrina Kenison

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2003 - Fiction - 384 pages

Since its inception in 1915, the Best American series has become the premier annual showcase for the country's finest short fiction and nonfiction. For each volume, a series editor reads pieces from hundreds of periodicals, then selects between fifty and a hundred outstanding works. That selection is pared down to twenty or so very best pieces by a guest editor who is widely recognized as a leading writer in his or her field. This unique system has helped make the Best American series the most respected -- and most popular -- of its kind.
Lending a fresh perspective to a perennial favorite, Walter Mosley has chosen unforgettable short stories by both renowned writers and exciting newcomers. The Best American Short Stories 2003 features poignant tales that explore the nuances of family life and love, birth and death. Here are stories that will, as Mosley writes in his introduction, "live with the reader long after the words have been translated into ideas and dreams. That's because a good short story crosses the borders of our nations and our prejudices and our beliefs."

Dorothy Allison Edwidge Danticat E. L. Doctorow Louise Erdrich Adam Haslett ZZ Packer Mona Simpson Mary Yukari Waters

Contents

• Rationing from Missouri Review: 1
• Mines from Zoetrope: 16
• Coins from Harpers Magazine: 28
• Heaven Lake from The Harvard Review: 38
• Kavita Through Glass from Tin House: 51
• Ghost Knife from Ploughshares: 62
• MarieAnges Ginen from Callaloo: 80
• Moriya from Ontario Review: 91
• Every Tongue Shall Confess from Ploughshares: 113
• Future Emergencies from Esquire: 128
• Devotion from The Yale Review: 140
• Why the Shy Turns Red When the Sun Goes Down from Tin House: 155
• Shamengwa from The New Yorker: 173
• The Shell Collector from The Chicago Review: 189
• Baby Wilson from The New Yorker: 214
• Night Talkers from Callaloo: 233
• Johnny Hamburger from Esquire: 253
• The Bees from McSweeneys: 268
• Space from The Georgia Review: 286
• Compassion from Tin House: 297
• Contributors Notes: 327
• 100 Other Distinguished Stones of 2002: 341
• Editorial Addresses of American and Canadian Magazines Publishing Short Stones: 345

About the author

Walter Mosley was born in Los Angeles, California on January 12, 1952. He graduated from Johnson State College in Vermont. His first book, Devil in a Blue Dress, was published in 1990, won a John Creasy Award for best first novel, and was made into a motion picture starring Denzel Washington in 1995. He is the author of the Easy Rawlins Mystery series, the Leonid McGill Mystery series, and the Fearless Jones series. His other works include Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned, 47, Last Days of Ptolemy Grey, and Twelve Steps toward Political Revelation. He has received numerous awards, including an O. Henry Award, the Carl Brandon Society Parallax Award, and PEN America's Lifetime Achievement Award.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Best American Short Stories 2003; Best American Series
• Author: Katrina Kenison
• Editors: Walter Mosley, Katrina Kenison
• Contributor: Walter Mosley
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2003
• ISBN: 0618197338, 9780618197330
• Length: 384 pages
• Subjects: Fiction / Anthologies (multiple authors); Fiction / Mystery & Detective / Collections & Anthologies; Literary Collections / American / General; Literary Collections / Essays