“Other Worlds so seamlessly traverses the boundaries of time, of nationality, and of genre that such boundaries seem diaphanous,” noted the judges. “This fleet-footed collection is both rooted in oral and literary traditions and yet entirely contemporary. Being many things at once, full of sly innovations, and quietly upending conventions, Other Worlds is wholly original and wholly itself.” Read more
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The stories in Lauren Groff’s third collection, “Brawler,” largely feature people who’ve hit crisis points in their lives: the abusive partner, the natural disaster, the relapse, the deathbed. This is as it ought to be with short stories, which have to make their points in a relative hurry. Groff, a perpetual bestseller, is gifted at that: Her previous collection, “Florida,” was a National Book Award finalist, along with two of her other books that earned the honor. Read more
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Readers who enjoy the imaginative yet unsettling horror of John Langan and Ananda Lima should bask in the uncanny visions of Compton’s haunting tales. It is a solid collection with no weak stories. Read more
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The Story Prize is an annual book award established in 2004 that honors the author of an outstanding collection of short fiction with a $20,000 cash award. Each of two runners-up receives $5,000. Read more
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Mavis Gallant wrote short stories full of brutal humor that examined the hell of other people. Read more
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Dino Buzzati was a prolific writer of stories, publishing several hundred over the course of forty years. Many of them are fantastic—reminiscent of Kafka and Poe in their mixture of horror and absurdity, and at the same time anticipating the alternate realities of The Twilight Zone or Black Mirror in their chilling commentary on the barbarities, catastrophes, and fanaticisms of the twentieth century. Read more
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The volume is shot through with genuine pathos and astute social commentary, and Reyes shifts effortlessly from absurdism to satire to sci-fi. These dynamic tales herald the arrival of a promising new talent. Read more
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Watson’s stories—those in the volumes published in his lifetime and the new ones—are wry, tender, darkly funny, and deeply idiosyncratic. Read more
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Continuing a century-long tradition of cutting-edge literary excellence, this year’s edition contains twenty prizewinning stories chosen from the thousands published in magazines over the previous year. Guest editor Amor Towles has brought his own refreshing perspective to the prize, selecting stories by an engaging mix of celebrated names and emerging voices. Read more
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The Hive and The Honey is a collection of astonishing breadth, offering a panoramic portrait of Korean diaspora, of lives rescued from the margins of history. These characters reveal themselves most acutely through intimate gestures, moments that infuse the ordinary with lasting wonder and could only be achieved by a writer as patient, curious, and masterful as Paul Yoon… Read more
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