The Best American Short Stories is the longest running and best-selling series of short fiction in the country. For the centennial celebration of this beloved annual series, master of the form Lorrie Moore selects forty stories from the more than two thousand that were published in previous editions. Series editor Heidi Pitlor recounts behind-the-scenes anecdotes and examines, decade by decade, the trends captured over a hundred years. Together, the stories and commentary offer an extraordinary guided tour through a century of literature with what Moore calls "all its wildnesses of...

"What you'll find in this volume are stories that demonstrate a mastery of plotting; stories that compel you to keep turning the pages because of plot and because of setting; stories that wield suspense like a sword; stories of people getting their comeuppance; stories that utilize superb point of view; stories that plumb one particular and unfortunate attribute of a character," promises guest editor Elizabeth George in her introduction. The Best American Mystery Stories 2016 is a feast of both literary crime and hard-boiled detection, featuring a seemingly innocent murderer, a drug...

From quiet, elegiac, contemporary tales to far-future, deep-space sagas, the stories chosen by series editor John Joseph Adams and guest editor Karen Joy Fowler for The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2016 demonstrate the vast spectrum of what science fiction and fantasy aims to illuminate, displaying the full gamut of the human experience, interrogating our hopes and our fears--of not just what we can accomplish or destroy as a person, but what we can accomplish or destroy as a people--and throwing us into strange new worlds that can only be explored...

"The literary 'Oscars' features twenty outstanding examples of the best of the best in American short stories." --Shelf Awareness for Readers

The Best American Short Stories 2016 will be selected by Pulitzer Prize winner Junot Diaz. He brings "one of the most distinctive and magnetic voices in contemporary fiction: limber, streetwise, caffeinated and wonderfully eclectic" (Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times) to the collection.

For more than twenty-five years, The Best American Sports Writing has curated the year's finest sports journalism. Continuing the tradition in a long line of notable guest editors is Rick Telander, acclaimed journalist, author, and champion of the written word. His choices are defined by one shared thread: effort, on the part of athletes and writers alike. The physical strength it takes to play professional hockey and football, or for a forty-two-year-old writer to learn how to dunk in six months. The mental and emotional toughness needed to turn around a losing team, or to...

Science writers get into the game with all kinds of noble, high-minded ambitions. We want to educate. To enlighten," notes guest editor Amy Stewart in her introduction to The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2016. "But at the end of the day, we're all writers . . . We're here to play for the folks." The writers in this anthology brought us the year's highest notes in the genre. From a Pulitzer Prize-winning essay on the earthquake that could decimate the Pacific Northwest to the astonishing work of investigative journalism that transformed the nail salon industry, this is a...

-The Best American Travel Writing has been the gold standard for short-form travel writing from newspapers, magazines, and the Internet since its inception.- --New York Times Book Review

Everyone travels for different reasons, but whatever those reasons are, one thing is certain--they come back with stories. Each year, the best of those stories are collected in The Best American Travel Writing, curated by one of the top writers in the field, and each year they -open a window onto the strange, seedy and beautiful world, offering readers glimpses into...

"Undeniably exquisite . . . Reveal s] not only how science actually happens but also who or what propels its immutable humanity." --Maria Popova

"An excellent introduction to the key issues in science today." --P. D. Smith, Guardian

" A] stellar compendium . . . Delightful to read." --Publishers Weekly, starred review

A renowned scientist and the best-selling author of Lab Girl, Hope Jahren selects the year's top science and nature writing from writers who balance research with humanity and in the process uncover riveting...

"A venerable series . . . there isn't enough Xanax in anyone's medicine cabinet to calm the jitters these twenty skillful stories will unleash." --Kirkus Reviews

Number-one New York Times best-selling author John Sandford--"one of the great summer-read novelists of all time" (Stephen King, Entertainment Weekly)--selects the best mystery writing of the year that "will have you on the edge of your seat" (USA Today).