In Volume I of Everywhere Stories: Short Fiction from a Small Planet, we discovered that it's a dangerous world. We ran from a herd of wild boar in Germany and a biker gang in New Zealand; we fought cancer in Russia and a rogue militia in central Africa; we survived thieves in Costa Rica and Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans; and we endured a terrorist attack in Israel and overzealous security guards in Beijing. The twenty stories in that volume took us to all seven continents and introduced us to the fine work of twenty excellent short story writers.

Putting together Volume...