Essays in this set are organised into three categories: Theories, Themes & Types, History of Short Fiction, and Short Fiction Around the World. New overviews include Experimental Short Fiction, Twenty-first Century Short Fiction, and Spanish Short Fiction.

This volume brings together in one place all the appendices and indices. It includes a chronological and geographical index of writers and essays, a categorised index, a subject index, a list of major awards, a list of web resources and a complete bibliography.