The Best American Short Stories 2022

 

The Best American Short Stories 2022 is a well curated anthology edited by Andrew Sean Green (guest editor for 2022) & Heidi Pitlor (series editor). Released 1st Nov 2022 by HarperCollins on their Mariner imprint, it's 352 pages and is available in hardcover, paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats.

 This is an extremely engaging and thought provoking anthology of short fiction published in North American magazines in Jan 2021-Jan 2022. It's a wide ranging collection with a darker character and more dystopian feel than in earlier years. It's not a surprise, given the world situation with the pandemic, upheaval, economic uncertainty, and much of the world *literally* on fire as these stories were being born. Nevertheless, gloomy outlooks aside, the quality of the writing is undisputedly top shelf. The authors (many of whom were previously unfamiliar to me) are well versed in the subtleties of their craft. All 20 stories are supremely readable, some of them are sublime. 

The lead story, A Ravishing Sun, by Leslie Blanco, was a definite high point of the anthology and stuck in my mind long after reading. All of the selections were in the 3-5 star range, but that one really stood out for me.

One reason I like collections and anthologies is that short fiction is really challenging.  It's spare and the author doesn't have a wealth of wordage to develop characters or the plotting.  Well written short fiction is a delight. I also love collections because if one story doesn't really grab me, there's another story just a few pages away. The guest editor for this volume provides a well written intro and commentary and, as always, the background comments are interesting and informative. I enjoyed and used the "Other Distinguished Stories of 2021" lists included in the volume for even more good recommendations for further reading. 

Four stars on average. It's a diverting and worthwhile read to be savored like a box of chocolates. This would make a good selection for public library acquisition as well as for home readers looking for a solid anthology of stories which will also likely serve as an introduction to lots of new authors to search out.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.