New American Stories - Softcover

'A landmark collection... It's a book o wrestle with as well as enjoy; one that forces you to assess and reassess your own sense of what makes a story any good - even of what makes a story a story. At once absolutely contemporary and timeless' -- Guardian

'A generous and beautifully designed brick of an anthology... Audacious and exuberant... It's a well-weighted collectionconfidently establishing a centre of gravity for American fiction' -- Independent

'Marcus is a writer of prodigious talent' -- New York Times Book Review

A vibrant and disturbing collection' -- New Statesman

'A wealth of fine writing' -- Irish Examiner

'Marcus's volume is a high octane affair... by the end of the anthology we are left excited by all that is taking place across the Atlantic' -- Irish Independent

'There's something here to delight everyone' -- TLS

'An electrifying odd piece of curation, corralling 32 stories from the post-9/11 age' -- Daily Telegraph

'Ben Marcus is the rarest kind of writer: a necessary one. It's become impossible to imagine the literary world--the world itself--without his daring, mind-bending and heartbreaking writing' --Jonathan Safran Foer

'A snapshot of the past decade from across the pond' --Books of the Year, Independent

The short story is a barometer for the state and shape of literature. New American Stories presents the boldest, most innovative and most resonant fiction coming out of the American literary scene. Ben Marcus, author of The Flame Alphabet and Leaving the Sea, has here curated an anthology that gives the lay of the literary land. From established masters of the form like Don DeLillo and Lydia Davis to neoteric trailblazers such as Rebecca Curtis and Rachel B. Glaser, this collection sees Marcus trying to 'prove that the distinctions we erect between styles and approaches to fiction can be essentially meaningless'. The result is a must-read, must-own volume for readers of literary fiction.