An annual collection of the twenty best contemporary short stories selected by series editor Laura Furman from hundreds of literary magazines, The O. Henry Prize Stories 2008 is studded with extraordinary settings and characters: a teenager in survivalist Alaska, the seed keeper of a doomed Chinese village, a young woman trying to save her life in a Ukrainian internet café. Also included are the winning writers' comments on what inspired them, a short essay from each of the three eminent jurors, and an extensive resource list of literary magazines.Introduction Laura Furman, Series Editor
A Composer and His Parakeets Ha Jin, Zoetrope
Other People's Deaths Lore Segal, The New Yorker
Village 113 Anthony Doerr, Tin House
A Change in Fashion Steven Millhauser, Harper's Magazine
The Transitional Object Sheila Kohler, Boulevard
On the Lake Olaf Olafsson, Zoetrope
Taiping Brittani Sonnenberg, xconnect
What Do You Want to Know For? Alice Munro, The American Scholar
The Necessity of Certain Behaviors Shannon Cain, New England Review