Best of the West 2011: New Stories from the Wide Side of the Missouri

Best of the West: New Stories from the Wide Side of the Missouri, an annual anthology of exceptional short fiction rooted in the western United States, debuted in 1988 and continued publication until 1992. Recognizing that the West remains rewarding territory for literary explorations, James Thomas and D. Seth Horton revived the series in 2009. Best of the West 2011: New Stories from the Wide Side of the Missouri is the latest volume in what has become one of the nation's most important anthologies. Editors Horton and Thomas have chosen twenty stories by writers including Rick Bass, T. C. Boyle, Ron Carlson, Philipp Meyer, Dagoberto Gilb, Yiyun Li, Antonya Nelson, and Sam Shepard. Subjects vary from an Idaho family that breeds lions and tigers with disastrous results, to a Mormon veteran whose mind is taken over by a nineteenth-century consciousness, to a Texas boy who spends an afternoon with Bonnie and Clyde shortly before their deaths. Taken together, these stories suggest that the West has become one of the most exciting and diverse literary regions in the twenty-first century.

Table of Contents:
Editor's Note, D. Seth Horton Foreword, Ana Castillo Coach, from The Idaho Review, by Rick Bass The Silence, from The Atlantic, by T. C. Boyle Escape from Prison, from Tin House, by Ron Carlson Bonnie and Clyde in the Backyard, from Glimmer Train, by K. L. Cook Melinda, from The Kenyon Review, by Judy Doenges Uncle Rock, from The New Yorker, by Dagoberto Gilb Drive, from The Gettysburg Review, by Aaron Gwyn Looking for Boll Weevil, from From the Hilltop, by Toni Jensen Two Years, from Narrative, by Tim Johnston Same as It Was When You Left, from The Bat City Review, by Alyssa Knickerbocker Nevada, from The Southern Humanities Review, by Kate Krautkramer Lunch Across the Bridge, from The Antioch Review, by Peter Lasalle Alone, from The New Yorker, by Yiyun Li Horn Hunter, from The Antioch Review, by Michael J. Macleod What You Do Out Here, When You're Alone, from The New Yorker, by Philipp Meyer iff, from Tin House, by Antonya Nelson Creatures of the Kingdom, from Epoch, by Stephanie Reents Five Shorts, from Day Out of Days: Stories, by Sam Shepard Opposition in All Things, from Ecotone, by Shawn Vestal The Last Thing We Need, from Granta, by Claire Vaye Watkins Other Notable Western Stories of the Year Publications Reviewed Notes on Contributors Credits

About the Author :
James Thomas coedited (with Denise Thomas) the first five volumes of Best of the West: New Stories from the Wide Side of the Missouri. He has taught fiction at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City and at Baylor University in Waco, Texas.