First published 2006
This collection opens the anthology's third decade with guest editor Allan Gurganus selecting twenty diverse tales from 2005. A hunting dog becomes the subject of communal devotion in one story. A newly wealthy retiree attempts to control a Hollywood production while watching his trophy wife gravitate toward each young screenwriter who crosses their path. A Virginia slave woman faces execution by fire after accusations of witchcraft consume her community. The volume pairs established voices like Tony Earley, Wendell Berry, and George Singleton with emerging writers including Keith Lee Morris, Erin Brooks Worley, and J. D. Chapman. Their narratives span from raucous comedy to erotic thriller territory. Gurganus argues that the South, the only American region to wage war against all others, may have lost its bid for independence but won the nation's most authentic storytelling tradition.
Genres: short-stories, anthologies, american-fiction, 21st-century
Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: ensemble-cast, historical-drama
Setting: Virginia, Hollywood
Period: 2005
364 pages · Paperback · Algonquin Books
Content warnings: slavery, violence