Scribners Best of the Fiction Workshops 1997

The Most exciting and innovative voices in North American Fiction today

Culled from nearly one hundred prestigious writing programs around the United States and Canada, these twenty-two new and groundbreaking stories represent the finest output of the next generation of North American fiction writers. The pieces, selected by best-selling guest editor Alice Hoffman, range from the comic to the macabre and encompass such themes as family loyalty, substance abuse, and religious identity. There are coming-of-age stories and stories about death and dying in such varied settings as rural farmland, post-Communist Prague, and a Japanese high-speed train. Scribner's best of the Fiction Workshops is a must not only for students and teachers of writing, but for all short story lovers who are looking for fresh, stimulating, and unpredictable storytelling.

Publishers Weekly

While it is often argued that real writers are born, not taught, this collection of stories chosen from 100 workshops goes far to disprove that shibboleth. Though the subject matter does tend to the contemporary American domestic theme, there are 22 different treatments, 22 distinctive styles. Few writers have opted for traditional integrated plots, and this can be tricky since experimentation requires a great deal of authorial conviction to succeed. In some works here, the reader isn't quite sure what the writer has in mind-save for the accumulation of words. Many others, however, have some outstanding feature-the fine prose of Julie Rold's Bloodlines and Jon Billman's Kerr's Fault, the subtle characterization of Caroline Cheng's Consolation and George Rogers's Living Near Canada. Some truly fine stories would stand out in any collection. Camie Kim's Cartography portrays a child of the 1960s who is now trying to understand her own inscrutable daughter. Andrew Foster Altschul's The One Life describes the cozily circumscribed nightmare of heroin addiction so perfectly that readers may feel inclined to check their arms for tracks. The first in a projected annual series, this collection offers struggling writers inspiration and discouraged readers hope. (Feb.)