The Best American Short Stories 2018

Other Distinguished Stories of 2017

ADICHIE, CHIMAMANDA NGOZI,

Details. McSweeney’s Quarterly, no. 50.

ALEXIE, SHERMAN

A Vacuum Is a Space Entirely Devoid of Matter. Narrative Magazine.

BERNARD, REBECCA

This Is Us Being Alive. Meridian, no. 38.

BOYLE, T. C.

Warrior Jesus. Narrative Magazine.

BROWN, JASON

Instructions to the Living from the Condition of the Dead. Missouri Review, vol. 40, no. 1.

BYNUM, SARAH SHUN-LIEN

Julia and Sunny. Ploughshares, vol. 43, no. 2.

Likes. The New Yorker, October 9.

CARSON, ANNE

Eddy. Paris Review, no. 221.

CELONA, MARJORIE

Counterblast. Southern Review, vol. 53, no. 2.

CLINE, EMMA

Northeast Regional. The New Yorker, April 10.

CROUSE, DAVID

A Wrong in the World. Sycamore Review, vol. 28, issue 2.

DJANIKIAN, ARIEL

The Assailant. Alaska Quarterly Review, vol. 34, nos. 1 & 2.

DOKEY, RICHARD

The Good Earth Grocery. AlaskaQuarterly Review, vol. 33, nos. 3 & 4.

EHTESHAM-ZADEH, SUZI

The Baboon. Fiction International, no. 50.

EISENBERG, EMMA COPLEY

Sundays. Electric Literature, no. 287.

EISMAN, BEN

Goombahs. Sewanee Review, vol. CXXV, no. 3.

EKWUYASI, FRANCESCA

Children of the Light Fellowship. Transition, no. 123.

ESCOFFERY, JONATHAN

In Flux. Passages North, no. 38.

FAJARDO-ANSTINE, KALI

All Her Names. The American Scholar, Summer 2016.

FERRIS, JOSHUA

Life in the Heart of the Dead. Ploughshares, vol. 43, no. 1.

FOOT, KIM COLEMAN

How to Kill Gra’ Coleman and Live to Tell About It (Vauxhall, NJ c. 1949). Missouri Review, vol. 40, no. 3.

GARSON, SCOTT

West Seventh and Burn Hill Road. Threepenny Review, no. 152.

GIDDINGS, MEGAN

Brittle. Arts and Letters, no. 34.

GILBERT, DAVID

Underground. The New Yorker, February 6.

GOODMAN, ALLEGRA

F.A.Q.s. The New Yorker, September 11.

GREENFELD, KARL TARO

We Not Die. Kenyon Review, vol. XXXIX, no. 5.

GREENMAN, BEN

Right Angles. ZYZZYVA, no. 109.

GROFF, LAUREN

Dogs Go Wolf. The New Yorker, August 28.

GYASI, YAA

Leaving Gotham City. Granta, no. 139.

HAGENSTON, BECKY

In the Museum of Tense Moments. Greensboro Review, no. 102.

HAN, AH-REUM

The Ninki-Nanka. StoryQuarterly, no. 50.

HENDERSON, SMITH

Muscles. Ploughshares, vol. 43, no. 1.

HOFFMAN, DUSTIN M.

Scraps on Fire. Washington Square Review, no. 39.

HUNT, SAMANTHA

A Love Story. The New Yorker, May 22.

HUYNH, PHILIP

The Forbidden Purple City. Event, vol. 46, no. 2.

ISKANDRIAN, KRISTEN

The Taster. Ploughshares, vol. 43, no. 1.

JAMES, TANIA

The Liberator. Freeman’s, Fall.

JOHNSON, DANA

Like Other People. ZYZZYVA, no. 11.

JONES, MATT

The Changeling. Ruminate, no. 45.

JULY, MIRANDA

The Metal Bowl. The New Yorker, September 4.

KHONG, RACHEL

My Dear You. Tin House, vol. 18, no. 4.

KINDERVATTER-CLARK, CAITLIN

Runway. Alaska Quarterly Review, vol. 34, nos. 1 & 2.

KUMARASAMY, AKIL

New World. Harper’s, August.

LACHAPELLE, MARY

Saab Story. Passages North, no. 38.

LANSBURGH, MATTHEW

Outside Is the Ocean. Ecotone, no. 23.

LAVALLE, VICTOR

Spectral Evidence. Ploughshares, vol. 43, no. 2.

LEE, HELEN ELAINE

Blood Knot. Ploughshares, vol. 43, no. 1.

LEEGANT, JOAN

The Book of Splendor. Ascent.

LI, YIYUN

On the Street Where You Live. The New Yorker, January 9.

LOPEZ, BARRY

The Race Goes to the Swiftest. Iowa Review, vol. 46, no. 3.

MACHADO, CARMEN MARIA

Blur. Tin House, vol. 18, no. 4.

Eight Bites. Gulf Coast, vol. 28, no. 2.

MACKIN, WILL

Crossing the River No Name. The New Yorker, June 5 & 12.

MAHAJAN, KARAN

The Anthology. Granta, no. 139.

MAKSIK, ALEXANDER

The Old Masters. Sewanee Review, vol. CXXV, no. 3.

MARCUS, BEN

Blueprints for St. Louis. The New Yorker, October 2.

MCCRACKEN, ELIZABETH

A Walk-Through Human Heart. Zoetrope: All-Story, vol. 20, no. 4.

MCGRANAHAN, MAUREEN

Stylites Anonymous. Cincinnati Review, vol. 14, no. 1.

MCGRAW, ERIN

Ava Gardner Goes Home. Sewanee Review, vol. CXXV, no. 2.

MCNETT, MOLLY

The Final Words to the Emperor Caesar, Son of the God Trajan, from His Young Favorite, Atinous. Fifth Wednesday, no. 20.

MITCHELL, ANDREW

Midnight Drives. Ploughshares, vol. 43, no. 2.

Going North. Gulf Coast, vol. 28, no. 2.

MOFFETT, KEVIN

City of Trees. LitMag, no. 1.

NUNEZ, SIGRID

The Blind. Paris Review, no. 222.

NWACHUKWU, IHEOMA

Urban Gorilla. Southern Review, vol. 53, no. 2.

OGUNYEMI, OMOLOLA IJEOMA

Jollof Rice and Revolutions. Ploughshares, vol. 43, no. 2.

OHLIN, ALIX

Quarantine. The New Yorker, January 30.

Risk Management. Kenyon Review, vol. XXXIX, no. 4.

ORRINGER, JULIE

Neighbors. Paris Review, no. 221.

OTA, E. K.

Silk and Dust. Ploughshares, vol. 43, no.1.

PEARSON, JOANNA

Fox Foot. Mississippi Review, vol. 45, nos. 1 & 2.

PELISH, ALYSSA

The Pathetic Fallacy. New England Review, vol. 38, no. 4.

PENCE, CHARLOTTE, AND ADAM PRINCE

So Far. Sewanee Review, vol. CXXV, no. 3.

PEYNADO, BRENDA

The Man I Could Be. Hunger Mountain, no. 21.

The Whitest Girl. Ecotone, no. 23.

PIETRZYK, LESLIE

Happy Birthday in a Week. Southern Indiana Review, vol. 24, no. 1.

POWER, SUSAN

Backseat Rider. Water~Stone Review, vol. 20.

PRICE, ADAM O’FALLON

A Natural Man. Paris Review, 22.

PUCHNER, ERIC

Expression. Hopkins Review, vol. 10, no. 1.

QUADE, KIRSTIN VALDEZ

Christina the Astonishing (1150–1224). The New Yorker, July 31.

QUINN, MOLLY

A Danger to Ourselves. Iowa Review, vol. 47, no. 1.

RECONCO, ANDRÉS

La Garroba. Lunch Ticket.

REYN, IRINA

The Western Ones. Ploughshares, vol. 42, no. 4.

ROBERTSON, ELIZA

The Pirates of Penance. Masters Review, vol. V.

ROTH, MATTHUE

One Part Finger. Ploughshares, vol. 43, no. 1.

ROUPENIAN, KRISTEN

Cat Person. The New Yorker, December 11.

SARVIS, CALEB MICHAEL

An Unfaded Black. Oyster River Pages, August.

SCOTT, RION AMILCAR

The Nigger Knockers. New York Tyrant.

SHARMA, AKHIL

You Are Happy? The New Yorker, April 17.

SHEPARD, KAREN

Rescue. Tin House, vol. 19, no. 1.

SITTENFELD, CURTIS

Show Don’t Tell. The New Yorker, June 5 & 12.

SKINNER, JOSÉ

Peons. Isthmus, no. 6.

SWEARINGEN, RACHEL

A Habit of Seeing. Fifth Wednesday, no. 20.

TALLENT, ELIZABETH

Rawness. Threepenny Review, 150.

THAMMAVONGSA, SOUVANKHAM

How to Pronounce Knife. Granta, 141.

TSENG, JENNIFER

To Drink from the Lion’s Mouth. Tin House, vol. 18, no. 3.

UPTON, LEE

Portrait of the Artist’s Son. Idaho Review, no. 16.

VAPNYAR, LARA

Deaf and Blind. The New Yorker, April 24.

WALLACE, DANIEL

Sea Girls. Tin House, vol. 18, no. 4.

WALTER, JESS

Fran’s Friend Has Cancer. Ploughshares, vol. 43, no. 1.

WARD, LIZA

The Shrew Tree. ZYZZYVA, no. 110.

WASHINGTON, BRYAN

610 North, 610 West. Tin House, vol. 19, no. 1.

WIDEMAN, JOHN EDGAR

JB + FD. Harper’s, February.

Writing Teacher. The New Yorker, January 22.