Customer Reviews

New Stories from the South: The Year's Best, 2008

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Short fiction is one of my favorite areas, and I find myself reading the three big anthologies every year. This year's New Stories from the South was enjoyable, and well worth the purchase. As with every anthology there are high points (Bret Anthony Johnston's "Republican") and low points (Merrit Tierce's "Suck It"). But the variety and the new ways of approaching life make me continue to be a serious fan. I was particularly happy to see so many stories from an excellent variety of magazines that I would otherwise not have read. Kudos ZZ Packer on your selections.

While there are some terrific stories in the 2008 edition, overall this volume is simply not up to the standards of the previous anthologies in this series. This was my introduction to Ms. ZZ Packer and I wasn't impressed. I think her direction is selecting stories (professed in the preface) took the collection from "New Stories of the South" to "Stories of the New South" in unimpressive ways. Her direction diluted the essential continuity between the stores that was the genius of the previous editions and frankly allowed some rather weak stories to be included. Let's hope this direction is not continued in the series and that Ms Packer is not allowed as editor again. One has to do more than have simply set foot in the South at some time in one's life or have found the Region on a map to be considered a Southern writer.

I've been a fan of this collection (New Stories) since 2006, and this continues my favor. The only drawback is the vast amount of typos (three or four within the first story itself). You would think someone would catch them. But the stories were good, and I look forward to next years.