New Stories from the South: The Year's Best, 2007 (Paperback)

~ Edward P. Jones (Editor), Kathy Pories (Series Editor) "It would be easy to say that he lured me into the fields of disrepair like Pan, calling out with his flute to come join..." (more)
Key Phrases: dogs with human faces, ice garden, seal welds, Little Dickie, Joe Bim, Holly Goddard Jones (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The 21st edition of Algonquin's signature anthology is not the series' strongest, but it's consistent and entertaining. Unlike some previous editions, the majority of the stories have something to do with the geographic South. Joshua Ferris's "Ghost Town Choir," set in Florida's Big Coppitt Key, begins with a son's witnessing a single mother's breakup rage, and also shows off a writer's ability to violate most of the rules of short fiction by using dual points of view. The tabloids inform Holly Goddard Jones's "Life Expectancy," which opens on a high school basketball coach's affair with a sophmore, and the haunting and horrifying portrait of a homicidal maniac in "Beauty and Virtue" by Augustín Maes is the strongest offering in the collection. Although it's the least overtly southern story in the book, Daniel Wallace's short vignette about marriage and perception of beauty is touching. The remainder, while always rewarding, tends to drift into stylistic showboating or to lack a deep connection to their backgrounds and settings. Nevertheless, editor Jones (All Aunt Hagar's Children, etc.) has brought a sharp eye to a venerable tradition, stewarded by series editor Kathy Pories.
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Review

"….One of the pleasures of reading "New Stories From the South," year after year, is discovering new talent, writers who have not yet published a book. . . . In "New Stories From the South 2007 --- The Year's Best," Edward P. Jones' story sense pays off."—Atlanta Journal Constitution (Atlanta Journal Constitution )

"New Stories from the South is a literary anthology of the all-star variety."
—Miami Herald (Miami Herald )

"A suitably hospitable anthology, with an author comment, beneath his or her photo, at the end of each story." —Washington Post (The Washington Post )

"This is an evocative selection of 18 stories for those sons and daughters of the South who yearn for fiction that eschews the moonlight-and-magnolias claptrap. In his excellent introduction, novelist Edward P. Jones (The Known World) explores his original discomfort at being asked to edit a book of Southern short stories since he is a native of Washington, D.C. He asks: How do we define the South today? Traditional big hitters are featured: Rick Bass, James Lee Burke, Alan Gurganus and Tim Gautreaux, whose "The Safe" is outstanding. But the real excitement is reading stories by up-and-coming writers, such as National Book Award finalist Joshua Ferris.”--USA Today (USA Today )

.One of the pleasures of reading New Stories From the South, year after year, is discovering new talent, writers who have not yet published a book. . . . In New Stories From the South 2007 --- The Year's Best, Edward P. Jones' story sense pays off.Atlanta Journal Constitution (Atlanta Journal Constitution )

A suitably hospitable anthology, with an author comment, beneath his or her photo, at the end of each story. Washington Post (The Washington Post )

New Stories from the South is a literary anthology of the all-star variety. Miami Herald (Miami Herald )

This is an evocative selection of 18 stories for those sons and daughters of the South who yearn for fiction that eschews the moonlight-and-magnolias claptrap. In his excellent introduction, novelist Edward P. Jones (The Known World) explores his original discomfort at being asked to edit a book of Southern short stories since he is a native of Washington, D.C. He asks: How do we define the South today? Traditional big hitters are featured: Rick Bass, James Lee Burke, Alan Gurganus and Tim Gautreaux, whose The Safe is outstanding. But the real excitement is reading stories by up-and-coming writers, such as National Book Award finalist Joshua Ferris.--USA Today

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Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Algonquin Books (August 14, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565125568
• ISBN-13: 978-1565125568
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #551,282 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Pick of the Litter, August 11, 2007

By	H. F. Corbin "Foster Corbin" (ATLANTA, GA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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Award-winning author Edward P. Jones selected these eighteen stories that he considers the best stories from the South for 2007. In his short, thoughtful introduction he says that "so much is about the heart, wherein the soul dwells," and like Faulkner he has picked stories not about the glands, but about the human heart. He further states that he included only stories where he gets the sense "that the world, for even one character, has shifted, whether to a large or a tiny degree." Some of the writers are well-known-- Rick Bass (the stories are in alphabetical order by the author), James Lee Burke, Allan Gurganus-- while others are not so famous.

I cannot ascertain what criterion Mr. Jones used to make his selection of stories from the South, whether the story had to be set in the South, whether the author was born in the South, whether the writer now lives in the South, whether the fiction was published in a Southern journal or whether the writer had once flown into the Atlanta airport. In the end it probably isn't that important as the South has changed drastically in the past twenty-five years, It's a little like breaking an egg. We don't get it back again the way it was. Rick Bass says, for instance, that the "Old South not so much was giving way to the New South as, instead, to the No South." George Singleton opines (p. 297) that enough has been written about both the Old South and the New South and that he needs to write about the New, New South. That may indeed be true; on the other hand, there are enough freaks here to make Flannery O'Connor look down and smile from her Catholic heavenly mansion. The list includes Jehovah's Witnesses, a goat man, a boy snake-handler, a murderer, a robber, a sinning minister, a man who dates women with deformities and missing appendages, et al. Of course there is intergenerational sex and incest and the obligatory dog story.

For my dime, the best story here is the intense and gripping "Beauty and Virtue" by Agustin Maes who was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, grew up and now lives in California and freely admits that he has never been to southeastern Missouri, the setting for this grisly tale of murder, incest and fratricide. Another fine story is James Lee Burke's "A Season of Regret" when a retired college professor, confronts a gang of Aryan Brotherhood Bikers. Allan Gurganus (last year's editor) in "Fourteen Feet of Water in My House" writes a story about a flood that predated Katrina and has a strange feel like "The Swimmer," written by Gurganus' former mentor John Cheever. Cary Holladay's "Hollyhocks" is all about the youngest in a large family of brothers who is secretly in love with (he thinks) his sister-in-law. Finally R. T. Smith's "Story" meets Mr. Jones' requirement that the character must change, if just a little, and is about a cancer survivor who is "reading an unremarkable magazine story" when a burglar breaks into his home.

Collections like this one are really important for at least two reasons: we get to read short stories that we probably would never find in the various journals and magazines from which the editor picks them, and we run across writers whose other works we want to read.

Treat yourself to Mr. Jones' harvest of best stories.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The South is captured in these works, August 29, 2007

By	armchairinterviews.com (Minnesota) - See all my reviews

New Stories From The South 2007 is the 22nd in a series of books which have compiled the best of Southern Short Story Fiction since 1986. This year, Edward P Jones, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for his book, "The Known World," takes the helm as editor of this beloved tradition.

Jones searched through a vast number of short stories from Southern American writers, whittling his choices down to the final 18 which appear in this edition,with stories coming from publications including "The Georgia Review," "Harpers," and "The Idaho Review."

Jones has captured an ideal balance between the harsh and heartwarming sides of America's South. In "The Ice Garden," we are brought into the world of a stereotypical Southern lady, whose etiquette and poise are being left behind in a modern world, but who holds onto the vestiges of her pride with a fierce determination, while all those around her conform to the changing times.

In "Fourteen Feet of Water In My House," we see examples of how the human spirit can rise above any setbacks, and how the spirit of a Community can embrace those who might otherwise be overwhelmed in the face of disaster.

Conversely, in stories such as "Goats" and "Beauty and Virtue" we see how cruel people can be to humans and animals alike, and get something of an insight into the nature of these people.

It is this mix of love, hope, cruelty and bitterness that gives the reader a feel for the true sweetness and grittiness of The South.

Each story invites you into a different aspect of Southern life, as if it is a stranger inviting you to visit with them for a time, and learn of their ways.

Armchair interview says: A Southern 4-star read.