Best new American voices 2008

In the latest volume in the Best New American Voices series, guest editor Bausch assembles a shining medley of stories by participants in writing programs across the country. Like a snapshot, each work illustrates a significant relationship and shows the importance of the ties that bind people to one another. In Tucker Capps' tale, a cancer-ridden man tries to come to grips with his distant daughter's attraction to women and abandonment of her mother during a long illness. Dan Pinkerton writes about a cuckolded husband who becomes strangely obsessed with a love affair between two of his high-school students. Sharon May depicts the desperate need for Cambodian refugee families hoping to emigrate to the U.S. to connect with immigration officials. Whether exploring illicit love in New York City during the 1918 flu epidemic or depicting a daughter's tense visit with her mother in war-torn Sri Lanka, the stories are distinct and compelling. If these authors are a harbinger of what is to come in American fiction, the future is indeed bright.--Boyle, Katherine Copyright 2007 Booklist

Each year the nation?s most driven would-be writers seek out the structure and support of the many creative writing MFA programs and-as this volume proves-produce inspired work under their auspices. Now in its eighth year, this series showcases stories nominated by workshop directors and instructors and selected, in this case, by guest editor Bausch (Thanksgiving Night). A number of the writers featured in this edition breathe new life into familiar themes-the University of Iowa?s Leslie Jamison takes on heartbreak, Stanford?s Suzanne Rivecca examines sexual abuse, University of Massachusetts, Amherst?s Jedediah Berry looks at death, Elizabeth Kadetsky represents the Wesleyan Writers Conference with a tale of innocence lost, and Adam Stumacher of the Wisconsin Institute takes on political strife-but just as many craft deftly original stories that defy easy categorization; one standout example is a playful story from the University of Mississippi?s Christopher Stokes, "The Man Who Ate Michael Rockefellar," set in colonial Indonesia and narrated by a shrewd native. In his introduction, guest editor Bausch says that literature?s ongoing quest is "to make something lasting out of the confusions of living"; these imaginative debut artists offer happy proof that the challenge is still being met. (Oct.) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.