Prize Stories 1994: The O. Henry Awards (The O. Henry Prize Collection) - Softcover

Abrahams, William

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0385471181 ISBN 13: 9780385471183

Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 1994

Synopsis

“Widely regarded as the nation’s most prestigious awards for short fiction.”—The Atlantic Monthly
 
The O. Henry Prize Stories 1994 gathers 21 of the best short stories of the year, selected from thousands published in literary magazines.
 
Stories include:
Alison Baker “Better Be Ready ‘Bout Half Past Eight” (first prize)
John Rolfe Gardiner “The Voyage Out” (second prize)
Lorrie Moore “Terrific Mother” (third prize)
Stuart Dybek “We Didn’t”
Marlin Barton “Jeremiah’s Road”
Kelly Cherry “Not the Phil Donahue Show”
Elizabeth Cox “The Third of July”
Terry Bain “Games”
Amy Bloom “Semper Fidelis”
Michael Fox “Rise and Shine”
David McLean “Marine Corps Issue”
Elizabeth Graver “The Boy Who Fell Forty Feet”
Susan Starr Richards “The Hanging in the Foaling Barn”
Janice Eidus “Pandora’s Box”
Judith Ortiz Cofer “Nada”
Mary Tannen “Elaine’s House”
Dennis Trudell “Gook”
Helen Fremont “Where She Was”
Elizabeth Oness “The Oracle”
Katherine L. Hester “Labor”
Thomas E. Kennedy “Landing Zone X-Ray”
 

About this title

About the Author:

Born in 1919, William Abrahams published four successful novels and a number of poems before finding his true calling as an editor. He presided over the O. Henry Awards for more than 30 years starting in 1965. Abrahams also worked as the west coast editor of Atlantic Monthly Press and collaborated on nonfiction books with his partner, Peter Stansky. He passed away in 1998.

From Kirkus Reviews:

The latest volume in this venerable series draws from a wide range of magazines, and the few well-known writers included (John Rolfe Gardiner, Stuart Dybek, and Lorrie Moore) are famous only by comparison to the many newcomers here. Alison Baker's ``Better Be Ready 'Bout Half Past Eight,'' which takes first prize, sets both the tone and subject for much of the collection. It's a comic account of a married man whose world is turned upside down by the news that his best friend is beginning the process of having a sex change. Contemporary sexual relations also figure in ``Not the Phil Donahue Show,'' Kelly Cherry's story of a mother dealing with her daughter's coming out of the closet; in Helen Fremont's ``Where She Was,'' a lesbian's celebration of her beloved; and in ``Semper Fidelis,'' Amy Bloom's tale of a mismatched couple. Conversely, Dybek's ``We Didn't'' is an elegy for a love unconsummated in an era of furtive sexuality. Unhappy wives, disaffected husbands, and troubled teens sleepwalk through a number of these stories. Terry Bain's ``Games'' chronicles the awkwardness of teen courtship; Elizabeth Graver's ``The Boy Who Fell Forty Feet'' finds a young boy grappling with loneliness while his father is gravely ill in the hospital; and the middle-aged mother in Elizabeth Cox's ``The Third of July'' decides not to leave her husband after witnessing a fatal car wreck on her way from home. The Vietnam War haunts no less than four stories, including David McLean's moving ``Marine Corps Issue,'' in which a son discovers his father's history as a P.O.W., and Judith Cofer's multiculturally correct tale of a Puerto Rican widow in New Jersey whose only son dies in combat (``Nada''). Second-prize-winner ``The Voyage Out,'' Gardiner's fine narrative of English schoolboys sent to Canada during WW II, reads like the beginning of an even better novel. The best piece here comes from an unlikely source, The Thoroughbred Times: In Susan Richards' flawless comic tale, ``The Hanging in the Foaling Barn,'' a small-time horse breeder talks his alcoholic nightwatchman out of suicide. Though there are a few too many clinkers, this is a welcome collection. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0385471181
• ISBN 13: 9780385471183
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 399