New Stories from the South

New Stories from the South is an annual compilation of short stories published by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill between 1986 and 2010 and billed as the year's best stories written by Southern writers or about the Southern United States. The stories are collected from more than 100 literary magazines, including The Atlantic, Harper's Magazine, The New Yorker, the Oxford American, The Paris Review, Ploughshares, and The Southern Review. Shannon Ravenel, then the editor of the annual Best American Short Stories anthology, launched the New Stories from the South series in 1986 and compiled and edited every volume until 2006. To mark the third decade of the series, Algonquin invited author and John Simon Guggenheim Fellow Allan Gurganus to be guest editor.[1]

New Stories from the South has collected the work of many prominent modern American writers, including Steve Almond, Russell Banks, John Barth, Madison Smartt Bell, Wendell Berry, Roy Blount Jr., Larry Brown, James Lee Burke, Robert Olen Butler, Andre Dubus, William Faulkner (a newly discovered story), Barry Hannah, Nanci Kincaid, Aaron Gwyn, Barbara Kingsolver, Bobbie Ann Mason, Reynolds Price, Keith Lee Morris, John Sayles, Lucy Corin, Lee Smith, and Peter Taylor.

List of Compilations and Stories

New Stories from the South: The Year's Best, 1986. Edited by Shannon Ravenel. ISBN 9780912697406.

New Stories from the South: The Year's Best, 1987. Edited by Shannon Ravenel. ISBN 9780912697666.

New Stories from the South: The Year's Best, 1988. Edited by Shannon Ravenel. ISBN 9780912697901.

New Stories from the South: The Year's Best, 1989. Edited by Shannon Ravenel. ISBN 9780945575276.

New Stories from the South: The Year's Best, 1990. Edited by Shannon Ravenel. ISBN 9780945575528.

New Stories from the South: The Year's Best, 1991. Edited by Shannon Ravenel. ISBN 9780945575825.

  • Cousin Aubrey by Peter Taylor
  • The Arabesque by Barbara Hudson
  • Intensive Care by Lee Smith
  • The Screened Porch by Susan Starr Richards
  • Relic by Robert Olen Butler
  • With Jazz by Bobbie Ann Mason
  • A Life or Death Matter by Elizabeth Hunnewell
  • Big Bad Love by Larry Brown
  • South of Kittatinny by Hilding Johnson
  • The Birds for Christmas by Mark Richard
  • Poinsett's Bridge by Robert Morgan
  • Waiting for Hard Times to End by Jill McCorkle
  • Black Cat Bone by Thomas Phillips Brewer
  • In the Loyal Mountains by Rick Bass
  • This is not the Picture Show by Nanci Kincaid
  • His Final Mother by Reynolds Price

New Stories from the South: The Year's Best, 1992. Edited by Shannon Ravenel. ISBN 9781565120112.

  • The Bubba Stories by Lee Smith
  • Lilacs by Abraham Verghese
  • A New Life by Mary Ward Brown
  • A Sturdy Pair of Shoes that Fit Good by Nanci Kincaid
  • Death Crown by Robert Morgan
  • Clearwater and Latissimus by Alison Baker
  • The Winnowing of Mrs. Schuping by Padgett Powell
  • Texas City, 1947 by James Lee Burke
  • Quitting Smoking by Reginald McKnight
  • Explaining Death to the Dog by Susan Perabo
  • A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain by Robert Olen Butler
  • The Witch of Owl Mountain Springs: An Account of Her Remarkable Powers by Peter Taylor
  • Economics by Elizabeth Seydel Morgan
  • Like Hands on a Cave Wall by Karen Minton
  • A Roadside Resurrection by Larry Brown
  • You have Chosen Cake by Dan Leone
  • After Memphis by Patricia Lear

New Stories from the South: The Year's Best, 1993. Edited by Shannon Ravenel. ISBN 9781565120532.

New Stories from the South: The Year's Best, 1994. Edited by Shannon Ravenel. ISBN 9781565120884.

New Stories from the South: The Year's Best, 1995. Edited by Shannon Ravenel. ISBN 9781565121232.

New Stories from the South: The Year's Best, 1996. Edited by Shannon Ravenel. ISBN 9781565121553.

  • Rose of Lebanon by William Faulkner
  • Gauguin by Moira Crone
  • Paradise by Jill McCorkle
  • The host by Marcia Guthridge
  • Jealous husband returns in form of parrot by Robert Olen Butler
  • Some say the world by Susan Perabo
  • Goose girl by Annette Sanford
  • The happy memories club by Lee Smith
  • A happy, safe thing by Kathy Flann
  • The Balm of Gilead tree by Robert Morgan
  • Died and gone to Vegas by Tim Gautreaux
  • Cool moss by David Gilbert
  • General Markman's last stand by Tom Paine
  • Mood music by J.D. Dolan
  • Grant by Ellen Douglas

Best of the South: From Ten Years of New Stories from the South. 1997. Selected and introduced by Anne Tyler. ISBN 9781565121287.

New Stories from the South: The Year's Best, 1997. Edited by Shannon Ravenel with a preface by Robert Olen Butler. ISBN 9781565121751.

  • Corporal Love by Dale Ray Phillips
  • Ramone by Judy Troy
  • Help me fine my spaceman lover by Robert Olen Butler
  • The taxi ride by Patricia Elam Ruff
  • Little frogs in a ditch by Tim Gautreaux
  • After the opera by Marc Vassallo
  • The Green Suit by Dwight Allen
  • Gravity by Pam Durban
  • Native daughter by Lee Smith
  • Along a wider river by Janice Daugharty
  • Ashes north by Edward Allen
  • Julia and Nellie by Ellen Douglas
  • The finest wife by Elizabeth Gilbert
  • Simpler components by Lucy Hochman
  • Marrying Aunt Sadie by Gene Able
  • Mojo farmer by Brad Vice
  • The half-pint by Beauvais McCaddon
  • Every building wants to fall by Rhian Margaret Ellis
  • Pavane for a dead princess by Charles East

New Stories from the South: The Year's Best, 1998. Edited by Shannon Ravenel with a preface by Padgett Powell. ISBN 9781565122192.

  • Yellow Jack by John Russell
  • Rita's mystery by John Holman
  • Memorial Day by Mark Richard
  • The baker's wife by Sara Powers
  • The lesson by Frederick Barthelme
  • Aliens of affection by Padgett Powell
  • Where words go by Michael Gills
  • In the Little Hunky River by Annette Sanford
  • Girls like you by Jennifer Moses
  • The poet by Stephen Dixon
  • Nipple by Wendy Brenner
  • Sorry blood by Tim Gautreaux
  • The other mother by Enid Shomer
  • The only way to ride by Molly Best Tinsley
  • Bridge by Tony Earley
  • The order of things by Nancy Richard
  • These people are us by George Singleton
  • Naked as Tanya by Stephen Marion
  • Talk radio by Scott Ely

New Stories from the South: The Year's Best, 1999. Edited by Shannon Ravenel with a preface by Tony Earley. ISBN 9781565122475.

  • Birdland by Michael Knight
  • Fla. boys by Heather Sellers
  • Lunch at the Piccadilly by Clyde Edgerton
  • Those deep elm Brown's ferry blues by William Gay
  • Missy by Richard Bausch
  • Caulk by George Singleton
  • Borrowed hearts by Rick DeMarinis
  • The human side of instrumental transcommunication by Wendy Brenner
  • Pagan babies by Ingrid Hill
  • Leaving Venice, Florida by Richard Schmitt
  • Storytelling by Mary Gordon
  • Krista had a treble clef rose by Mary Clyde
  • Booker T's coming home by Laura Payne Butler
  • Beyond the point by Michael Erard
  • Miracle boy by Pinckney Benedict
  • Neighborhood by Kurt Rheinheimer
  • Little bitty pretty one by Andrew Alexander
  • Name of love by Janice Daugharty
  • Quill by Tony Earley
  • Poachers by Tom Franklin

New Stories from the South: The Year's Best, 2000. Edited by Shannon Ravenel with a preface by Ellen Douglas. ISBN 9781565122956.

New Stories from the South: The Year's Best, 2001. Edited by Shannon Ravenel with a preface by Lee Smith. ISBN 9781565123113.

  • Where what gets into people comes from by Moira Crone
  • The Saturday morning car wash club by James Ellis Thomas
  • The hero of loneliness by Christie Hodgen
  • Make a wish by Elizabeth Tippens
  • Jolie-Gray by Ingrid Hill
  • Inappropriate babies by Linda Wendling
  • I am not like Nuñez by Jane R. Shippen
  • Public relations by George Singleton
  • The paperhanger by William Gay
  • Pink miracle in East Tennessee by Robert Love Taylor
  • Jesus is sending you this message by Jim Grimsley
  • In between things by Marshall Boswell
  • The whimsied world by Nicola Mason
  • Two lives by Madison Smartt Bell
  • Father judge run by Carrie Brown
  • Skin deep by Edith Pearlman
  • Shoes by Kurt Rheinheimer
  • Hunting country by Stephen Coyne
  • The rest of your life by John Barth

New Stories from the South: The Year's Best, 2002. Edited by Shannon Ravenel with a preface by Larry Brown. ISBN 9781565123755.

  • Tennessee by Romulus Linney
  • End of the steam age by Dwight Allen
  • Charting the territories of the red by William Gay
  • The unripe heart by Max Steele
  • Of falling by Aaron Gwyn
  • The rat spoon by Dulane Upshaw Ponder
  • Anthropology by Andrea Lee
  • Aboveground by Doris Betts
  • I have lost my right by R. T. Smith
  • Beneath the deep, slow motion by Brad Barkley
  • The more they stay the same by Ingrid Hill
  • Maximum sunlight by Kate Small
  • Show-and-tell by George Singleton
  • Pilgrims by Julie Orringer
  • Big bend by Bill Roorback
  • The Outer Banks by Russell Banks
  • The growth and death of Buddy Gardner by Corey Mesler
  • The bone divers by David Koon
  • Faith healer by Lucia Nevai

New Stories from the South: The Year's Best, 2003. Edited by Shannon Ravenel with a preface by Roy Blount, Jr. ISBN 9781565123953.

New Stories from the South: The Year's Best, 2004. Edited by Shannon Ravenel with a preface by Tim Gautreaux. ISBN 9781565124325.

New Stories from the South: The Year's Best, 2005. Edited by Shannon Ravenel with a preface by Jill McCorkle. ISBN 9781565124691.

  • Hidden meanings : treatment of time, supreme irony, and life experiences in the song "Ain't gonna bump no more no big fat woman" by Michael Parker
  • The boucherie by Stephanie Soileau
  • Until Gwen by Dennis Lehane
  • The kindest cut by Judy Budnitz
  • The burning of the flag by James Lee Burke
  • Mr. Sender by Moira Crone
  • Severance by Robert Olen Butler
  • Jane's hat by Cary Holladay
  • The dream lover by Lucinda Harrison Coffman
  • Nap time by Tom Franklin
  • Anything that floats by Bret Anthony Johnston
  • Clairvoyant by Ada Long
  • The charm of the highway median by Ethan Hauser
  • The pantyhose man by Rebecca Soppe
  • My heart is a snake farm by Allan Gurganus
  • Good witch, bad witch by Gregory Sanders
  • The choir director affair (the baby's teeth) by Kevin Wilson
  • The boy in the tree by Elizabeth Spencer
  • Dumdum by Janice Daugharty

Best of the South: From the Second Decade of New Stories from the South. 2005. Edited by Shannon Ravenel; selected and introduced by Anne Tyler. ISBN 9781565124707.

  • The host by Marcia Guthridge
  • The Happy Memories Club by Lee Smith
  • Ramone by Judy Troy
  • Gravity by Pam Durban
  • Memorial Day by Mark Richard
  • Talk radio by Scott Ely
  • Birdland by Michael Knight
  • Fla. boys by Heather Sellers
  • Those Deep Elm Brown's Ferry blues by William Gay
  • Sheep by Thomas H. McNeely
  • Debra's flap and snap by Clyde Edgerton
  • Jesus is sending you this message by Jim Grimsley
  • Hunting country by Stephen Coyne
  • The unripe heart by Max Steele
  • Faith healer by Lucia Nevai
  • The faithful by Paul Prather
  • Second hand by Chris Offutt
  • Intervention by Jill McCorkle
  • Good witch, bad witch by Gregory Sanders
  • The boucherie by Stephanie Soileau
  • Appendix: New Stories from the South, 1986-2005.

New Stories from the South: The Year's Best, 2006. Edited by Alan Gurganus and Kathy Pories with a preface by Alan Gurganus. ISBN 9781565125315.

New Stories from the South: The Year's Best, 2007. Edited by Edward P. Jones. ISBN 9781565125568.

New Stories from the South 2008: The Year's Best. Edited by ZZ Packer and Kathy Pories with an introduction by ZZ Packer. ISBN 9781565126121.

New Stories from the South 2009: The Year's Best. Edited by Madison Smartt Bell and Kathy Pories with an introduction by with an introduction by Madison Smartt Bell. ISBN 9781565126749.

  • Muscle memory by Katherine Karlin
  • Banger finds out by Kelly Cherry
  • Touch touch me by Stephen Marion
  • Family museum of the ancient postcards by Stephanie Powell Watts
  • Child of God by Geoff Wyss
  • Coast by Charlotte Holmes
  • No joke, this is going to be painful by Kevin Wilson
  • The camera obscura by Stephanie Soileau
  • Magic words by Jill McCorkle
  • Some thing blue by Tayari Jones
  • Love city by Stephanie Dickinson
  • Grand old party by Michael Knight
  • Quarantine by Rahul Mehta
  • Sightings by Elizabeth Spencer
  • Between wrecks by George Singleton
  • The world, the flesh, and the devil by Pinckney Benedict
  • Night glow by Holly Wilson
  • Bird dog by Clinton J. Stewart
  • Horse people by Cary Holladay
  • Fly away, breath by Wendell Berry
  • The elderberries by Juyanne James

New Stories from the South: The Year's Best, 2010. Edited by Amy Hempel and Kathy Pories with an introduction by Amy Hempel. ISBN 9781565129863.

  • New Year's Weekend on the Hand Surgery Ward, Old Pilgrims' Hospital, Naples, Italy by Adam Atlas
  • Fish story by Rick Bass
  • Noon by Brad Watson
  • Someone ought to tell her there's nowhere to go by Danielle Evans
  • The ascent by Ron Rash
  • Small and heavy world by Ashleigh Pedersen
  • A burden by Wendell Berry
  • The cow that milked herself by Megan Mayhew Bergman
  • Columbarium by George Singleton
  • Caiman by Bret Anthony Johnston
  • Eraser by Ben Stroud
  • Housewarming by Kevin Wilson
  • Jason who will be famous by Dorothy Allison
  • Arsonists by Ann Pancake
  • Drive by Aaron Gwyn
  • The green belt by Emily Quinlan
  • The coldest night of the twentieth century by Stephen Marion
  • Cry for help from France by Padgett Powell
  • Nightblooming by Kenneth Calhoun
  • Discovered America by Marjorie Kemper
  • Return trip by Elizabeth Spencer
  • Idols by Tim Gautreaux
  • This trembling earth by Laura Lee Smith
  • Visitation by Brad Watson
  • Retreat by Wells Tower

Resource

  • Shannon Ravenel (editor), New Stories from the South, (Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2005).