New Stories from the South 2010 by Amy Hempel

New Stories from the South 2010 Reviews

• 
  Douglas Lord

  I read short stories because they are: A) short and B) that's all I can handle at the end of a long fricking day sometimes, OK, Hoss? So get off my back. NSFTS is a mixed bag; there seems to be a lot of misery in this "New South" (located somewhere outside Saginaw, MI, BTW). Swamps, miscarriages, arsonists, floods, angry stupid people, angry stupid teenagers, and really poor drivers. Like many contemporary short stories, these often go nowhere. And what they lack in movement, growth, and evolution is not made up by incisive perceptions. These authors present slices of unfamiliar lives in ways that are accessible, but also quite particular to the writer. Sometimes, like in
  Bret Anthony Johnston's "Caiman," a five-page-bang little gem, it's fine. But the "standing still" thing ruins so many others, like
  Ann Pancake's (anybody for flapjacks?) overly long "Arsonists" and particularly
  Tim Gautreaux's "Idols," where a fascinating premise—typewriter repairman inherits crumbling mansion, hires rebounding tattooed yokel to fix it—stretches on and on but goes nowhere. It could have been beautiful.
  
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• 
  Tuck

  adam atlas is good. but my god these stories are super sad, super graphic, some gems, but cut you like broken glass. the kind that hurts. amy hempel, you're one sick puppy, which is a good thing i guess, keep up the good work. now i gotta go get a bandaid.
• 
  Marc Faoite

  This is a fantastic collection of short stories from some of America's most prestigious literary journals and some of it's most talented writers, some famous, some less well known. Highly recommended. I'll be looking for other editions in the series.
• 
  Karen

  If you are not reading this annual publication, there is something seriously wrong with you! The beauty of the short story is that it's short -- you can dip into this volume of great fiction by writers with a Southern connection at will. Read the last one first, skip around! Whatever. Just read and enjoy some of the best writing from 2010. Once you start, you'll find it hard to stop, and yet you'll want to pause to think on what you just read before jumping into the next selection. Some stories are gritty, while others are hilarious. Most interesting is what each author has to say (or not say) about the genesis of his or her story. I've been reading this series for several years now and can't wait for the 2011 edition appear on the bookshelves. I'm even on the search for earlier volumes that were published before I discovered it for myself. Enjoy!
• 
  Rachel

  Notes for myself (not really a review, sorry folks) -
  
  WORTH REREADING
  Brad Watson "Noon" "Visitation"
  Danielle Evans "Someone Ought to Tell Her There's Nowhere To Go" (Miley Cyrus, Iraqi vet, mall scheme)
  Megan Mayhew Bergman "The Cow That Milked Herself" (veterinarians, pregnancy)
  Emily Quinlan "The Green Belt" (party gone bad - quick, smart)
  Stepehn Marion "The Coldest Night of the Twentieth Century" (prison outbreak, Lysol drunk)
  Padgett Powell "Cry For Help From France" (self-explanatory)
  Kenneth Calhoun "Night Blooming" (young man in the Dixie Land band)
  Laura Lee Smith "This Trembling Earth" (Okeefanokee Swamp escape)
  
  authors worth investigating - Bret Anthony Johnson, Adam Atlas, Ann Pancake
• 
  Mark Bell

  The entire collection is deserving of a read. Other reviews have selected and explained their reasons for highlighting favorite stories and I have one as well.
  Nightblooming by Kenneth Calhoun deserves extra kudos for his choice of narrator, characters and plot. An outsider, with only one thing in common with the group,makes for the perfect narrator. He stands aloof from the plot at times and other times the plot forces him into the group interaction. A masterful tale of lining up to die. Old age sucks. His characters know it, his narrator learns it, and most importantly so does the reader.
• 
  Stephen Dorneman

  A solid collection of stories make up the 25th annual version of this anthology. Highlights include Kenneth Calhoun's NIGHTBLOOMING Aaron Gwyn's DRIVE, and Megan Mayhew Bergman's THE COW THAT MILKED HERSELF. I read this more than five years after they were first published, but unlike some Best Of collections, all of these stories sit in a Southern state of timelessness that is well worth your attention today.
• 
  Aran

  Liked this collection-- more than Best American and probably more than Pen/O'Henry... several repeats from those anthologies in here. Liked "Discovered America" and "This Trembling Earth" and "Nightblooming". And definitely NOT "Drive". Story stories with nothing to prove.
• 
  Elizabeth Ruth

  Zomg yum yum yum. I am now officially committed to reading this series every year. This is a particularly good collection. I try to get rid of books after I have read them, but I will be hanging on to this book.
• 
  Beth

  This was hit or miss, but I hope it widens the audience for the always excellent stories of Ann Pancake, Kevin Wilson, and Wells Tower. I also look forward to reading more by Emily Quinlan.
• 
  Walter

  I ended up skipping most of the stories :(.
• 
  Richard Thomas

  Really loved this, becoming a big Ron Rash fan, "Ascent" was fantastic. This collection often gets overlooked, but it shouldn't. Three from this collection made it into the BASS as well.
• 
  Mary Jo

  Excellent anthology. If you like short stories, get this book! I didn't see any "misses" in the quality. Consistently good.
• 
  Lisa

  Overall, I liked these stories but really thought the best ones started with Marjorie Kemper's "Discovered America". Tim Gautreaux is always a pleasure to read, as well.
• 
  Rachel

  I liked some of the stories in this collection, but not all.
• 
  Val

  Pretty good selection. B A Johnston's Caiman is poignant and terse and just perfect, but there are others that are pretty good also.
• 
  Martha

  a mix, of course. typical southern themes, but all well done. Interesting - added a statement from each author about what inspired each story.
• 
  Ronald Wise

  This was my first exposure to the New Stories from the South series. As I progressed through this anthology I was pleasantly aware that even though the American South was, in one way or another, a common link with most of them, the characters were not defined by Southern stereotypes and the dramatic tensions were not based on racial conflict, as was usually the case in most of the Southern stories I’ve been reading from the previous century.
  
  My newly discovered gems in this collection were: “Someone Ought to Tell Her There’s Nowhere to Go” by Danielle Evans; “A Burden” by Wendell Berry; “Drive” by Aaron Gwyn; “Discovered America” by Marjorie Kemper; “Return Trip” by Elizabeth Spencer; “This Trembling Earth” by Laura Lee Smith; and “Visitation” by Brad Watson.
  
• 
  Maggie

  I'm sure there are great stories in this book and I didn't read it all. Too often I would wonder why I was reading them at all. I couldn't relate to many of the stories. I may just be wanting them to give me an opening that has something to do with life outside the narrow frame of the characters. Too often the next and the next seem like more of the same.
• 
  Samantha Allen

  This collection of stories makes me immensely sad that I'm not a Southerner myself.