Best American Short Stories is always worth picking up. But if you need persuading, here were some personal highlights. <thread>

“The Apartment” by T.C. Boyle ( @mcsweeneys) is a deceptively simple story about calculated risk. It made me laugh out loud every damn page.

The world-building in “Sibling Rivalry” by Michael Byers (Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet) is unreal. The story addresses incredibly relevant questions about what it means to be human. I’ve been thinking about its ending for weeks.

“In the Event” by @jinittowinit ( @3pennyreview) is a master class on weaving disparate threads into gorgeous cohesion; I will be returning to it as a model of form when I revise my more-ambitious short stories.

If @smathewss’s “Rubberdust,” ( @kenyonreview Online) had only been a poignant childhood reminiscence—dayenu, it would have been enough. But the meta component puts it absolutely over the top.

As Curtis Sittenfeld puts it in her intro, “The Nine-Tailed Fox Explains,” by Jane Pek ( @witnessmag) perfectly melds the mythical with the mundane. I never expected to learn so much about love from a fox demon spirit—the more fool me.

“The Hands of Dirty Children” by @Puyana ( @asfmag) could easily have been too sentimental, too melodramatic, too openly manipulative of the reader. Instead, you’ll find yourself weeping the tears that the protagonist cannot.

Those were my favorites, but you’ll probably have others! Only one way to find out! Support short stories! #shortstories #amreading