Best American Short Stories, 1995 (Best American Short Stories, 1995. ed By Jane Smiley. Issn 0067-6233 (Clot H))

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Summary: It must be good if I'm mentioned by name!
Review: My review of this collection is completely biased because of the fact that I appear as a character in one of the short stories. The story is "Hand Jive" by Andrew Cozine and he mentions me by name with the claim that he and I were the smartest students in school. He also goes on to criticize the superhero I created in third grade, for having "too many powers." Unfortunately, my review is tempered by the fact that he incorrectly remembered my superhero's name as "Boy" when I of course know that the real nom de plume was "Comet Boy". As a participant in what is actually an autobiographical story by the author, it is sad to read about the all the personal quirks that tormented Andrew during his life. I'm happy to report that he has turned into a normal, well-adjusted adult (or at least so he seems.)

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Summary: BASS 95 is a disappointing contribution to a great series.
Review: Short story fans, beware. Jane Smiley has assembled one of the oddest collections of stories ever between two covers. Obviously the original magazines already committed to these authors and stories by publishing them, but for Smiley to call them "best" is unsettling. I thought the first story, Daniel Orozco's "Orientation" (Seattle Review), was the best piece in the book--a knockout tour de force. I also really liked Ellie Gilchrist's "The Stucco House" (Atlantic) and Max Garland's "Chiromancy" (New England Review). Some were near misses for me that some of my students liked (I taught the book in Creative Writing): Kincaid's, Davies', Braverman's. I was shocked to see not one but two creepy stories about grotesquely injured legs allowed to go untended (by Polansky and Dobyns), and Thon's "First, Body" (on a hospital worker who gets trapped under a dead body) is the first story in a BASS anthology I gave a "O" to on a scale of one to ten-- sickening to read. Cozine's very sad tale of a young man's masturbatory personality disorder split my class--some felt it neatly caught gen-x malaise, but one "even hated the paper it was printed on." Well-known writers like Jones, DeLillo, Williams and Jen are not at their best in their contributions here. And why the Atlantic published the farfetched TV-style slick suspense tale "The Artist" (by Falco) is beyond me. I have already found some stories on the 100 title short list at the end I like much better than most of the ones selected. But read the book for yourself and make up your own mind. One thing's for sure: according to these writers, at least, American families are in very deep trouble