The O. Henry Prize Collection

“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”
 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.