Short Stories

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews Nathan Englander's debut collection of short stories, "For the Relief of Unbearable Urges" (Knopf)

Richard Ford, the Pulitzer Prize winning author of the novel "Independence Day," has edited and collected a new selection of short stories by the great Russian playwright and short-story writer Anton Chekhov. It's called "The Essential Tales of Chekhov" (Ecco Press)

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews Gina Berriault's new collection of short stories "Women in their Beds."

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews the new collection of stories by Julie Hecht, "Do the Window's Open?"

Rock Critic Kent Tucker reviews "Call Me Burroughs," the new collection of readings by William Burroughs.

Book critic Joh Leonard reviews two new books by Germany writer Christa Wolff, "What Remains & Other Stories," and "The Author's Dimension."

Commentator Maureen Corrigan tells us about a short horror story that has haunted her through the years -- "August Heat" by W.F. Harvey.

Short story writer Stephanie Vaughn. Her first collection of stories is "Sweet Talk." Most of these stories chronicle the childhood, youth, and adulthood of Gemma, the daughter of a career army man. The New York Times says Vaughn "emerges as a thoroughly original writer, blessed with a distinctive voice, by turns witty and lyrical, wisecracking and nostalgic." Vaughn's stories first appeared in "The New Yorker," and in the O. Henry and Pushcart Prize collections. ("Sweet Talk" is published by Random House.)

Book Critic John Leonard reviews The Shawl, which contains a short story and a novella by writer Cynthia Ozick.

Gordon Lish, editor of The Quarterly, a journal of new American writing. He's a leading exponent of the minimalist style of writing.