Table of Contents

The Best American Short Stories 2008 continues the series’ long legacy of bringing readers the previous year’s short fiction, carefully selected from hundreds of sources nationwide.

"Admiral"
T. C. Boyle
Harper's Magazine

"The Year of Silence"
Kevin Brockmeier
Ecotone

"Galatea"
Karen Brown
Crazyhorse

"Man and Wife"
Katie Chase
The Missouri Review

"Virgins"
Danielle Evans
The Paris Review

"Closely Held"
Allegra Goodman
Ploughshares

"May We Be Forgiven"
A. M. Homes
Granta

"From the Desk of Daniel Varsky"
Nicole Krauss
Harper's Magazine

"The King of Sentences"
Jonathan Lethem
The New Yorker

"The Worst You Ever Feel"
Rebecca Makkai
Shenandoah

"The Wizard of West Orange"
Steven Millhauser
Harper's Magazine

"Nawabdin Electrician"
Daniyal Mueenuddin
The New Yorker

"Child's Play" Alice Munro
Harper's Magazine

"Buying Lenin"
Miroslav Penkov
The Southern Review

"Vampires in the Lemon Grove"
Karen Russell
Zoetrope All-Story

"Puppy"
George Saunders
The New Yorker

"Quality of Life"
Christine Sneed
New England Review

"Missionaries" Bradford Tice
The Atlantic Monthly

"Straightaway"
Mark Wisniewski
The Antioch Review

"Bible"
Tobias Wolff
The Atlantic Monthly