Mark Wish
Coolest American Stories
* Winner of the National Indie Excellence Award for Best Anthology *
“Like dipping into people's lives for moments of joy and pain.”
—JENNY LAWSON, New York Times bestselling author of
Furiously Happy and Let's Pretend This Never Happened
Founded and edited by Mark Wish, Coolest American Stories has grown popular among readers worldwide for its "unputdownable" yet also extraordinarily well-written full-length short stories. Debut writers and bestselling authors sit side by side in this annual anthology that's been called "winning—indeed, cool" by the Washington Independent Review of Books and "the finest short story craft in contemporary literature" by the California Review of Books. Of Coolest American Stories 2024, Bobbie Ann Mason said, "This baker's-dozen assortment contains a wide range of pleasures and surprises. The stories are tender, moving, electrifying, comical, and quirky. They are altogether cool."
Praise for Coolest American Stories
“This baker's-dozen assortment contains a wide range of pleasures and surprises. The stories are tender, moving, electrifying, comical, and quirky. They are altogether cool.”
—BOBBIE ANN MASON, acclaimed author of the classics Shiloh and Other Stories and In Country
“Like dipping into people's lives for moments of joy and pain.”
—JENNY LAWSON, NYT bestselling author of Furiously Happy and Let's Pretend This Never Happened
“Coolest American Stories 2022 is a helluva lot of fun. These stories bump and brim with rambunctious energy and show that the American short story is alive and well. Many thanks to Mark Wish and Elizabeth Coffey for this breath-or let's call it a gale-of fresh literary air.”
—BEN FOUNTAIN, winner of the PEN/Hemmingway Award and the National Book Critics' Circle Award, author of Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk
“The stories in this volume are exemplars of the finest short story craft in contemporary literature.”
—California Review of Books
"Extraordinarily rich storytelling from fresh, vibrant voices―Coolest American Stories promises to be an annual force."
—LAURA McHUGH, internationally bestselling author of The Weight of Blood and What’s Done in Darkness
"Love short stories? This collection is for you. Not yet sure how to feel about short stories? This collection is definitely for you. Whoever you are, wherever you are: read these stories!"
—LORI OSTLUND, Flannery O’Connor Award winner and author of After the Parade and The Bigness of the World
“Above and beyond cool. Once I cracked this open, I was hooked.”
—ALEX SEGURA, LA Times Book Award winner, bestselling author of Secret Identity
“The best current fiction anthology on the market.”
—MARTIN OTT, author of The Interrogator's Notebook
“Unforgettable characters, memorable plots, and crackling prose. The tension hums on
every page.”
—PEN/Hemingway Award Finalist REBECCA JOHNS, author of The Countess
“Edgy and exceptional stories for inspiration, entertainment, and to take in the drumbeat of the zeitgeist.”
—ELIZABETH McKENZIE, author of The Portable Veblen, longlisted for the National Book Award
“Nothing short of a miracle, really, that despite the despair of Covid, such a wonderful anthology could emerge.”
—ANNE SERLING, author of As I Knew Him: My Dad, Rod Serling