These twenty short stories boldly and insightfully explore the extremes of human emotions. In her story "Night Talkers," Edwidge Danticat reunites a young man and the elderly aunt who raised him in Haiti. Anthony Doerr brings readers a naturalist who discovers the surprising healing powers of a deadly cone snail. Louise Erdrich writes of an Ojibwa fiddler whose music brings him deep and mysterious joy. Here are diverse and intriguing characters -- a kidnapper, an immigrant nanny, an amputee blues musician -- who are as surprised as the reader is at what brings them happiness.

In his introduction, Walter Mosley explores the definition of a good short story, and writes, "The writers represented in this collection have told stories that suggest much larger ideas. I found myself presented with the challenge of simple human love contrasted against structures as large as religion and death. The desire to be loved or to be seen, represented on a canvas so broad that it would take years to explain all the roots that bring us to the resolution." Each of these stories bravely evokes worlds brimming with desire and loss, humanity and possibility.

Contents:

• Rationing by Mary Yukari Waters
• Mines by Susan Straight
• Coins by Mona Simpson
• Heaven Lake by Jess Row
• Kavita Through Glass by Emily Ishem Raboteau
• Ghost Knife by Sharon Pomerantz
• Marie-Ange's Ginen by Marilene Phipps
• Moriya by Dean Paschal
• Every Tongue Shall Confess by Z.Z. Packer
• Future Emergencies by Nicole Krauss
• Devotion Adam Haslett
• Why the Sky Turns Red When the Sun Goes Down by Ryan Harty
• Shamengwa by Louise Erdrich
• The Shell Collector by Anthony Doerr
• Baby Wilson by E.L. Doctorow
• Night Talkers by Edwidge Danticat
• Johnny Hamburger by Rand Richards Cooper
• The Bees by Dan Chaon
• Space by Kevin Brockmeier
• Compassion by Dorothy Allison