"What I look for most in a story," writes Amy Tan in her introduction to this year's volume of The Best American Short Stories, "what I crave, what I found in these twenty-one, is a distinctive voice that tells a story only that voice can tell."

Tan found herself drawn to wonderfully original stories that satisfied her appetite for the magic and mystery she loved as a child, when she was addicted to fairy tales. In this vibrant collection, fantasy and truth coexist brilliantly in new works by writers such as Annie Proulx, Lorrie Moore, Nathan Englander, and Pam Houston. "The Sun, the Moon, the Stars," by Junot Diaz, features a young man trying to stave off heartbreak in a sacred cave in Santo Domingo. In "Mrs. Dutta Writes a Letter," by Chitra Divakaruni, a mother moves from India to California to be closer to her son, only to sacrifice something crucial along the way. In Melissa Hardy's haunting story "The Uncharted Heart," a geologist unearths a shocking secret in the wilds of northern Ontario.

"Maybe I'm still that kid who wants to see things I've never seen before," writes Tan. "I like being startled by images I never could have conjured up myself."

Contents:

• The Hermit's Story by Rick Bass
• The Sun, the Moon, the Stars by Junot Diaz
• Mrs. Dutta Writes a Letter by Chitra Divikaruni
• Kansas by Stephen Dobyns
• The Tumblers by Nathan Englander
• The Piano Tuner by Tim Gautreaux
• The Uncharted Heart by Melissa Hardy
• The 5:22 by George Harrar
• Islands by A. Hemon
• The Best Girlfriend You Never Had by Pam Houston
• In the Kindergarten by Ha Jin
• Marry the One Who Gets There First by Heidi Julavits
• Live Life King-Sized by Hester Kaplan
• Africans by Sheila Kohler
• Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
• Real Estate by Lorrie Moore
• Save the Reaper by Alice Munro
• The Bunchgrass Edge of the World by Annie Proulx
• The Robbers of Karnataka by James Spencer
• The Good Shopkeeper by Samat Upadhyay
• The Rest of Her Life by Steve Yarbrough