An unprecedented collection of the best of Joyce Carol Oates's short stories combined with eleven new stories.

Contents:

• Spider boy
• The fish factory
• The cousins
• Soft-core
• The gathering squall
• The lost brother
• In hot May
• High lonesome
• *Bd*11 1 87
• Fat man my love
• Objects in mirror are closer than they appear
• Upon the sweeping flood
• At the seminary
• In the region of ice
• Where are you going, where have you been?
• How I contemplated the world from the Detroit house of corrections, and began my life over again
• Four summers
• Small avalanches
• Concerning the case of Bobbie T.
• The tryst
• The lady with the pet dog
• The dead
• Last days
• My Warszawa : 1980
• Our wall
• Raven's wing
• Golden gloves
• Manslaughter
• Nairobi
• Heat
• The knife
• The hair
• The swimmers
• Will you always love me?
• Life after high school
• Mark of Satan