A review by davidabrams
The Best American Short Stories 2024 by Heidi Pitlor, Lauren Groff

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I always look forward to reading the "best" fiction of the year, the literary cream that has risen to the top, as selected first by the series editor and then finally chosen by the guest editor. This year marks the last of the BASS editions edited by Heidi Pitlor, who has been at the helm since 2007--next year's series editor has some wide shoes to fill and I look forward to seeing what direction they'll steer the series in. I hope the legacy of greatness continues. Well, of course the stories don't always hit the mark, and are nearly always first rate. Even when they're merely "good," they are still better than a lot of other short fiction being published these days. In recent years, the choice of authors has been even more diverse, leading to an even more robust chorus of voices every year. The latest 2024 volume, guest edited by Lauren Groff, is no different--I was unfamiliar with at least half of the authors' names before starting to read this year's collection. Those undiscovered (to me) authors were every bit as good as the more established masters chosen alongside them. They took me to fresh and unexpected places. After reading these stories, I'm happy to say--once again, as I feel I must all too often--that the heart of fiction is very much alive and beating. My favorites in this year's harvest: stories by Marie-Helene Bertino, Jamel Brinkley, Katherine Damm, Madeline Ffitch, and Jim Shepard.