THE BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES 2021

The annual tradition of collecting a year's worth of memorable fiction continues with this audiobook. Story topics range widely and make for a varied anthology. One thing all the tales share in this audiobook version, though, is the astute pairing of each story with a specific narrator. In Shanteka Sigers’s "A Way With Bea," Bahni Turpin offers a vivid performance that transports listeners from the first sentence. Michael Crouch's rendition of "Biology," by Kevin Wilson, is at once heartbreaking and inspiring. The immersive nature of "Playing Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain," by Jamil Jan Kochai, is thanks in large part to Adan Rocha's narrative skill. Every story is matched with its narrator so well that listeners will want to savor it slowly, following each performer briefly into another world. L.B.F. 2022 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine [Published: NOVEMBER 2021]