What a fine gift this will make for readers and writers and me.

From the press release:

In March 2007, the premiere online literary publisher NarrativeMagazine.com acquired SQ and transformed it from an annual print publication to an online periodical, expanding its readership and increasing the frequency of publication. The tradition of the once-a-year SQ book, however, remains; and this year, Narrative's editors, Tom Jenks and Carol Edgarian, decided to showcase a selection of best stories by well-known writers published in SQ throughout its long history, including Jhumpa Lahiri's first published short story, Lorrie Moore's second published story, and early stories - all excellent - by Richard Bausch, T. Coraghessan Boyle, Janet Burroway, Robert Olen Butler, Joyce Carol Oates, and Lore Segal. Widely esteemed authors Alice Hoffman, Charles Johnson, X. J. Kennedy, and SQ founding editor Pamela Painter headline a group of new works, which also features stories by a roster of talented, must-read, newer writers Kevin Brockmeier, Elea Carey, Hannah Pittard, Tessa Mellas, Hasanthika Sirisena, and Don Waters.

Additionally, three contemporary greats, Rick Bass, Robert Olen Butler, and Gail Godwin, have contributed new nonfiction pieces in which the authors address the art of fiction. The last of these, a series of pages from Gail Godwin's working journal, binds the collection entire: here is the mature writer musing on life and wrestling with her fiction in paragraphs that turn from descriptions of her cat in a sun-filled window to the rogue whose story is taking shape in her novel-in-progress.

18 Lies and 3 Truths is both a top-flight collection of short fiction and an inspiring, rigorously formed compendium of writing as life.

Available at Amazon or though the Narrative Magazine website.