Starcherone’s 30 Under 30 is the weird cousin of the New Yorker’s great but predictable 20 Under 40 anthology. Some of the writers showcased here are familiar to lovers of innovative fiction – most notably, Joshua Cohen – but the amount of new names is refreshing. The writing is also excellent. My favorite story is Black Kids in Lemon Trees by Shane Jones, author of the novel-soon-to-be-a-movie Light Boxes. The story is a bloody but beautiful tale of 200 cops stuck in a cloud, clubbing birds, shooting guns, and trying to get down. If that sounds weird, that’s because it is weird, very weird, but it works. Second on my list is Angi Becker Stevens’ story, Blood, Not Sap, a cute vignette about a woman’s relationship with a tree who becomes a man. Jaclyn Dwyer’sBiography of a Porn Star in Three Parts might be the most touching reflection on hardcore pornography ever written. On the whole, this anthology gives me a lot of hope for the writers of my generation. If you only order one short story anthology this summer, make sure this is it.
http://www.amazon.com/30-Under-Anthology-Innovative-Fiction/dp/0984213333
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