For the past three decades, William Abrahams hasselected the O. Henry Award winners. Building ona tradition that spans over three quarters of acentury, The O. Henry Awards has been "widelyregarded as the nation's most prestigious awardsfor short fiction" (The AtlanticMonthly). Every year, Abrahams has chosen adiverse group of stories and writers to creat acollection that includes perennial favorites as wellas an increasing number of lesser known writers,many of whom have gone on to become seminal voicesin current American fiction. PrizeStories 1996 is both William Abrahams'sthirtieth anniversary as Editor of this landmarkcollection and his last, which gives this collection aspecial resonance. The twenty or more storiesselected for this honor each yhear are culled from abroad range of American magazines both large andsmall, offering the reader the full sweep and varietyof today's fiction. As in previous years,Prize Stories 1996 concludes with acontributors' notes section including comments by thewriters on the inspirations behind their stories,providing readers with a unique entree into thewriters' creative processes. Representing theexcellence of contemporary fiction writing, these storiesdemonstrate the continuing strenghth and vitalityof the American short story.