Shannon Ravenel, series editor of The Best American Short Stories for 13 years, has edited New Stories from the South since its introduction in 1987. I was given this book, with of its “new” Faulkner short story, because the giver knew I had read all Faulkner’s novels and short stories.

From the back cover: “The anthology debut of a new story by the colossus of Southern literature? The Faulkner, the one who’s been dead for thirty years? You bet.

“In her preface to the eleventh New Stories from the South, editor Shannon Ravenel explains how a story written in the autumn of 1930 became ‘new.’ William Faulkner’s ‘Rose of Lebanon’ lat undiscovered until 1995, when it was published in a magazine – thus qualifying it for inclusion in this collection.

“This year’s anthology offers a chance to compare what’s being written today – from tales of a Yankee braving a hurricane in Louisiana to a cross-dressing Marine’s ‘last stand’ at Camp Legune; froma young married couple named Adam and Eve to a jealous husband reincarnated as a parrot – with what Faulkner was writing more than fifty years ago. It includes stories by New South literature headliners such as Robert Olen Butler, Ellen Douglas, and Lee Smith along with up-and-comers. More than ever, New Stories fro the South is a ‘must read’ for fans of Southern literature and of the best contemporary American short fiction.”

To this I add that there are 15 stories in this collection. Where each story was published is given as is an Appendix with authors’ names and her/his story’s title for earlier editions. Besides Faulkner’s “new” story, I especially enjoyed Robert Owen Butler’s Jealous Husband Returns in Form of Parrot (and reacts to the man with whom the parrot sees his wife making love), Lee Smith’s The Happy Memories Club, and Tim Gautreaux’s Died and Gone to Vegas (about southern Louisiana oilmen, mainly Cajuns, who kill time during bad weather by playing the Cajun card game of bourrée (whose rules are spelled out in the story). Bourrée is a card game I’ve watched several times as a child or teen but only played a few times. The “pot” in this simple game keeps on growing as every player has to ante up every hand (just a dollar in this story) until someone wins the pot by taking three of the five hands in a game. There is a “vicious version” in which anyone taking no hands in a game has to double what’s in the pot, so the pot can grow big awfully fast. But this vicious version is only done when there are four or fewer players. As a young bystander I’ve seen players losing a hunting dog or a boat or even their car in order to double what’s in the pot. Tim Gautreaux, from Morgan City (just 20 miles from Franklin LA where I grew up) tells this story so well that it brought back many memories of childhood card games in southern Louisiana besides bourrée.

Most of these short stories are also good, but few as good as those I’ve named above. Overall I rate this book as 4 out of 6 stars. Had I not been raised as a southerner I probably would have rated it as a 3-star book.