This year's collection is a real mixed bag and not in a good way. Many of this year's selections had highly implausible characters, stilted settings, or no particular story arc. Contributions from Eamon McGuinness, David Ryan, Grey Wolfe LaJoie, Naomi Shuyama-Gomez, and Lisa Taddeo were solid with memorable characters and a sense of intimacy and immediacy in the writing. As a regular reader of annual short story anthologies (this one, Best American, and others), in recent years I have been finding fewer and fewer stories selected deliver much for me as a reader. I'm not sure if editorial tastes are changing, if the overall pool of stories considered is smaller or weaker, or what is happening, but for me it's not a positive trend. ( )