New and Selected Stories

A career-spanning introduction to one of our greatest living short-story writers, David Means: a visionary of American grief, love, and literature.

The stories of David Means are short and long. They follow young people and the very old; dogs and horses; nurses and writers; fathers, daughters, and sons. Many are set in the stark, vibrant grit of his New England, with its stone graveyards and country roads, in the factories and railways that line the Hudson. They are funny in sadness, sadly funny, full of gravity and grace, stronger than stone.

Over the last three decades, Means has established himself as one of the greatest American artists of the short-story form, and one of the best writers on grief, love, and what it means to live alongside people, alongside ourselves. He shows us life from beyond it somehow, with the sharpness and heat of fate. New and Selected Stories lets longtime fans and new readers meet the marvel of his artistry, the unusual wisdom that is at once lightning-present and utterly timeless.