Best of the Web 2010, Kathy Fish, Guest Editor, Matt Bell, Series Editor

CONTRIBUTORS

Chris Bachelder, Brian Baldi, Elissa Bassist, Jensen Beach, Mary Biddinger, Kyle Booten, Robert Bradley, Emily Bromfield, Rachel Bunting, Aaron Burch, Robert Olen Butler, Dan Chaon, Kim Chinquee, Myfanwy Collins, Kristiana Colón, Thomas Cooper, Lydia Copeland, Elizabeth Crane, Michael Czyzniejewski, Oliver de la Paz, Alison Doernberg, Kasandra Snow Duthie, Elizabeth Ellen, Claudia Emerson, Brian Evenson, Lucas Farrell, Sasha Fletcher, Scott Garson, Molly Gaudry, Matthew Glenwood, Amelia Gray, Mary Hamilton, Leslie Harrison, Matt Hart, Christine Hartzler, Donora Hillard, Lily Hoang, Dave Housley, Jac Jemc, Stephen Graham Jones, Sean Kilpatrick, Matthew Kirkpatrick, Stokely Klasovsky, Kendra Kopelke, Krystal Languell, Emma J. Lannie, Charles Lennox, Sara Levine, Jie Li, Sean Lovelace, Josh Maday, Ravi Mangla, Peter Markus, Meredith Martinez, James McCormick, Steven McDermott, David McLendon, Mary Miller, Kyle Minor, Ander Monson, Stefani Nellan, Amber Norwood, Frank O'Connor, Cami Park, Jennifer Pieroni, Julie Platt, Michelle Reale, Nanette Raymond Rivera, Dave Rowley, Joanna Ruocco, F. Daniel Rzicznek, Christine Schutt, Amy Lee Scott, Matthew Simmons, Sarah J. Sloat, Sue Standing, Leigh Stein, Angi Becker Stevens, Terese Svoboda, August Tarrier, J.A. Tyler, Pamela Uschuk, Anne Valente, William Walsh, David Welch, Brandi Wells, Eleanor Wilner, Kevin Wilson, Angela Woodward, Barbara Yien, Rachel Yoder, and Lisa Zaran.

PRAISE FOR THE BEST OF THE WEB SERIES

"The offerings run the gamut from biographical essays on literary greats to short stories of magical realism and are nearly universally superb. The book lends itself to browsing or reading in short spurts, with its succinct pieces quickly gripping the reader and ending within a few pages... Highly recommended for short story enthusiasts as well as those interested in contemporary literature." —Library Journal

"The book is heartily significant, featuring work that is sometimes surprising... and sometimes exhilarating—not unlike the Web itself." —Los Angeles Times

"Such a development could not have come at a better time for online literary publishing." —NewPages

 "The book, which canvasses both fiction and poetry, really cooks... in the melding of the two genres... The Internet is built for this work: short and weird, just what one’s attention span wants when clicking through. And Almond and Leslie wisely pick up on that, making the book worth paging through, as well." —Time Out Chicago

"Though publishing online provides us the opportunity to present fiction free from economic imperative, permitting us, our authors, and our readers to relish in the experiment of expression, one of our great regrets is forgoing the sensation of binding it, printing it, holding the work we proudly select in our hands. Then along comes Dzanc Books, and this gift of a book, Best of the Web, that feels, to us, like the presentation of an award." —Aaron Petrovich and Alex Rose, editors, Hotel St. George Press

"Reading, poetry and prose written for the Web calls for a different kind of writing than one might find on the printed page and this annual volume is a terrific reminder of great possibilities and experiments in style and form... These pieces offer ground for optimism that those hours at the keyboard, mining for gold in the form of artful language and interesting ideas, are worth hours of search." —Elizabeth Taylor, The Chicago Tribune

"Best of the Web 2010 represents a laborious undertaking—finding a collection of well-written, thought provoking poetry and prose to represent what literature is moving into. As series editor Matt Bell writes, fiction and poetry become 'objects of intellectual and emotional liberation, points of entry..., so capable of delivering stories and poems and essays at the moment.' This anthology as a whole is a point of entry, into a world of exciting and innovative new writing."—Ampersand Books