Celestial Timepiece

Isn’t the implicit promise of an anthology that it will, or aspires to, present something different, unexpected?

How ironic, it seemed to me, yet, perhaps, how symbolic, that in our age of rapid mass-production and the easy proliferation of consumer products, the richness and diversity of the American literary imagination should be so misrepresented in most anthologies and textbooks!

—Joyce Carol Oates, “Introduction,” The Oxford Book of American Short Stories, 1st ed.

Anthologies

• A Darker Shade of Noir: New Stories of Body Horror by Women Writers / 2023
• Cutting Edge: New Stories of Mystery and Crime by Women Writers / 2019
• Prison Noir / 2014
• The Oxford Book of American Short Stories, 2nd Ed. / 2012
• New Jersey Noir / 2011
• Shirley Jackson: Novels and Stories / 2010
• The Ecco Anthology of Contemporary American Short Fiction / 2008
• Best American Mystery Stories 2005 / 2005
• Best New American Voices 2003 / 2003
• Snapshots: 20th Century Mother-Daughter Fiction / 2000
• The Best American Essays of the Century / 2000
• The Norton Anthology of Contemporary Fiction / 1998
• Telling Stories: An Anthology for Writers / 1998
• Tales of H.P. Lovecraft / 1998
• American Gothic Tales / 1996
• The Essential Dickinson / 1996
• The Sophisticated Cat / 1992
• The Oxford Book of American Short Stories / 1992
• The Best American Essays 1991 / 1991
• Reading the Fights / 1988
• STORY: Fictions Past and Present / 1987
• First Person Singular: Writers On Their Craft / 1983
• Night Walks: A Bedside Companion / 1982
• The Best American Short Stories 1979 / 1979
• Scenes from American Life: Contemporary Short Fiction / 1973

For a fuller accounting of Joyce Carol Oates’s publications, see: The Glass Ark: A Joyce Carol Oates Bibliography