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David Means



David Means was born and raised in Michigan. His second collection of stories, Assorted Fire Events, earned the Los Angles Times Book Prize for fiction and a National Book Critics Circle nomination. His third book, The Secret Goldfish, received widespread critical acclaim and was shortlisted for the Frank OConnor International Short Story Prize. His fourth book, The Spot, was selected as a 2010 Notable Book by The New York Times, and won an O. Henry Prize. His books have been translated into eight languages, and his fiction has appeared The New Yorker, Harpers Magazine, Esquire, Zoetrope, The Best American Short Stories, The Best American Mystery Stories, The O. Henry Prize Stories, and numerous other publications. He lives in Nyack, New York, and teaches at Vassar College.
 

Genres: Literary Fiction
 
Novels
   Hystopia (2016)
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Collections
   A Quick Kiss of Redemption (1991)
   Assorted Fire Events (2000)
   The Secret Goldfish (2004)
   The Spot (2010)
   Instructions for a Funeral (2019)
   A River in Egypt (2019)
   Two Nurses, Smoking (2022)
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Novellas and Short Stories
   The Junction (2014)
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Non fiction show
 
David Means recommends
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This Plague of Souls (2023)
Mike McCormack
"McCormack mimes the deep traditions of Irish short fiction - Samuel Beckett, Frank O'Connor and John McGahern all come to mind - and twists it a bit into a new directions with stories that are uniquely contemporary, often wildly funny, and always visionary. Beneath his clear, precise style is a renegade in action, working the form into new shapes. Just when you think it's impossible for another great book of stories to come roaring out of Ireland, along comes a brilliant collection, Forensic Songs."
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The Hive and the Honey (2023)
Paul Yoon
"The Hive and the Honey is much more than an exquisite, beautiful collection of short stories. Yoon roves geographic and historical points, catching stories of the Korean diaspora and, in the best way, the way of great literature, locates narratives that would disappear forever if he didn't find them, characters far from home, longing for home, finding ways to reconcile and embrace complex new landscapes. This is a book about all of us. If you let each of these wonderful stories into your soul, you'll feel the way I felt when I read this collection. I was in the hands of a vivid, powerfully honed imagination and came out better, more human, having learned something new about the world."
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Creative Types (2021)
Tom Bissell
"The creative types in Tom Bissell’s brilliant stories travel, try not to be tourists, take cocaine, have threesomes, have babies, find themselves doing hack work for SNL, interview super heroes—all trapped inside acute, bone-cutting sentences. The stories in Creative Types are witty, sharp, and fun as hell to read but also highly serious, fearlessly exposing the foibles of creative people as they try to build lives that feed the muse—or sell themselves out. Bissell is one of our best writers and this is one of his best books."

More recommendations 


Anthologies containing stories by David Means
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Simpsonistas, Vol. 5 (2023)
(Simpsonistas, book 5)
edited by
Joseph Di Prisco
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The Best American Short Stories 2021 (2021)
(Best American Short Stories)
edited by
Jesmyn Ward
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The Best Short Stories 2021 (2021)
(O. Henry Prize Stories)
edited by
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

More anthologies 


Awards
Booker Prize Best Novel nominee (2016) : Hystopia


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