In Rick Bass' The Hermit's Story, a woman battles the elements on a journey by dog sled in Canada, in Hester Kaplan's Live Life King-Sized a man books into a Caribbean resort to die, and in James Spencer's The Robbers of Karnataka, a tourist in India seeking enlightenment encounters bandits instead. "What I look for most in a story," writes Amy Tan in her introduction to this year's volume of The Best American Short Stories, "what I crave, what I found in these twenty-one, is a distinctive voice that tells a story only that voice can tell." Tan found herself drawn to wonderfully original stories that satisfied her appetite for the magic and mystery she loved as a child, when she was addicted to fairy tales. In this vibrant collection, fantasy and truth coexist brilliantly in new works by writers such as Annie Proulx, Lorrie Moore, Nathan Englander, and Pam Houston. "The Sun, the Moon, the Stars," by Junot Diaz, features a young man trying to stave off heartbreak in a sacred cave in Santo Domingo. In "Mrs. Dutta Writes a Letter," by Chitra Divakaruni, a mother moves from India to California to be closer to her son, only to sacrifice something crucial along the way. In Melissa Hardy's haunting story "The Uncharted Heart," a geologist unearths a shocking secret in the wilds of northern Ontario. "Maybe I'm still that kid who wants to see things I've never seen before," writes Tan. "I like being startled by images I never could have conjured up myself." With twenty-one tales, each a fabulously rich journey into a different world, The Best American Short Stories 1999 is sure to surprise and delight.