**Best-selling author Meg Wolitzer guest edits the premier annual showcase for the country’s finest short fiction.** “If you know exactly what you are going to get from the experience of reading a story, you probably wouldn’t go looking for it; you need, in order to be an open reader of fiction, to be willing. To cast a vote for what you love and then wait for the outcome,” writes Meg Wolitzer in her introduction. *The Best American Short Stories 2017* casts a vote for and celebrates all that is our country. Here you’ll find a man with a boyfriend and a girlfriend, naval officers trapped on a submarine, a contestant on *America’s Funniest Home Videos,* and a gay man desperate to be a father—unforgettable characters waiting for an outcome, burning with stories to tell. Maidencane / Chad B. Anderson — Are we not men? / T.C. Boyle — God’s work / Kevin Canty — A small sacrifice for an enormous happiness / Jai Chakrabarti — Arcadia / Emma Cline — Hog for sorrow / Leopoldine Core — Campoamor / Patricia Engel — Richard of York gave battle in vain / Danielle Evans — Ugly / Mary Gordon — The midnight zone / Lauren Groff — The Chicane / Amy Hempel — Tally / Noy Holland — Gabe Dove / Sonya Larson — Let’s go to the videotape / Fiona Maazel — Ancient Rome / Kyle McCarthy — Last day on earth / Eric Puchner — Novostroïka / Maria Reva — Telemachus / Jim Shepherd — Gender Studies / Curtis Sittenfeld — Famous actor / Jess Walter