The Missouri Review’s Little Black Book of Fiction is a collection of eleven of our most highly regarded stories, including work by writers such as William Gay, Robert Olen Butler, and Nanci Kincaid, among many others. These stories have been categorized as terrific examples of story types such as tragedy, comedy, mystery, and romance.

Speer Morgan, the editor in chief of The Missouri Review, opens each story with a brief audio introduction, highlighting the strengths of the genre and of each particular story. Each story features a striking opening photo, audio content, author information, and links to each author’s books.

The Missouri Review, founded in 1978, is one of the most highly-regarded literary magazines in the United States and has a reputation for finding and publishing the very best writers first. We are based at the University of Missouri and publish four issues each year. New, emerging, and mid-career writers whose work has been published in The Missouri Review have been anthologized over 100 times in Best American Short Stories, Best American Essays, Best American Travel Writing, Best American Poetry, The O. Henry Prize Anthology, and The Pushcart Prize.