Chick lit: A genre of fiction that often recycles the following plot: Girl in big city desperately searches for Mr. Right in between dieting and shopping for shoes. Girl gets dumped (sometimes repeatedly). Girl finds Prince Charming. This Is Not Chick Lit is a celebration of America’s most dynamic literary voices, as well as a much needed reminder that, for every stock protagonist with a designer handbag and three boyfriends, there is a woman writer pushing the envelope of literary fiction with imagination, humor, and depth. The original short stories in this collection touch on some of the same themes as chick lit–the search for love and identity–but they do so with extraordinary power, creativity, and range; they are also political, provocative, and, at turns, utterly surprising. Featuring marquee names as well as burgeoning talents, This Is Not Chick Lit will nourish your heart, and your mind. Including these original stories: “The Thing Around Your Neck” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie “Two Days” by Aimee Bender “An Open Letter to Doctor X” by Francine Prose “Gabe” by Holiday Reinhorn “Documents of Passion Love” by Carolyn Ferrell “Volunteers Are Shining Stars” by Curtis Sittenfeld “Selling the General” by Jennifer Egan “The Seventy-two-Ounce Steak Challenge” by Dika Lam “Love Machine” by Samantha Hunt “Ava Bean” by Jennifer S. Davis “Embrace” by Roxana Robinson “The Epiphany Branch” by Mary Gordon “Joan, Jeanne, La Pucelle, Maid of Orléans” by Judy Budnitz “Gabriella, My Heart” by Cristina Henríquez “The Red Coat” by Caitlin Macy “The Matthew Effect” by Binnie Kirshenbaum “The Recipe” by Lynne Tillman “Meaning of Ends” by Martha Witt Praise for This Is Not Chick Lit “ This Is Not Chick Lit is important not only for its content, but for its title. I’ll know we’re getting somewhere when equally talented male writers feel they have to separate themselves from the endless stream of fiction glorifying war, hunting and sports by naming an anthology This Is Not a Guy Thing.” —Gloria Steinem “These voices, diverse and almost eerily resonant, offer us a refreshing breath of womanhood-untamed, ungroomed, and unglossed.” — Elle This short story collection examines, in illuminating detail, issues and concerns facing women who won't find solace in a Prada bag. In no way is the editor trying to denounce chick lit. With these thought-provoking stories, she aims for mind expansion instead of mental escapism. In one story a woman experiences trepidation upon her wedding night, flees her husband, and becomes a protectoress of orphans. Another showcases the battles and execution of Joan of Arc through the lens of a reality-TV television crew, complete with makeover. A first date starts off with much promise until the two singletons admit lying to each other over the most banal facts. The most disturbing story is chick lit but with a perverted twist--a single, anxious woman volunteers at a shelter, observes other couples with both hunger and disdain, and develops a distorted view of a coworker when a child disappears. No less hopeful than typical chick lit but certainly more poignant and serious, this collection should spur spirited conversation among readers willing to discuss comparisons. Kaite Mediatore Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved “These voices, diverse and almost eerily resonant, offer us a refreshing breath of womanhood-untamed, ungroomed, and unglossed.”-ELLE Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was born in Nigeria. Her first novel, Purple Hibiscus, won the Commonwealth Writers Prize and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, was shortlisted for the Orange Prize and the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, and longlisted for the Booker. Her short fiction has won the 2003 O. Henry Prize and has appeared in various literary publications, including Granta and the Iowa Review. She is a 2005/2006 Hodder Fellow at Princeton University and divides her time between the United States and Nigeria. Her second novel, Half of a Yellow Sun, will be published in September 2006. Aimee Bender is the author of three books, most recently the story collection Willful Creatures. Her short fiction has been published in Granta, GQ, Harper’s, The Paris Review, Tin House, and other publica- tions and has been heard on Public Radio International’s This American Life. She lives in Los Angeles. Judy Budnitz ’s stories have appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s, Story, The Paris Review, the Oxford American, Glimmer Train, Fence, and McSweeney’s. She is the recipient of an O. Henry Prize, and her debut collection, Flying Leap, was a New York Times Notable Book in 1998. Budnitz is also the author of the novel If I Told You Once, which won the Edward Lewis Wallant Award, and was shortlisted for the Orange Prize in Britain. Her most recent book is the collection Nice Big American Baby. She lives in San Francisco. Jennifer S. Davis is the author of Her Kind of Want,