For 25 years, I’ve been reading, faithfully, the series BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES. Recently, I learned from Heidi Pitlor, the series editor, that Richard Russo, whom I’ve also been reading for many years (my favorite is Nobody’s Fool), chose my story “All Boy” for inclusion in the 2010 BASS. “All Boy,” which first appeared in New England Review, is the final story in THE BIGNESS OF THE WORLD. It’s been a month of wonderful news.