Short Fiction: Books
After the disappointing reception for her second novel, The Changeling, Williams turned her attention to compiling her first book of short stories, Taking Care. By the early 1980s she had over a decade of strong contenders to choose from. Escapes, her second book of short stories, appeared eight years later, and Honored Guest fourteen years after that. In each case the literary world took note. In 2015, The Visiting Privilege gathered most of the stories from those three books plus 13 uncollected ones, and was recognized by critics as a literary landmark. The following year, Williams’ first book of “flash fiction,” 99 Stories of God, was published to similar acclaim.