These twelve short stories--Matthew J. Sullivan's winning story, Unfound, and eleven nalists--show the range possible in the contemporary literary short story and offer a snapshot of some of the most compelling writing by established and emerging literary talents. From a pool of over five hundred stories, some published in very well-known journals and magazines, and many unpublished, our panel of readers selected these nalists, the best of the best, for the 2005 Robert Olen Butler Prize for a Short Story. Matthew J. Sullivan's winning story, Unfound, was chosen from these nalists by our judge, Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Olen Butler. Here you'll find stories by: Cheryl Alu, Jacob M. Appel, Kerry Dolan, Alicia Gifford, Alison Lee Kinney, Phil Lamarche, Cris Mazza, Jeff Parker, Bill Pettitt, Peter Paul Smith, Matthew J. Sullivan, and Alia Yunis.