Stimulated by the vibrancy of twenty-first century American and British fiction, this volume sketches the landscape of contemporary novels and short stories. Contributors present case studies on Alice Sebold's novel The Lovely Bones, on recent works by Ian McEwan, A.S. Byatt, Julian Barnes, and David Lodge, and on Afro-Latino/a literature in the United States. The volume also includes extensive discussions of contemporary American short stories and recent British 'pop' literature, an analysis of the similarities between the author J T LeRoy and the rapper Eminem, and an exploration of Holocaust representations in contemporary American novels. Two conversations complement the issue: a discussion with Boston Globe chief book critic Gail Caldwell and an interview with award-winning American novelist Jonathan Franzen.