No other writer can match the impressive oeuvre of Joyce Carol Oates. High Lonesome: New and Selected Stories 1966-2006 gathers short fiction from the acclaimed author's seminal collections and includes eleven new tales that further demonstrate the breathtaking artistry and striking originality of an incomparable talent who "has imbued the American short story with an edgy vitality and raw social surfaces" (Chicago Tribune).SPIDER BOY“THERE ARE PLACES in the world where people vanish.”His father had said this. His father had spoken flatly, without an air of mystery orthreat. It was not a statement to be challenged and it was not a statement to beexplained. Later, when his father had vanished out of his life, he would summonback the words as a kind of explanation and in anxious moments he would mis-hear the words as There are places in the world where people can vanish.Still later, when he had not seen his father in a long time, or what seemed to hima long time, months, or maybe just weeks, he would try to summon the wordsagain, exactly as his father had uttered them, but by this time he’d becomeuncertain, anxious. Where people can vanish, or where people vanish?It was such a crucial distinction!“REMEMBER your new name. Think before you answer. Not just, ‘What’s yourname?’ but any question. It helps to lick your lips. That will give you time not tomake a mistake you can’t unmake.”