These “cover stories” are bold new takes on classic short stories from the masters, brilliantly bringing together the old and the new.

From bestselling novelist Wayne Grady comes the delightful and inventive The Cartel and Other Cover Stories, his first collection of short fiction. Just as cover songs are both tributes to other musicians and original works in themselves, here Grady masterfully reimagines classic short stories in a way that honours the originals while creating something entirely new.

Each story in this collection takes its inspiration from works by international masters of the form, including Anton Chekhov, Franz Kafka, and Lydia Davis, drawing together new contexts and connections. For instance, in “La Gordita,” inspired by Guy de Maupassant’s “Boule de Suif” about the French bourgeoisie, Grady skewers wealthy expats in Mexico as they make arrangements to leave their winter homes when a drug cartel threatens to seize control of their town.

Bringing together delectably stylish prose, striking characters, a foreword from Margaret Atwood, and “literary liner notes” that bring context to the original stories and the short story form, Wayne Grady’s collection of cover stories is not to be missed!