THE PUSHCART PRIZE XV: Best of the Small Presses

The 15th annual publication of a national literary treasure, Henderson's yearly resurrection of fine or finely experimental literature from the leading-edge but often little-read pages of small magazines and small, not-for-profit publishers. As usual, the offerings are a felicitous mix of fiction--usually short stories--essays, and poems, drawn from presses that, as Russell Banks aptly points out in his fire-breathing introduction, serve as the American counterpart to the USSR's samizdat. Henderson includes 58 pieces here; from the opener--""The Day I Met Buddy Holly,"" Kim Herzinger's fiction debut, drawn from Boulevard, a charming tale about how the 12-year-old narrator chances upon the rock star in Eugene, Oregon--to the closer--Laura Kalpakian's ""The Battle of Manila,"" from The Iowa Review, a poignant story about the loss that war brings to two mothers--it's a noteworthy collection.