Exploring themes of obsession, justice, passion, and duplicity, the droll, macabre stories in Valerie Martin’s Sea Lovers buzz with tension. Master of the short story, Ann Beattie’s latest collection of linked stories is The State We’re In: Maine Stories. Examining the borders between one nation and another, between one person and another, American Book Award-winning author Luis Alberto Urrea reveals his mastery of the short form in his new book The Water Museum: Stories.