Thursday, Jun 21, 2012    Text size: 

NEW YORK — Harper Perennial is providing readers free PDF downloads of its new anthology "Forty Stories." The collection features short fiction from writers of all walks, including adult star Kayden Kross. 

The "Forty Stories" download is only available on the Harper Perennial website FiftyTwoStories.com, a blog created in 2009 by the publisher to "celebrate" the short story. The site, which posts one story a week from established and unknown authors alike, took a hiatus in 2011 after posting 12 pieces.

FiftyTwoStories.com is now back and Editorial Director Cal Morgan has compiled and edited the 40 stories that would have made the site last year.

The selections include works by novelist Jess Walter ("The Financial Lives of Poets"), acclaimed writer Kyle Minor ("In the Devil's Territory"), New Yorker editor Ben Greenman and XBIZ Award-winner Kross (Acting Performance of the Year, Female — "Body Heat").

Kross' contribution, described by NYDailyNews.com as "an exercise in stream-of-consciousness narration," is titled "Plank." The story's inclusion in the anthology surprised Harper Perennial spokesman Gregory Henry, who told the site, "That was news to me."

"Forty Stories" will be made available as a free eBook to all major retailers on July 17. To see XBIZ TV's exclusive interview with Kross, go here.