_The Key of the Fields_ and _Boldero_, by _Henry Milner Rideout_ (Duffield & Company). These two picaresque novelettes have the magical glamor of fairy tales set in Maxfield Parrish landscapes. They have given me great pleasure by reason of their prismatic quality and their whimsical humor. Mr. Rideout is a conscious stylist who never falls into preciosity, but we must accept his world without qualification if we are to enter properly into the spirit of his work. _The Best College Short Stories_, edited by _Henry T. Schnittkind_ (The Stratford Company). Mr. Schnittkind aims to consider annually the best short stories in college magazines, following the same principles which I have adopted in the present series of volumes. The idea is excellent, and the results are surprisingly good. I find in this collection three stories which would have won a place on my annual Roll of Honor: “The Tomte Gubbe” by Alma P. Abrahamson, “The Dead City” by Isidor Schneider, and “Angèle” by John Jones Sharon. The volume includes a large amount of valuable illustrative material, including contributions by many magazine editors and successful writers. _The Scar that Tripled_, by _William G. Shepherd_ (Harper & Brothers). In this short story Mr. Shepherd relates with vivid detail the true story of the lad whose meeting with Richard Harding Davis at Salonica suggested to the latter the story of “The Deserter.” To my mind it is a better story than “The Deserter,” and one which will have a quiet life of its own for some time. _Land’s End and Other Stories_, by _Wilbur Daniel Steele_ (Harper & Brothers). I consider this the best volume of short stories by an American author published this year. It rightly claims a place in our literature by virtue of Mr. Steele’s sensitive fidelity to the more abiding romance of ordinary life. These stories have a quality of romantic escape which is rare. Behind the complications which his men and women weave for one another looms the eternal but ever-changing pattern of the sea. Few writers show such economy in the use of their material. These stories will last because of their imaginative reality, their warm color, and their finality of artistic execution. _Mr. Squem and Some Male Triangles_, by _Arthur Russell Taylor_ (George H. Doran Company). These sketches have an American philosophy with more background than the casual reader may at first realize. They help to interpret much that would bewilder the foreigner, and their unassuming excellence is noteworthy.