The Best of Elizabeth Hand contains sixteen stories and novellas, along with a set of story notes.

The collection opens with “Last Summer at Mars Hill,” an account of mortality and miracles set in a “spiritualist community” in Maine. It closes with Illyria, a short novel that deals with family, youthful sexuality, the enduring love of theater, and the infinite vulnerability of magic in all its forms.

“Pavane for a Prince of the Air” recounts the gradual, painful dissolution of a human life. “The Bacchae” combines Greek myth with a dystopian world view. “Cleopatra Brimstone” is an account of trauma, revenge, and astonishing transformations. In “The Have-Nots,” a small-town Southern waitress receives an unexpected gift from Elvis Presley.

Ten more stories, four of them previously uncollected, round out this collection.