# Where can I find this short story?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-find-this-short-story/476832>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [December 12, 2008, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-find-this-short-story/476832 "2008-12-12T03:54:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![moonstarssun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@moonstarssun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moonstarssun)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2008, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-find-this-short-story/476832/1 "2008-12-12T03:54:24Z")

</div>

A story by Joyce Carol Oates was mentioned in another thread, some time ago, and I’m dying to find it and read it. The title is a black bar, the sort of bar used to censor text. The way it was described makes it sound like something that would keep me wide awake for a night or two.

Anyone know how I can track this down?

Thanks!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![wunderkammer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ed8c4c/32.png) [@wunderkammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wunderkammer)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2008, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-find-this-short-story/476832/2 "2008-12-12T06:01:14Z")

</div>

[Perhaps you should ask **Left Hand of Dorkness**.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=4484496&postcount=121)

I found some indication that it was published in 1995, but no link to a short story collection. And now I’m dying to read it too.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![aaebig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/41988e/32.png) [@aaebig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aaebig)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2008, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-find-this-short-story/476832/3 "2008-12-12T23:13:52Z")

</div>

I think this might be the Joyce Carol Oates story in “The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror: Ninth Annual Collection” (edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling.)

It’s a bit hard to tell, given the title, but this site: [The SF Site: Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Contents Sorted by Volume](http://www.sfsite.com/lists/yb-fh-volume03.htm#09) lists her as having a story named “##############” in that volume, and hopefully she doesn’t have more than one story with a non-text title. 🙂 Also, the volume was published in 1995 which fits in with wunderkammer’s findings.