Fiction collections by authors Mary Gordon, Rick Bass and George Saunders have been named finalists for the third annual Story Prize, given to the year’s outstanding book of short fiction. Bass was nominated for THE LIVES OF ROCKS (Houghton Mifflin), Gordon for THE STORIES OF MARY GORDON (Pantheon) and Saunders for IN PERSUASION NATION (Riverhead.) The winner, to be announced at an awards ceremony at the New School’s Tishman Auditorium on February 28, receives $20,000. Finalists will each be given $5,000.

GalleyCat‘s own Ron Hogan was one of the three judges (along with author Edwidge Danticat and Books & Books owner Mitchell Kaplan) and has dipped into each of these collections, along with many other potential candidates, as they’ve been published over the last several months. “I’m looking forward to devoting a lot more time to these three authors in the following weeks,” Hogan said, “and I’m glad I’ve got two other well-informed judges to help make what will undoubtedly be a tough decision.”