Guest host Michael Cerveris presents four stories inspired by other books and authors.  Immigrants collide at Wal-Mart in Juan Martinez's “Best Worst American,” read by Cristin Milioti.  An old friendship is strained in Namwali Serpell 's "Double Men," read by Nikki M. James.  Seth Fried re-imagines Kafka's "Metamorphosis"; the reader is Jennifer Mudge.  And Dino Buzzati visits "Kafka's Houses" on trip to Prague.  The reader is Tony Roberts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Guest host Hope Davis presents two stories about rituals.  A young author takes a glamorous older woman to lunch and all does not go well in “The Luncheon” by Jeffrey Archer, performed by Jefferson Mays.  And host Davis performs Amy Bloom’s touching story “Love is Not a Pie,” in which family secrets, and family bonds, are shared after a funeral.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Guest host David Strathairn presents two stories about longing.  In Peter Carey’s “American Dreams,” a small Australian community is transformed into a tourist destination by a bizarre bequest.  Strathairn is the reader.  And writer and actor Lisa Fugard performs her own beautiful “Night Calls,” about a lonely widower, his young daughter, and an endangered bird.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Guest host Jane Kaczmarek presents two stories about people who beat the odds.  In Lauren Groff’s “At the Round Earth’s Imagined Corners,” read by Amy Ryan, a sensitive boy grows up in a house full of snakes.  Then, writer Kiese Laymon recalls coming of age in racist Jackson, Mississippi in his memoir “How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America,” read by Brandon J. Dirden.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Guest host John Darnielle presents two of his favorite weird stories.  In Amparo Davila’s “Moses and Gaspar,” a grieving man has inherited two—creatures—from his dead brother.  But what in the world are they?  Peter Jay Fernandez reads.  A slick salesman has a little something extra up his sleeve in Dennis Etchison’s “The Pitch,” read by Michael Shannon.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Guest host Michael Cerveris presents three unusual love stories.  A goofy guy meets the girl of his dreams in a really strange way in "Chainsaw Apple," by Arthur Bradford, read by Josh Radnor.  Russian novelist Vladimir Nabokov recalls a ten-year-olds' "First Love," read by Edward Herrmann.  And a desperate housewife's plans for adventure are foiled in Dorothy Thomas's "The Getaway," read by Mia Dillon.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Guest host Maulik Pancholy presents two selections from this year’s Best American Short Stories anthology, with comments by this year’s guest editor, Roxane Gay.  In “Suburbia,” by Amy Silverberg, a young girl leaves home for the first time, and both she, and it, are transformed.   The reader is Martha Plimpton.   “Everything is Far from Here,” by Cristina Henriquez, goes to the heart of the country’s immigration crisis with an affecting portrait of a migrant mother and her son.  It’s performed by Zabryna Guevara.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Guest host David Sedaris presents three stories about growing up and rites of passage.  A young woman is drawn into a social charade in Joyce Carol Oates' "Nairobi," read by Alison Pill.  Best friends re-examine their relationship in Amy Hempel's "The Most Girl Part of You," read by Kate Burton.  And Rick Moody follows two brothers from childhood to maturity in "Boys," read by BD Wong.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Guest host Josh Radnor presents works by Carrie Brownstein and George Saunders.  Brownstein reads from her memoir “Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl.”  BD Wong performs Saunders’ “My Chivalric Fiasco,” about a goofy knight errant at a Renaissance Fair, and Anthony Rapp performs Saunders’ “Sticks”, a brief portrait of an eccentric dad.  We also hear Brownstein and Saunders in conversation with Radnor.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Guest host Jane Curtin presents three stories about emotional transitions—what happens after divorce, or the death of a loved one?  In our first, prankish story by Ron Carlson, lunch with an ex becomes an Olympic sport.  The reader is Sean Astin.  Tom Barbash’s thoughtful story “The Women” explores the very different ways a father and son cope with the loss of a wife and mother.  Michael Imperioli is the reader.  And we finish with an elegant classic by the French writer Colette, read by Barbara Barrie.  A married couple encounters “The Other Wife” at lunch.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices