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from www.nydailynews.com – In honor of International Short Story Day (ahem, that’s today), Harper Perennial is releasing a free short story collection, “Forty Stories,” that includes original fiction by a diverse cast of its authors, including novelist Jess Walter, New Yorker editor Ben Greenman, blogger and critic Roxane Gay and, in a perplexing development, the porn star Kayden Kross.

“Forty Stories” is edited by Cal Morgan, the Editorial Director of Harper Perennial, and presently can only be downloaded through the blog Fifty Two Stories, though it is to be made available via what Harper Perennial spokesman Gregory Henry called “the usual suspects” — presumably, Amazon — later this summer.

Fifty Two Stories, which began in 2009, is a Harper Perennial “short fiction delivery service” that published short fiction for about a year before shutting down in 2011 after having only published 12 stories that year. Morgan began planning “Forty Stories” — the remainder of what would have been that year’s output — shortly thereafter.

A notice from him on the blog reads, “Last year, after twelve stories, we took temporary leave. We owe you thanks, for your patience. We also owe you stories. Here they are. Forty new pieces of work, some rich, some strange, all surprising. Taken together, they fill me with awe.”

Harper Perennial is known for publishing paperback originals by young, innovative and promising authors, so releasing a digital short story collection free of charge does not seem all that far afield.

None of the stories had been published elsewhere, according to Henry. Among the anthologized authors are Adam Wilson, Adetokunbo Abiola, Shane Jacobs, Lindsay Hunter and Kyle Minor.

Henry could not explain how Kayden Kross, known for such films as “Kayden’s First Time” and honored with several awards for her work in adult films, came to be in the anthology.

“That was news to me,” he admitted.

Kross has previously described herself as a “book nerd” when growing up in Sacramento. Her biography at the back of the story collection describes her as “a writer in Los Angeles” and links to her “NSFW” website. Her story in the collection is called “Plank” and appears to be an exercise in stream-of-consciousness narration.

Harper Perennial previously employed the porn star Stoya in a video trailer to promote Adam Wilson’s novel “Flatscreen.” That places Harper Perennial squarely, and uniquely, at the strange intersection of pornography and high literature.