О. Henry is the pen name of American writer William Sydney Porter. He wrote 381 short stories while living there. He wrote a story a week for over a year for the New York World Sunday Magazine. His wit, characterization and plot twists were adored by his readers, but often panned by the critics. The collected tales of bunco artists and fourflushers. Full of those delightful Archie Bunkeresque mis-speaks like the `casting of Persians`. These characters are all charmingly stoic in their winsome and loose some attitudes.