Six years ago I wrote a "state of the nation" piece about the short story in Canada. Re-reading it recently, I thought it remained an interesting snap shot in time.
In 2005, buzz was the short story collection was in decline. Publishers didn't want them. Readers weren't interested in them. Only workshop organizers and creative writing programs were making any money off of them.
In Best American Short Stories of the Century (Mariner Books, 2000), John Updike (editor) intoned:
The health of the short story? Its champions claim that as many short stories are published as ever. Whatever statistics show, my firm impression is that in my lifetime the importance of short fiction as a news-bearing medium -- bringing Americans news of how they live, and why -- has diminished.
Humpf. Maybe so, maybe not.
Opportunities for short story writers have certainly diminished. Yet the genre keeps attracting attention and talent. See, for example, Nathaniel G. Moore's recent series on the short story in Open Book Toronto.
Here's some recent and newish short story titles that caught my attention (haven't read them all yet; just sayin'):
Greg Kearney - Pretty (Exile Editions, 2011)
Jessica Westhead - And Also Sharks (Cormorant, 2011)
Julie Booker - Up Up Up (Anansi, 2011)
Matthew J. Trafford - The Divinity Gene (D&M, 2011)
Zsuzsi Gartner - Better Living Through Plastic Explosives (Penguin, 2011)
Hal Niedzvecki - Look Down, This is Where It Must Have Happened (City Lights, 2011)
Dennis E Bolen - Anticipated Results (Arsenal, 2011)
Clark Blaise - The Meagre Tarmac (Biblioasis, 2011)
You might also want to check out the new Douglas Glover story "A Flame, A Burst of Light" in The New Quarterly (#118, spring 2011).
The short story. Alive and kickin'
http://thenewcanlit.blogspot.com/
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