The Short Story....living, dying, staying the same...

I don't know how often I've seen writers' lamenting the death of the short story but it has not been a little, so that reading Stephen King's essay,"What Ails the Short Story," which is no doubt just the preface for the collection he edited..nice marketing, in The New York Times Sunday Book Review (30 Sept 2007), we are reminded that the literature is dying theme is alive and well.

A choppy start no doubt to a live issue from a live wire of a writer....but King has enjoyed the success of fame and fortune as a writer, with a peppering of literary merit tossed in for an O'Henry there and an anthologized story there. Still, on the one hand one can't argue with success. And on the other, King probably could settle down and write that great american novel he dreamed of doing before becomming wildly successful as a horror master. But I haven't read his fiction, yet I've enjoyed some films based on his work, as well as, his book on writing. I'm kind of a literary snob and he knows the type. English major, still holding on to the delusion that I may write something lasting, something literary, etc....

King hits the nail on the head in terms of the economics and editorial stunting of American short fiction. Its nice to see that a fellow workshop participant , Randy DeVito is included in his pick for the "Best of..." series. What can a poor boy do? It is just that ironic twist that King would be picked to edit a series that typically consists of big name "literary types" over and over again, with a smattering of us small fellas trying to break in. A blockbuster novelist like King is no less qualified than the head of the Iowa Writing Workshop. No doubt there will be names that both would pick for as King says, there are lots of good, and even some great stories still being written.

So anyway...I pose the question here about the state of short fiction...(basically meaning the literary short story....) is it living, thriving, dying, or staying the same....?