Larry Dark, the director of the Story Prize, joins the NBCC's Critical Mass blog to evaluate the condition of the short story in today's publishing market, and he's got an upbeat attitude. "It would be better if the Atlantic Monthly still published stories in its regular issues, Esquire included fiction on a consistent basis, and women's magazines continued to publish high quality literary fiction," he admits. "But that ship has sailed, and literary magazines are doing better than just filling the void." The situation isn't perfect—writers do in fact get just as much pressure to switch from short stories to novels as you hear about, and collections could get better coverage from book reviewers—but as long as writers feel a passion for the form, it's going to survive no matter how little commercial success it brings.

Contrast that optimism with Stephen King's belief that short story writing is stuck on the bottom shelf and "apt to deteriorate in the years ahead," or Jean Thompson's detailed rebuttal.

(Disclosure: I was a judge for last year's Story Prize competition, and frequently post essays by short story writers on Beatrice.com.)