New short stories online this week



In a welcome development for enthusiasts of the genre, The Guardian features a new short story today, Subsidence by Pat Barker. "As politicians battle to justify the war in Iraq, Ruth learns her husband has been lying."



There is a new short story by Garrison Keillor in the Atlantic Monthly called Love Me. It's a satirical account of a writer whose first book "Spacious Skies" is a success, but whose follow-up "Amber Waves of Grain" is a turkey.



A dumb dumb dumb book. Why did I write that long first chapter with thirty-four pages all about soybeans? And then in Chapter 2 the agronomist, Danny Montalban, suddenly is no longer in Fargo, he's in Fresno, and we're at a lesbian commitment ceremony at a pimento ranch with ladies in denim caftans whanging on little drums and chanting Sapphic things and Cathy and Denise affirming their love for each other and riding away on a piebald pony and then there's that whole thing about the transcontinental railroad and the driving of the golden spike—where did all that come from?



Suddenly I was a joke. I walked down Forty-third Street and heard the word "soybeans" whispered and people tittering.



At his wits' end he accepts an invitation to write an agony column under the pen name "Mr Blue," and we get to see the questions and answers. In looking for the links for this, I stumbled across Garrison Keillor's agony column for Salon.com in which he plays the part of a (you guessed it) Mr Blue.



Other new short stories:



The Walk with Elizanne by John Updike.



The Benefit of the Doubt by Tobias Wolff. In this interview for Salon Tobias Wolff shares his ideas about reading and writing short stories.



Ossian