Not sure if this is a rumor or not (but Matt Staggs is the source, and I trust him) but I just found out from the twittermill that Realms of Fantasy is ceasing publication after the April issue. This royally sucks- RoF is one of the magazines I subscribed to last year and read every single time it came in the mail. It was right up there with Weird Tales and EV as the thing that would definitely brighten my day each time it came into the mail.
Well, time for a moment of silence. An era is definitely passing. F&SF is cutting back to bimonthly, other big name mags are slowing down and hemorrhaging subscribers. Online zines seem to be faring well…and I hope that they have a model that makes them last.
The question is no longer, “Are short stories dying?”. As a viable market the answer is yes. Short stories are dying. Are they still relevant? Well, poetry is even less of a viable market than short stories, and they seem to have some minor relevancy this day and age. But its very minor and hardly the spot it held 50 years ago in the public mind.
And that’s the thing- I have a feeling that short stories are going the same way. They won’t be part of the public mind for much longer, if at all. I’m not sure what to think about this- I love short stories and I love poetry, and both have profound effects on the larger canvas when I write. But at the same time- are the necessary?
Who will mourn the passing of the short story from our societal consciousness? Other than people who have thought of it as the life blood of genre, who even cares about such a medium any more? Is it viable? Is it even pertinent as a means of expression that connects the modern reader to his environment?
In short- do we really need the short story anymore?
I’m not sure. I want to say yes. But is that just my own love getting in the way of actuality?
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Do we really NEED the short story?
Of course not.