Just because David Isaak hasn't mentioned it yet

My favourite book on the art of writing is Italo Calvino's Six Memos for the Next Millennium, which I have probably read more than any other book now barring Stig of the Dump. This weekend I found another reason to love it, given recent musings on the length of fiction. In the essay regarding Quickness, Calvino lambasts the publishing industry for ignoring shorter fictions. He states 'I should like to break a lance on the field for the richness of short literary forms, with they imply in terms of style and concentration of content.'

Hear, hear.

And talking of Calvino, if you haven't read this before, read it now.