*raises hand* Ok, admission time. I used to read shorts, subscribed to most all of the SF/F mags back in my tragic youth. Then something changed- it was all me- not them ;). I became a non-short-story reader. And writer- I used to write shorts, then just stopped.

Which is ironic being as the only thing I've had published so far (that wasn't academia) was- wait for it...a short story.

But your cookie analogy makes a lot of sense Linnea. I'll have to give them another whirl :)

Great post!

Yes, I have always looked at short stories as a sort of junk food, or maybe to be more polite, snack.

I would read rather read the shorts in anthologies where there is a common thread.