Short and sweet

Fans of the embattled short story should be popping the champagne corks twice over today. Not only have Radio 4 and Prospect magazine clubbed together to launch what they've called the National Short Story prize (worth a handsome £15,000 to the winner), but on the other side of the pond, Amazon.com have launched 'Amazon Shorts', a digital service offering original short works by well-known authors at the bargain price of 49 cents a go. Read all about it here, and those of you who agree with Prospect deputy editor Alex Linklater's rather vivid (but certainly pithy) description of the novel as "a capacious old whore" - join with us in raising our glasses to the short story's long-overdue return from the wilderness.