This is a collection of 33 essays on short story writing--introduced by no less a literary light than John Updike. It features an essay on "The Finer Points of Characterization" by Orson Scott Card and "The Carrot and Some (Writing) Tricks. But I don't recognize any of the names of the other contributors, and the blurbs on their background in the back doesn't impress. And that matters--an editor once told me, if you're going to take advice on writing, take it either from name-bestselling writers or gatekeepers--not necessarily anyone who writes for Writer's Digest or has taught a writing class. And the title is a bit of a misnomer--only 3 of the 33 essays focus on the short story: "Mastering the Short Story," "Anatomy of a Short Story" and "The Short Short." The rest are really geared toward fiction writing in general. And I didn't find myself underlining or highlighting this book--not much here I hadn't seen covered before. ( )