Top 10 short story writers

1. Jean Luis Borges
2. Anton Chekhov
3. Raymond Carver
4. Edgar Allan Poe
5. Katherine Mansfield
6. JD Ballard
7. W. Somerset Maugham
8. Paul Bowles
9. Tennessee Williams
10. Charles Bukowski

This is a strictly personal list and I realise I've left out, say, Sylvia Plath, DH Lawrence, Flannery O'Conner, Angela Carter, William Trevor, Franz Kafka, JD Salinger, Mark Twain, Stephen King, Ray Bradbury, John Cheever, Kurt Vonnegut Jr and Philip K Dick.

I'd have to say, over all, the best writers of the form are Americans and Russians. And science fiction is the best genre for it (sci-fi authors are able to communicate fantastic ideas without being bogged down by characters, dialogue and narrative).

Do say: Love the economy of form
Don't say: Bit on the short side, innit?