Short Story Month 2011. Or, how it is that Caleb J. Ross and Jim Ruland came to punch us in the gut.

It is so Short Story Month and that is a wonderful thing indeed. It also comes with a modicum of pain and dread, and this too is a wonderful thing. All of which is to say it got us thinking about short stories that have punched us in the gut, which us got us thinking about the stories "An Optimist is the Human Personification of Spring" and "Brains for Bengo" by Caleb J. Ross and Jim Ruland respectively, which also led us to penning a joint for the Matt Bell led Short Story Month lovefest on his website, which we hope you will take a look at, though if we had to choose what you might look at with your limited time, we encourage you to take a look at these stories in particular, because they are sure to change your life, if only briefly at that.