This is the 34th in a series of posts on 2010 short story collections entered for The Story Prize.
It's a well known (and unfortunate) fact that few people can make a living by writing short stories alone. Consequently, short story writers tend to have other jobs as well. Many teach. The more unusual careers of authors whose collections we've received this year include a guitar maker and a funeral home director, Thomas Lynch, author of Apparitions & Late Stories (W.W. Norton).
Regarding the latter, in 2007, the PBS documentary series Frontline, broadcast a frank and moving documentary, "The Undertaking," about Lynch & Sons, Lynch's family owned and operated funeral home in central Michigan. The film was inspired by his nonfiction work, The Undertaking: Life Studies from the Dismal Trade. Here's the first part of that show:
