If you haven't read anything by Annie Proulx you have a treat awaiting. She's best known for The Shipping News and Brokeback Mountain, though her short stories are gems. (Brokeback is actually a short story that was turned into a movie.) In an interview she remarked that she finds short stories are harder to write than novels. I'd guess that's because her novels are a bit discursive and cover long stretches of time. The short stories don't have so much as a syllable to spare. Most of her stories are about tough, stoic types -- men and women -- scratching out a living against the odds in Wyoming and Nova Scotia. The locations are essential to her stories, kind of like with James Joyce. She's said that her best short story is "Tits-up in a Ditch" which is a totally stunning read. I got to the end and immediately read it again. It was a "what just happened!?!" experience. One may first guess that the title is intended to grab attention. It also fits the story perfectly and no other title would do half so well. "Tits" is the last story in the collection, "Fine Just the Way it is."
Annie Proulx
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Rail Man
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Couldn't agree more, I have two of her collections of short stories, Fine Just the Way It Is and Bad Dirt, not a bad story in either one. Wyoming is as much a character in her stories as the people are. "The Wamsutter Wolf" in Bad Dirt is one of my favorites.