Studying Short Stories (quickie)

I've been trying my hand at writing short stories this past year. I've been rather frustrated by my habit of making my stories too complicated or too long - or both. Now I've taken someone's advice and I'm reading the works of other established authors to see how they manage their short stories. Despite my love of science fiction and fantasy, I keep picking up a favorite author of mine - Louis L'Amour. Not only have I been reading his Sackett novels for years, but I've got a pretty massive collection of his short stories as well. He really was a master of telling a good and entertaining story in only a few pages. I really have to suggest the Collected Short Stories of Louis L'Amour (See the link on the right bar). Even if you're not a fan of the western, you really can't deny how engaging these stories are. If you really pay attention I think you can learn a lot on writing Short stories just by emulating this style, or at least by learning what elements make these tales great.