Day after the school shooting in Florida, my son’s elementary practices lockdown. When I pick his five-year-old self up in the parking lot crowded with parents I don’t breathe. I’ve been drinking, is why, so I hold my body in my mouth. “Noel and his partner are in town, we’re meeting for dinner at Matt’s,” I say to my boy, loading him in the car. Strapping him down. “We're good at traveling together,” my brother tells me at the restaurant. He takes a bite from his Juicy Lucy. “We're … [Read more...] about Matt’s
American Short(er) Fiction Prize 2022
We are thrilled to announce that Brandon Hobson—author of Where the Dead Sit Talking, a National Book Award Finalist, and the 2021 novel The Removed, hailed by the NPR as "deeply resonant and profound"— will judge our 2022 American Short(er) Fiction Prize. The prize recognizes extraordinary short fiction under 1,000 words. The first-place winner will receive a $1,000 prize and publication. Previous winners of the Short(er) Fiction Prize have gone on to be anthologized in places such as The … [Read more...] about American Short(er) Fiction Prize 2022
Issue 73
Anthony Veasna So, "We Would've Been Princes!" “So what do you say?” Marlon asked, standing up and grinning. Something about his unabashed drunkenness, his gleeful childlike pronouncements, complemented his broad shoulders. “Party with us?” Was it blood that zoomed to the FAMOUS SINGER’s cheeks or just maternal pity? Being handsome and pathetic was Marlon’s selling point. Mothers adored that poor fellow brimming with wasted possibility. “Fine, but I need to drink my lemon water,” the … [Read more...] about Issue 73
The Get-Go
Sadie’s mother was tall and narrow, with a long braid down her back, black when Sadie was very little, then silvery, then silver, an instrument to measure time, an atomic clock. Her father had been tall, too, both he and the mother the tallest members of short families. In photographs and at reunions, they loomed. Everyone was happy when they had a short child: they’d decided to fit in after all. Sadie was small and plump and blonde, and when she was nine, her father died, and it was just the … [Read more...] about The Get-Go
Issue 72
Celebrating Emerging Black Writers: Featuring new stories by Elinam Agbo, Selena Anderson, Desiree C. Bailey, Jonathan Escoffery, Rickey Fayne, Gothataone Moeng, Dantiel W. Moniz, Denne Michele Norris, and Maya Perez. Guest-edited by Danielle Evans. Read the editor's note here. Rickey Fayne, "Spare the Rod" The dead come for all kinds of reasons. They come with warnings, wants, and every manner of grudge. Though most I've seen come wanting. They come wanting everything you have and can't … [Read more...] about Issue 72
CLMP Contest Code of Ethics
American Short Fiction endorses and abides by the Code of Ethics developed by the Council of Literary Magazines and Press (CLMP): The Community of Literary Magazines and Presses believes that ethical contests serve our shared goal: to connect writers and readers by publishing exceptional writing. Intent to act ethically, clarity of guidelines, and transparency of process form the foundation of an ethical contest. To that end, we agree — to conduct our contests as ethically as possible and to … [Read more...] about CLMP Contest Code of Ethics