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American Short Fiction

Publishing exquisite fiction since 1991.

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Aaron Dixon

Ghost Water

Casey Hannan
Ghost Water

I go to Lee’s bar downtown where loose dogs dart in the street. I love on my horn, and those dogs go wild. They claw up the hood and piss hot butter on the windshield. A girl yells directions so I can park. The girl opens my door and asks if she can watch my car for five dollars. I say sure, and the girl leans against the trunk and opens a book. I ask her if she likes bourbon, and she says she doesn’t drink on account of keeping her voice in shape. I try to get her to sing, and she says, … [Read more...] about Ghost Water

John Starks

Salvatore Pane
John Starks

There’s a glitch in NBA Jam only John Starks knows about. He sits in the dark in his duplex, the gummy carpet littered with empty forties and dead blunts. He selects his old squad, the New York Knicks, and chooses himself as the playable character. He looks at his face onscreen—grinning fifty years earlier—and taps in the code. In the twilight of his life, John Starks has discovered how to summon Michael Jordan in NBA Jam. Jordan refused to lend his likeness to the NBA Jam developers because … [Read more...] about John Starks

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