In our August web exclusive story, "Gorman, CA," a couple's car runs out of fuel on the side of the road in a land that is foreign to them both. Heather Wells Peterson indicates lack throughout the landscape and the action as a skilled painter would, in the wilt of the odometer's needle, in the drought-stricken hills, in the protagonist's silence. It's one of those subtle revelations that's so sublime in short fiction: a moment, seemingly insignificant from an outside perspective, that casts a … [Read more...] about Web Exclusive Interview: Heather Wells Peterson
Gorman, CA
https://soundcloud.com/americanshortfiction/heather-wells-peterson-gorman-ca On the way to the wedding in Los Angeles, they ran out of gas. They were a couple, a man and a woman. The woman was driving them down from San Francisco, where they had spent a few days—it was their first time in California, and they were both from somewhere else. The man promised they would make it to the gas station. “How could you know that?” she asked. He didn’t answer. The car was a rental, and it was … [Read more...] about Gorman, CA
Web Exclusive Interview: Rose Gowen
July's web exclusive story, "The Sun and the Pacific, Flowers," is both a beautiful meditation on the passage of time and a careful, close look at a young person's anxiety that she's not doing or being quite enough. Writer Rose Gowen's images and sensory details are stunning; the story is brimming over with oleander and hibiscus, rosemary, agave, palms, and citrus trees. The smells and sounds of the Santa Barbara coast abound here, as does the sense that, for all of that beauty and bounty, … [Read more...] about Web Exclusive Interview: Rose Gowen
The Sun and the Pacific, Flowers
In the afternoon, I was usually lying in the hammock reading Don Quixote while avocados fell on the roof and the grapefruit tree blew its scent around the yard. Bougainvillea and jasmine grew on all the walls, and several varieties of palm snaked up in the sky. The medians were a riot of rosemary. I remember oleander and trumpet vines and sidewalks littered with jacaranda blooms. Hibiscus and giant agaves. Bella donna. There was a tree that made wooden flowers; I have one still, years … [Read more...] about The Sun and the Pacific, Flowers
Lesser Missiles
https://soundcloud.com/americanshortfiction/kathryn-savage-lesser-missiles We smelled smoke and, out the window, embers rose in the night. We got out of bed and pulled the red alarm box in the hallway and went outside. From across the street, we watched fire destroy our apartment building. The woman who lived down the hall from us wore a nightgown and fanned herself with a magazine and shook her head. We found a motel nearby, mostly used by military girlfriends and wives. Then we walked … [Read more...] about Lesser Missiles
Web Exclusive Interview: Daniel LoPilato
What with baseball season now in full swing, May's Web Exclusive Fiction is incredibly timely—and yet timeless. In "Your Father," a dad and son try to connect through a televised baseball game. At its heart is a dilemma that has always played itself out and will continue to do so for as long as we have to contend with our parents' identities and our own, regardless of the technology involved. We talked with author Daniel LoPilato about the parent-child struggle, identity, and irony. Basically, … [Read more...] about Web Exclusive Interview: Daniel LoPilato