In Varna we stayed in the apartment building across the street from the house of the sea captain. There lived his juicy wife, beautiful daughter, gorgeous son-in-law, and two grandchildren, a girl and Mario. The heads of the black Labrador and the big orange cat were framed by the heart-shaped iron door ornament, and a gold plaque below them read: “Captain Tomov’s family. An exemplary home.” Every year it seemed the house grew one story higher. It looked like a schooner. The wind billowed out … [Read more...] about Ships
Things American: Writers Remember James Salter
American novelist, story writer, and screenwriter James Salter died on June 19th, leaving behind a body of work that presents a vision of a century in dramatic motion. He was a writer of the quotidian and a craftsman of the first water whose interest in sensory experiences is most evident in his arresting narrative passages. Food, drink, sex, the seemingly impossible beauty of things touched, witnessed, and heard—these are rendered in precise and yet often surprising terms in Salter's work. In … [Read more...] about Things American: Writers Remember James Salter
Online Fiction Interview: Hilary Leichter
Hilary Leichter's "The Statue of Limitations" plays by its own delightful set of rules. It's at once the story of a couple imprisoned in their own home (a statue marking the furthest that they can roam into their yard without the "risk of pursuit") and a parable for how intimacy ebbs and flows in a relationship. We recently emailed Leichter to ask how the story came about and to pick her brain about the odd eggcorn that inspired its creation. Nate Brown: This story does something … [Read more...] about Online Fiction Interview: Hilary Leichter
Listen to our Web Exclusive Stories Read by the Authors
Big news, friends. Since January, we've been working on a little project that we hope expands the reach of our web exclusive stories and that gives you, our readers, website visitors, subscribers, supporters, and pals, a new way to engage with the fiction we publish. ASF's Digital Editor Andrew Bales has been working with our web exclusive authors to record them reading their work so that we can pair the audio with the version of the story that we publish online. From here on out, you'll be … [Read more...] about Listen to our Web Exclusive Stories Read by the Authors
The Statue of Limitations
They install the statue in our backyard, so we know how far we are allowed to roam without risk of pursuit. They plant it along the tree line, wielding chisels and pulleys. We watch from the window, the two of us, his hand on my shoulder. If you want me to explain the height of the statue, there's the fact that my husband can stand under it for a bit of shade, and as you know, he's quite tall. When I stand directly behind the statue, I disappear, and I'm quite wide these days. We build … [Read more...] about The Statue of Limitations
Online Fiction Interview: Anna Noyes
June's online exclusive, "The Tobacconist" by Anna Noyes depicts longing so convincingly that it's difficult to pass judgment on the story's conflicted, suffering protagonist, George. It seemed to us that the magic of the story was that it depicted complication and ambivalence so tenderly. We emailed Noyes to ask about writing conflicted characters, about her taste in short-short fiction, and about her debut collection of stories, which is due out next year. Nate Brown: There’s so … [Read more...] about Online Fiction Interview: Anna Noyes