Featuring new stories by Matthew Lawrence Garcia, Laura Grothaus, Joshua Henkin, John McManus, JoAnna Novak, Peter Orner, Lucy Tan, and Zahid Rafiq. Matthew Lawrence Garcia, "Harmony" The day Tupac died I was with a few boys and this girl Elena I was into. Not that she’d been reciprocating. We were at the New Mexico State Fair, fooling around with the few bucks we had, trying to win goldfish at the ring-toss game. Thing was, if you got one, you could point to another person and they had … [Read more...] about ISSUE 80
MFA for All Spring 2025
MFA for ALL Registration is open for individual classes of MFA for All Spring 2025, with new faculty Matt Bell, Kristen Arnett, and ZZ Packer. Full-semester registration is closed. MFA for All was born from our desire to create a space where MFA-quality instruction is widely accessible to writers no matter their age, background, location, or financial situation. MFA for All is not a degree-granting program—it is a community-rich online educational experience led by top-notch faculty, free of … [Read more...] about MFA for All Spring 2025
Forever Oak Park High
Part 1 FRESHMAN They were the only vegetarians, a fact that was highlighted every game day when the other girls loaded up on chicken sandwiches or steak fajitas while Yoon and Carmen ate salads of iceberg lettuce and shredded cheese, forgoing the ranch that came in rectangular packets, which they agreed was disgusting. They ate ironically, offering a round of applause whenever one found an actual cherry tomato. “Sustenance!” they cheered, stabbing the tomato ceremoniously before clinking … [Read more...] about Forever Oak Park High
ISSUE 79
Featuring new stories by Dave Eggers, Becky Hagenston, Jane Kalu, Diane Oliver, and Kate Tighe-Pigott. Dave Eggers, "Keeper of the Ornaments" His doorbell rang. Cole looked at the time: 6:46 a.m. He opened the door to find his new neighbor. Her hair was black, shoulder-length, streaked with pink. Her eyes were wide set, her face round and unwrinkled. If he had to guess, he would have said she had one Asian parent, one Caucasian. She was slightly taller and heavier than Cole, wearing a … [Read more...] about ISSUE 79
Announcing the winners of the 2024 American Short(er) Fiction Prize
We are delighted to announce that Dantiel W. Moniz has chosen the winners of our 2024 American Short(er) Fiction Contest. Thank you to our judge and to everyone who submitted—it is always inspiring to read your work. Congratulations to the winners! First-Place Prize "Jack Sprat's Wife" by John McManus In selecting this story, Moniz called it "a gorgeously crafted and contained world, a peek inside the deep bowels of family, shame, and grief, which, although brief, also allowed me to see the … [Read more...] about Announcing the winners of the 2024 American Short(er) Fiction Prize
Spiders Cry Without Tears
Diane Oliver had published a handful of fiction pieces, one of which won an O. Henry Prize, had edited her college student newspaper, and was about to graduate from the Iowa Writers Workshop--one of the few Black women to have attended the program--when she was killed in a motorcycle accident in 1966 at the age of just twenty-two. Her promising literary future suddenly cut off, she left behind a short, masterful stack of stories that are now being published in a new collection. The stories--like … [Read more...] about Spiders Cry Without Tears