We are excited to announce that the ASF Short Story Contest opened for submissions on February 26th. This year we are honored to have Amy Hempel as our guest judge. We have extended the contest's entry deadline to June 15th. (Note: Original deadline was June 1st.) General Guidelines - Submit your entry online between February 26, 2014 – June 15, 2014. - The first-place winner will receive a $1,000 prize and publication in our Fall issue. One runner-up will receive $500 and all entries … [Read more...] about Deadline Extended: ASF Short Story Contest
Karen Russell Donates Her Sleep
“The French really know how to legitimize an endeavor.” Amidst a busy semester teaching at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, literary wunderkind Karen Russell takes some time to talk to me about her new novella, Sleep Donation, out now from Atavist Books. VS: Having been a fan of yours, then student, now friend, I felt like I was pretty up-to-date on your ouvre. I’d read your novel, both story collections, and last I heard you were at work on another novel about, I don’t know, something Western … [Read more...] about Karen Russell Donates Her Sleep
Short Story Contest Open for Submissions
We are excited to announce that the ASF Short Story Contest opened for submissions on February 26th. This year we are honored to have Amy Hempel as our guest judge. Submissions will be accepted through the end of May. Contest submissions will be accepted through our regular manager, Submittable. … [Read more...] about Short Story Contest Open for Submissions
Inside the Issue: Kellie Wells reads from “A Unified Theory of Human Behavior”
The young heroine of Kellie Wells' "A Unified Theory of Human Behavior," the opening story in Issue 56 of American Short Fiction, observes the world around her with an affecting mixture of sorrow and humor. "Kellie Wells," writes the wonderful Matt Bell, "will break your heart with a sentence, with a story, with the irrepressible smile at her wit that lights across your face even as on the page sadness swells and grief abounds." The story chronicles a young girl's tangled efforts to make sense … [Read more...] about Inside the Issue: Kellie Wells reads from “A Unified Theory of Human Behavior”
Online Fiction: Interview with S. P. Tenhoff
In this month’s fiction feature, S. P. Tenhoff does to a border what Wallace Stevens did to a blackbird—he lets it write him. Tenhoff’s "Ten Views of the Border" outlines the bewilderment of a newly divided populace by detailing a scandalous cross-border birth, two intricately mirrored origin stories, and the troubling circumstances of a woman whose very existence seems the hinge on which the border depends. And yet even as Tenhoff deftly lays down the absurd workings of this people divided, … [Read more...] about Online Fiction: Interview with S. P. Tenhoff
Ten Views of the Border
The imposition of borders was met, initially, with something akin to relief. This isn’t to say that the citizens of the region were pleased at the prospect of seeing their familiar world dismantled before their eyes, but the period leading up to the imposition had been, let us not forget, pestered by rumor and anxiety. Now at least matters had been decided, and there was a general hope on the part of both the Northwestern and Southeastern Inhabitants (strange to hear ourselves defined this way!) … [Read more...] about Ten Views of the Border