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American Short Fiction

Publishing exquisite fiction since 1991.

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JoAnna Novak

Bread Week

JoAnna Novak
Bread Week

1. Your father calls you train wreck, as in, HEY, wake up, train wreck, bud, you’re falling asleep—beady, bootblack eyes narrowed on you from the Hemingway chair in the basement. Your mother is memorizing two-letter words, your baby boy squeezing the dog’s fur, and gentle, gentle, your wife is saying, practice gentle on the giraffe. I don’t very well like the taste of rubber, says Paul Hollywood––suaven, yeasty fellow in a collar on TV. Your son likes rubber. Rubber rings––Rings of … [Read more...] about Bread Week

MFA for All Fall 2026: New classes with Laura van den Berg, Lidia Yuknavitch, and Mat Johnson! Register now.

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Join us for Story Sessions on 9/10 at Huston-Tillotson University: featuring Tayari Jones in conversation with ZZ Packer. RSVP now to save your spot!

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