• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

American Short Fiction

Publishing exquisite fiction since 1991.

  • FICTION
    • CURRENT ISSUE
    • BACK ISSUES
    • OTHER FICTION
  • EVENTS
    • THE STARS AT NIGHT
    • STORY SESSIONS
    • MORE EVENTS
  • MFA for All
  • STORE
  • SUBMIT
    • REGULAR SUBMISSIONS
    • THE HALIFAX RANCH PRIZE
    • AMERICAN SHORT(ER) FICTION PRIZE
    • THE INSIDER PRIZE
  • NEWS
  • DONATE
  • ABOUT
  • SUBSCRIBE
  • Sign In

Zach Powers

Surface Treatments

Zach Powers
Surface Treatments

It took less than a month for the coats of paint to completely cover the electrical outlet in the kitchen. So much for coffee. So much for toast. The nearest outlet was in the dining room. The longest extension cord was only six feet. We suggested that our parents buy a longer one, maybe one that wasn’t orange and meant for outdoors, maybe one that wasn’t caked with saffron dirt, but we were only children. Like most children, even the wisest things we said went ignored. This was when Dad … [Read more...] about Surface Treatments

Primary Sidebar

Issue 83
Issue 83
  • Manuel Gonzales
  • Nic Guo
  • Baba Ademoroti
  • Simon Han
  • Ammi Keller
  • Mathilde Merouani
  • Kyle Alderdice
Subscribe

News

The 2025 Halifax Prize Winners We are thrilled to announce the winners of this year's Halifax Ranch Fiction Prize, judged by Eric Puchner. We consider it our privilege to have spent time with so many terrific submissions—thank you for giving us the opportunity to read your work. Congratulations to the winners!
Read the Winners of the 2025 Insider Prize Whose voices are these, I wonder each fall as submissions for the Insider Prize begin accumulating in my office. Four years on as director of Texas’s annual literary award for incarcerated writers, some of the names written across the bloated white and manila envelopes have grown familiar—essayists, short story writers, and the places they are relegated to calling “home”.  
Announcing the Winners of the 2025 American Short(er) Fiction Prize We are delighted to announce that Tony Tulathimutte has chosen the winners of our 2025 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!

Store

ASF Store

MFA for All Spring 2026: “Bodies in Space, Bodies in Place” with Katie Kitamura is still open. Register now!

×

Pardon our dust—our website is under construction, so things might look a bit wonky. Thank you for your patience!

×