We are thrilled to announce that Stuart Dybek will be judging this year's American Short(er) Fiction Prize. The prize recognizes extraordinary short fiction under 1,000 words. The first-place winner will receive a $500 prize and publication, and the second-place winner will receive $250 and publication. All entries will be considered for publication. Previous winners of the Short(er) Fiction Prize have gone on to be anthologized in places such as The Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small … [Read more...] about Contest Closed: American Short(er) Fiction Prize
NOTEBOOK FEATURE
Best Words of 2014
Tick-tock, and another year rolls off the clock. We asked our staff here at American Short Fiction what they were reading in 2014. Words, words, words, they said, and proceeded to specify. Here, in no particular order, are some of our favorite lines of literature from the past year, with a few rediscovered oldies thrown in for good measure. The Germans have a saying they like to share around this time of year: Guten Rutsch, they say, which means, good slide, as in slip easily into the new … [Read more...] about Best Words of 2014
Online Fiction Interview: Ben Hoffman
Ben Hoffman's "All the Girls We Knew in the Suburbs" was an obvious and perfect choice for our December online exclusive short story. Featuring bored Jewish teens on Christmas Eve, the story is an examination of difference, ennui, and adolescent anxiety, and its dark tone stands in sharp contrast to the bright, shining high holiday of Christendom. We recently emailed Hoffman to ask about the story, his other work, and about those long, cold Wisconsin winters. Nate Brown: I want … [Read more...] about Online Fiction Interview: Ben Hoffman
Bourbon and Milk: When the Danger Is You
Bourbon and Milk is an ongoing series that dives into the perplexing spaces parenting sometimes pushes us, and explores the unexpected ways writers may grow in them. If you’re interested in joining the conversation or contributing a Bourbon and Milk post, query Giuseppe Taurino at giuseppe@americanshortfiction.org. When I was in graduate school, working on the stories that would become my first book, Short People, one of my professors pulled me aside for a private meeting in … [Read more...] about Bourbon and Milk: When the Danger Is You
Jaimy Gordon Interviews Matthew Neill Null
"The Slow Lean of Time," Matthew Neill Null's sweeping account of the hazardous lives of 19th Century drovers who steered giant logs down West Virginia's rivers, contains what might be the most genuinely shocking moment of any short story I've read this year. This despite the fact that Null, whose story we were pleased to publish in Issue 57 of American Short Fiction, describes the world his characters inhabit from such a high vantage point that we see them as smallish players moving across an … [Read more...] about Jaimy Gordon Interviews Matthew Neill Null
An Interview with Bret Anthony Johnston
Bret Anthony Johnston has the distinction of being among the few writers occupying that slim but coveted slice of the Venn diagram: creative writing directors (Johnston is at the helm at Harvard) who have toured the country on a professional skateboarding team. Find a great discussion on this over at McSweeney’s. His latest work, Remember Me Like This, is a quiet and rich novel centered around a teenage boy named Justin who is returned to his family four years after his kidnapping. The story … [Read more...] about An Interview with Bret Anthony Johnston