April's Web Exclusive, "A Bruise the Size and Shape of a Door Handle," is a haunting story whose slow, creeping tension evokes the likes of Edgar Allen Poe and Shirley Jackson. And yet it is so thoroughly modern, an enlightened study of unhinged, potent adolescent-female sexuality. Its author, Daisy Johnson, is surely destined for great things, so we're thrilled to have her story and interview here. Erin McReynolds: The collection from which this story comes is called, FEN, referring … [Read more...] about Web Exclusive Interview: Daisy Johnson
NOTEBOOK FEATURE
Novelist of the Appetites: An Interview with Ashley Warlick
Ashley Warlick spent ten years on her latest novel, The Arrangement, a fictional retelling of the life and loves of famed food writer MFK Fisher. With lush, clean prose and pitch-perfect dialogue, Warlick lays bare the many appetites of a woman and writer ahead of her time. The novel spans the early years of Fisher’s career, a period marked by profound hunger as well as conflicting desires—for food, for recognition, for her husband Al and, later, for Al’s best friend, Tim. The book came out in … [Read more...] about Novelist of the Appetites: An Interview with Ashley Warlick
Web Exclusive Interview: Michael Powers
In February's Web Exclusive, "Lake House," a couple has retired to a remote location. We know there is tension between them, and between the narrator and his adult son, but the origins and causes of this tension are only hinted at, the way a painting focuses its composition by suggesting some elements and detailing others. Our more detailed image is that of a drone silently making its way across the treetops of this new territory, reporting strangeness, even its own failure, to the lonely man … [Read more...] about Web Exclusive Interview: Michael Powers
Ex Marks the Spot: a Review of Mary Miller’s Always Happy Hour
Always Happy Hour, Mary Miller’s second collection of stories, opens with the strangest dedication I have ever read: "For my exes." Why would one dedicate anything to one’s exes? And not just one ex–not, say, “The One I’m Still Friends With”–but all of them, wholesale? At once blunt and tender, impersonal and twistedly sweet, these three words set a tone for the sixteen stories that follow. Exes–the crowd, the mob, the mass–preoccupy Miller’s aimless heroines. They trail behind the narrative … [Read more...] about Ex Marks the Spot: a Review of Mary Miller’s Always Happy Hour
Editorial Outtakes: Mike Scalise
Editorial Outtakes is a series in which we publish excerpts from recent books that you won’t find anywhere else because, prior the publication, these sections were cut. This installment of Editorial Outtakes features writer Mike Scalise, author of The Brand New Catastrophe, reflecting on some of the particularities of revealing character details in nonfiction. Given that we all grow up (and, presumably, learn a lot about ourselves and the world around us), how does a writer of memoir go about … [Read more...] about Editorial Outtakes: Mike Scalise
Contest Closed: American Short(er) Fiction Contest
The American Short(er) Fiction Contest is now closed. Thank you all for your submissions. This year we are honored to have Justin Torres as our guest judge. We will be announcing the winners on this site. General Guidelines – Submit your entry online between October 25, 2016 – February 1, 2017. The submission deadline has been extended to February 17th. The contest is now closed. – The first-place winner will receive a $1,000 prize and publication in a future issue of ASF. One … [Read more...] about Contest Closed: American Short(er) Fiction Contest