As readers and writers we frequently wonder how individual stories begin, and is not often that we are provided an answer. In the spring issue of American Short Fiction, we published a strange, hilarious, and heartbreaking story by Jennifer Tseng called "The Window." In the story, the narrator—a young lesbian who works as an editor for a travel agency—watches through the window across from her office desk. The figure of a distant woman captivates her and begins to embody her desires for romantic ... [READ MORE]
NOTEBOOK
Closed: The Halifax Ranch Fiction Prize
**The 2018 Halifax Ranch Fiction Prize entry period has now closed.** The deadline for our brand new Halifax Ranch Fiction Prize was June 15, 2018. The winner of the prize will receive $2,500 and publication in an upcoming issue of American Short Fiction. We're kicking things off with a bang as our inaugural judge will be the incomparable ZZ Packer, whose writing has been hailed by everyone from John Updike to Oprah. George Saunders called Packer a wonderful writer "who somehow manages to ... [READ MORE]
14 Writers You Love & Their Favorite Short Stories
Spring is here, and so are the promises of the season: the famous flowers are in bloom, the strawberries are ripe for picking, the earth's axis has started to tilt toward the sun, and—with its lackadaisical charm and balmy swagger—spring fever has set its sight on all of us. Oh, did we mention the kittens? But perhaps the best thing about the season is the arrival of May—Short Story Month—which is, as you might expect, American Short Fiction's favorite month of all. To celebrate we invited ... [READ MORE]
Web Exclusive Interview: Kate Reed Petty
In February's Web Exclusive flash fiction, "Fish Jokes," a woman is challenged with articulating exactly what her former boss did to her that was inappropriate. In order to convey Annie's struggle to recollect what happened, name it, and support her own reaction to it, author Kate Reed Petty created an ingenious modern trope that everyone can understand: the hunt for an elusive email buried in an endless inbox. Erin McReynolds: There is a genius to the many levels of want in "Fish Jokes": ... [READ MORE]
The 2018 American Short(er) Fiction Prize Winners
We are thrilled to announce the winners for this year's American Short(er) Fiction Prize, judged by Amber Sparks. Thank you to everyone who submitted. The winning stories will be published in the magazine’s fall issue. _____ First-Place Prize: "The Old Woman at the Edge of the Cliff" by Ariel Berry. Judge Amber Sparks writes, "This incredible, careful story read like an excavated fairy tale—brand new to us, but also somehow old as humans, and strange and sad as the wilder parts of the ... [READ MORE]
Editorial Outtakes: The Strange and True Tale of Horace Wells, Surgeon Dentist
Editorial Outtakes is a series in which we publish excerpts from recent books that you won’t find anywhere else because, prior publication, these sections were cut. This installment of Editorial Outtakes features two outtakes from The Strange and True Tale of Horace Wells, Surgeon Dentist, a novel by journalist and fiction writer Michael Downs. An account of the life and times of Hartford's Horace Wells, the dentist who discovered that nitrous oxide had the power to alleviate pain during ... [READ MORE]