This month's online fiction interview is with Jake Wolff, author of "When a Woman Thinks That her House Is on Fire." In this lyrical tale of one family's double-loss, we learn that Nasya and Ned have lost one son and we watch as they lose their house to a fire. More than a story of loss, though, the piece looks at the things that tragedy leaves in its wake. There is the memory of Henry. There's Nasya's subsequent dedication to serving the members of her synagogue. There's Nasya and Ned's ... [READ MORE]
NOTEBOOK
Review: Elizabeth McCracken’s Thunderstruck and Other Stories
If, as George Saunders would have it, fiction is more interesting when death is in the room, then Thunderstruck and Other Stories, which won The Story Prize last week, is positively teeming with interest. Still, the various deaths and disappearances running through the nine meticulously crafted stories in Elizabeth McCracken’s moving and deeply cathartic collection could easily overwhelm if not for the charismatic force of her prose and darkly comic bedside manner. Where a lesser writer might ... [READ MORE]
Online Fiction Interview: Courtney Sender
In Courtney Sender's "The Solidarity of Fat Girls," three sisters raise their younger brother following abandonment by their mother. The story traces their little family's trajectory only in the broadest sense, noting the major events of their lives, including the illness and death of one sister as well as the engagement of the younger brother to a fat girl who "doesn't assume that people's brothers should love her." A spare yet lyrical mediation on loss and loyalty, the story seemed a fitting ... [READ MORE]
Contest Closed: American Short(er) Fiction Prize
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]
Online Fiction Interview: Lincoln Michel
Lincoln Michel's "The Supervillain Stalled in His Lair" kicks off our 2015 web exclusive fiction, and it's a lovely and bizarre look at the placid, boring world through the eyes of an ambitious and anxiety-rattled super villain named, uh, the Supervillain. As satires go, this one's less send-up than human interest piece. Told from the point of view of an admittedly diabolical (but amazingly amiable) malefactor, the story's part of a novel that Michel's calling DOOM MOOD. We emailed the author ... [READ MORE]
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]