The deadline to submit to our American Short Fiction Contest was JULY 1. The contest is now closed—our thanks to all who submitted! We look forward to announcing the winners, chosen by judge Elizabeth McCracken, soon. We are excited to announce that the ASF Short Story Contest opened for submissions on March 15. This year we are honored to have the fabulous author (and latest winner of the Story Prize) Elizabeth McCracken as our guest judge. General Guidelines - Submit your entry ... [READ MORE]
NOTEBOOK
Online Fiction Interview: Terese Svoboda
Peter Benchley's 1974 novel Jaws tells the story of a menacing great white shark that terrorizes the fictional Long Island town of Amity, NY. In 1975, Steven Spielberg turned it into what was, for a time, the highest grossing film at the box office. If Benchley and Speilberg's Jaws has a topical and tonal opposite, it just might be Terese Svoboda's tale of a weird, dark family road trip that we published as our May online exclusive. Also entitled "Jaws," Svoboda's story is as naturalistic as ... [READ MORE]
Things American: Baltimore Authors Respond to the Death of Freddie Gray
Baltimore’s bus benches are simple, utilitarian things: just two molded concrete end-pieces and seven wooden planks that you wouldn’t think much of were it not for the slogan embossed on the slats of the backrest: “Baltimore: The Greatest City in America.” It’s an odd sentiment, not because there isn’t a lot to love about Baltimore, but because it seems less a statement of greatness than it does a statement of defiance. As with so many other American cities, Baltimore has famously and ... [READ MORE]
American Short(er) Fiction Contest: Winners Announced!
We are pleased to announce the winners for the 2015 American Short(er) Fiction Prize, judged by Stuart Dybek. Thank you to everyone who submitted. We were overwhelmed by the breadth and quality of the stories, and, reading them, were thrilled again and again by the versatility and potential of the flash fiction form. The winning stories will be published in the magazine's fall issue. The first prize went to Jennifer Murvin, for her story "Emporium," a subtle rumination on a father's purchase ... [READ MORE]
Bourbon and Milk: Wonder and Worry
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. I have a photograph of my son Simon—then four years old—holding up my collection of stories on the day it arrived in the mail. He’s so proud, his smile so huge that his eyes are ... [READ MORE]
Online Fiction Interview: David Naimon
David Naimon's "The Battle" is an oddball buddy tale of sorts set in a Black Sea bunker in some not-too-far-off future. The stakes are high—international tensions run deep as global warming has opened the arctic to shipping lanes—and Sergei, Naimon's protagonist, is charged with monitoring the progress of Russian submarines as they stake claims on the seafloor. This story has the distinction of being the ASF online exclusive in which the least actually happens, and yet, as Naimon told us in the ... [READ MORE]