We are pleased to announce the prize winners for our 2014 American Short Fiction Contest. Contest judge Amy Hempel chose these stories out of a wealth of terrific submissions. The first-place prize goes to Scott Gloden, for his story “What Is Louder,” about a young man who works in a post office and his brother who is a soldier in Pakistan. Amy Hempel praised the story for its newness, commenting, “the ending is unnerving, very unsettling, and continues the story in a reader's imagination.” ... [READ MORE]
NOTEBOOK
Inside the Issue: Tia Clark Reads from “Nutcracker”
Tia Clark's story, "Nutcracker," opens our current issue. Set in a Modell's Sporting Goods store in one of New York City's shabbier suburbs, the story is told in the sharp, funny, and frequently affecting voice of a teenaged girl trying to define herself at the edge of a brave new world of independence and sexuality. As Shelly attempts to reconcile the dull daily grind of her outer world with the sizzle of her fantasies, she finds herself suddenly unsure in which space she feels more like ... [READ MORE]
Online Fiction Interview: Amber Sparks
There are at least as many ways to title a story as there are to write one. An author might conjure up a title that points to a story's symbolic weight ("A Perfect Day for Bananafish," say) while another might employ a seemingly benign phrase ("Family Furnishings") only to have it churn and reverberate in the mind of a reader throughout the reading experience. And then there are the deceptively simple titles like Cheever's "The Swimmer," which, yes, is literally about a swimmer, but that doesn't ... [READ MORE]
Until It Isn’t: An Interview with Antonya Nelson
Antonya Nelson's eleventh book, Funny Once, was published this past May. It includes the story "Winter in Yalta," which appears in the most recent issue of ASF. Over a slew of emails, she took some time to talk to me, among other things, about the origins of her love of reading, obsessive fascinations, and the difference between therapy and writing fiction. GT: Growing up, I liked to read, but it wasn’t with a genuine sense of curiosity. It was more of a two-dimensional kind of interaction. ... [READ MORE]
Inside the Issue: Rob Roensch reads from “The Zoo and the World”
"The Zoo and the World," Rob Roensch's story in the Spring 2014 issue of American Short Fiction, is narrated by a man who has come to rely on his own exceptional competence, but finds himself suddenly out of his element. A rare animal trader, he has learned to value life as both a momentary, beautiful apparition, to be viewed with reverence, and a currency, to be handled practically. Alone, without leave, with his own son, he finds that neither approach helps him weigh the life now in his hands. ... [READ MORE]
Online Fiction Interview: Alison McCabe
Alison McCabe's "Heirloom" deftly trades in contrasts. Over the course of a few hundred words, the diction evolves from the colloquial to the lyrical, and the strangest of details—a cat toy mistaken for a rodent, a son-in-law's name long forgotten—are also the story's most humorous. We recently emailed McCabe to ask about her work, about how she approaches the drafting process, and about how she manages to move so dramatically in time and in tone in such a short work. Nate Brown: “Heirloom” ... [READ MORE]