Since Jean Thompson was first published in American Short Fiction in the Winter 1993 issue, her short story collection Who Do You Love was nominated for The National Book Award, and her novel, Wide Blue Yonder, was named a New York Times Notable Book and Chicago Tribune Best Fiction selection. Her newest novel, The Humanity Project (Blue Rider Press, March 2013) beautifully tackles the grand and complicated notion of humanity, while excavating a glimmer of hope in our foreclosed and sometimes ... [READ MORE]
NOTEBOOK
What We’re Reading
At the close of each month, we ask members of our ASF staff to share books that have recently graduated from their to-be-read piles, along with a GIF that relates to their experience of the book, in whatever way. This morning, we learned the sad news that Seamus Heaney had passed away. So we took North off our shelves and stepped into the embrace of his words. ... [READ MORE]
Bourbon and Milk: Guilt Cocktails
Bourbon and Milk features lessons, observations, and conversations by and with writers living out there in one of the most perplexing outposts of the human condition– parenthood. In this monthly series, Contributing Editor Giuseppe Taurino will dive into the dark spaces where parenting sometimes pushes us, and explore 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 ... [READ MORE]
I Read Dead People: Eudora Welty and Failure, “First Love”
“Whatever happened, it happened in extraordinary times, in a season of dreams, and in Natchez it was the bitterest winter of them all.” The opening of “First Love” is the best prose Eudora Welty ever wrote. In its welcome sweep, we perceive the “red percussion” of Indian fires in the distance, the mute wheel of gulls, travelers picking through the “glassy tunnels of the Trace” in the “strange drugged fall of snow,” and the “somnambulist” river lifting from its bed in subconscious craving for ... [READ MORE]
Things Buffalo: My New Skin
Driving along the Outer Harbor, I watch for signs that direct me to the beach, watching for parked vehicles with bike racks, stickers on bumpers that might say 13.1, 26.2, 70.3, 140.6. My Toyota has a 26.2, though I haven’t done a tri yet, an ironman or a half. I see boats docked along the harbor, a place called Dug’s Dive, which I hear serves strong drinks, thick and tasty ice cream. Lake Erie, to my right, helps me find direction, knowing on the map it’s west of the city. I’m not so good ... [READ MORE]
Things American: Buffalo
Buffalo is a whale that fell asleep at the bottom of the ocean. Buffalo is a three-year-old that doesn't cater to vegetarians. Buffalo is a new poem. It’s that weird bird that turns into fire. Buffalo is a Bowie knife run across a forearm twenty years ago. It’s an outpost of a long gone people. Buffalo is a cow's heart perfectly preserved in a jar of formaldehyde. Buffalo is a city block of antique shops with one kick ass record store. Buffalo is the best thing ever to happen to itself. Thing ... [READ MORE]