We are thrilled to announce the winners for this year's American Short(er) Fiction Prize, judged by Susan Steinberg. Thank you to everyone who submitted—it is always uplifting to read your work. Congratulations to the winners! _____ First-Place Prize: "My Beautiful Bearded Wife" by Eric Schlich Judge Susan Steinberg writes, “‘My Beautiful Bearded Wife’ is a wonderfully written piece on the often-gendered competitions, roles, and power dynamics in a marriage; the narrator’s fragilities and … [Read more...] about The 2021 American Short(er) Fiction Prize Winners
Uncategorized
Issue 72
Celebrating Emerging Black Writers: Featuring new stories by Elinam Agbo, Selena Anderson, Desiree C. Bailey, Jonathan Escoffery, Rickey Fayne, Gothataone Moeng, Dantiel W. Moniz, Denne Michele Norris, and Maya Perez. Guest-edited by Danielle Evans. Read the editor's note here. Rickey Fayne, "Spare the Rod" The dead come for all kinds of reasons. They come with warnings, wants, and every manner of grudge. Though most I've seen come wanting. They come wanting everything you have and can't … [Read more...] about Issue 72
She Said It Like She Meant It
There’s a cemetery on a mountainside in Kabul that’s running out of space. I read a New York Times piece about it years ago. A group of boys run grave maintenance, for a price, and one girl, six years old, works the mountainside with them. She brags like the boys about taking in mourners—too young to appreciate how much we mourners want to be taken in. She brags about what her father in Iran will bring her when he returns home. She prays for a Galaxy phone. I still think about her prayers and … [Read more...] about She Said It Like She Meant It
CLMP Contest Code of Ethics
American Short Fiction endorses and abides by the Code of Ethics developed by the Council of Literary Magazines and Press (CLMP): The Community of Literary Magazines and Presses believes that ethical contests serve our shared goal: to connect writers and readers by publishing exceptional writing. Intent to act ethically, clarity of guidelines, and transparency of process form the foundation of an ethical contest. To that end, we agree — to conduct our contests as ethically as possible and to … [Read more...] about CLMP Contest Code of Ethics
Issue 72 Editor’s Note
I am thrilled to be putting this issue in your hands. It is, as ever, a collection of singular short stories that celebrate the form and highlight its range, but it is also a gift at the end of a turbulent year—work to get lost in, work to be found in, work that in its celebration of emerging writers, and Black emerging writers in particular, encourages us to imagine everything that is yet to come: all of the chances we’ll have to see more brilliant work by the writers included here, none of … [Read more...] about Issue 72 Editor’s Note
ISSUE 61
Caitlin Horrocks, “Paradise Lodge” “The plane from Cuzco arrives only a little late, the minibus gets only a little stuck on the muddy road, the long motorized canoe scrapes threateningly at the river bottom but does not run aground. This group of tourists is not as fat as the last one, Victor notices cheerily. They are easily charmed, too—by the sticky rice wrapped in banana leaves that Victor serves from a cooler for lunch; by the cartoon jaguar that the park security checkpoint stamps in … [Read more...] about ISSUE 61