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American Short Fiction

Publishing exquisite fiction since 1991.

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FICTION

WEB EXCLUSIVES

Cat’s-Eye

—January 27, 2021

Cat’s-Eye

By Jennifer Tseng

At night I oil the door, whose hinges have been squeaking all year, and in the morning when I open it, they’re quiet. The rest is the same. I don’t wake anyone. The cat follows me into the bathroom. … [READ MORE] about Cat’s-Eye

New Folktale About Myself

—November 09, 2020

New Folktale About Myself

By Lindsay Vranizan

I’m sweeping the floors one morning when I notice a gouge in the wood like a fingermark in cake icing. I cover it back up with the rug and resolve to sand it down, but a few days later I see that the … [READ MORE] about New Folktale About Myself

The North

—October 02, 2020

The North

By Babak Lakghomi

My uncle was driving us north, where the enemy planes hadn’t yet attacked. He took turns drinking from a bottle with the man sitting up front. My parents and I were squeezed in the back. My mother … [READ MORE] about The North

Less Than Five Miles from Home

—August 20, 2020

Less Than Five Miles from Home

By Christen Enos

My mother and I were heading north out of Marathon, Florida, in the middle of the night, everything we owned in the back of the car. I was thirteen, and she was driving. We were coming off an … [READ MORE] about Less Than Five Miles from Home

Karst

—July 15, 2020

Karst

By Ben Jackson

He wakes in the landscape of his childhood, the karst. The house is surrounded by stone that dissolves in water, limestone that becomes fissured and hazardous because of its own weakness. The clints … [READ MORE] about Karst

I Hold a Wolf by the Ears

—July 01, 2020

I Hold a Wolf by the Ears

By Laura van den Berg

Margot’s destination is a walled medieval village several thousand feet above Trapani, overlooking Punta del Saraceno and the Mediterranean Sea. The village can be accessed only by a single road … [READ MORE] about I Hold a Wolf by the Ears

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Issue 81

Guest-edited by Fernando A. Flores, featuring new stories by Yvette DeChavez, Julián Delgado Lopera, Carribean Fragoza, Alejandro Heredia, Carmen Maria Machado, Ruben Reyes Jr., and Gerardo Sámano Córdova.

You can preview the issue here.

NEWS

Read the winners of the 2024 Insider Prize

Read the winners of the 2024 Insider Prize

By ASF Editors

“Memories are a nuisance,” Peter wrote to one of our writers after reading his short story, “but nonetheless they seem to make us who we are, as this story confirms.” This year’s submissions told many stories burdened with memory, but just as many stared bravely into the face of hope, satirized the state of politics, speculated on the future of the world, or else built entirely new worlds to inhabit. In short, the stories written on the inside reflected the stories we wrote this year on the outside. Stories of human toil and dreams and everything in between.
 

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