April's Web Exclusive, "A Bruise the Size and Shape of a Door Handle," is a haunting story whose slow, creeping tension evokes the likes of Edgar Allen Poe and Shirley Jackson. And yet it is so thoroughly modern, an enlightened study of unhinged, potent adolescent-female sexuality. Its author, Daisy Johnson, is surely destined for great things, so we're thrilled to have her story and interview here. Erin McReynolds: The collection from which this story comes is called, FEN, referring … [Read more...] about Web Exclusive Interview: Daisy Johnson
American Short Fiction
THE STARS AT NIGHT 2016 [Please note that this event has passed. Please visit our Stars at Night page for information about this year's event.] Join us on the night of Thursday, November 3rd, for the first annual The Stars at Night, a beer-and-boots gala celebrating ASF's 25th anniversary, our Texas heritage, and our city's writers and those who champion them. Come for the country songs and dancing, and stay for the free cocktails, light snacks, and the bright view of the city skyline. … [Read more...] about
https://americanshortfiction.org/asf-presents-stars-night-gala/
Lesser Missiles
https://soundcloud.com/americanshortfiction/kathryn-savage-lesser-missiles We smelled smoke and, out the window, embers rose in the night. We got out of bed and pulled the red alarm box in the hallway and went outside. From across the street, we watched fire destroy our apartment building. The woman who lived down the hall from us wore a nightgown and fanned herself with a magazine and shook her head. We found a motel nearby, mostly used by military girlfriends and wives. Then we walked … [Read more...] about Lesser Missiles
ASF Short Fiction Contest Now Closed
*** Thank you to everyone who entered this year's short fiction contest, judged by Victor LaValle. *** — The America Short Fiction Contest is now closed for submissions. This year we are honored to have Victor LaValle as our guest judge. Please stay tuned for this year's winners. General Guidelines - Submit your entry online between March 30, 2016 – June 1, 2016 June 15, 2016. - The first-place winner will receive a $1,000 prize and publication in our spring issue. One … [Read more...] about ASF Short Fiction Contest Now Closed
Your Father
https://soundcloud.com/americanshortfiction/daniel-lopilato-your-father/s-gyGsG All of this is occasioned by a telephone call from my dad: I sit down on the couch, flip on the tube, and descend the cable channels to the low double-digits, where I find the red-jowled faces of men trapped inside too-tight sport coats going on at length about this player or that, and I know I’ve landed on the run-up to a baseball game. I have an immediate gut reaction to these men because, as it happens, I’m … [Read more...] about Your Father
Web Exclusive Interview: Suzanne Morrison
In our April Web Exclusive story, "The Mother's Portion," a woman with a husband and six children goes to extreme measures to reclaim herself. It's a surprising story; it makes triumphant that which we think of as affliction. We talked with author Suzanne Morrison about liberation, our mutual love of Maggie Nelson, and the importance of telling our survival stories. Erin McReynolds: We're used to seeing overeating as a disorder, and we're familiar with the trope that some anorexics (usually … [Read more...] about Web Exclusive Interview: Suzanne Morrison