Inside the Issue

Inside the Issue: An Excerpt from “Zone of Mutuality,” by Karl Taro Greenfeld

by ASF Editors | August 28, 2014

In "Zone of Mutuality," the final story in Issue 57 of American Short Fiction, Karl Taro Greenfeld introduces us to Dwayne, a young man settling uneasily in to a perennial professional disappointment that threatens to swamp the rest of his life as well. As we wrote in our introductory note to the issue, Dwayne, "a 'personal banker' in a small bank branch whose title and cheap suit belie the essential sordidness of the job, moves through the indignities that make up his working day with a … [Read more...] about Inside the Issue: An Excerpt from “Zone of Mutuality,” by Karl Taro Greenfeld

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.