Bret Anthony Johnston has the distinction of being among the few writers occupying that slim but coveted slice of the Venn diagram: creative writing directors (Johnston is at the helm at Harvard) who have toured the country on a professional skateboarding team. Find a great discussion on this over at McSweeney’s. His latest work, Remember Me Like This, is a quiet and rich novel centered around a teenage boy named Justin who is returned to his family four years after his kidnapping. The story … [Read more...] about An Interview with Bret Anthony Johnston
Interview
An Interview with Marie-Helene Bertino
I first met Marie-Helene Bertino last summer, when she was my workshop instructor at the One Story Workshop for Writers. In person, she is meticulous, charming, and bright. And her writing is the same. Her short story, “Carry Me Home, Sisters of Saint Joseph,” was first published in Issue 47 of American Short Fiction. Her second book, 2 A.M. at The Cat's Pajamas, will be published this August by Crown. Set in Philadelphia, the novel takes place over the course of a single day—Christmas Eve … [Read more...] about An Interview with Marie-Helene Bertino
Online Fiction Interview: Sarah Gerkensmeyer
Sarah Gerkensmeyer's "Ramona," our online exclusive for April, is nearly a contradiction in terms. It's at once a tender-hearted, naturalistic reflection on adolescence and faded friendship and an utterly non-naturalistic look at the limits of embodiment. In this interview, we asked Gerkensmeyer about bending the rules of nature in fiction and, in the process, we learned a bit more about how she approaches a draft, a story, a novel, and key metaphors that are—at times—seemingly incidental to the … [Read more...] about Online Fiction Interview: Sarah Gerkensmeyer
Online Fiction: Interview with Hannah Pass
This month, we're bringing you a story about an astrological forecaster whose television ratings are falling. Hannah Pass's "Nova" is a world of glitz, glitter, fiber-optic star charts and unsavory old men, a place where networks air shows on adolescent bartending and on hypnotherapy for insomniacs. But at its heart, "Nova" is a story about a mother who wants to do right, set a good example for her thirteen-year-old daughter. We asked Hannah some questions about the story and her writing. (And … [Read more...] about Online Fiction: Interview with Hannah Pass
Online Fiction: Interview with Alexander Lumans
Hot? Yeah, so are we. Luckily, our August web exclusive is the short fiction equivalent of diving headlong down a Slip ‘n Slide: a brief-yet-exhilarating trip that’s guaranteed* to lower your core temperature a degree or two. With snow, glaciers, and a cameo by South Pole-navigating Sir Ernest Shackleton, “The Unicorns” by Alexander Lumans is no-holds-barred fun and all kinds of cool. So go on, dive in, read “The Unicorns” on the ASF website. Plus, learn the story behind the story in our … [Read more...] about Online Fiction: Interview with Alexander Lumans