ASF is recognizing Black History Month by sharing, for the first time online, four stories from our Winter 2020 issue, which showcased emerging Black writers selected by guest editor and PEN American Robert W. Bingham Prize winner Danielle Evans. Here is author Maya Perez, reflecting on the experience of writing this story: My initial idea for the story was two people with a shared history having a reunion and realizing that while they don’t know each other at all, they share an overwhelming … [Read more...] about Pioneers
Love
The Chimp
Down slid the chimp. Not quite like a fireman, more hand-over-hand because the pole inside the four-foot-wide acrylic cylinder running floor-to-ceiling in the middle of my apartment had branches. Surely, shit piled on the floor below – the chimp was good at tearing off his diaper – but the beauty of it was I couldn't see it or smell it, and the rent was great because the chimp's owner kept the top and bottom apartments of the triplex. You'll never meet your neighbor, said the realtor, but his … [Read more...] about The Chimp
Enid & Floyd & the Moon
Enid leans over the sink while her husband, Floyd, dyes her sparse hair. His veined, shaky hands are covered in the clear plastic gloves that came in the Clairol “Flame Red” coloring kit. The gloves are too small and stop below his wrists. It’s awkward, but everything for him is awkward or impossible. Using an old pair of children’s scissors, he struggles to snip the top off the squeeze bottle. His hands feel like dumb paws. Enid’s back is stiff with age, but she manages to bend forward … [Read more...] about Enid & Floyd & the Moon
A Person Who Looks: An Interview with Lacy M. Johnson
Houston-based Lacy M. Johnson’s recent essay collection, The Reckonings, grapples with vital questions: the concept of evil, police killings, the BP oil spill, and the complexity of speaking truth to power. Finalist for the 2018 National Book Critics Circle Award in the category criticism, Johnson’s essays move between the personal and the political with deftness and precision. This interview was conducted via email where we talked about Johnson’s curatorial project, the Houston Flood Museum, … [Read more...] about A Person Who Looks: An Interview with Lacy M. Johnson
Editorial Outtake: If You Leave Me
Editorial Outtakes is a series in which we publish excerpts from recent books that you won’t find anywhere else because, prior the publication, these sections were cut. This installment of Editorial Outtakes features an original chapter from Crystal Hana Kim's debut novel If You Leave Me. A moving story of love during wartime, the novel's poses difficult questions about whether it's better to choose security over love and safety over freedom. Here, Kim shares her thoughts—and an example of a … [Read more...] about Editorial Outtake: If You Leave Me
Editorial Outtakes: Cutter Wood
Editorial Outtakes is a series in which we publish excerpts from recent books that you won’t find anywhere else because, prior publication, these sections were cut. This installment of Editorial Outtakes features a scene from Cutter Wood's Love and Death in the Sunshine State: The Story of a Crime, an account the 2008 murder of Sabine Musil-Buehler. Wood's investigation is augmented by a more personal story about the nature of love and intimacy. What results is a deeply moving work of true … [Read more...] about Editorial Outtakes: Cutter Wood