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American Short Fiction

Publishing exquisite fiction since 1991.

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Novels

Editorial Outtakes: The Strange and True Tale of Horace Wells, Surgeon Dentist

Michael Downs
Editorial Outtakes: The Strange and True Tale of Horace Wells, Surgeon Dentist

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 two outtakes from The Strange and True Tale of Horace Wells, Surgeon Dentist, a novel by journalist and fiction writer Michael Downs. An account of the life and times of Hartford's Horace Wells, the dentist who discovered that nitrous oxide had the power to alleviate pain during … [Read more...] about Editorial Outtakes: The Strange and True Tale of Horace Wells, Surgeon Dentist

Novelist of the Appetites: An Interview with Ashley Warlick

Rachel Howell
Novelist of the Appetites: An Interview with Ashley Warlick

Ashley Warlick spent ten years on her latest novel, The Arrangement, a fictional retelling of the life and loves of famed food writer MFK Fisher. With lush, clean prose and pitch-perfect dialogue, Warlick lays bare the many appetites of a woman and writer ahead of her time. The novel spans the early years of Fisher’s career, a period marked by profound hunger as well as conflicting desires—for food, for recognition, for her husband Al and, later, for Al’s best friend, Tim. The book came out in … [Read more...] about Novelist of the Appetites: An Interview with Ashley Warlick

Editorial Outtakes: M. Thomas Gammarino

M. Thomas Gammarino
Editorial Outtakes: M. Thomas Gammarino

Editorial Outtakes is a feature in which we publish excerpts from novels and story collections that you won’t find in the finished books because, prior to publication, these sections were cut. This installment of Editorial Outtakes features a deleted scene from King of the Worlds, the new novel by M. Thomas Gammarino, which tells the story of Dylan Greenyears, a has-been Hollywood heartthrob whose best days are seemingly behind him. After losing the lead in Titanic, Greenyears has left with his … [Read more...] about Editorial Outtakes: M. Thomas Gammarino

Editorial Outtakes: Benjamin Warner

Benjamin Warner
Editorial Outtakes: Benjamin Warner

Editorial Outtakes is a feature in which we publish excerpts from novels and story collections that you won’t find in the finished books because, prior to publication, these sections were cut. This installment of Editorial Outtakes features a deleted scene by Benjamin Warner, whose debut novel, Thirst, was published by Bloomsbury last week. An intense, literary novel with the pacing of a thriller, Thirst is first and foremost a novel interested in asking us the question: what would you do in … [Read more...] about Editorial Outtakes: Benjamin Warner

Coddled, Sexting Millennials: Jennifer duBois Interviews Tony Tulathimutte

Jennifer duBois
Coddled, Sexting Millennials: Jennifer duBois Interviews Tony Tulathimutte

Tony Tulathimutte’s Private Citizens is a searing and savagely smart dissection of the life and opinions of a group of San Francisco millennials: bipolar autodidact Henrik, ruthless aspiring writer Linda, porn-addicted romantic Will, and hazily embattled activist Cory. With relentless intelligence and wit—and prose that’s earning comparisons to David Foster Wallace—Tulathimutte examines his characters’ anxieties and aspirations, vanities and self-hatreds, and the gap between private … [Read more...] about Coddled, Sexting Millennials: Jennifer duBois Interviews Tony Tulathimutte

An Interview with Angela Flournoy

An Interview with Angela Flournoy

Angela Flournoy’s The Turner House follows one large Detroit family struggling to do right by one another while also figuring out what to do about the family home, which is on the brink of foreclosure. It’s a tender look the messiness of sibling relationships set against the backdrop of a slumping economy and the then-emerging housing crisis of 2008. Among other honors, the novel was a Summer 2015 Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection, and was awarded the Center for Fiction … [Read more...] about An Interview with Angela Flournoy

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Issue 83
Issue 83
  • Baba Ademoroti
  • Kyle Alderdice
  • Manuel Gonzales
  • Nic Guo
  • Simon Han
  • Ammi Keller
  • Mathilde Merouani
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News

The 2025 Halifax Prize Winners We are thrilled to announce the winners of this year's Halifax Ranch Fiction Prize, judged by Eric Puchner. We consider it our privilege to have spent time with so many terrific submissions—thank you for giving us the opportunity to read your work. Congratulations to the winners!
Read the Winners of the 2025 Insider Prize Whose voices are these, I wonder each fall as submissions for the Insider Prize begin accumulating in my office. Four years on as director of Texas’s annual literary award for incarcerated writers, some of the names written across the bloated white and manila envelopes have grown familiar—essayists, short story writers, and the places they are relegated to calling “home”.  
Announcing the Winners of the 2025 American Short(er) Fiction Prize We are delighted to announce that Tony Tulathimutte has chosen the winners of our 2025 American Short(er) Fiction Contest. Thank you to our judge and to everyone who submitted—it is always inspiring to read your work. Congratulations to the winners!

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