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American Short Fiction

Publishing exquisite fiction since 1991.

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Online Fiction

The Dog Had Ate the Hand

by Juan Fernando Villagómez | May 9, 2023

The Dog Had Ate the Hand

  They’d been watching the renovations for days. The plan was simple: Cut a hole in the fence. Get inside the house. Grab the copper. Take it home. Sell it. Easy money if Lucas could just stick to the plan. But there was something about the way his skull was born without a soft spot and something about the way his brain grew into the skull, pushing up against the stubborn bone, that made him forget all the little things. He would forget the day. He would forget where he was walking … [Read more...] about The Dog Had Ate the Hand

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Juan Fernando Villagómez, Online Fiction, The Dog Had Ate the Hand

To Deaden the Nerve

by Christopher Notarnicola | May 28, 2021

To Deaden the Nerve

https://soundcloud.com/americanshortfiction/to-deaden-the-nerve-by-christopher-notarnicola Marines sit on the ground with their feet in their hands, their bare knees against the wet morning grass to stretch their groins, to loosen their limbs, to gather themselves near the flight line behind company headquarters. They await the arrival of their instructor, the start of their next round of martial arts training. They wait to advance, to add to their takedowns and submissions, to harden their … [Read more...] about To Deaden the Nerve

Filed Under: NOTEBOOK, NOTEBOOK FEATURE, WEB EXCLUSIVES Tagged With: American Short Fiction, Flash Fiction, marines, military, Online Fiction, short fiction, Web Exclusive

Ember

by Pascha Sotolongo | December 20, 2020

Ember

American Short Fiction · Ember by Pascha Sotolongo Chuchi marvels at the sparks brightening this darkest night, and I guess they are kind of pretty. You look up, let your eyes water against the cold, and can’t tell the embers from the stars. We don’t have a tree this year, so maybe smoldering flakes of the Brownsburg Public Library are as close to Christmas lights as we’re gonna get. Chuchi tilts his head all the way back, mouth open, and the orangey glow illuminates his features. Little swirls … [Read more...] about Ember

Filed Under: NOTEBOOK Tagged With: dystopia, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Online Fiction, short fiction, Short Stories, Web Exclusive

The North

by Babak Lakghomi | October 2, 2020

The North

My uncle was driving us north, where the enemy planes hadn’t yet attacked. He took turns drinking from a bottle with the man sitting up front. My parents and I were squeezed in the back. My mother closed her eyes and held me close. My father kept biting his lips. “Drink up,” my uncle said, passing the bottle to my father. My father returned the bottle untouched. Everybody else we knew had already left the city. My uncle was the only person still in town with a car. I didn’t know why we … [Read more...] about The North

Filed Under: NOTEBOOK, WEB EXCLUSIVES Tagged With: Fiction, Flash Fiction, Online Fiction, short fiction, Short Stories, Web Exclusive

Karst

by Ben Jackson | July 15, 2020

Karst

He wakes in the landscape of his childhood, the karst. The house is surrounded by stone that dissolves in water, limestone that becomes fissured and hazardous because of its own weakness. The clints are the parts left standing. Grykes are the absences between. It is in the grykes you find life: hart’s tongue fern, butterfly orchid, primrose. Sheltering in the sinkholes. This is a place of constant change. Changing stone. Changing light. As a child, he would go out at morning and all around … [Read more...] about Karst

Filed Under: NOTEBOOK, WEB EXCLUSIVES Tagged With: Family, Fiction, Flash Fiction, ireland, mothers, Online Fiction, short fiction, Short Stories, stone, water, Web Exclusive

Appointment

by Olivia Parkes | March 31, 2020

Appointment

“I’m sorry I’m late,” I said, unwinding my scarf and piling my layers on an empty swivel chair beside the stylist’s station. The crumpled clothes looked shabby in the gleaming, mirrored room, like something you’d find under a bridge. I was wearing pretty much everything I owned. This little jaunt was the first time I’d left the house in weeks, and let me tell you, you could die out there. A band of polar winds high up in the atmosphere held the city hostage, locked in a bitter freeze. I exhaled … [Read more...] about Appointment

Filed Under: NOTEBOOK, WEB EXCLUSIVES Tagged With: Fiction, Flash Fiction, Online Fiction, short fiction, Short Stories, Web Exclusive, Web Exclusives

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Issue 81

Guest-edited by Fernando A. Flores, featuring new stories by Yvette DeChavez, Julián Delgado Lopera, Carribean Fragoza, Alejandro Heredia, Carmen Maria Machado, Ruben Reyes Jr., and Gerardo Sámano Córdova.

You can preview the issue here.

NEWS

Read the winners of the 2024 Insider Prize

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.
 

Issue 81 is out now: guest-edited by Fernando A. Flores, with stories by Julián Delgado Lopera, Carmen Maria Machado, Ruben Reyes Jr., and more. Order yours today!

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