Please Note: The 2021 Short(er) Fiction Prize is now closed for submissions. *We're extending the deadline until February 15, 2021! Good Luck!* We are thrilled to announce that Susan Steinberg, author of three remarkable story collections—The End of Free Love, Hydroplane, and Spectacle—and Machine: A Novel (read a beautiful ASF-published excerpt, "Killers," here), will judge our 2021 American Short(er) Fiction Prize. The prize recognizes extraordinary short fiction under 1,000 words. The … [Read more...] about 2021 American Short(er) Fiction Prize
Susan Steinberg
ISSUE 69
Karl Taro Greenfeld, “Tragic Flaw” “She had decided, early in tenth grade, that she would not be found wanting academically, and so goodbye DKNY slacks and Calvin Klein tops, Stella McCartney blouses and Balenciaga shoes, and from that point on, it was sweats and flip-flops, her body perpetually banished beneath layers of soft cotton, her outfits interchangeable, her style indistinguishable from any of six dozen other girls all striving in Pacific Point High School AP classes and desperately … [Read more...] about ISSUE 69
Killers
the water is deeper than it looks; and we’re not the worst swimmers, but it’s dark; we tend not to swim at night; no, we tend not to swim at night with guys; we all knew of the girl who drowned; she sank like a stone, they said; she was showing off that night, they said; the guys all said; tonight, it’s guys we meet at the boathouse; they’re here for the end of summer; they’re beautiful in a polished way; but we’re beautiful in that polished way; we look out across the water; we whisper … [Read more...] about Killers