April's Web Exclusive, "A Bruise the Size and Shape of a Door Handle," is a haunting story whose slow, creeping tension evokes the likes of Edgar Allen Poe and Shirley Jackson. And yet it is so thoroughly modern, an enlightened study of unhinged, potent adolescent-female sexuality. Its author, Daisy Johnson, is surely destined for great things, so we're thrilled to have her story and interview here. Erin McReynolds: The collection from which this story comes is called, FEN, referring … [Read more...] about Web Exclusive Interview: Daisy Johnson
writing
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
Web Exclusive Interview: Michael Powers
In February's Web Exclusive, "Lake House," a couple has retired to a remote location. We know there is tension between them, and between the narrator and his adult son, but the origins and causes of this tension are only hinted at, the way a painting focuses its composition by suggesting some elements and detailing others. Our more detailed image is that of a drone silently making its way across the treetops of this new territory, reporting strangeness, even its own failure, to the lonely man … [Read more...] about Web Exclusive Interview: Michael Powers
Bourbon and Milk: “Oh, My Dear. Where Is That Country?”
Bourbon and Milk is an ongoing series that dives into the perplexing spaces parenting sometimes pushes us, and explores the unexpected ways writers may grow in them. If you’re interested in joining the conversation or contributing a Bourbon and Milk post, query Giuseppe Taurino at: giuseppe [at] americanshortfiction.org. — The world, like the Tower of Babel… [is] made out of stories, and it [is] always on the verge of collapse. That [is] proverbial.” … [Read more...] about Bourbon and Milk: “Oh, My Dear. Where Is That Country?”
Gorman, CA
https://soundcloud.com/americanshortfiction/heather-wells-peterson-gorman-ca On the way to the wedding in Los Angeles, they ran out of gas. They were a couple, a man and a woman. The woman was driving them down from San Francisco, where they had spent a few days—it was their first time in California, and they were both from somewhere else. The man promised they would make it to the gas station. “How could you know that?” she asked. He didn’t answer. The car was a rental, and it was … [Read more...] about Gorman, CA
Bourbon and Milk: Slow but Steady-ish
Bourbon and Milk is an ongoing series that dives into the perplexing spaces parenting sometimes pushes us, and explores the unexpected ways writers may grow in them. If you’re interested in joining the conversation or contributing a Bourbon and Milk post, query Giuseppe Taurino at: giuseppe [at] americanshortfiction.org. — I confess, I get a little impatient when I hear graduate students with teaching assistantships—that is, students who not only aren’t paying tuition but who are being … [Read more...] about Bourbon and Milk: Slow but Steady-ish