American Short Fiction

Announcements

The winners of the American Short(er) Fiction Prize are Jen Percy, with first place, for "Field Trip," and Hillery Hugg, with second, for "The Tomb." Congratulations! We'll be posting more details about these great pieces shortly.

Thanks to all who entered our our Short Story Contest! We're very happy to announce the winners of the contest, judged by Rick Moody. Dawn Ryan wins first place ($1,000 and publication) with her story "My Sister's Babies," which Moody calls "brutal, strange, funny, unpredictable, and new." Her winning story will be published in our next issue, Summer 2010. Mecca Jamilah Sullivan's "Blue Talk and Love"—"its voice . . . lyrical, nearly Faulkernian"—garners second place ($500). Congratulations, Dawn and Mecca!

In January 2010, ASF received a matching grant from the NEA. These funds will go to support production costs--including funding important things like contributors' payments.

Two stories from the magazine are in The Best American Short Stories 2009, out now. The stories receiving this honor are "The Peripatetic Coffin" by Ethan Rutherford and "NowTrends" by Karl Taro Greenfeld. Congratulations, Ethan and Karl!

We have recently switched to online submissions. Please check out our submission guidelines and submit your story online via our Submission Manager.

Updates from Our Blog

Check this space often for news and reviews, recommendations and rants, and to get a look at the inner workings of ASF.

American Short Fiction blog

Establishing Residency
There are few words we writers like to hear more than “Your submission has won!” Though “Free” is a quick second, followed quickly by “A clean well-lighted space.” Put them all together and one hella time could be earned at the following residencies—but don’t wait to apply. September will be here before you can say [...]
Here & There: Fly-Over State of Mind
I’m flying to Seattle tomorrow for a friend’s wedding. I’ve got my dress picked out and my quart-sized Ziploc stocked. Selecting reading material for a long flight, though, always poses something more of a challenge. Bring something too difficult and you find yourself watching some bad in-flight movie starring Nicolas Cage; too short, and you [...]
Interview with Kelly Luce, Author of Our June Exclusive
1. Tell us a little bit about the genesis of “Heliotrope.” Where did the idea come from? How did the talking placenta first arrive in the story? What kind of revision did “Heliotrope” go through? I once nannied for a family of vegans. They were really strict about diet, so the meaty-looking lump Ziplocked in the [...]

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