American Short Fiction blog

We’re celebrating the life and work of J.D. Salinger tonight at the Ransom Center.

Local writers Elizabeth Crane, Amelia Gray, Nick Flynn, ZZ Packer, John Pipkin, and Amanda Eyre Ward will read excerpts from Salinger’s books and unpublished correspondence from the Ransom Center archives.

There will be so much life and love in the room. You’ll really want to be there, trust us.

The tribute also marks the opening of a small display of Salinger manuscripts, letters, and inscribed books that’ll stay open until March 12 at the HRC. ASF will have a table at the event where you can pick up information about our March reading or a copy of the magazine.

The reading starts at 7 pm at the Charles Nelson Prothro Theater at the Harry Ransom Center. Doors open at 6:30. The theater has limited seating, so get there early. There will be overflow in the lobby with audio and video, just in case.

See you there.

One man’s exploration of online fiction brings his findings to The Millions.

David Backer lists his short fiction loves in “Long Live Fiction: A Guide to Fiction Online.” Some hot spots in his trek include Indie Publishing Wiki, plus a couple world lit links and those who publish the shortest of the short.

Got more hot spots for us? Let us know. We’re ready to go!

Johannes Lichtman provides us with the very funny “On Teaching Mandatory Harassment Seminars in Visalia,” our web exclusive for February. We advise that you read it now. Then come back and take a look at our Q&A with Jo.

ASF: Tell us a little bit about the genesis of the story. Where did the idea for the piece come from and what process did it go through to get here?

JL: The inspiration came from the harassment seminar that all the TAs at UNC Wilmington have to take. As soon as the course started, I began taking notes, not because I thought the test was going to be particularly challenging (I think I got one question wrong—I didn’t realize you could harass someone via screensaver), but because the course content was kind of blowing my mind. “People are inherently different from one another.” “Generally speaking, people do not like being ridiculed for the differences which they cannot control.” I think the most memorable part was a skit where a guy put Christmas decorations all over his Jewish coworker’s cubicle—you know, for fun. Apparently that’s harassment.

By the time I was done, I think I had a three page list of quotes and ideas. Maybe a week or so later, I wrote “On Teaching Mandatory Harassment Seminars in Visalia” in one really fun sitting. After some astute readers told me to stop being such a snarky S.O.B., I changed a couple details and then harassed your magazine until you printed it.

ASF: The format of the story is really unique. What influenced the piece? What were you reading when you were working on it?

JL: There’s probably another writer whose organizational structure influenced this story (read: I definitely cribbed this), but I’m not sure who. It was meant to look like an outline that you might prepare for a lecture.

I wrote the story in late October, and at the time I think I was reading Ben Fountain’s Brief Encounters with Che Guevara and The Collected Stories of Leonard Michaels. I can’t really say how either of books influenced my story, except that they’re both wonderful pieces of writing that made me want to pick up a pen and try to scribble something down. I highly recommend Ben Fountain’s book to anyone who is a fan of writing or reading or, you
know, life.

ASF: What are you working on now?

JL: I’m working on this series of stories titled, “On (Something).” We’ll see how long that lasts. The latest from the “On (Something)” Series include: “On Reading Montaigne at the 21st Street Clinic” and “On the Challenges of Being a Womanizer.” They’re currently sitting with two very important people in my life (read: people who for some reason agree to read my work without being contractually obligated to do so)—Wendy Brenner and Jeremy Hawkins—and
I’m eagerly awaiting their feedback, perhaps unconsciously hoping that dropping their names will inject some superhuman editorial magic into their already brilliant minds.

Oh, and the Visalia part of the story came from the movie Bull Durham. Maybe you can watch it and explain to me how that relates to my piece. I’m undecided.

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Johannes Lichtman is pursuing his MFA in fiction at UNC Wilmington. “On Teaching Mandatory Harassment Seminars in Visalia” is his first published story.

On February 26, at 7 p.m., the Harry Ransom Center and American Short Fiction present A Tribute to J. D. Salinger, an evening of readings and reflections on a master of American fiction.

Local (well, local-ish) writers Elizabeth Crane, Nick Flynn, Amelia Gray, Elizabeth McCracken, ZZ Packer, and John Pipkin will be joining us for a literary wake. There will be readings from all of Salinger’s book-length works as well as selections from his unpublished letters from the Ransom Center archive. Ransom Center Director Thomas F. Staley will provide an introduction to Salinger and talk about the Ransom Center’s small display of Salinger manuscripts, letters, and inscribed books, which will be shown until March 12.

We hope you’ll come out to celebrate Salinger with us.

Where: The Prothro Theater at the Harry Ransom Center, located at 21st and Guadalupe Streets, Austin. (You can view the Ransom Center’s map, along with suggested parking garages and bus routes, here.)

When: Friday, February 26. Doors open at 6:30; reading at 7:00 p.m. Please be aware that the Prothro Theater has limited seating. Line forms upon arrival of the first person.

Are you planning on coming? Let us know via our Facebook invite.

Our flash fiction contest opens TODAY, Monday, February 15, and runs through May 1. Guidelines here.

We accept entries of 1,000 words or less. This contest includes two cash prizes, and both come with publication. Winners will be published in our Fall 2010 issue.

Today, as part of a three-day series, we present our findings, from the silly to the sublime: the routines and rituals—or lack of them—of ASF contributors. . .

The Requested Authors Series:

Rachel B. Glazer * Ethan Rutherford * Katie Williams

Katie Williams (“Serials,” Summer/Fall ’08) on ritual:

It’s important to me that I write every day because I want writing to be a central part of my life; however, I try not to be too hard on myself if I miss a day or three.  I prefer to write early, before my mind is filled with the noise of the day. And it’s essential that I not check email or read the news before I write, though an hour’s warmup with a well-written book is often good, especially if I’m having a hard time getting going. When the words won’t come, I try to switch something–from computer to paper, from apartment to coffee shop, from words to drawings, from short story to flash fiction–or I take a long, distracted walk around the neighborhood, bumping into lampposts and muttering to myself.”

Katie Williams’s process notes for her ASF story “Serials” after the jump . . .

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Today, as part of a three-day series, we present our findings, from the silly to the sublime: the routines and rituals—or lack of them—of ASF contributors. . .

The Requested Authors Series

Rachel B. Glazer * Ethan Rutherford * Katie Williams

Ethan Rutherford (“The Peripatetic Coffin,” Spring/Summer ’08) on ritual:

Gone are the graduate school days of nothing on the schedule; gone are the expansive and endless hours.  Where did they go, those days of long and meticulously composed emails, of lingering over coffee until the characters presented themselves, of saying: Fuck it, I’m going to spend a week making a huge narrative timeline out of multicolored string?  Who knows, but they appear to be gone for good.

Like most writers I know, I work three jobs—teaching, freelancing, clocking in at a grocery store—and if I’m not careful (I haven’t been, I’m not) the day is spent, and my energy for doing anything other than, like, wondering if pizza boxes are recyclable or not goes with it.  But this year I was lucky enough to receive a grant, which allowed me to rent a small studio in an all-but-always-empty church (so much for the Minneapolis faithful, I guess).  It took longer than I’d hoped to adjust to a new space, but finally I have, and it’s become my sanctuary, my dude-room, my reading palace.  The church, to my great pleasure, does not have the internet, and I cannot pick up a signal from anywhere else.

So, ritual?  On the days I don’t have to work (infrequent), I’m at the studio early, and stay at my desk as long as I can.  On days when I do work, I wake up earlier, and try to get a few hours in at least (even if it’s just rereading, despairing, promising to start again, and better this time).  Every day but Sunday, when the church is full.  I have to start early; otherwise the day crowds in, and everything I’ve ignored at home asserts itself, and I start to feel panicked and flushed and completely out of control.  I’m no Kevin Costner; I cannot simply “clear the mechanism.”  When worry punctures my concentration, I’m done for the day.

For now, all my writing is done in this room.  When I leave, I do not take it home.  It’s easier to turn your back when you know you’ll be back at it the next day.  It’s a wonderful way to work.  It took me years to figure that out.

Ethan Rutherford’s story “The Peripatetic Coffin,” published in the Spring/Summer 2008 issue of American Short Fiction, was later selected to appear in The Best American Short Stories 2009.  He lives in Minneapolis.

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Ethan Rutherford was selected for this feature by Emerging Writers Network’s Dan Wickett. If there’s an ASF (or other) author whose rituals you’d like to hear about, comment below. We’ll report back soon.

Today, as part of a three-day series, we present our findings, from the silly to the sublime: the routines and rituals—or lack of them—of ASF contributors. . .

The Requested Authors Series

Rachel B. Glaser * Ethan Rutherford * Katie Williams

Rachel B. Glaser (“Iconographic Conventions of Pre- and Early Renaissance Italian Representations of the Flagellation of Christ,” Spring ’09) on ritual:

Most of my stories come from one-pagers and poems. The other kind I write is a challenge story. I have a strange idea and I build a story just to try it out.

I try to allow my writing to be clumsy and irrelevant or whatever it’s being and never delete anything. I push myself to post poems on my blog even if I don’t really love them.

A story sometimes starts handwritten, but always ends up on the computer. I type on a big curvy wacky ergonomic keyboard, often at night. I print out each draft and hand-edit with a magic marker.

Once I have a semi-finished draft, it is hard to resist showing someone, usually my boyfriend. Then when it’s further along I’ll email it to a bunch of my friends, and it really feels alive then, even if no one responds. Later, I find problems with it, get unenthused and start something new. Usually, I’ll edit it a couple months later and feel rekindled about it, and send it out. Unless it doesn’t quite finish and keeps living a half-life and I try and fix it, but it is just diseased!”

Rachel B. Glaser lives with the writer John Maradik in a sleepy mountain town, among stink bugs suffocating in shot glasses. Her poetry chapbook Heroes Are So Long came out recently with Minutes Books. And her first book Pee on Water and Other Stories comes out this June with Publishing Genius. She is pictured top right.

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Rachel B. Glaser was selected for this feature by ASF editorial assistant Sarah Wambold. If there’s an ASF (or other) author whose rituals you’d like to hear about, comment below. We’ll report back soon.

Over at Guernica, Claire Messud writes:

Here’s the deal: men, without thinking, will almost without fail select men. And women, without thinking, will too often select men. It’s a known fact that among children, girls will happily read stories with male protagonists, but boys refuse to read stories with female protagonists. J.K. Rowling was aware of this: if Harry Potter had been Harriet Potter, none of us would know about her.

The comments are interesting too. Why do you think women are left out of big prizes? Do you think people automatically defer to men when it comes to literature? Should we riot, loot, and burn things down in protest?

Mehran Karimi Naseri’s life isn’t stranger than fiction. Not Beckett’s or Melville’s fictions, anyway.

The Waiting for Godot part of Naseri’s life:

In August 1988 Mehran Karimi Naseri aka “Alfred” found himself in Charles de Gaulle Airport. He claimed his identity papers had been stolen that year in the Gard du Nord area of France. The refugee, unable to prove his status, was allowed to stay at the airport until his case was sorted out. Nearly two decades later he was still waiting.

The Bartleby the Scrivener part of Naseri’s life:

When the courts gave Naseri aka “Alfred” his freedom in 2006, he preferred not to decide where to go. Therefore, he stayed on at Charles de Gaulle.

The final reality of Naseri’s life:

Steven Spielberg bought the rights to Naseri aka “Alfred”’s life story. The airport celebrity eventually did leave Charles de Gaulle—in 2006, when he fell ill.

The short story, “The Fifteen-Year Layover,” by Michael Paterniti (GQ and The Best American Non-Required Reading), chronicles Nasseri aka “Alfred”‘s life.

See Alexis Kouros’s 2000 documentary about him here: Waiting for Godot at De Gaulle.

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You know, I doubt I’ll complain too much the next time I have a couple-hour layover.