Liz Wyckoff works as an Events Host at BookPeople, and as Outreach Coordinator at American Short Fiction, the nationally renowned literary magazine based right here in Austin. She donned both hats to conduct this interview with ASF Editor Jill Meyers and Associate Editor Callie Collins in honor of National Short Story Month.
ASF publishes short fiction by emerging and established artists. We’re big fans of ASF around here and recommend that you pick up the current issue the next time you’re in the store. Or better yet, subscribe!
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Q: At American Short Fiction, the term “short fiction” includes everything from a 300-word short short to a 94-page novella—quite a range for one literary genre! What do y’all find so magical about the short form?
A: In short, everything! Well, let’s qualify a little. Short fiction attempts to capture a single human moment, a person at a turning point. When it’s rendered well, short fiction is powerful and poignant and mind-blowing. Reading a story is a brief but totally immersive experience, and ultimately, is an experience in empathy.
The magazine is called American Short Fiction—and it’s our mission to publish short fiction without limits. Most magazines have a word limit, or themes to their issues, or guest editors who shape the sensibility of the issue—we don’t have any of these things. It’s important to us that we search out and publish the best work we possibly can, regardless of length or the author’s pedigree. (That’s one of the reasons we publish a mix of emerging and established writers.) We want readers to have as many reading experiences as possible in the space of one issue of ASF.
Q: I know it’s very difficult to define, but how do you describe the aesthetic of American Short Fiction? Do the stories you publish share certain qualities or characteristics? What sets ASF apart from other literary magazines?
A: We’re going to answer this one with a couple of our favorite quotes. The first is from an interview David Foster Wallace did with Dalkey Archive in 1993. Wallace is talking about what he loves in literature and says, “It was really an experience of what I think Yeats called ‘the click of a well-made box.’ Something like that. The word I always think of it as is ‘click.’…It’s maybe the only way to describe writers I love.”
The second quote is from Donald Barthelme. It’s simple: “The aim of literature. . .is the creation of a strange object covered with fur which breaks your heart.”
American Short Fiction is looking for the click and for the fur-covered heart-breaking in every story we publish.
Q: Although American Short Fiction is distributed, read, and loved all over the world, the magazine has been a presence in Austin for a total of about thirteen years. How does ASF fit into the literary community here in Austin, and how important is that community to the magazine?
A: We love Austin and its warmth and creative energy and openness. All of that is present in our city’s growing literary scene. We throw launch parties for every issue of the magazine, and we really enjoy featuring Austin’s brilliant local writers. We’re proud to collaborate with a number of arts organizations in town—places like WriteByNight, a writing space and community on the East Side, and the wondrous Harry Ransom Center at UT.
ASF is published by the independent nonprofit Badgerdog—and we think our scrappiness merges particularly well with Austin’s indie spirit. We wouldn’t be the same magazine in any other city.
Q: As a follow up question, what are some of the different ways Austinites can get involved in the awesomeness that is American Short Fiction?
A: Come to our next launch party at WriteByNight (1305 E. 6th Street) on Saturday, June 4. We’ll have local music, readings from the issue and from our online story series, beer, and literary joy. 7 pm, y’all.
You can always subscribe to the magazine on our website (www.americanshortfiction.org) or pick up a copy at lovely BookPeople. Then you can track us down and tell us what you think.
You can follow us on Twitter (www.twitter.com/asfmag) and read our blog (www.americanshortfiction.org/blog) to see what we’re up to and get info about upcoming events.
We’re also cooking up a really (really, really) exciting bit of programming with the Texas Book Festival for the night of October 22. Stay tuned!
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