Looking for a short fiction fix? Look no further than the aptly titled American Short Fiction , with a fresh issue on stands now.

The locally produced, nationally recognized magazine, which was founded in 1991 by current O’Henry Prize editor Laura Furman, went dormant in 1998, but it was revived in 2006 by local nonprofit Badgerdog Literary Publishing. Back with a bullet: The new issue, with a gorgeous Don Quixote cover, includes five new pieces, including an excerpt from UT prof Scott Blackwood‘s forthcoming novel We Agreed to Meet Just Here, which won the 2007 Associated Writing Programs Prize for Novel. (Call it his Austin swan song: After 23 years here, Scott leaves us this fall to be the Director of the MFA Creative Writing Program at Chicago’s Roosevelt University.)

We haven’t had a chance to do much more than the thumb through the covers, but ASF Managing Editor Jill Meyers is especially keen on Ethan Rutherford’s “The Peripatetic Coffin”; she calls it “a darkly funny piece about a young man who, after learning his girlfriend is likely headed to prison, finds consolation in charm school.” Did we mention it’s set on a Civil War-era submarine?

The Spring/Summer issue of American Short Fiction is available now at BookPeople and other fine book-type establishments.

This article appears in May 9 • 2008.

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A graduate of the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas, Kimberley has written about film, books, and pop culture for The Austin Chronicle since 2000. She was named Editor of the Chronicle in 2016; she previously served as the paper’s Managing Editor, Screens Editor, Books Editor, and proofreader. Her work has been awarded by the Association of Alternative Newsmedia for excellence in arts criticism, team reporting, and special section (Best of Austin). The Austin Alliance for Women...