Editor Interview: Short Story America

Soul-enriching stories

I admire all publications which demonstrate a commitment to short stories which both entertain and matter. This art form is the purest of them all, the one that can on rare but achievable occasions be perfect, which is not possible for the novel, a form I thoroughly enjoy but do not value as highly as short fiction in my reading life. Among publishers which I admire are Graywolf Press, The New Yorker, Algonquin Books, Dzanc Books, and others with high standards which do not always place commercial profit at the top of institutional priorities.

Dead or alive and in no particular order, I admire the short fiction of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Flannery O'Connor, Raymond Carver, Anton Chekhov, Charles Baxter, Alice Munro, Alan Heathcock, John Cheever, Dorothy Parker, Richard Matheson, Stephen King, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Jack Finney, Conrad Aiken, Sherwood Anderson, Ernest Hemingway, Mark Twain, Anthony Doerr, Herman Melville, Irwin Shaw, T.C. Boyle, Jack London, Wallace Stegner, Willa Cather, Katherine Anne Porter, Langston Hughes, Edgar Allan Poe, and numerous others. The honor roll of truly great short-story writers is longer and deeper than that of novels, partly because the great short story stays with you for the rest of your life (as does the great novel of course), and frankly there are far more great short stories than there are great novels, which obviously exist in the library of great literature, but not in the numbers represented by short fiction. Curriculum in high schools and colleges should include far more short fiction, one reason being that every short story is an opportunity for analytical essay-writing, meaning higher frequency of exercising and developing that important skill.

Unfortunately, the range of quality in contemporary short fiction is broad, but that is true in most fields, especially those which are difficult (and it is difficult to write a short story which both entertains and matters to the soul of the reader). I won't say that Short Story America is better or worse than other publishers of literary short fiction. I will say, with great confidence, that if one considers eclectic short fiction, which is where I like to be as both a reader and writer, it is hard to find collections which are better than the first two volumes of short stories published by Short Story America. The 103 stories in those two books meet and exceed my expectations of good literature: they entertain (plot, conflict, character) and matter to the soul of the thinking reader (theme, which is an overused word which I like less than the question "What does this have to do with me, my soul, my potential or with the society in which I and others live?).

Like other publishers, I highly recommend reading and owning our anthologies. The range of narrative voices and points of view is tremendous, and as with other publications, if you read all of our stories, by authors around the U.S. and the world, you not only get a good idea about the level and breadth of storytelling in today's world, but you also get an idea of what we (and I) like in short stories. Multiple genres are represented in our collections, and honestly, that's how I like to read short fiction. Every story succeeds or fails as a stand-alone work of literary art. A good story is a good story, whether it be "literary," suspense, humor, horror, or so on. I think it is good news for writers of short fiction that there is a publisher of multiple genres within one large volume, and where the editor is a fellow writer of short fiction and no stranger to the frustrations of writing work you believe in and trying to find a home for that work in front of thinking human beings.

The ideal submission is polished, free of errors, and most importantly is compelling from the very beginning. The ideal submission has very little waste, and no description which does not serve a purpose in advancing action or in creating mood or tension. Most importantly, the ideal submission entertains or intrigues the thinking reader from the start, makes him or her care in any of a number of ways in which that can be achieved, and sustains its momentum through a well-crafted and memorable ending, whether that ending is clear or ambiguous, which the good writer is capable, and patient enough, of making real and lasting.

Most often, when writers get something wrong, it is that they think that we will send a rejection notice if we are not accepting a story. Our staff is tiny, and I read all stories that come in, so in order to have time to read, we do not issue rejections. Rather, we make it clear in our guidelines that we do not reject stories. We keep coming back to our submissions, giving second looks to stories as we go. To make this work fairly for authors, we strongly encourage simultaneous submissions, and multiples as well. In my opinion, it is not fair when publishers insist on writers not submitting elsewhere until they have been either accepted or rejected in the process. "Slush piles" are very large, and it is very difficult to ever be caught up on reading submissions, and so we do not pretend ever to be caught up. This means that we are guaranteed to be among the leaders on the "Most Slothful" list there at Duotrope, and that is fine. This is how we do it, and nobody has to submit to Short Story America if he or she doesn't want to. We simply make clear that we do not reject, and since we consider and publish reprints as well as new fiction, there is never a reason for an author to withdraw a story from Short Story America. As lovers of short fiction, we're all on the same side.

I only care about good short stories. That's why I read the story first, and then look at bio of I like the story. I'll never forget reading a story several years ago, in our first year, and loving the story on the first pass-through. I decided to accept the story. I looked at the contact info, and called the phone number of the author (I always accept by telephone, and enjoy numerous new friendships as a result of phoning so many kindred spirits). A woman answered the phone in Ohio. I said, "The is Tim Johnston at Short Story America," and asked for the author by name. I then heard the woman call out to the author, and she sounded excited when she did. A voice came onto the phone, and he sounded young. Quite young. It tuned out that he was a sophomore in high school, a prodigy described by the school's English department as a student they didn't know what else to do with, as his talent and human understanding were far beyond his years. Some publishers would have decided to wait until the kid was at least in college to publish the story. But a good short story deserves to be read. A good writer deserves to be read. We published his story. Frankly, it's all about the story, which is why we welcome the work of everyone from established to emerging to new writers. Story first...

Two full pages. If it is not engaging my interest after two full pages, it will not work as a short story at Short Story America. My job is not to re-write the first half or third or quarter of anyone's story. I can help tweak an ending, or improve dialogue or description here or there, but a first full page which does not engage interest enough to keep reading, well, that just means it's good that we encourage simultaneous submissions, as we are not necessarily right or wrong, and fairness demands two full pages of reading but not more than that if it isn't going to work.

Each regular-submission story receives two evaluations before acceptance. For the Short Story America Prize competition (currently ongoing, for which there are five judges; entries accepted through September 1st)), stories undergo five evaluations.

I do my best to read submissions for three hours per day (rarely in consecutive hours). I read them on my laptop and on my phone, and always read submissions the way I read for pleasure: relaxed, not judging, just a guy who picked up a story online and started reading. I also go about other business for Short Story America (right now, for example, planning is ongoing for the Second Annual Short Story America Festival and Conference, as well as preparation of Volume Three of the anthology series for print). My wife and I have twin daughters and an infant son, so if she is on shift in her job at our local hospital, I tend to the baby on such a day...Don't worry, I don't read submitted stories when distracted by the baby or anything else! I also edit stories and books for other writers, who as clients and colleagues are very important to me, and late afternoons tend to be dedicated to the work I do for them. It adds up to a very busy day, but always enjoyable. The only frustration is that there is no such thing as being caught up on reading submissions, as we get about 300 per month, and can only publish between one and two percent of the stories we receive: another reason why simultaneous submissions are the only fair way for publishers and authors to look at the submission process. I dearly love what I do. It pays very little on the publishing side, but honestly, I do this because short stories and those who create them deserve ongoing life in front of readers in all cultures, regardless of how few people there are who recognize what they're missing by not reading good short fiction.