Book lovers are sure to savor The Borrower, the debut novel by Chicago writer Rebecca Makkai. Main character Lucy is a children's librarian who delights in recommending just the right book and whose intelligent speech is peppered with literary references. But this discontented 26-year-old woman didn't...

I love ASF's web exclusives. They're easy to read and good quality. ASF is having a fundraiser right now, and if you enjoy reading their FREE online short stories, consider sending a buck or two by clicking here. ASF also charges a $2 fee to submit, which goes toward the magazine. So consider submitting a story. You pay the fee, help the mag, and who knows? Maybe they'll publish your story. Fro...

I didn't know much about ASF (American Short Fiction, duh) until a classmate got one of her short stories published on the mag's Web site (you can read it here). It turned out this was the same short story I'd given her some critique on, so naturally I took most of the credit in its getting published. My classmate disagreed, rightly so, since she was the one who wrote it. But I've been keep...