Down Home
I recognized the ring tone as I answered my cell — Elvis singing Blue Suede Shoes. I’d assigned it to my grandmother because it was her favorite song, and Elvis her favorite singer.
A Christmas Visit
“Now, how many of you girls are planning to bring something besides your gift?” Mrs. Watson stood up to address us so she could see all eight of our Sunday School class, I guess. She was so short
A Score Lower Than My Age
“You need to get rid of that Cadillac. It makes you look old,” Maribelle says from somewhere behind my head
The Grand Design
"DING, DING” “Ladies and gentlemen, the captain has turned on the seat belt sign. We’re expecting a rough patch ahead
The Last Bear
I lay on the floor of Granddaddy Sloane's living room, inside a faded orange sleeping bag. Daddy and his two cousins, Graham and Scott, sat around me as if I were a campfire
Big Damn Pears
Luke LaCroix first told Old Green about the pear tree one day at lunch. They were outside off the boiler room, sitting in the shade of the overhang. The day was hot
An Arm and a Leg
As a philosophy student I learned about the problem of evil and how for centuries the great thinkers agonized over whether they could believe in an all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-loving God who let bad things happen
Literary Friday, Edition 175
Interview with The Gates of Evangeline Author Hester Young Even if you missed our live Twitter chat with Hester Young last night, you can still read our interview with her about her spooky debut The Gates of Evangeline. Possibly one of the most anticipated Southern reads of the fall, the book combines a mother’s grief with eerie premonitions, a historic plantation and long-buried secrets of love, money, betrayal and murder. And even more good news: It's just the start of a trilogy about character Charlie Cates. Young tells us the novel's setting in the Louisiana swamp came to her in a dream one night where a little boy asked to tell her how he died. It doesn't get much more Southern Gothic than that. Read the chat feed for more inside details here! Literary News M.O. Walsh's My Sunshine Away made Booklist's list of Top 10 First Novels for 2015. Head to West Virginia for some literary tourism with Homer Hickam and James McBride over at Bookriot. The lineup for the 30th annual Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival has been announced, with Megan Abbott, Dorothy Allison (pictured) and Dick Cavett on deck March 30-April 3. Mary Louise Parker's Dear Mr. You makes Flavorwire's 10 Must-Read Books for November.
A Mean Heart
The first thing Sophie noticed was the punch bowl. It looked like a stained glass window filled with blood, she thought. Aunt Hilda had made the punch herself
Kith and Kin
The once-grand house now drooped in urban shabbiness, as did the rest of the neighborhood. At the turn of the century, the area had boasted Memphis’ carriage trade