Very excited about this, particularly being in conversation with other writers who I love and admire on the TOC. Very, very grateful to Steph and Megan for putting this together. All my love forever to Curtis and my friends at Rock and a Hard Place who do such excellent work.
I wrote 'What You Lost' to process my grief & anger over Hurricane Helene, particularly the response from our Fed Gov't & my Congressman Chuck Edwards. It's one of my more hopeful stories, because it's less about what I lost, (all my fucks) & more about what I found.
New Wind & Root today from our newest columnist Jessica Cory. (We're so excited!!) Head over to Reckon to read,
CHRONICALLY WRITING: Making Time to WRite with Chronic Illness
Books of 2026: 17
ALL GUILTY ANYWAY by Russell W. Johnson
I really enjoyed this one. Lots of law nerd goodies. I love it when a writer shows their expertise. This is a legal thriller with twists, humor, and heart.
Books of 2026: 1
How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu
Not my usual thing, this dystopian sci-fi isn't character or even plot driven, but is compelling & breaks so many storytelling molds that I feel like my own work can't help but be changed in the wake of reading it.
Books of 2026: 16
Trash Poems for Trash People
I consider @thedrevlow my friend.
I don't know poetry. These don't read like Billy Collins or Mary Oliver. There is nothing beautiful. There is a lot of vulnerability. A lot of hard truth. A lot of shared humanity.
Pics of the Piedmont Publishing Symposium by the wonderful Trisha Slay.
1. Kyler Campbell saying something really wise
2. Best pic of my jaw line ever taken
Please support small/university presses who are doing the Lord's work pushing boundaries and platforming new voices.
Look at these brilliant writers I got to hang out with today at the Piedmont Publishing Symposium. So grateful to the organizers for pulling this crew together for a refreshing discussion of Southern Lit and to my fellow panelists for their thoughtful insight.
New Fiction today from Lori Sambol Brody.
Lori Sambol Brody lives in the mountains of Southern California. Her short fiction has been published in Smokelong Quarterly, Wigleaf, Tin House Flash Fridays, the New Orleans Review, Craft, The Rumpus, and elsewhere.
the thing about being creative is you have to say "no" to yourself a lot. you have to recognize the first thought to pop into your head is the tip of a long shadow cast by a weirder, more huge, and better thought.
New Wind and Root today from Acie Clark.
Acie Clark is a multi-genre writer from Florida and Georgia. His debut collection, Small Talk, was selected for the New Southern Voices Poetry Prize and is coming from Hub City Press in Sept. He lives in Arkansas.
It's finals week so I crawled out of my study cave, and I'm back on my bullshit (fresh pixie, red lip, hawking books) to tell you you need this book. P.M Raymond, y'all. -- a southern Gothic noir journey!
@RayExperience