From a pond monster called King George to docile dragons and half-shark boys to monsters of the human variety, Bradley Sides’s Crocodile Tears Didn’t Cause the Flood (Montag Press 2024) puts a new spin on how we view monsters and modern-day mythmaking. Clearly, monsters hold a special place in Sides’s writerly heart because we met […]
“Idiot Men” by Scott Gould
March 19, 2024 by Leave a Comment
Scott Gould’s newest collection, Idiot Men, provides the stage for wayward characters who make poor choices in life and love against a backdrop of elegant prose. In “Word of the Day” (winner of the 2020 Larry Brown Short Story Award), a long-haul truck driver’s wife flees to Jamaica with her lover, leaving him to babysit her hairless tomcat, […]
HOW WILL YOU MARCH FORTH?
February 22, 2024 by 2 Comments
Intro: The publication of my debut novel, The Bystanders, in 2023 meant of plethora of author events, conferences, and book and literary festivals. Reflecting upon last year, I decided to share some favorite literary destinations with Southern Literary Review’s readers starting with Beaufort, SC where I attended the Eighth Annual Pat Conroy Literary Festival (PCLF) […]
March Forth to be held in Beaufort
February 13, 2024 by Leave a Comment
The nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center’s eighth annual March Forth will be held on Saturday, March 2, and Sunday, March 3. This special event commemorates the anniversary of Pat Conroy’s passing on March 4, 2016, with programs on major themes of his writing and teaching life, including social justice, inclusivity, conservation, education, and storytelling. Learn […]
Read of the Month: “The Girl from the Red Rose Motel” by Susan Beckham Zurenda
January 30, 2024 by Leave a Comment
In this review/interview hybrid, Associate Editor Dawn Major discusses with author Susan Beckham Zurenda her second novel, The Girl From The Red Rose Motel (Mercer University Press 2023). DM: Susan, I thoroughly enjoyed your first book, Bells for Eli, and absolutely identified with Hazel’s character in The Girl from the Red Rose Motel even more. […]
“End Times” by John Williams
January 1, 2024 by 1 Comment
Introduction: Southern Literary Review’s Associate Editor Dawn Major met the author of End Times, John Williams, through Reinhardt University’s Etowah Valley MFA Writing Program. Williams was Major’s critical thesis adviser, and he offered her an enormous amount of support and guidance while she wrote her critical thesis about the work of the late author, William […]