February Read of the Month: “The Kudzu Queen” by Mimi Herman

Mimi Herman’s The Kudzu Queen (Regal House, 2023) is the kind of feel-good story we read to escape from stress and trouble. And don’t you just love a novel that not only entertains but also teaches something new? Most of us know kudzu as a noxious weed, but the plant has a surprising history in […]

January Read of the Month: “Jar of Pennies” by John Yearwood

John Yearwood’s Jar of Pennies (John & Stephenie Yearwood Management Trust, 2022) is an impeccably written cultural and historical crime fiction novel.  The author knows how to spin a tale, capture a character, set a scene, portray a community, and write in stellar prose. However, as established in its opening chapter, it is not a […]

December Read of the Month: “The Woods of Fannin County” by Janisse Ray

Astounding as it may seem for admirers of Southern author, poet, activist Janisse Ray, The Woods of Fannin County (Janisse Ray, 2022) is her first time publishing fiction. Maybe more surprising is her anxiety over venturing into fiction. The Woods of Fannin County is an unfathomable story, and perhaps, fiction made it easier to tell […]

November Read of the Month: “Milk Blood Heat” by Dantiel W. Muniz

In Milk Blood Heat (Grove Press, 2021) Dantiel W. Muniz serves up a savory, delicious stew of short stories in an outstanding debut collection. The stories are set in the steamy cities and suburbs of Florida centered on Black residents and their communities. Female voices and themes predominate. This collection is a rare gem in […]

October Read of the Month: “Haints on Black Mountain: A Haunted Short Story Collection” by Ann Hite

There are novelists who never master the short story form or who wouldn’t consider writing memoir. There are also writers of short fiction who balk at the idea of committing to a novel. And though 2012 Georgia Author of the Year and Townsend Prize finalist Ann Hite stays true to her Appalachian settings and Southern […]

September Read of the Month: “Loving the Dead and Gone,” by Judith Turner-Yamamoto

Judith Turner-Yamamoto’s debut novel Loving the Dead and Gone (Regal House, September 2022) is a 2020 Petrichor Prize finalist. There’s more than one aching heart in this excellent story exploring the generational effects of love, loss, betrayal, and redemption. The story opens with middle-aged Clayton finding a young man’s body after someone smashed into the […]