Dr. John Williams is currently a mentor in the Reinhardt University MFA Creative Writing program. His novel, End Times (Sartoris Literary Group, 2023) was named a finalist for the 2025 Townsend Prize for Fiction and Williams was the Georgia Author of the Year for First Novel in 2002 for Lake Moon (Mercer UP). He has written and […]
“Museum of the Soon to Depart” Poetry by Andy Young
July 1, 2025 by Leave a Comment
The eighty-eight pages in Museum of the Soon to Depart (Carnegie Mellon University Press 2024) by Andy Young flow with exquisitely phrased words of grief and loss. Yet, no matter how beautifully written, the poems are nonetheless quite somber. The dying and death of the narrator’s mother from brain cancer, coupled with poems about plagues, […]
Gale Massey interviews Les Standiford, Writers In Paradise Conference Co-Director; & Marina Pruna, Conference Coordinator
July 1, 2025 by Leave a Comment
Writers In Paradise is widely considered one of Florida’s preeminent annual writer’s conferences. It is consistently held on the pristine campus of Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida. This conference was initially founded in 2005 by Dennis Lehane and Sterling Watson. Les Standiford serves as Co-Director along with Dennis Lehane, and Marina Pruna is the […]
“The Medici Curse” by Daco S. Auffenorde
July 1, 2025 by Leave a Comment
A novel set in a Tuscan villa might seem like an odd choice for Southern Literary Review. Obviously, the setting completely misses our locale. Yet The Medici Curse (Scarlet Books 2025) hits the mark because it was penned by a talented Huntsville, Alabama, author Daco S. Auffenorde. The story contains a heavy dose of gothic horror and supernatural […]
“When the Earth Was a Comfort” by Victor Depta
July 1, 2025 by Leave a Comment
The Buddhist concept of emptiness appears frequently in Victor Depta’s latest collection of poetry, When the Earth Was a Comfort (Blair Mountain Press 2025). The collection is divided into four parts, corresponding to the seasons. I related strongly to the title poem, which is placed first in the book. Depta references the floods, the heat, […]