The Beautiful Misfits is a fascinating look into three distinct industries: television journalism, luxury cosmetics sales, and addiction rehabilitation. In each world, we learn that everyone is pushing something, whether information with an agenda, unrealistic standards of perfection, drugs and alcohol, or freedom from the same. Reinhardt’s protagonist, Josette “Josie” Nickels, ruminates on the opioid […]
“Hemlock Hollow” by Culley Holderfield
May 31, 2023 by Leave a Comment
InHemlock Hollow, Culley Holderfield takes readers on a fascinating two-fold journey as he skillfully interweaves the lives of twenty-first-century Caroline McAlister and nineteenth-century Carson Quinn. The story begins with Caroline, a professor of astroarchaeology, finding Carson’s journal in the cabin she is having restored. Her return to this Hemlock Hollow cabin after many years is […]
Betsy Reeder interviews Culley Holderfield, author of “Hemlock Hollow”
May 31, 2023 by Leave a Comment
Southern Literary Contributor Betsy Reeder interviewed Culley Holderfield, author of Hemlock Hollow. BR: What was the impetus behind this story? Did it nudge you over time or tackle you unexpectedly? CH: The story came from out of characters and research. It started with a specific place, this hollow in Henderson County, NC, where my parents […]
Read of the Month: “Red Clay Suzie” by Jeffrey Dale Lofton
May 30, 2023 by Leave a Comment
Named as one of the most anticipated LGBTQIA+ books of 2022 by Lambda Lambda Literary and winner of the Seven Hills Literary Prize for Fiction, Red Clay Suzie (Post Hill Press) was absolutely captivating. Calling it a page-turner does not do it justice, though its short chapters, sometimes only a few pages in length, make […]
Dawn Major interviews Jeffrey D. Lofton, author of “Red Clay Suzie”
May 29, 2023 by Leave a Comment
Associate Editor Dawn Major recently had the opportunity to meet Jeffrey Dale Lofton at her virtual book launch for her debut novel, The Bystanders. Lofton embodies what one might imagine to be the epitome of a Southern gentleman—poised, articulate, perfect manners, and wearing a smart bowtie. It’s hard to imagine that underneath all his Southern […]
“Tour of a Lifetime: Glenamaddy to Gomorrah” by Thomas Rabbitt
May 29, 2023 by Leave a Comment
When Thomas Rabbitt’s first acclaimed book of poetry, Exile (1975), won the prestigious Pitt award, he was a relatively young man. At that time, he was charged with starting a Masters of Fine Arts in creative writing program at The University of Alabama, a program he led to national prominence before retiring in 1998. Rabbitt’s […]