Equal parts surreal and sharp, devastating and delightful, Daniel Chacón’s “The Last Philosopher in Texas” has something for everyone.
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All articles filed in Fiction
Julia Ridley Smith’s “Sex Romp Gone Wrong” Doesn’t Just Tease; It Delivers
A favorite writing teacher, one particularly enamored with short stories, once told me never to approach a collection with the expectation that all, or even most, will be good. He’d said one, two tops, is all you can reasonably ask for. Not every story in “Sex Romp Gone Wrong” carries emotional heft or grace, but a surprising number of them come close and are destined to be read again and again.
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Compelling, Conspicuous Womanhood in the Gorgeous Debut “The Turtle House”
From the first lines of The Turtle House, debut historical fiction author Amanda Churchill signals how she plans to spin her masterful family saga from prewar Japan to late 20th Century Texas ranch country. Curtain, Texas March 1, 1999 Paper hates water. It hates wind. And fire. Paper falls apart. There is no home safe…
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Puzzles, Trust, and Mystery: An Interview with Ellen Birkett Morris and Abby Lipscomb
An author-on-author interview with Ellen Birkett Morris and Abby Lipscomb.
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Kiley Reid’s “Come and Get It” is like a Burn Book: Exciting, Juicy, and Full of Secrets
A review of Kiley Reid’s new novel, “Come and Get It.”
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A Roster of Talented Women Take on Unsavory Stories in “Peach Pit”
Do you like to read short stories? Do you like to read stories about morally grey and semi-unsavory women? Do you like to read stories about feminism? Or perhaps read stories in support of anti-racist and anti-queerphobic views? If so, then Peach Pit: Sixteen Stories of Unsavory Women, beautifully edited by Molly Llewellyn and Kristel Buckley, is just the ticket…
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Freedom, Courage, and the Power of Names in “The American Daughters”
A review of Maurice Carlos Ruffin’s new historical fiction novel, “The American Daughters,” a vibrant and empowering story set in New Orleans from 1851 to the Civil War.
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“Daybreak” Confronts US Involvement in Russo-Ukrainian War
Part love story, Army veteran Matthew Gallagher’s latest novel primarily explores the complexities of war.
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Adult Malice and Childhood Savagery in Dizz Tate’s Debut “Brutes”
An early scene in Dizz Tate’s debut novel Brutes depicts a birthday party of teenage girls stuffing water balloons inside their shirts: Leila told us that one girl had stuffed two balloons down the front of her bikini-top, and soon all the girls were running around with large, wobbling breasts. Then they started body-slamming each other to…
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Trauma, Loss, and the Fantastical: An Author-on-Author Interview with Bradley Sides and Clifford Garstang
An author-on-author interview with Bradley Sides and Clifford Garstang.
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Southern Review of Books 