First, a numbness. A chill that says you shouldn’t have gone and bit in, that something wicked this way comes. The heat does not flood in, yet. It builds. The nose starts to run, and your voice catches. Your body knows only to sweat. Because it’s too late to run. With Nashville hot chicken, the…… Continue reading Old Time Religion: Behind “Let It Burn”
Category: Southern Fiction
Humor: In Which Vernon Stagg Self-Lawyers Up
March 24, 2016 By Certified Mail Mr. Robert Mangeot, Author of Shameless and Baseless Works of Fiction Dear Mr. Mangeot: The venerated and venerable law firm Vernon Stagg and Associates represents the selfsame Vernon Stagg, Esq., a noted figure of legal and civic stature in the greater metropolitan Nashville area. We mean none other…… Continue reading Humor: In Which Vernon Stagg Self-Lawyers Up
Born Under a Bad Sign: Behind “The Cumberland Package”
Vernon Stagg was born from a bad book. A manuscript actually, mine sadly, and fortunately for us all I abandoned it before the querying stage. This was 2011, early yet for me into This Whole Writing Thing. The manuscript was a sort of Westlake-ian, Hiaasen-ian lovechild romp, and no matter what I did, it came out low…… Continue reading Born Under a Bad Sign: Behind “The Cumberland Package”
Behind: “Crack-up at Waycross”
First things first: the proceeds from Bouchercon’s Murder Under the Oaks go to the Wake Country Public Libraries. And folks, reading is cool. In November 2013, thieves broke into a Modesto, CA orchard and made off with 140,000 pounds–70 tons–of in-shell walnuts. In February 2012, a shade to the north, 40,000ish tons of walnuts went missing from a Butte…… Continue reading Behind: “Crack-up at Waycross”