“George Garrett used to say that it was literature if it bore ‘news of the spirit.’” — Hal Crowther, “Dealer’s Choice”
A Painted House by John Grisham, continued. Features by John Jeremiah Sullivan and Gary White. Fiction by John McManus.
Other contributors include Diane Roberts, James Hughes, Andrew King Collier, Jane Hirschfield, R.T. Smith, John T. Edge, Hal Crowther, Vicki Covington, Tom Piazza, P. Revess, Roy Blount Jr., and more.
A Painted House
By John Grisham
Looking through windows and listening at doors, Luke is burdened with new secrets. Part Three.
Diaries of a Country Priest
By John Jeremiah Sullivan
Thomas Merton’s seven-volume journals illuminate the spiritual journey of a truly modern monk.
My 50 Marriages
By Gary White
In Florida any employee of the Clerk of Courts can marry couples, even if like Steven Barthelme in “I Do, I Do” (pg. 54), they’re only doing it for the health insurance.
Reaffirmation
By John McManus
The hardest part of love is keeping the object of your affection from escaping.
Our Daily Bread
By John T. Edge
The biscuit, manna of the South, can be just as good coming through a fast-food window.
Learning to Be at Peace with War
By Bob Shacochis
War may be hell, but the “operations other than war” in Kosovo were sometimes disturbingly. . . fun.
Old Sparky
By Diane Roberts
A brief history of Florida’s legendary electric chair.
Brother, Can you Spare the Time
By James Hughes
George Clooney, friend of the common man, comes to Mississippi as part of a new Coen brothers’ movie.
Everyone’s a Critic
By Andrea King Collier
Creative writing workshops are not for the faint of heart.
The Man That Rode the Mule Around the World
By Tom Piazza
North Carolina crooner Charlie Poole shone briefly in the spotlight.
Dealer’s Choice
By Hal Crowther
Meditations for Bad Girls
By Vicki Covington
Gone Off Up North
By Roy Blount Jr.
Self-Portrait in a Borrowed Cabin
By Jane Hirshfield
In Horsehide Shoes Fleur Hobbs Eats Cheese, Drinks Chinese Beer & Laments the Nature of Her One Arrest
By R. T. Smith
By P. Revess
“Eve”
Art by Terry Rowlett