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Going Somewhere
A Review of Mesha Maren’s Shae By Leo Coffey I finished Mesha Maren’s forthcoming novel, Shae, just as the sun began to dip along the Southern sky. I work in one of downtown Knoxville’s oldest buildings and after turning the last page, I ventured up to the top floor to overlook the city, something I…
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THE NITTY GRITTY INTERVIEW WITH MAURICE CARLOS RUFFIN
By Charlotte Hamrick Maurice Carlos Ruffin is a kind human being. Although he’s incredibly busy currently with a book tour, he is always available and responsive to questions from his fans (me!) and always has an open and beaming smile which is an invitation in itself to talk. I own all three of Maurice’s books,…
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When You Sell Mom’s Teeth
Creative Nonfiction By Arlaina Tibensky When you finally get the guts to find Mom’s stash of 14k dental gold and look to cashing it in, you’re broke. When you hold the bridge in your palm, it’s heavier than it looks and the gold is dark and in need of a polish. When you breathe deep…
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The Pie Was a Final Draft: Lilacs
By Michaella Thornton Because I’m a plant-obsessed dork, five years ago I wrote an Instagram ode to a Miss Kim lilac bush in my backyard: [In 2016] this lilac bush was felled by a neighbor’s dead tree, which fell on our back porch, too. The tree ruined our fence, and, I thought, my beloved lilac…
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Losing Marbles
Fiction By Mikki Aronoff You frown as you watch the cat’s eye, the comet and the clearie spill out from the purple and gold Crown Royal pouch your grandmother gave you decades ago and track them rolling far under the bed. Damn, you think, your bones too stiff to manage, so you remove the chalk…
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Once More to the Lake (with Teddy)
By Danny Cherry Jr. I used to be fucking petrified of dogs. Big dogs, little dogs; chunky and skinny dogs. Corgi or poodles; pit bulls, or those little round dogs with smushed faces. You know, the ones that sound like they’re gargling peanut butter when they breathe. It don’t matter. No matter how much someone promised…
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The Off-Season: How To Survive The Writing Winters
By Wendy Newbury Every February, March, and April, I step into the role of general manager for my NFL team, a coveted position that passionate fans like myself eagerly embrace. Dubbed ‘armchair GMs,’ we immerse ourselves in every pivotal off-season event, hoping each move inches our team one step closer to the Lombardi Trophy. But…
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The Race
Fiction by Lisa Thornton I thought no way he’d do it. He was all talk, all the time. He’d always been like that. In high school, it was about how many girls, how many Miller High Lifes. He didn’t need to tell us how fast he could swim back then because he showed us. For…
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A Southern Philosopher’s Manifesto
A Review of George Singleton’s Asides: Occasional Essays By Donna M. Crow Even though George Singleton claims in the very first line of his Preface which he also calls an Apology, “I hate writing essays. It’s not my gig,” this humbly titled collection, Asides: Occasional Essays, may well be Singleton’s manifesto. Known for his sharp…