This weekend B Cubed Press released Southern Truths, an anthology (ebook and print) of short stories, essays, and poems about the politics and culture of the American South as seen through the lens of speculative fiction. I co-edited it with Bob Brown.
The stories in Southern Truths range from contemporary humor (“It’s Election Day in Texas and I’m a Democrat Rarin’ to Vote” by Larry Hodges) and alternate history (“The Gateway” by Zachary Taylor Branch) to near-future dystopia and fantasy. “Mascot” by Adam-Troy Castro explores the transformation of Florida’s famous theme park culture in the wake of a dark cultural divide. In the book’s opening piece, “They Hear,” Kay Hanifen imagines the mother of a child killed in a school shooting appealing to the Devil for help when it appears that no other supreme beings will listen.
We obtained rights to reprint Jim Wright’s “Antipodes,” an essay describing insights into Southern politics gained from his morning bike rides through a small Florida panhandle community. Sara Wiley’s essay, “The Great Georgia Lesbian Potluck,” is a heartbreakingly beautiful story about a young woman’s return to the traditional camp meeting she still loves.
David Gerrold, author of the famous Star Trek script “The Trouble with Tribbles,” weighs in with “The Trouble with Dribbles,” featuring mad scientists and greedy politicians. Cliff Winnig’s “Degenerates Against Memphis” pits a cadre of idealistic high school students against a repressive city government. In Allan Dyen-Shapiro’s “Welfare Bitch Is Here for Da People,” a fast-talking New Jersey super-heroine confronts a corrupt healthcare system.
Of course, Southern politicians—past and present, real and fictitious—make their appearances. Marleen S. Barr’s “Teaching DeSantis a Lesson” takes on the governor of Florida while Branch’s “The Gateway” resurrects H. Ross Perot. The Mississippi senator in Ronald D. Ferguson’s “Filibustering the Asteroid” ignores a threat from outer space while the Texas politician in Liam Hogan’s “Best of Five” is cutting deals with aliens.
That’s Southern Truths for you. What can I say but, “Bless their hearts.”
Southern Truths is the 18th book in the B Cubed Press anthology series that began in 2017 with Alternative Truths. Here’s the full list of Southern Truths stories:
- They Hear by Kay Hanifen
- The Great Georgia Lesbian Potluck by Sara Willey
- It’s Election Day in Texas and I’m a Democrat Rarin’ to Vote by Larry Hodges
- The Trouble With Dribbles by David Gerrold
- Pantoum For Recy Taylor (1919-2017) by Elisabeth Murawski
- Secondary Amendments by Alexander Hay
- These Words Are Not for Sale by Leanne Van Valkenburgh
- Mascot by Adam-Troy Castro
- Filibustering the Asteroid by Ronald D. Ferguson
- My First Gun by Alan Brickman
- Best of Five by Liam Hogan
- A Teacher’s Disillusionment by Leanne Van Valkenburgh
- Healthcare Bitch is Here for Da People by Allan Dyen-Shapiro
- Antipodes by Jim Wright
- Degenerates Against Memphis by Cliff Winnig
- The Gateway by Zachary Taylor Branch
- Teaching DeSantis a Lesson by Marleen S. Barr
- We Owe It to You by Maroula Blades
- The Last Day on Earth by Heinrich von Wolfcastle
- The Chatham County Blood Shower of 1884 by Anya Leigh Josephs
- Watching Public TV in the South by Gary Bloom
- In the Darkness, Defending the Wall by Allan Dyen-Shapiro
- The Prodigal Sin by Tom Howard
- The Southern Whyfors by JW Guthridge
- Lot of Desert Between Us by Bill Parks
- Greater Expectations by Manny Frishberg and Edd Vick
- Neighborhood Watch by Mike Wilson
- Rapture by E.E. King
- The Sword and The Trowel by Lancelot Schaubert
- Leave Hospitality at the Door by Brianna Malotke
- Delia’s Legacy by Alma Emil