Steven Wells Hicks: Writing For Sock MonkeysSteven Wells Hicks was a creative advertising director for 35 years before becoming a novelist. Born in Omaha, Neb., Hicks has lived in Jackson since July, 1974 and calls himself a "southerner by choice."
The BeginningThe Mississippi Sovereignty Commission, a state agency that spied on the activities of civil rights supporters, was what first led Eric Etheridge to the haunting mug shots of the Freedom Riders in 2004.
Man v. FleshAndre Dubus III's "Garden of the Last Days" (W. W. Norton, 2008, $24.95) is a brick of a book. At 500-plus pages, it's America on parade: g-strings and neon, alcohol and testosterone, easy cash, patriotism and dumb sentiment.
Fiction of Giant ProportionAcclaimed Alabama short-story writer and 2007–2008 Writer-in-Residence at the University of Mississippi, Jack Pendarvis has just published his first novel, "Awesome" (MacAdam Cage, 2008, $18).
Romance and Fly-fishingFly-fishing combines the joy of being outside with the gracefulness of casting a line so light that it takes multiple flicks of the wrist to keep it aloft until that moment when you let it lay out so softly that …
Reprehensible RoguesThe author of "Fight Club," Palahniuk commonly employs violence, sexuality and profanity in his novels, while his stories generally revolve around modernity, requisite evils of contemporary society and the supernatural or miraculous.
Tracking the Past"Pelican Road" by Howard Bahr (MacAdam Cage, 2008, $25) is the story of a railroad man and his cohorts who work the rail lines between Meridian, Miss., and New Orleans.
Postcard to the FutureWith a skinny tie and sassafras root 'round his neck, Seth Ballard Sr., the last of the Mississippi Herb Doctors, looks out serenely from a photograph on page 37.
No Safety HereI wanted to like this book. I wanted to like this book about sticky Louisiana summers, lifelong friendships, severe Southern mamas and the vapid allure of Los Angeles.
Sweet Home MississippiIt's no surprise that "Growing up in Mississippi," (University of Mississippi Press, 2008, $25), an edited short story collection of tales and reflections from famous Mississippians like Jimmy Buffett, former Gov. William Winter and Ole Miss Chancellor Robert Khayat, reflects …
What Is A Life?The beginning of Gina B. Nahai's "Caspian Rain" (MacAdam Cage, 2007, $25) is almost fairy tale-like, sighing with promise and expectation: "She's sixteen years old—a young woman in a city with blue mountains."
Intertwined PathsTwo of Mississippi's most famous political figures, Sen. Jim Eastland and civil-rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer, were neighbors in Sunflower County, one a U.S. Senator and one of them a sharecropper...and historic civil-rights activist.
The Entrepreneurial PoorIn Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammed Yunus's book, "Banker to the Poor: Micro-lending and the Battles Against World Poverty," vivid details resonate on the most human, intimate levels, and unknown laborers become real people.
Think Globally, Eat LocallyWarning: Barbara Kingsolver's nonfiction book "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life" (HarperCollins, 2007, $26.95), co-written by her husband and one of her daughters, may inspire you to run screaming out of Kroger and into your closest farmer's market.
Comics, Black And WhiteThe history of comic books in America is proof that you can't kill an art form. When Dr. Fredric Wertham's "Seduction of the Innocents" came out in 1958, on the eve of the Superman-dominated "golden age" of comics, many thought …
Steven Wells Hicks was a creative advertising director for 35 years before becoming a novelist. Born in Omaha, Neb., Hicks has lived in Jackson since July, 1974 and calls himself a "southerner by choice."
The Mississippi Sovereignty Commission, a state agency that spied on the activities of civil rights supporters, was what first led Eric Etheridge to the haunting mug shots of the Freedom Riders in 2004.
Acclaimed Alabama short-story writer and 2007–2008 Writer-in-Residence at the University of Mississippi, Jack Pendarvis has just published his first novel, "Awesome" (MacAdam Cage, 2008, $18).
Fly-fishing combines the joy of being outside with the gracefulness of casting a line so light that it takes multiple flicks of the wrist to keep it aloft until that moment when you let it lay out so softly that …
The author of "Fight Club," Palahniuk commonly employs violence, sexuality and profanity in his novels, while his stories generally revolve around modernity, requisite evils of contemporary society and the supernatural or miraculous.
"Pelican Road" by Howard Bahr (MacAdam Cage, 2008, $25) is the story of a railroad man and his cohorts who work the rail lines between Meridian, Miss., and New Orleans.
With a skinny tie and sassafras root 'round his neck, Seth Ballard Sr., the last of the Mississippi Herb Doctors, looks out serenely from a photograph on page 37.
I wanted to like this book. I wanted to like this book about sticky Louisiana summers, lifelong friendships, severe Southern mamas and the vapid allure of Los Angeles.
It's no surprise that "Growing up in Mississippi," (University of Mississippi Press, 2008, $25), an edited short story collection of tales and reflections from famous Mississippians like Jimmy Buffett, former Gov. William Winter and Ole Miss Chancellor Robert Khayat, reflects …
The beginning of Gina B. Nahai's "Caspian Rain" (MacAdam Cage, 2007, $25) is almost fairy tale-like, sighing with promise and expectation: "She's sixteen years old—a young woman in a city with blue mountains."
Two of Mississippi's most famous political figures, Sen. Jim Eastland and civil-rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer, were neighbors in Sunflower County, one a U.S. Senator and one of them a sharecropper...and historic civil-rights activist.