The Best of the Shortest: A Southern Writers Reading Reunion

by Suzanne Hudson, Joe Formichella (editor), Mandy Haynes

Marlin Barton + Rick Bragg + Sonny Brewer + Doug Crandell

+ Pia Z. Ehrhardt + David Wright Faladé + Beth Ann Fennelly

+ Joe Formichella + Patricia Foster + Tom Franklin + Robert

Gatewood + Jason Headley + Jim Gilbert + Frank Turner

Hollon + Suzanne Hudson + Joshilyn Jackson + Bret Anthony

Johnston + Abbott Kahler + Doug Kelley + Cassandra King +

Suzanne Kingsbury + Dawn Major + Bev Marshall + Michael

Morris + Janet Nodar + Jennifer Paddock + Theodore Pitsios

+ Lynn Pruett + Ron Rash + Michelle Richmond + R. P. Safire

+ Dayne Sherman + George Singleton + Robert St. John +

Sidney Thompson + Daniel Wallace + Daren Wang + James

Whorton, Jr. + Mac Walcott + Karen Spears Zacharias

259 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 10, 2023

About the author

Suzanne Hudson is the author of two literary novels, In a Temple of Trees and In the Dark of the Moon. Her short fiction has been anthologized in almost a dozen books, including Stories from the Blue Moon Café and The Shoe Burnin’: Stories of Southern Soul. Her short story collection Opposable Thumbs was a finalist for a John Gardner Fiction Book Award. Her latest work of short stories, All the Way to Memphis, brings characters from the South to life in a way any reader will know and love. She lives with her husband, author Joe Formichella, near Fairhope, Alabama.

Reviews

[Dawn Major · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a celebration of what makes Southern writers and Southern literature valuable. It's hardscrabble and hard-hitting short stories and micro-memoir from the best of the best in Southern writing. It does not disappoint.

Also, the anthology was dedicated to the late author and artist, William Gay, and there is a lovely dedication in the beginning that talks about how the anthology came together as well as a painting on the back by William Gay of his haunted forest, The Harrikin.