by ZZ Packer
First published 2008
ZZ Packer brings together twenty contemporary Southern voices in this collection that spans generations and geography. Rising talents like Bret Anthony Johnston, Kevin Brockmeier, and Holly Goddard Jones share pages with seasoned writers including Pinckney Benedict, Clyde Edgerton, and Ron Rash. These stories capture modern Southern life without romantic filters. Characters navigate urban sprawl and rural backroads alike, facing circumstances that prove as dangerous as they are magnetic. The collection pulses with Packer's sharp editorial eye, selecting pieces that blend humor with harsh realities. Each story reveals how people live now, not how nostalgia remembers the past.
Genres: short-stories, anthologies, american-fiction, contemporary, southern-gothic, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, gritty
Setting: South, Urban, Rural
Period: Contemporary
428 pages · Unknown Binding · Algonquin Books