The Fullness of Life
Fiction takes the lead in this week’s edition of Salvation South.
Salvation South has never put a piece of fiction into its lead-story slot — until today.
We’re doing this because we fell in love with Jack Wallace’s “The Crooked Road” from the moment we finished our first read. Jack lives in Nashville, Tennessee, and spends many weekends at his cabin in Flat Rock, North Carolina. His story sank its hook in us because it attempts to capture the long arc of a couple’s life together, in its fullness. True to its title, it touches on how, over the years, our paths twist in ways we’d never have expected. I think you’ll love it.
“I write about flawed characters, not heroes,” Jack told us. “I’m drawn to those who observe, the ones who seek to avoid conflict, who prefer to leave well enough alone. When events force them to make a choice, I like to examine what influences their choice, and how they deal with the consequences.”
We round out our lineup this week with Mississippi writer Black Alsup’s ode to that thing we all see plenty of at holiday time — the popcorn tin. And Kentucky-born poet Ben White offers a poem for everybody who’s ever opened up the hood of a vehicle with a mind to tinker.
Thank y’all for reading Salvation South every week. Tell your friends!
Chuck Reece is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of Salvation South, the weekly web magazine you're reading right now. He was the founding editor of The Bitter Southerner. He grew up in the north Georgia mountains in a little town called Ellijay.