Books at the Southern Festival of Books!

I did not take this, because I’m in the office, but I always love seeing them in the wild.

Dropping Books Off

This morning the Butcher and I dropped all the books I have in the world, except two, off at the Southern Festival of Books. If you have never been to a conference before, the most fun part is when people are getting ready. Today, for the Southern Festival of Books, is no exception. Large men [...]

A Hicky, Blue-Collar Look?

But if word gets out how much Republicans also hate rural poor people, who will they reflexively vote for?

More on Katie Granju and her Son

Over at the Daily Beast. The part about writing so that she would later know really struck home for me.

Happy People Make Boring Bloggers

I am sorry, y’all. I feel like things around here have been a little dull. But the truth is that I have just been happy. You think you’re suffering, think of all the poor Pith readers who have been subjected to happy trips to the park or the cemetery or whatever. Okay, I guess that’s [...]

7. The Ghost Who Thought You Were Lying

Kenny Robertson’s dad had a tough death. Towards the end, Kenny moved him into Kenny’s house and set up the hospital bed in the living room. Kenny arranged him so he could see the TV if he turned one way and out the picture window if he turned the other way. Their fights went something [...]

Always One Rebel in the Bunch

Gentlemen, you might want to go discuss… I don’t know… bleu cheese dressing or something. This post is going to be about boobs. Specifically, my left boob. It has, most of my life, been a fairly normal boob, hanging out there on the front of my body, doing boob things. But today, Jesus Christ, it [...]

A Few Random Things

1. East Tennessee, are you really going to elect a man who doesn’t know that Snow White wasn’t in Sleeping Beauty? 2. Agreed. O’Keefe has huge women issues. 3. I laughed long and hard at this and then I wished my laughs were tiny daggers. Seriously, Lou Fucking Dobbs hiring undocumented workers. At some point, [...]

6. The House on Sigler Street

Weirdly enough, I was with my Mom at the Melrose Kroger and she was telling me about her friend, Helen, who had just been in the house on Sigler Street after having bought it, and how Helen said there was nothing, absolutely nothing, wrong with it, when the woman in line in front of us [...]

The Southern Festival of Books and Me, A Love Story

So, due to a last-minute cancellation, I’m going to be reading from A City of Ghosts at the Southern Festival of Books on Saturday. Please come, if you are able. Please send good vibes if you are not. I’ll be on the Chapter 16 Stage from 5-6 on Saturday. Woo hoo! Holy cow.

I am an Idiot

Tomorrow, I am going to see one of my best friends from childhood, who I have not seen in years. But, if you ever wonder how I made it through high school, it was because of her. And I am nervous as hell. It’s weird. I’m afraid I’m going to disappoint her. Which is stupid. [...]

Things to Read

1. Biblioden–a new book review blog. As you can see, I have a vested interest. 2. The Secret History of Rock & Roll. 3. An interview with the author of The Secret History of Rock & Roll.

5. The Fort Negley Lights

It’s hard to say how long this has been going on and people just didn’t know it was a ghost. Until the rise of cell phones, I don’t know how you’d know for sure. I first heard about it from some Vandy grad students who lived over on Marlborough, just next to Love Hill. They [...]

Newscoma For Governor

Or at least for State Boss, if that becomes an open position.

More Self-Publishing Considerations

Neesha Meminger is mulling over self-publishing over at The Rejectionist and there’s a good discussion in the comments. I tend to think about these things in terms of professional wrestling, because that’s a metaphor that’s easy for me to understand. Each night, the line-up for who will be performing is called “the card.” Wrestlers fall [...]

Check This Out!

I almost don’t want to tell you anything about this poem because I just want it to be delicious for you. And yet, if I don’t tell you anything, you may not click. So, I’ll just say this: Bride of Frankenstein. Also, here’s some good behind the scenes info on the poem.

This is Supposed to Reassure Us that O’Keefe Isn’t a Creep?

You have to see this: “In my version, the reporter was never going to be placed in a threatening situation,” O’Keefe wrote. “She would have had to consent before being filmed and she was not going to be faux ‘seduced’ unless she wanted to be.” Allow me to point out the obvious: If someone is [...]

I Love My Cousin

I had a great long talk with my cousin A. tonight. She’s reading my book! And likes it so far. She’s all outraged about the Amazon review, because it’s the only one. But–and this is the part that makes me especially love her–she’s not going to write a review until she’s read the whole book, [...]

4. The Hendersonville Tree

I think it’s apparent to anyone who has had a cat that cats saunter easily between here and the hereafter and back again. Many live cats disappear outdoors and appear days later in a closet that hasn’t been opened in weeks, their ability to walk through walls already well mastered before they shake loose of [...]

This is Scary

A woman was assaulted by a guy she thought had stopped to help her with her broken down car. He thought he’d just found easy prey. I have a lot of thoughts on this, but I’ll just say that it sucks to need help and to be afraid that, when “help” comes, it will be [...]

Why Women Took So Long to Learn to Swim in the Olden Days

No, it wasn’t because our uteri caused our lady-brains to not be able to coordinate our hands and our legs. Tom Wood has the real reason.

I Look Forward to Seeing If He Hates the Next One as Much

There’s actually a dude over at Pith complaining about how stupid my story is. Not just once. But he came back again to make sure that his blow had struck home. The longer I blog, the more curious I become about the anonymous asshole commenter. Like, are you a regular person who, when sat in [...]

3. A Dying Fire

One of the lovely things about Nashville are the times in autumn when it is warm and sunny all day long, but just cool enough at night that a fire in the evening will warm the whole house all night. Maggie Wilson, who had just turned ten, was staying with her grandparents out in Donelson. [...]

Weekend in Photos

I Have No Reason to Leave the House Today

Yesterday, in spite of being a little hung over and short on sleep, I got a lot done. A lot. Well, for me. People with kids are all like “Please, try doing that while discovering, only after you’ve scarfed down some popcorn chicken in the car on your way to drop kids off some place [...]