WELL READ Magazine November 2023 by three dogs write press

“…The Best of the Shortest, edited by long-time SWR writer and participant Suzanne Hudson, along with Joe Formichella and Mandy Haynes packs forty southern storytellers into less than two hundred pages. As the title suggests, their stories are limited to fifteen hundred words, though some run longer. And others, such as author Beth Ann Fennelly’s micro memoirs, span little more than a paragraph or two. There are readers who will cheer the brevity, acknowledging that scrolling on social media has remodeled our brains and altered our attention spans. But don’t plan on whipping through the book. If anything, these compact stories will challenge your thinking, offering an opportunity to pause and reflect on the human condition. Though the stories stand on their own, the book’s introduction by Hudson and its afterword by Jim Gilbert afford readers a fuller understanding of SWR’s origins including Gilbert explanation of the event’s informal branding as a “literary slugfest.” Skipping either would cheat oneself of a bit of southern literary history as well as fail to whet your appetite for the impending SWR reunion. Reading both will ensure you’ll contract a case of FOMO (fear of missing out) – which in this instance is a good thing. The tales in The Best of the Shortest will evoke a roller-coaster of emotions. Some like Dayne Sherman’s “Snakebit,” Jason Headley’s “An Explosion When you See One,” and Hudson’s “The Thing with the Feathers,” are rooted in Southern Gothic – quintessential Grit Lit genre exploring region, class, and southern culture. You’ve met the fictional characters in these Southern Gothic stories. Stop at a small town convenience store to fill up with gas and he’s the guy in the checkout line with a Budweiser and a Slim Jim. For these characters, life is a hardship and good ol’ boy personas mask a well of anger feeding a mean streak. In “Snakebit” a nameless narrator avenges the poisoning of his beloved hunting dog Earl, at the hands of a “rotten sumbitch” neighbor. “An Explosion When You See One” introduces readers to childhood friends Birddog and Kurt as they navigate their messy relationship with the same woman. And Hudson’s “The Thing with the Feathers,” one of the anthology’s darkest tales, is an uncomfortable story about child abuse. While the collection is for Southern Writers Reading, to be clear, not all the authors were born and raised in the south. As Hudson points out early in her intro, “The truth is you didn’t really have to be southern to participate in SWR.” Writers simply needed a connection to the south. As

such, the book is so much more than the Grit Lit described above. Among others, it touches on themes of marriage, siblings, parents, southern delicacies, and pandemic gardening. Author Tom Franklin, who is southern born and raised, departs from his usual Grit Lit genre with “My Wife’s Good-Looking Friends,” A self-deprecating essay about his marriage to author Beth Ann Fennelly. In five quick paragraphs, Franklin expounds on the inadequacies of being “average looking” among the “good-looking” and why he prefers his “wife’s ugly friends.” Anyone who has ever had a moment of self-doubt about their looks, will both empathize with Franklin and find a touch of humor. If you’re a connoisseur of southern culture, you know the editors would be remiss if their collection of southern themed stories did not include tales of whiskey and southern food. Pulitzer Prize winning author Rick Bragg delivers on the former with “The Mystery of Good Liquor.” Initially published in Garden & Gun April/May 2023 as “Rick Bragg’s Whiskey Blues” the author ponders, as only Bragg can, why his taste buds fail to distinguish the high-dollar stuff from the rot gut. Chef, restaurateur, and food writer Robert St. John tackles the latter with “Chitlins,” a hilarious essay quite possibly giving new meaning to the term grit lit. With a hearty sense of humor, St. John describes his first, and very likely last, mouthful of chitlins; anatomically known as pig intestines. Here’s a sample: “Gathering up all the epicurean courage I could muster, I took a bite. Actually, I only ate a small piece off of one individual chitlin. Singular: chitli. Friends and neighbors, chitlins don’t taste anything like calamari.” I’ve read the essay three times and I’m still howling. I found both Bragg’s and St. John’s musings a nice balance to the anthology’s more serious content. Livingston Press will release The Best of the Shortest in mid-November, just in time for the SWR reunion and the holiday gift-giving season. Certainly attendance at the reunion isn’t mandatory to value the solid story telling in this anthology. Buy the book, even if you can’t make it to the event. But if you’re eager to add a new sport to your Saturday afternoon line-up, I promise, with this bunch, substituting a literary slugfest for fall football will prove equally entertaining.” *This is an excerpt of Cori Yonge’s review published in September’s edition of WR - read the full review here.

Oliver by Mandy Haynes "Mandy Haynes takes me on a memory journey to the last great childhood of the South, a time when bicycles were a magic carpet that could take a child wherever she wanted to go. The joy of this novella is how easily I slip between the pages and live the adventures with Oliver and Olivia. Sibling love. Kindness. Good intentions gone awry and good deeds fraught with danger. This story echos with my past, and the past of many now homeless Southerners. Once you start reading, you won't be able to put it down." Carolyn Haines, USA Today bestseller, is the author of over 80 books in multiple genres "Mandy Haynes effortlessly and brilliantly writes children, a feat at which many writers struggle and fail. In Oliver, her uniquely, lyrical voice sings the reader smack dab into this heartwarming story inhabited by Oliver and Olivia, a brother and sister whose special bond is symbiotically balanced upon the other's abilities and perspectives. I dare you to not fall immediately in love with these characters, and fret over them as I did as they make their journey through this poignant summer from long ago." Robert Gwaltney, author of The Cicada Tree "A small-town story of childhood innocence, sibling admiration, blind optimism, and plenty of shenanigans, author Mandy Haynes has penned an incomparable narrator in Sissy, who tells a multifaceted story highlighting the altruistic plans of her remarkable brother, Oliver. The Southern jargon in this charming novella is character defining, the precocious mood insightful. Oliver is about bringing out the goodness in people, even if it takes a bit of magic." Claire Fullerton, author of Little Tea

“Mandy Haynes has written another masterpiece. I was transported back in time to my own childhood, when it was safe for children to run free, even in the middle of the night. If you have memories (or wish you had) of riding your bike with a playing card clipped to the spokes, speeding around your small town in the dark, loving your summer and all that’s in it, you’ll love this book. We meet Oliver, a boy with Downs’ Syndrome, who has the biggest heart in the world. His one driving goal in life is to bless people with acts of kindness, done in total anonymity. Oliver talks his sister into doing things for people who need a nudge to become better folks themselves. Oliver’s view of the world is that there is magic in it, and all people have to do to experience that magic is slow down a bit, care for each other, and recognize the blessings they already have. Mandy Haynes writes in her Southern voice in a fashion that allows us to not just see the characters and small town she writes about, but know them as we know our best friend, our favorite place. To quote the title character in speaking of the moon, “Just think, Olivia—that same light that’s touching you is touching everybody. . . .No matter who we are, or what we look like, or where we’re from—that light shines on all of us.” And because Oliver is such a kind and gentle soul, we know that we are blessed by that light. We are blessed by Oliver and his view of this magical, precious world we live in.” Five Star Reader Review “What a sweet Southern yarn. Make no mistake: the narrator has plenty of spitfire and sass, which keeps the tale lively, but it's the sweet brother most of the town has bullied and dismissed who carries the story to its heartwarming conclusion. The author has a good ear for Southern dialogue and prose rhythms, but this is a tale that calls upon the Yiddish and Eastern European tradition of the wise fool. Think Isaac Bashevis Singer, "Gimpel, The Fool," for example. Think Aristotle and peripitas, or reversals, in which the weak become mighty and the mighty weak, and then just enjoy a good, colloquial Southern read.” Five Star Reader Review 6

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HELLO READERS! LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

THE LEGENDARY TERRY KAY by Renea Winchester

What are you reading? TO ADD TO YOUR TBR LIST

WHY YOU SHOULD ADVERTISE IN WELL READ

INSIDE VOICES

Robert Gwaltney & Jeffrey Dale Lofton introduce Zachary Steele WELL DONE! PROSE, POETRY, AND ART

FAST EDDY by John Grey

ALL THE LOVELY CREATURES by Eileen Coe

DEGREES OF FALL by Marisa Keller

ARTWORK by DeWitt Lobrano

SEARCHING by Mandy Haynes

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

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ANNIE ASKS Jeanée Sacken

AUTHORS INTERVIEWING AUTHORS Will Maguire interviews Phyllis Gobbell

LET’S REVIEW!

106

Will Maguire reviews NOTORIOUS IN NASHVILLE

107

Ashley Holloway reviews THE GLASS CITY by Jen Knox

111

LAGNIAPPE The 11th Commandment by Will Maguire NETWORKING

115 123

If Our Pets Could Talk by Carol Van Den Hende

126

WHAT’S YOUR STORY?

133

OFF THE PAGE WITH RAYMOND ATKINS

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“Only after you make a fool out of yourself can you learn how to write.”

The Legendary Terry Kay by Renea Winchester

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THE LEGENDARY TERRY KAY by Renea Winchester

The Legendary Terry Kay Renea Winchester

His accolades are numerous: Lifetime Achievement Award; recipient of the Governor's Award in Humanities; Georgia Writers Hall of Fame; recipient of the Stanley W. Lindberg Award for outstanding contribution to the literary heritage of Georgia; Townsend Award; Brooke Baker Award; Appalachian Heritage; Four time Author of the Year (Georgia Writers Association). He received a Southern Emmy Award for his teleplay, Run Down the Rabbit. Three of his seventeen works have been adapted to film including his signature novel, To Dance with the White Dog. But for those who were fortunate to call him friend, that category meant everything. To be Terry Kay’s friend was to receive an anointing akin to royalty. Terry Kay who was the keynote of the Blue Ridge Writing Festival two decades ago. Valley of Light had just released and I listened as this master of the literary

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language caused the audience to fall into a trance with a voice thick and smooth as molasses. He spoke of craft, of listening to characters, of trying-failing-and trying again. In that moment, I wanted to be like Terry Kay. A book signing followed. I held back, wanting to be the last in line. I had purchased two copies of Valley – one for my brother, the other my dad, who are both fishermen. Terry had read a passage from Valley, an intimate moment where the character touches the water, calling fish to him. My breath caught. I had witnessed my father do the same. In that moment, I knew I could trust Terry Kay. After personalizing the books, he looked at me with those piercing blue eyes and said, “You’re a writer, aren’t you?” I turned and looked behind me. To whom he was speaking? Surely someone else was in line. I hadn’t breathed a word about my dreams. His eyes met mine. “You. Are. A. Writer.” His tone was firm, serious, fatherly. “Go home and do exactly what I said.” In that moment my friendship with Terry Kay began. Over the years, I rarely missed an opportunity to hear him speak or take one of the classes he generously taught. Terry Kay had a reputation of mentoring authors as if he had all the time in the world. We exchanged hundreds of emails. We met for lunch. He mentored me and it was only

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THE LEGENDARY TERRY KAY by Renea Winchester

after his death that I realized he only invested this precious time in those whom he believed had a gift. His motto: If someone believes in you, you owe it to them to try. He is known for saying, “There is only one magic in writing, the rest is work. The magic is when you let characters talk to you. If you are patient enough and let them trust you. They will come.” He was a rare breed of southern writer who didn't force characters to conform to a rigid outline of his own design. Instead, Kay wrote to discover a story. With patience and curiosity, he observed characters, listened and recorded their actions. Terry once told me he spoke to the characters as one would a friend. In turn, these unforgettable characters trusted him. When they fell silent, he prayed for the characters to reveal themselves in his dreams. And came to him they did, like a lover in the night, whispering their secrets, speaking in a cadence only Terry Kay could hear. Be it an intelligent young woman named Marie transplanted into the South when racial tensions were their highest, a football player from rural southern Georgia talking trash before the big game, or Newell Proudfoot teaching two brothers a lesson about respecting their elder, these story-telling characters trusted Terry Kay. Trust, you see, is everything in the life of a successful author. A reader must trust the author to take them places

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THE LEGENDARY TERRY KAY by Renea Winchester

they would never visit. Readers want to fall headlong into a book and discover things about themselves never before possible. Terry Kay knew inherently the impact novels can have in the life of a young boy growing up. Born the eleventh of twelve children in a home without electricity, Kay grew up running barefoot on the 44-acre farm his parents owned in Hart County, Georgia. Come planting time, he followed mules across a field. When the harvest moon hung in the night sky, he picked cotton and beneath a blazing southern sun, put up hay as was expected for a young boy born to the land. It was this connection to rural landscapes that kept Kay a humble man, even after the city lured him away from home with the promise of more money than Momma and Poppa’s patch of red clay could ever yield. After earning a degree in Social Science, where Terry also studied theatre – which he attributed to teaching him dialect and inflection – he married and took a job selling insurance. His wife worked days as a teacher while Terry worked nights. One morning before leaving for school, she woke him by shaking his foot. She gave Terry a harsh glare and said in a voice he had never heard before, “When I come home today you will have another job.” She slammed the door as she left. It was 1959 and at age 21, Terry felt like he was a failure. Suddenly there was a thump at the front door, as

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THE LEGENDARY TERRY KAY by Renea Winchester

the morning edition of the Decatur/Dekalb News landed on the steps. Inside he found a job listing which read: Wanted: Young Man to Learn Interesting Profession. He later discovered the newspaper was looking for an errand boy. “I took the job so I could tell my wife I had a new job.” That one job changed everything. Lured by the energy of staff writers, he asked them if he could one day write something for the paper. There was a column called, Dekalb After Dark by Detolyn Shredlou. He approached the editor and said, “I don’t know who writes this column, but Detolyn Shredlou can’t write a lick. I could write better than that when I was in the 10th grade.” The editor said, “Why don’t you write next week’s column.” It was only after publishing three columns that Terry discovered his boss was writing under the name Detolyn Shredlou. “Only after you make a fool out of yourself can you learn how to write,” Terry said. Because of the connections with the newspaper, Kay formed relationships with Jim Townsend and Pat Conroy. Townsend and Conroy pushed Kay to become a novelist, but screenplays remained Kay’s passion. Then one day Jim and Pat were talking about Terry’s underutilized talent and strategizing how they could force Terry into realize his

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full potential. “Leave this to me,” Pat Conroy said. “I know how I can make him do it.” Pat called his editor, Anne Barrett, at Houghton Mifflin to tell her he had read a 150 page manuscript that his good friend was working on. “It’s wonderful and you should read it,” Conroy added using a tone that shouldn’t be disputed. Terry Kay hadn’t written a single word. Terry received a letter from Anne asking for the manuscript immediately. “When I received her letter, I was furious. I yelled at Conroy. I cursed him. Conroy sat calmly and eventually said, ‘You can tell Anne I lied, or you can write 150 pages.’” Using a typewriter, in one month Kay wrote 150 pages and The Year the Lights Came On was born. It wasn’t his favorite book, but it was his favorite experience because it allowed him to retell his childhood. Terry retained his day job, while working on his second and third novels After Eli, and Dark Thirty. Keeping long hours at the paying job, while dreaming of his characters, eventually To Dance with the White Dog, the book he would become famous for writing, came to him. While working for the Atlanta Journal, Kay wrote a

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THE LEGENDARY TERRY KAY by Renea Winchester

column about his father. After reading the article, editor, Lee Walburn, mentioned how much he enjoyed the segment. Kay said, ‘You know, Lee, I should have put something in there about the white dog. While my father was on his deathbed he had asked, ‘Son, have you seen my white dog?’ That was your mother. She was the white dog. When you moved in to take care of me it left because she wasn’t needed anymore.” Waldrum responded, “Terry, you idiot! That is the story. Now you’ve got to write another one.” Lee wasn’t the only person who believed the white dog mattered. Upon the column’s release a friend told him, “It’s a wonderful story, but you’ve made a huge mistake. This is a novel.” At their insistence, Terry took another look at the story and knew his friends were right. He went into his office and wrote the first line: He understood what they were thinking and saying: Old man that he is, what’s to become of him? “When I wrote those first words I knew exactly what would happen with the rest of the novel. I wrote the novel in two months.” In 1989, Terry Kay left the corporate world to write full time. To Dance with the White Dog released in 1990 and became his signature novel. It was also the book that

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provided a financial cushion for Terry Kay to become one of only 300 authors in the US at the time to make a living solely from writing. White Dog became a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie starring Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy. White Dog drew 33 million viewers upon release. In a world where publishers place authors in a genre and keep them there, Kay emphatically defended that he was a character driven writer, not a genre writer. He believed if you place the characters in a situation, the plot will take care of itself. His agent, Harvey Klingler agreed. “A lot of publishers didn’t know what to do with him because from one book to the next he could do a 180 from something like White Dog to like Dark Thirty, which was among my favorites, but it is really a suspense novel.” Authors who have written multiple novels, rarely admit they have a “favorite.” Terry Kay was no different, but he was known to say The Book of Marie was his most important work. In an interview Kay said, “New York Publishers wouldn’t touch the book. They do not trust southern authors to write about sensitive southern topics. I grew up during the civil rights movement and am old enough to write about it. I wrote about the human condition.” Written decades before many were ready to discuss race relations in the south, The Book of Marie (Mercer University Press, 2007) would have been an instant

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THE LEGENDARY TERRY KAY by Renea Winchester

bestseller had it released in today’s market. Unafraid of bringing attention to social and moral injustices, Kay wrote about race relations decades before anyone would acknowledge the need for change. Kay’s prophetic utterances – spoken through the character Marie, who came to Overton, Georgia in 1962 from a “progressive” area of DC – sets the stage. “Progressives,” especially those from Northern states, weren't exactly welcomed in rural small towns across the south. Upon arriving, Marie wasted no time stirring things up in Overton. She began teaching four small black children. As valedictorian, she delivers a prophetic speech to the “good white people” of Overton County: In twenty years, nothing will be the same. You will not work at the same jobs in the same way. You will be invaded by people from other nations, looking for jobs, for a chance to be free, and they will teach you things you have never imagined.” Your children will sit in classrooms with red children, yellow children, black children, and you will cry in anguish because you won’t understand what is happening.

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THE LEGENDARY TERRY KAY by Renea Winchester

And the answer is so simple: you cannot exist without change. Even when readers are afraid of change, Kay leads us down the path in a way that causes us to take a hard look into our own hearts. We following Terry Kay willingly, because his deep affection for the reader is evident in his masterful command of the English language. We trust this master wordsmith who pens novels without pride or pontification. You see, words are Kay's superpower, and there has never existed a reader who personally met Terry Kay who didn’t fall under his spell and become putty in his powerful hands. Kay molds us into the naive and vulnerable Cole Bishop and teaches us the power of opening our hearts to those who aren't like us because we can be taught a better way; then he breathes the life of bravery into our lungs as we become Marie, insisting upon changing this world for the better. Fifty years later, we are still Cole Bishop when he returns for his high school reunion. Marie’s prophesies have all come true. As with our flawed human nature, some people change, and some folk never do. Cole and Marie are forever connected; just as readers are to Terry Kay. Connected through eternity with the words he penned just for us. No one has ever wowed a reader, held them in the palm

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THE LEGENDARY TERRY KAY by Renea Winchester

of their hands like Terry Kay did. He brought us to rural Georgia where he revealed the best and the worst of the human condition. His words honored his family. His words made us laugh. His words made us cry. We adored him. We trusted him. We miss him. The Georgia Writers Museum located in Eatonton, has honored Terry Kay with a heartfelt exhibit that is open to the public at no charge. You can see memorabilia from his youth to his many writing awards, and learn about his impact on the Georgia literary community.

Cliff Graubart, John Pruitt, Bernie Schein, Daniel Sklar, Pat Conroy

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THE LEGENDARY TERRY KAY by Renea Winchester

These photos of me and Terry Kay have never before been shared with anyone other than TK. He was that special to me. The one with me in the hat is when I stole it from him. I had been fanning him with it because it was so dang hot in the tent.

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THE LEGENDARY TERRY KAY by Renea Winchester

Renea Winchester is the author of several nonfiction books and short stories. Her debut novel, Outbound Train was also released in France. She owns her grandmother’s farm and offers a residence on the property as a solace for writers who wish to unplug and write.

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“The Book of Marie is a deep search into the soul of mankind. Events of the civil rights era cause readers to examine their hearts. During this turbulent time old wounds are exposed and new resistance sets in as demonstrations threaten more division between the races. Militants on both sides fan the flames. Cole and Marie met in high school their senior year, 1954. They face a world of political change as well as change within. The main characters walk off the pages and into your heart. You will forever remember Cole and Marie just as you recall George and Lennie from Of Mice and Men.” Five Star Reader Review

The Book of Marie: A Novel Terry Kay

WHAT ARE YO

OU READING?

WHAT ARE YOU READING?

Notorious in Nashville by Phyllis Gobbell New Release! Book 4 of 4: A Jordan Mayfair Mystery

The old and new collide in Nashville. A crooked developer, Tommy Kahn, plans to demolish a historic building, the Eagles Nest, and build yet another sleek, new tower. At The Bluebird Cafe, where so many music careers have been launched, a washed-up drunk named Notorious interrupts Willow Goodheart's performance, accusing her of stealing his song. Truth-teller Caleb Hunter, determined to shine a light on the corruption in New Nashville, is murdered, his body dragged from the river. Jordan Mayfair finds herself immersed in it all when she comes to "Music City" with Alex, her travel-writer uncle, and learns that her daughter Holly, who works for Tommy Kahn, might be in danger... Praise for Book 3 in the series: PUBLISHERS WEEKLY: "Seasoned with humor and evocative descriptions of magnificent historic sites . . ."

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TO ADD TO YOUR TBR LIST

Death By Theft: A Josiah Reynolds Mystery by Abigail Keam Lady Elsmere’s mare, Jean Harlow gives birth to a foal sired by Shaneika’s stallion, Comanche. Lady Elsmere and Shaneika are delighted with the ebony foal blessed with a white star on its forehead. Excited by the colt’s broad chest and long legs, they are putting their dream of winning the Kentucky Derby on this frisky colt. They name him Last Chance as Lady Elsmere believes the foal is her last chance to win the Kentucky Derby. Eager to show the foal off, Shaneika invites Josiah for a visit. Josiah is happy for her friend and can’t wait to see the new addition to Lady Elsmere’s Thoroughbred Farm. As Josiah and Shaneika enter the nursery barn, they hear Jean Harlow frantically kicking the door of her stall. Rushing over, they discover the foal is missing. Shaneika tries to calm Jean Harlow while Josiah searches the other stalls for Last Chance and the surrounding area near the barn. The only thing she finds is a security guard taking a nap in his car. Josiah knocks impatiently on the car window. When the man doesn’t respond, she opens the car door only to have the man slide out onto the ground. Startled, Josiah searches for a pulse, but it’s too late. The man is dead.

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WHAT ARE YOU READING?

Candy Cane Cookie Crush: a Tokyo Meet-Cute Romance by Suzanne Kamata Candy Cane Cookie Crush is a delightful holiday rom-com by Suzanne Kamata. Kamata gets all the details of what it's like for many women teaching in Japanese colleges exactly right! Divorced single mother Lauren was hired to teach English and Home Economics at the ultra conservative family-run Tokyo Cherry Blossom Women’s College (because the men who hired her for the position thought her Ph.D. in women’s studies was pretty much the same as one in home economics). Keeping her eyes on the tenure prize, she keeps her head down, while at the same time subversively instilling feminist goals into her students. Everything is going smoothly until she meets the handsome widowed father of her daughter's classmate. “I highly recommend setting aside an afternoon or two, brew a pot of tea, and have some cookies while delving into this sweet multicultural romance.” -- Five-star Amazon review

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The Fifth Question by Marion Cohen Because of Laura Chason’s inquisitive nature as a child, her family encourages her to pose her own question every year at their Passover Seder. As she matures, Laura aspires to become an independent woman, and a university professor. Along that path, she finds herself falling in love with Jake Kendler. Their idyllic relationship is marred by tragedy, and Laura must eventually summon the courage to change her life. This is a poignant story of a woman’s life, defined by a loving family, an endearing friendship, romantic relationships, and an intense desire to alter her life, so that it will be filled with happiness once again. “The Fifth Question is a kaleidoscope of love stories. The intricacies of romantic love are the main thread throughout. But, love in other forms, that including family, friends, colleagues, profession and even atmospheres, also figure prominently. MS. Cohen’s emotional, insightful, and elegant writing makes you not only a reader, but a participant in this captivating story.” Rochelle S. Cohen, author of Ode for the Time Being

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WHAT ARE YOU READING?

Meet Me in Mumbai by Lovelace Cook It’s never too late for love…or a rite of passage. What can possibly go wrong when Jesse asks the universe to help her get out of the rut her life has become? The universe delivers a curveball when Jesse meets a quirky but charming Englishman who visits her sleepy southern town, and they fall in love. Trevor loves wild camping, while Jesse values her creature comforts. A year after they meet, Jesse accepts Trevor’s challenge to meet him in Mumbai. Knit yourself a seat belt for their misadventures as the senior couple sets out like twenty-year-olds on a gap year, and Trevor’s shoestring travel style forces Jesse to adapt to unexpected challenges—not the least of which is Trevor being technologically and directionally clueless. Set in India, Cornwall, and Southeast Asia over three years, the couple navigates cultural differences and faces trials that test their relationship. Jesse confronts her inner demons while Trevor battles his own emotional ghosts. In the poignant culmination of their adventures, Jesse makes a life-altering decision with bittersweet consequences. A testament to her profound transformation and self-discovery, Jesse’s adventures with Trevor transcend geographical boundaries, forever changing her worldview. Meet Me in Mumbai celebrates the power of love, the courage to embrace uncertainty, and the resilience of the human spirit.

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Outbound Train by Renea Winchester In 1976, memories from a night near the railroad tracks sixteen years earlier haunt Barbara Parker. She wrestles with past demons every night, then wakes to the train’s five-thirty whistle. Exhausted and dreading the day, she keeps her hands busy working in Bryson City’s textile plant, known as the “blue jean plant,” all the while worrying about her teenage daughter, Carole Anne. The whistle of the train, the hum of those machines, and the struggle to survive drives Barbara. When an unexpected layoff creates a financial emergency, the desperate pressure of poverty is overwhelming. “Renea Winchester’s Outbound Train is a testament to the strength of Southern women and the depthless bond between mothers and daughters. The story she weaves creates a picture of Bryson City that is both hauntingly realistic and a mirror for every poor town in Appalachia that has lost industry. One need only replace the textile mill of Bryson City with the coal mines or lumber camps lost in other communities to see this story in those communities too. Winchester’s Outbound Train celebrates what we hold onto in the toughest times and what we overcome. It is a MUST READ!” Five Star Reader Review

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WHAT ARE YOU READING?

The Best of the Shortest: A Southern Writers Reading Reunion Editor: Suzanne Hudson with Joe Formichella and Mandy Haynes

PRE-ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY! Featuring stories by: Marlin Barton + Rick Bragg + Sonny Brewer + Doug Crandell + Pia Z. Ehrhardt + David Wright Falade’ + 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 + Bev Marshall + Michael Morris + Janet Nodar + Jennifer Paddock + Theodore Pitsios + Lynn Pruett + Ron Rash + Michelle Richmond + Dayne Sherman + George Singleton + Robert St. John + Sidney Thompson + Daniel Wallace + Daren Wang + James Whorton, Jr. + Mac Walcott + Karen Spears Zacharias

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TO ADD TO YOUR TBR LIST

Always Orchid: A Novel (Goodbye Orchid Book 3) by Carol Van Den Hende “An engrossing, inspiring depiction of traumatized individuals growing amidst challenges.” — Kirkus Reviews He almost let her go. Her past could tear them apart. But a love like theirs is worth fighting for… Phoenix Walker will never be the same. Nine months after a heroic act leaves him forever changed, he refuses to hurt Orchid Paige ever again. Orchid is ready to forgive. Convincing her guy she still loves him, no matter his injuries, she works to rebuild their intimacy. But their move to her family’s ancestral country unveils China’s superstitions against people with disabilities. Worse, their friend’s life has been upended by those prejudices. Will Phoenix and Orchid find a way to beat the odds and turn discrimination into acceptance? NOVEMBER 2023 ISSUE NO. 16

WHAT ARE YOU READING?

All Night, All Day: life, death & angels edited by Susan Cushman All Night, All Day is an inspirational collection of personal essays, stories, and poems by outstanding women authors who write about the appearance of the divine in their lives. Some of these angels come to save a life or change a flat tire. Some appear to warn people, tell them what to do, suggest more vegetables and maybe better shoes.

Contributors: Cassandra King - Suzanne Henley River Jordan - Sally Palmer Thomason - Natasha Trethewey - Sonja Livingston - Johnnie Bernhard Frederica Mathewes-Green - Angela Jackson-Brown - Christa Allan - Renea Winchester - Jacqueline Allen Trimble - Mandy Haynes - Wendy Reed - Lisa Gornick - Jennifer Horne - Ann Fisher-Wirth Averyell Kessler - Lauren Camp - Cathy Smith Bowers - Nancy Dorman-Hickson - Joanna Siebert Susan Cushman - Claire Fullerton - Julie Cantrell

WELL READ MAGAZINE

TO ADD TO YOUR TBR LIST

Annie's Song: Dandelions, Dreams and Dogs by Annie McDonnell In this shimmering debut-a crossgenre blend of memoir, auto-fiction, magical realism, and poetry-Annie pours out her dreams, her loves, and her hopes along with her complicated grief compounded by betrayals, medical misdiagnoses, and innumerable losses that would break most people. Her determination to live a life of love, joy, and meaning despite her great suffering shines throughout the dark themes of many of her essays and poems. Annie, who is in the end stages of Stiff Person Syndrome and has several other rare diseases, writes with raw emotion about traumas from her childhood best friend's rape and murder to her own life-altering car accident at age 19 to her decades-long odyssey through a medical system where women's symptoms are frequently dismissed, misdiagnosed, and minimized. Annie's experiential memoir, for which she's provided QR codes linking to her favorite songs throughout, allows the reader to get a hint of what it's like living suspended between this earthly existence and the afterlife. This is her love song to trauma survivors, dog lovers, and love seekers. She lives each day and night knowing that her next breath could be her last and keeps her heart focused on heaven.

NOVEMBER 2023 ISSUE NO. 16

WHAT ARE YOU READING?

Walking The Wrong Way Home by Mandy Haynes Spanning nearly twenty decades, the struggles and victories these characters face are timeless as they all work towards the same goal. A place to feel safe, a place to call home.

Sharp as a Serpent's Tooth: Eva and other stories by Mandy Haynes Each story features a female protagonist, ranging from ten to ninety-five years of age. Set in the south, you’ll follow these young women and girls as they learn that they’re stronger than they ever thought possible.

WELL READ MAGAZINE

TO ADD TO YOUR TBR LIST

Oliver by Mandy Haynes “Dear God…and Jesus and Mary…” Even though eleven-year old Olivia is raised Southern Baptist, she likes to cover her bases when asking for a favor. Unlike her brother Oliver, she struggles with keeping her temper in check and staying out of trouble. But Oliver is different, and in the summer of ’72 he proves to Olivia there’s magic in everything - it’s up to us to see it. Mandy Haynes spent hours on barstools and riding in vans listening to great stories from some of the best songwriters and storytellers in Nashville, Tennessee. After her son graduated college, she traded a stressful life as a pediatric cardiac sonographer for a happy one and now spends her time writing and enjoying life as much as she can. She lives in Semmes, Alabama with her three dogs, one turtle, and helps take care of several more animals at Good Fortune Farm Refuge. She is a contributing writer for Amelia Islander Magazine, Amelia Weddings, author of two short story collections, Walking the Wrong Way Home, Sharp as a Serpent's Tooth Eva and Other Stories, and a novella, Oliver. She is also the editor of the anthology, Work in Progress, and co-editor of the Southern Writers Reading reunion anthology, The Best of the Shortest. Mandy is also the editor-in-chief of WELL READ Magazine, an online literary journal created to give authors affordable advertising options that supports and promotes authors of all genres and writing backgrounds. Like the characters in some of her stories, she never misses a chance to jump in a creek to catch crawdads, stand up for the underdog, or the opportunity to make someone laugh.

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WHY YOU SHOULD ADVERTISE IN WELL READ

When you purchase an “ad” for JUST $50, you get a full page slot in WELL READ’s What Are You Reading? section with a live link to your website and a live purchase link of your choice. Readers asked for full page, easy to read, “book recommendations” in place of traditional looking advertisements and I was happy to oblige. As a bonus, there are personalized individual graphics made of your book image and author photo (if you choose to purchase a two page spread or more) with your book description and/or blurbs, bio, etc., shared to eight additional FB bookish accounts and to WELL READ Magazine’s Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook sites – (that’s 39K potential views of your book when you combine all the sites). WELL READ is distributed through ISSUU (the world’s largest digital publishing and discovery platform available). WELL READ Magazine receives an average of 7,000 views each month from readers all over the world. Past issues are available and easily discovered on Issuu’s site. *All PAST issues, including the article and visual stories, remain active and are linked to the current issue. You can continue to share them for as long as you like. There is strength in numbers. Your “ad” will be included with the featured authors, great interviews, submissions, and the other fantastic books readers look for to add to their reading lists.

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WHY YOU SHOULD ADVERTISE IN WELL READ

NOVEMBER 2023 ISSUE NO. 16

INSIDE VOICES

“ I grew up as a kid on the outside of ‘normal’ and spent too much of my childhood and early adult life trying to conform and suppress my personality and quirks rather than explore and expand who I was at my core. What is ‘normal’ anyway, and who can truly define it except the individual?”

Robert Gwaltney and Jeffrey Dale Lofton interview Author and Founder & Executive Director of Broadleaf Writers Association, Zachary Steele 46

WELL READ MAGAZINE

INSIDE VOICES

Broadleaf Writers Association Founder & Executive Director Zachary Steele is the author of four novels, including The Weight of Ashes, nominated for Georgia Author of the Year in 2021, and Perfectly Normal (2023). He has been featured in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Publisher’s Weekly, Writer’s Magazine, Shelf Awareness and City Lights with Lois Reitzes on NPR. Currently, he is hard at work on The Fallen Hero, the first in a series of fantasy novels.

Inside Voices (Robert): First, let me congratulate you. Your next novel, Perfectly Normal, makes its way into the world, November 21, 2023. Your protagonist, sixteenyear-old Nate Alexander lives with a condition known as Chromesthesia. He also grapples with the challenges of undiagnosed autism. Talk about what drew you to creating a character experiencing both these things. Zachary: Thank you so much, Robert. I’m excited to bring Nate to the world in ways I find difficult to express. His journey as an autistic is a deeply personal one for me, and I wanted to portray his daily life, and that of the parents who raise him, in an authentic way that offered some insight, and, I hope, some education and awareness of the many challenges the neurodiverse face. The addition of Chromesthesia not only broadens the world of music

NOVEMBER 2023 ISSUE NO. 16

Robert Gwaltney & Jeffrey Dale Lofton introduce Zachary Steele

that Nate holes up within, but is also a truly beautiful and fascinating sensory swap that defines how he views the people around him. Inside Voices (Jeffrey): Perfectly Normal explores, through young Nate, what it means to be “normal.” How did your perception of “normal” change from when you began writing the book until the point you finished the editing process? Zachary: If anything, it broadened my acceptance of individuality. Of the importance of freedom in the journey of self-discovery we all take. I grew up as a kid on the outside of ‘normal’ and spent too much of my childhood and early adult life trying to conform and suppress my personality and quirks rather than explore and expand who I was at my core. What is ‘normal’ anyway, and who can truly define it except the individual? Inside Voices (Robert): Julian Mack, an openly gay character, enters into a challenging friendship with Nate. I thought that Julian was a beautifully drawn character. Talk a little about Julian and the inspiration for the character. Zachary: I love Julian. Not simply as a character, but as a representation of everyone I’ve known that believed they

WELL READ MAGAZINE

Robert Gwaltney & Jeffrey Dale Lofton introduce Zachary Steele

needed to conform rather than be who they were at their core. Julian’s love is pure and unfiltered, as is his need for acceptance. He lives life on the opposite end of ‘normalcy’ from Nate, which gives them both a great deal to learn from one another. Inside Voices (Jeffrey): Music is an important element of your book, and I’m interested to know your own connection to music and why it’s so integral to this story. Zachary: Music has always been important to me. It’s where I first learned what it meant to have an emotional connection to art. Much like The Weight of Ashes, Perfectly Normal began with one song in one scene. Nate’s connection to music opens a gateway to various forms, which in turn gave me an opportunity to touch upon the styles of music that have inspired me. I even created playlists for them both on Spotify! Inside Voices (Jeffrey): I would love to hear about your experience working with the publisher to translate your book into audiobook format? Are you narrating it? Zachary: That was a surreal experience. Hearing my words read and performed (by the incredibly talented Tyler Pirrung) far and away is one of the coolest

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Robert Gwaltney & Jeffrey Dale Lofton introduce Zachary Steele

experiences I’ve had as a writer. I’m fortunate to be with a publisher that insisted I work closely with Tyler to ensure the characters were portrayed accurately and the narrative presented at an appropriate pace. He brought so much emotion to the story and took a few risks along the way. It’s a perfect accompaniment to the book. Buy them both! Inside Voices (Jeffrey): I recently had the privilege to appear on panels and deliver a workshop during the 8th Annual Broadleaf Writers Conference. Will you tell us about Broadleaf and the role you play? Zachary: First and foremost, you were incredible, in every panel and workshop. For all I may do, or all our team may have done to organize it, it’s authors like you and Robert who make a writing conference so valuable and important to writers. I could prattle on without a break for hours on Broadleaf. I founded it because I believe in the power of a supportive writing community, one that is inclusive and welcoming to all writers, no matter what they write, where they come from, or how far along they are on their writing journey. Eight years in, I feel like we’re building that community into what it can ultimately be. We still have a way to go, but seeing it in action at our most recent conference—mercifully back in-person after the pandemic years—is thrilling.

WELL READ MAGAZINE

Robert Gwaltney & Jeffrey Dale Lofton introduce Zachary Steele

Inside Voices (Robert): In reflecting upon your own journey as a published author, how important was your literary community. Zachary: I wouldn’t be where I am without it. The guidance, the support, the mentoring and long conversations, they are all the reason I am the writer I am today. And also why Broadleaf Writers exists. I wanted to give what I had gained from my experiences in another writing community to others. Inside Voices (Jeffrey): You somehow manage, in addition to your own writing, to produce and host The Inciting Event, which is a podcast. What led you into the podcast fray, and what are your plans for its future? Zachary: I’ve wanted to start a podcast for a while now, but finding the time to learn how to do that has been a problem. I launched The Inciting Event this year, and I’m still learning the ropes and finding my footing. I have no idea who will listen, but I wanted to create a conversational platform, where creatives could talk about whatever they wanted, as if we’d just picked up the phone to chat. Not only does this offer a wide range of topics (all within the bounds of artistic matter), but it also gives fans, readers, and viewers more reason to connect with that artist. I hope!

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Robert Gwaltney & Jeffrey Dale Lofton introduce Zachary Steele

Inside Voices (Robert): What's next for you, Zachary? What’s on your horizon? Zachary: My life is about to get very busy. From a writing standpoint, I’m at work on my next novel, currently called Home, about a group of siblings returning to their childhood home as their mother is in her final days on Hospice. It’s a story that’s one-part dysfunctional family and one-part defining what ‘home’ means to each of them (I guess I like to explore definitions!). Meanwhile, I’m hoping to have The Fallen Hero, the first book of a fantasy series under contract soon. Between that, Broadleaf, the podcast (or podcasts it seems hint hint), some additional projects in the works, and enjoying life with Jess and Sadie, my family of amazing humans, I stay quite busy.

WELL READ MAGAZINE

Robert Gwaltney & Jeffrey Dale Lofton introduce Zachary Steele

Robert Gwaltney, award winning author of southern fiction, is a graduate of Florida State University. He resides in Atlanta Georgia with his partner, where he is an active member of the Atlanta literary community. Robert’s work has appeared in such publications as The Signal Mountain Review and The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature. His debut novel, The Cicada Tree, won the Somerset Award for literary fiction.

Jeffrey Dale Lofton, hails from Warm Springs, Ga. His years telling the stories of playwrights and scriptwriters taught him the pull of a powerful story arc. Today, he is a senior advisor at the Library of Congress, surrounded by books and people who love books. Red Clay Suzie is his first work of fiction, written through his personal lens growing up an outsider figuring out life and love in a conservative family and community in the Deep South.

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"Zachary Steele deftly draws characters that feel so real they could walk right off the page. This beautiful portrait of a boy trying to determine what it means to be 'normal' in a world that refuses to celebrate uniqueness is in turns quietly powerful, sharply insightful, and a stunning celebration of humanity--in all its messiness."--Colleen Oakley, USA Today bestselling author of The Mostly True Story of Tanner & Louise

Perfectly Normal Zachary Steele

WELL DONE! Poetry

WELL READ MAGAZINE

FAST EDDY by John Grey

Fast Eddy John Grey

Eddy in his rusty tin can on wheels, roaring, rattling down the road, foot hard down on the floor, a “yahoo” never far from his lips, his girlfriend praying that everything would be ok, his mother always ready to receive the latest in dreadful information Eddy always acting out what he saw at the movies, on television, everything done for his own benefit…even death.

That was the guy. No room in his heart and head for the worry of others. NOVEMBER 2023 ISSUE NO. 16

WELL DONE! Poetry

Just like his father. Rent to pay, groceries to buy – what was that compared to Friday night pub crawl with his shiftless buddies – so little variant between the two – the men in the family, a grim collection of addictions running free.

Eddy, here one moment, gone the next, his girlfriend swearing off speed-freaks, his mother making, in her head, all the necessary arrangements for his funeral for as long as he lived, a bright star that was really just a hot bulb, and now there’s a question if it was even that, as, finally, he couldn’t grip those wheels to enough road, got thrown off.

Yeh, all Eddy all the time, until there was no Eddy, 60

WELL READ MAGAZINE

FAST EDDY by John Grey

just the time – tick tock, tick-tock, the memory harsh but already on the wane. Eddy - a body in the ground and the occasional dream by somebody.

John Grey is an Australian poet, US resident, recently published in Stand, Washington Square Review and Rathalla Review. Latest books, “Covert” “Memory Outside The Head” and “Guest Of Myself” are available through Amazon. Work upcoming in the McNeese Review, Santa Fe Literary Review and Open Ceilings.

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WELL DONE! Poetry

WELL READ MAGAZINE

ALL THE LOVELY CREATURES by Eileen Coe

All the Lovely Creatures Eileen Coe

When God created man He omitted the most important part He left out the animal heart To gaze into an animal’s eyes Is to hold the depth of life’s mystery To observe all that we can only ever dream to see The ego of man could never handle the animal heart It’s beyond all understanding All God’s lovely creatures are far from our commanding

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WELL DONE! Poetry

Oh to have a piece of the animal heart! How lovely it would be To be a very small part Of all the lovely creatures

Eileen Coe is a lifelong animal lover and true animal advocate. Eileen realized her dream of working with horses after she retired from the corporate world of Ophthalmic Medicine, in 2008. She then became a certified Equine Acupressure Practitioner, through the Tallgrass Animal Acupressure Institute. Eileen also received her PATH certification as a therapeutic riding instructor. She worked with children and adults with special needs, helping them benefit from the power of the horse. Eileen now resides in the beautiful foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, in Western North Carolina. She lives with her husband, Rob, horses, dogs and one cantankerous cat. There are also numerous wild critters that love to visit! After visiting areas where the wild horses roam, Eileen hopes to bring awareness to their plight to live their lives wild and free.

WELL READ MAGAZINE

ALL THE LOVELY CREATURES by Eileen Coe

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WELL DONE! Poetry

WELL READ MAGAZINE

DEGREES OF FALL by Marisa Keller

Degrees of Fall Marisa Keller

A paragraph in heaven, with goldenrod aflame. Will it be Monet or Van Gogh this evening? The sun its own brilliant artist, no need for attribution. This morning it’s 50 degrees. I fumble in the dark for a sweater. It just covers the bottom of my shorts, except when I lean forward to rustle the leaves. My sandals still handy outside my white closet door. It’s still black as night, and the moon glows brightly. Just beyond the barn, a shimmer at the horizon signals the day’s installation. The skin of everything wet with dew. I reach for rubber boots. Hours later, it’s 85. The smell of heat feels heavy and damp. Like vacation. The birds fly confused. Some in flocks darting in circles here and there. Are we coming or

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WELL DONE! Poetry

going, they seem to say. I hear the tropics in their bird song. Now intense heat coats me with ardor. A bead of sweat drips between my shoulder blades catching at the small of my back. I swipe at it as if a bug has crawled down my shirt and find the moisture of this hot, hot day. Horses are fuzzy with growing winter coats. They stand sweating lightly, their hooves beating the ground to curse the flies born of this humid interlude. Dogs lift their paws gingerly in the dark of night. The grass is wet again. They look at me pathetically. The prospect of a bedtime potty is dim. The temperature dips. Let’s just go to bed. Everything is beautiful. Still holding on to summer’s warmth. Painted in hues of lime, corn, pumpkin and apple. Accented by purple coneflowers, chicory and nests of Queen Anne’s lace as they fold inward. The thistles have gone to seed. The milkweed pod has burst and flown. The last tomatoes hang loosely like our memories of summer. We hold on for one more millisecond only to find, it’s time to change our clothes. Again.

WELL READ MAGAZINE

DEGREES OF FALL by Marisa Keller

Marisa Keller lives on a small farm in Wisconsin with her family of four-and-two legged companions. She channeled her writing from an early age into a career in marketing and is now pursuing a deep desire to share and publish her poetry and prose. Her work revolves around nature, animals, love, the aging of friends and families and mostly, the connection it takes for all of those things to truly reveal themselves. Marisa writes because she loves to connect with words. Seeing others connect her words to their own story is gratifying and helps bring people together, even if it is just for those few moments. She is humbled by those cherished moments. She often shares her work on her Substack page, Between the Passions and The Prose.

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WELL DONE! Visual Art

WELL READ MAGAZINE

Artwork by DeWitt Lobrano

NOVEMBER 2023 ISSUE NO. 16

WELL DONE! Visual Art

WELL READ MAGAZINE

Artwork by DeWitt Lobrano

NOVEMBER 2023 ISSUE NO. 16

WELL DONE! Visual Art

WELL READ MAGAZINE

Artwork by DeWitt Lobrano

DeWitt Lobrano on Becoming An Artist How does one become an artist when they face a lifetime of zero support from their parents/family and constant verbal and physical abuse from the ‘art public’ for decades? As an 80 year old art survivor I can tell you exactly how that works. We know what we want to do, and we dig our heels in and we make art. We find those 5 - 10 people on this entire planet we can communicate with, and we make our art to talk with that one individual. We ignore those monkey brains who criticize us and tell us to commit suicide. Yeah. I got that a hell of a lot growing up in Winnsboro, Louisiana in the 1950s. An artist needs a ‘philosophy,’ simply that feeling he/she has something they want to tell to another person. As a 5 year old I felt this urge to tell someone else a story. Sometimes I did it with words, at other times I drew on paper or made clay figurines. That feeling, that urge has never gone away. This draws me to experiment with a wide variety of mediums. Can anything compare with painting the eyes of a dog or cat, who look loving out of the canvas at the person in front of them?

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WELL DONE! Poetry

WELL READ MAGAZINE

SEARCHING by Mandy Haynes

Searching Mandy Haynes

I was raised by an alcoholic father An atheist, an artist. A hard worker. At the tender age of nine I would sit with him at the kitchen table A bottle of Johnny Walker Red between us I would watch him drink While he explained to me why there was no God. Once I asked, “If you don’t believe in God, then why are you afraid of the dark? I mean, if there is no God then there is no devil, right?” I was just a little kid then and I didn’t understand. Not all demons are that obvious, running around in red suits, Carrying pitch forks. NOVEMBER 2023 ISSUE NO. 16

WELL DONE! Poetry

Some (my grandfather) hid behind alcohol and suicide. Years later my daddy divorced my mother. He remarried. Found religion. Is even a deacon at his church (whatever the hell that means) Now he ends all our calls with, “Come to church on Sunday—God loves you!” It’s all I can do to keep from screaming. I’m mean to my step-mother. Call her “cow-pie face” behind her back. Stare directly into her eyes until she turns away. I refuse to give her a chance Listen to rumors about her before she met my daddy, but who am I to judge? I left home before I turned sixteen. I’m forty years old now I have a wonderful son and many reasons to be thankful I remind myself every day. But when I see the old man my daddy has become I’m overcome with a sadness so heavy It’s almost too much to carry.

WELL READ MAGAZINE

SEARCHING by Mandy Haynes

We are so much alike—this Bible thumping stranger and me. It has nothing to do with our brown eyes or high cheekbones Our artistic abilities or the need to make something with our hands. We are both just two lost children searching for our fathers.

Searching was chosen as the 2011 poetry winner for the Vanderbilt University’s summer reading edition of the House Organ

Mandy Haynes is the author of two short story collections, Walking the Wrong Way Home, Sharp as a Serpent's Tooth-Eva and Other Stories, and a novella, Oliver. She's the editor of the anthology, Work In Progress, and a co-editor of collection, The Best of the Shortest: A Southern Writers Reading Reunion. Mandy is also the creator and Editor-In-Chief of WELL READ Magazine.

NOVEMBER 2023 ISSUE NO. 16

WELL READ MAGAZINE

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

HELLO WRITERS, POETS, & ARTISTS! CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS IS OPEN! *no prompts - no boundaries* Click here for more information

NOVEMBER 2023 ISSUE NO. 16

BETWEEN THE PAGES PODCAST

BETWEEN THE PAGES is a podcast that's an extension of WELL READ Magazine. Each month I edit the fantastic video interviews with the featured authors and contributing writers you'll find inside each issue so readers can see the faces, hear the voices, and experience the full interviews. There's always more to the interviews than what makes it to the page, so these videos are too good not to share. You'll find INSIDE VOICES with Robert Gwaltney and Jeffrey Dale Lofton, ANNE ASKS with Annie McDonnell, and me, Mandy Haynes, in conversation with some incredibly talented and interesting authors. Please take a minute to like, subscribe, and share to help spread the word about the online journal created by an author for authors and readers of all genres and backgrounds. I appreciate your support more than you know - because when you support WELL READ, your supporting every author who advertises their books and shares their stories with WELL READ Magazine.

WELL READ MAGAZINE

BETWEEN THE PAGES PODCAST

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“I COLLECT MOMENTS…” ~ Jeanée Sacken, aka “Indiana Jones with a Camera & Pen.”

Annie McDonnell introduces author and photojournalist Jeanée Sacken 84

WELL READ MAGAZINE

ANNIE ASKS Jeanée Sacken

Every once in a while, I’ll meet someone and it’s as if the stars align. That’s what happened when I spoke with author, Jeanée Sacken. I didn’t just interview an author; I met a friend. I hear this about her so often! I have been following her since the release of her first book, “Behind the Lens”, and I loved it so much I had to follow her. She is such a creative soul! Her photographs, like her writing, are so vivid and moving. Please watch the interview on Well Read Magazine’s podcast, “Between the Pages”, to see some of these photos and hear the stories behind them. The idea behind “Annie Asks”, is to ask 10-12 questions from the Proust questionnaire. I first started reading it in Vanity Fair. I found it to be such an intriguing interview. These questions were put together by a French writer in the late 1800s. They were questions he answered himself, and the whole point of the questions is to learn more about your character, learn more about the person's character that you’re interviewing, or better yet (and what I love most) is that it is a tool that authors can use to learn more about the characters they are trying to create for their book. There are actually 35 questions total in Vanity Fair’s interviews, but I ask 10 to 12 questions.So, sit back, relax, and let me introduce the talented Jeanée Sacken. I love interviewing people in the literary community

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ANNIE ASKS Jeanée Sacken

that I feel go above and beyond in their creative process. Jeanée Sacken is a prime example of this type of person. She’s an author that writes extraordinary books. They are very original, and I love the protagonist, Annie! Jeanée just finished her third book which was released, October 3rd, 2023. Referred to as “Indiana Jones with a Camera” (I added and pen), Jeannée Sacken is also a college English Professor and photojournalist that travels extensively in Africa, South and Central America, and Asia, capturing images of nature and wildlife and documenting the lives of people who live in some of the most remote and fascinating places on earth. I honestly fell in love with her eye for photography. I’ll share some with you here and you’ll see how fantastic she is. These are the books she has released so far: 1- Behind the Lens ~ Introduces Annie Hawkins Green, a seasoned war photographer working in Afghanistan. She returns to Afghanistan, after having suffered a traumatizing event, barely surviving a Taliban ambush eight years prior. You’ll be drawn in by her carefully crafted suspense, danger and intrigue. The story has so much going on, and you can’t stop flipping the pages.

WELL READ MAGAZINE

ANNIE ASKS Jeanée Sacken

American Writing Awards, 2022 Hawthorne Prize American Writing Awards, 2021 Book of the Year (fiction), Best Women's Fiction, Best Suspense Firebird Award, 2021 Fourth Quarter, Best Debut Fiction, Winner Women's Fiction, Winner Suspense Shelf Unbound, 2021, Winner Notable Book of the Year 2- Double Exposure ~ Follows Annie's new adventures when she returns to Afghanistan to cover peace talks between the government and the Taliban, now that she’s a seasoned photojournalist! Let me tell you there is even more happening here. She is actually under investigation. Her best friend's daughter is missing. I’m not going any further because this book is beyond intriguing. American Writing Awards, 2022 Finalist Women's Fiction, Finalist Mystery/Suspense Firebird Award, 2022 Winner Romantic Suspense, Winner Women's Fiction, Winner Suspense 3- The Rules of Thirds ~ NEWLY RELEASED in early October 2023. The Taliban's takeover of the country is the story of the decade, and Annie is determined to cover it. So, she is headed back to Afghanistan. Despite her PTSD, and all of the other things she is grappling with, being over there

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ANNIE ASKS Jeanée Sacken

may be just exactly where she wants and needs to be. Her 22-year-old daughter is also in Cabo. Such an exciting trilogy! I can’t get over how refreshingly new and vibrant they are! Every picture does have 1000 words (as they say), and Jeannée proves it! I see pictures flashing through my mind as I read her books. I wonder if you will do the same. I do suggest that you head on over to Well Read Magazine’s YouTube channel, “Between the Pages” to watch our interview and to see which Proust questions Jeannée answers. How do you get to know someone really know them beyond surface level things? This is a great tool for that! I also have some fun rapid-fire questions! Please come meet Jeannée! You can find Jeannée Sacken at the links below, and I highly suggest you fall down her rabbit hole, as I did. You will learn so much! Thank you, Mandy Haynes, for this opportunity to interview for Well Read Magazine. Available at https://www.amazon.com, https:// www.ten16press.com, https://www.boswellbooks.com

WELL READ MAGAZINE

ANNIE ASKS Jeanée Sacken

Website: https://www.jeanneesacken.com Wilderness Travel Blog: Jeannée Sacken | Wilderness Travel Blog Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jeanneesacken Instagram:Jeannee Sacken (@authorjeanneesacken) • Instagram photos and videos Linktr.ee: https://linktr.ee/JeanneeSacken

Annie McDonnell, Author of Annie’s Song: Dandelions, Dreams & Dogs, Book Reviewer, Author Interviewer, Teacher, Speaker, Writer, Author Consultant, Co-Admin. At World of the Write Review Book Club, Blogger, Author online event planner.

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ANNIE ASKS Jeanée Sacken

WELL READ MAGAZINE

ANNIE ASKS Jeanée Sacken

NOVEMBER 2023 ISSUE NO. 16

ANNIE ASKS Jeanée Sacken

WELL READ MAGAZINE

ANNIE ASKS Jeanée Sacken

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“The energy from Jeannée Sacken’s The Rule of Thirds hits you right in the face from page one as the story follows Annie Hawkins, Pulitzer Prize–winning photojournalist, back to Afghanistan to record the last days before the Taliban takes over. Annie Hawkins is every writer’s dream character: tough as nails, badass extraordinaire, riddled with guilt, and filled with love for her daughter and the man she adores. Sacken’s words speed through paragraphs and chapters, leaving her readers no choice but to feel the sweat, heat, dust, and dirt as it clings to every part of their bodies as they inhale this book.” ~ Barbara Conrey, USA Today bestselling author of Nowhere Near Goodbye

The Rule of Thirds Jeannée Sacken

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Will Maguire interviews Phyllis Gobbell

Phyllis Gobbell’s new novel, Notorious in Nashville, has just arrived in bookstores. Phyllis, a long-time Nashvillian, takes her readers on an insider’s tour of Music City. I interviewed her in her living room, high on a hill in the woods. The room was filled with books, family photographs, and a baby grand piano. WLM: I know that baby grand isn’t just for looks. You’re musical, and it’s obvious that you love music. Can you explain how music plays an important part of Notorious in Nashville? PG: I have always felt that music was a language I somehow understood, even as a little girl. I started playing the piano when I was five. In another life, I might have become a professional musician. But things took a different turn for me. I’m not part of the music scene here, but no book about Music City can be written without acknowledging its singers and songwriters, the music industry, and places like The Bluebird where so many stars have been discovered. Notorious begins at The Bluebird when an old washedout songwriter accuses a young up-and-coming singer of stealing his songs. From that point on, music threads through the whole book. WLM: What is it like living in a place that’s so NOVEMBER 2023 ISSUE NO. 16

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musical? PG: Music is everywhere in Nashville, from the honkytonks on Lower Broad to the Nashville Symphony at the Schermerhorn. The waiter in the restaurant where you’re having dinner may be an aspiring songwriter. A choir member in your church may have a record deal. I had a creative writing student who was a session player. All around my neighborhood are neighbors in the music business. Some are even legendary. If you go out to hear live music in Nashville, even if it’s an out-of-the-way venue, you will probably be amazed at the caliber of the music. Actually, we have come to expect it. That’s what it’s like in Nashville. WLM: Among the indelible characters you draw is the old down-and-out old songwriter, Notorious, who was “almost somebody,” before whiskey and country radio made him obsolete. In the book, in fits and starts, he sometimes transforms from a broken down drunk to an astonishing artist. Do you think people can house both extremes? PG: I do. Creative people are sometimes swept up by terrible circumstances. Some never become who they should be. Someone with enormous talent can get lost. Become rusty. But I will add this: Sometimes rusty strings make the most beautiful music. The story is told in Jordan Mayfair’s point of view, and

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Will Maguire interviews Phyllis Gobbell

in the beginning, she’s like a lot of us. All she can see is a drunk who had a great talent, but lost his way. That can happen. But as she gets to know him, she comes to realize that he is both ruined and a great soul. Jordan believes in the possibility of redemption. So do I. WLM: Phyllis, all of your previous mysteries are set in exotic foreign locales. Why choose Nashville this time out? PG: I’m sure readers may wonder why I didn’t go to another location like Provence or Ireland or Tuscany, to follow the pattern of my other three novels. I wanted to, thought I would, but then COVID reared its ugly head. Some writers use the internet and find everything they need in the way of research, but that doesn’t work for me. I have to immerse myself in a place to get the feel of it, to get it in my blood. My friends kept telling me to write about Nashville, where I’ve lived since I was in my twenties. “Nashville’s hot!” they said, and it is. And finally I decided that yes, there were things I wanted to say about what’s happening here, so I settled on Nashville for the fourth mystery in this series. WLM: One of the recurring themes in Notorious is the clash between old and new. Nashville is the latest battleground between history and progress. What exactly were you aiming to uncover with this theme?

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PG: Much of what I presented, fictionally, is really happening in Nashville. The old is being replaced with what is new and glitzy, and residents are divided in what they want Nashville to be. On one side are those who long for the small sophisticated Southern city we used to know, and on the other side are promoters of the progress that so often seems set on dismantling it. In Notorious, Alex, Jordan's uncle, is in Nashville to publicize his new book. His point of view on progress pretty much mirrors my own. I miss, for example, the small town feel. I miss the slower pace and despise the overcrowding that has replaced it. Tourists seem to love Nashville, and we depend on tourist dollars, but we’ve just elected a new mayor who campaigned on the promise to make residents a priority. I hope he does. WLM: In Notorious there is a murder and the city at least in part seems like it is being slowly murdered by speculators. Does justice prevail in your world? PG: I’d like to think that readers will finish the book thinking that justice exists, that it can prevail. But just like life, it requires both work and faith. You mentioned the idea of death, and I’m glad you caught that symbolism. There’s a scene where Jordan, searching for her lost daughter in a storm, watches a tower topple. The ruins disappear in a cloud of dust, then the dust is overwhelmed by the light.

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What I was hoping to get across is that doing away with history and tradition is a kind of death, a kind of murder. Cities can be murdered too, you know. WLM: You use a Macguffin, a symbolic device that appears again and again through the story. It’s the brick. What do you mean by the brick? PG: Because Jordan Mayfair is an architect, she uses her architectural knowledge and skills in all the mysteries that she solves. This time, yes, a brick keeps coming up in the story, and it works on several levels. The brick is integral to the scene where Jordan and her daughter are in serious danger. And it is a clue that will ultimately help her and her preservationist friends save a building on the verge of being demolished. WLM: You’re a mother. Jordan Mayfair, your protagonist, is a mother, as well. What about motherhood do you share with Jordan? PG: Yes, I’m a mother, and a grandmother, and for the first time in this mystery series, Jordan’s relationship with her daughter is a big part of the story. Jordan's daughter Holly plays a part in uncovering a crooked developer’s fraud, but ends up missing. Jordan’s fear for Holly comes through as she searches for her in a storm. I could feel that fear as the words came from me, to my screen. I've felt it. That nameless sharp worry. Every mother has. I wanted to capture both the helplessness and urgency that comes with

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the great blessings of having kids. WLM: Let's talk about the nuts and bolts of writing. Can you describe your process? PG: Before I begin writing a draft, I spend a lot of time with ideas swirling in my mind that will ultimately become a book. It's not unlike mixing concrete and pouring a foundation. The mix has to be right for it to harden into something you can use to build. I write pages and pages in a composition book, character sketches, because I think that a story rises, ultimately, from the characters, and make notes about plots and particular scenes. All of it is very chaotic, without any thought of organization. I’m trying to hear the voice of the story. Jordan Mayfair is always the narrator of these mysteries, but in each one, I have to find her voice again. And at some point, I start thinking about a first line, which is so important. And then a first paragraph, a first scene, and so on. And I just keep going. The muddy middle is always the hard part. I hit wall after wall, but somehow I find my way through. Somewhere along the way, I develop a clear vision of what I want the story to become. WLM: Finally, your book touches on faith. I won’t give this part away, but a symbol of lost faith recovered in a storm is essential in saving Jordan's daughter. Are you a

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person of faith? PG: Yes, I am. I think faith can easily be lost but just as easily be found. I don’t mean to say it’s easy. It takes work, just like justice. I believe that people can lose faith for all sorts of reasons, but that faith is often recovered in a storm. That happens, both literally and figuratively, in Notorious. It can happen in cities too. Like Nashville. WLM: Thank you, Phyllis Gobbell. Notorious in Nashville can be found in local bookstores and online.

Watch the trailer for Notorious in Nashville here.

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“This novel exposes the underbelly of both the music business and unscrupulous real estate developers in Music City, USA. Amateur sleuth Jordan continues to evolve as an investigator, a crooked fast-talking real estate developer with ill intent. Gobbell shines at capturing the tone and grit of Nashville's rhinestone-strewn streets.” Five Star Reader Review

Notorious in Nashville Phylllis Gobbell

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Will Maguire reviews NOTORIOUS IN NASHVILLE

There’s something about a good country song. It sounds as though it existed long before a note was ever sung. A ghost of a melody haunting a heart and voice and ears until it is dragged from the shadows up into the light. Great country songs don’t duck the trouble of living. They mine it with the understanding that the listeners are waiting to hear themselves. To hear the heartache and daily heroism in the verses, their personal hallelujah rising in each chorus. It’s why they sound true. Like a great country song, Phyllis Gobbell’s new novel, Notorious in Nashville, sounds true. It tells us things we already know but may have forgotten. That the world is not always good or fair, that love will be tested and sometimes fail. And that justice, however slow and blind, can be found if you seek it. Set in Nashville, Gobbell’s longtime hometown, Notorious is both mystery and literary fiction, involving the murder of a young reporter uncovering shady real estate deals. Fast money speculators collide with gristly old songwriters, shining towers border riverside homeless camps, and the mother church of country music, the Ryman Auditorium, is surrounded by the rising redneck tide of Lower Broadway, its party buses and swarms of drunken woo girls. In all of it, the old and new struggle to

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find harmony. Jordan Mayfair, the amateur sleuth, is caught up in battles that, page by page, uncover the plot. Old friendships are tested and betrayals exposed. Faith in the form of a forgotten rosary is lost and recovered. Love is tested by adversity. Music is everywhere in Notorious. From the opening scene at the venerable Bluebird Cafe to the Schermerhorn Symphony to the rusty strings of a down-and-out songwriter forgotten by radio and time. And so, like a great country song, Notorious descends into the trouble in Music City in search of its truth. In Gobbell’s Nashville, history is razed, cut up, and sold in pieces to progress. Landmarks that have stood for generations are demolished and substandard high rises thrown up in their place. But in the end, time-tested virtues and buildings remain while the fly-by-night swindlers and their fast money plans collapse. Every great country song understands an unspoken law, that being blessed requires being broken in some way, by love or work or sin. That you can’t buy your way into freedom or happiness. That time, however slow, is fleeting, and can never be possessed, only rented. And that history, like the truth, can be battered but never destroyed. Phyllis Gobbell’s Notorious in Nashville reminds us that Nashville’s history, like a rising chorus of an unforgettable

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Will Maguire reviews NOTORIOUS IN NASHVILLE

hymn, can be battered, but never destroyed. And beneath it all, we hear the voice of a city remembering its song. Notorious in Nashville Encircle Publications Available October 25, 2023

Will Maguire is a writer and songwriter living in Nashville, Tennessee. His most recent short stories, “Higher Power” and “Unisphere,” have appeared in The Saturday Evening Post.

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Ashley Holloway reviews THE GLASS CITY by Jen Knox

Mother Nature’s Ransom Note: A Review of Jen Knox’s The Glass City by Ashley Holloway Winner of Prize Americana for Prose, 2017, this revised edition contains two new stories. Published by Hollywood Books International, with a foreword by Sheila Black. Originally published in 2017, Jen Knox’s revised edition of The Glass City is a brilliant collection of seventeen stories that fluidly combine seemingly unrelated themes together in unexpected ways. In this futuristic-yettimely collection, Knox highlights society’s overwhelming sense of entitlement and narcissistic tendencies and their relationship to our changing climate. Each story is a mirror thrust in our faces, urging us to get over our love affair with ourselves, reminding us that “people didn’t need to further distinguish themselves from nature.” With buildings collapsing from exhaustion, virtual races run at home on treadmills, terrorist attacks, never-ending snowstorms, and characters with extra layers of toes from food contamination, Mother Nature acts as an omnipotent protagonist throughout, serving her primitive justice as a warning to society for the perils of continuing along the same trajectory. However, like the art of Kintsugi, Knox leaves us with the thought that what was once broken can indeed be salvaged and transformed into something beautiful.

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With strong female protagonists, a signature of Knox’s writing, these stories are rooted in the culture of the Midwest yet remain relatable to all readers. In its own way, each story highlights how life, when viewed up close, reveals all its nooks, corners, and crannies and in the process, loses some of its majesty: while everyone loves the finished product, no one wants to be witness to the scrapes, burns, and bruises collected along the way. And yet, Knox shows us the beauty behind these scrapes, burns, and bruises, using well developed characters, such as Rattle, the hard-won loner desperately seeking connection who appears several times throughout the book, or the unapologetic aging contortionist from The Inconvenience Of It All. The reader cannot help but develop empathy for this motley crew of characters, evoking a full range of human emotions from start to finish, revealing that “No one thing is all one way.” Knox’s confidence as a writer is evident through the intensity, breadth, and depth of the stories contained in this collection. The skillfully crafted subtext and irony offer insight into social class and the corruptibility of power, creating a palpable sense of urgency and immediacy that implores society to do better while simultaneously celebrating its successes. Overall, The Glass City serves as a brilliant metaphor for society, where “Everything is too perfect now, a touched-up photograph,” and Knox

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Ashley Holloway reviews THE GLASS CITY by Jen Knox

gracefully uses her stories to remind us to refrain from throwing stones in our glass house.

Residing in Mohkinstsis, Ashley Holloway teaches healthcare leadership at Bow Valley College in Calgary, AB. She is a nurse with a Master of Public Health, a graduate diploma in Global Leadership, with further studies in intercultural communication and international development. Ashley’s work has appeared in the Calgary Public Library Short Story Dispenser, The Nashwaak Review, The Globe and Mail, Magna Publications, The Prairie Journal, Alberta's CARE Magazine, with regular contributions to Lead Read Today; forthcoming publications include Flash Fiction Magazine (Jan 2023; TBD). Ashley has co-authored two books (Create & Curate: 500 Ideas for Artists & Writers, 2023; and How (Not) to Lead, 2023) and reads manuscripts and provides editorial support for Unleash Press. Her work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize.

Art by Christopher Shanahan

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LAGNIAPPE

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The 11th Commandment by Will Maguire

The 11th Commandment Will Maguire

Ask any Tennessean which they love more, their guns or their dogs, and there will be a long pause. You might be able to pry out an answer eventually, but the truth is in the South both are a kind of third rail. Touch either and you’ll end up regretting it. Recently guns and dogs and love collided here in Percy Warner Park. A couple was walking their unleashed German Shepard when a man a few feet behind them drew his gun and shot the dog six times killing it. Police were called. One account reported that the man’s brother was mauled as a child, and that he feared, perhaps unreasonably, for his safety. People are forever shooting at their own pasts trying to kill an old wound. It is legal to carry a firearm in Tennessee parks and illegal to have an unleashed dog. Everyone has a right to

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defend themselves but sometimes a right can go terribly wrong. It is not a crime to shoot a dog. But, as any Tennessean will tell you, it is a sin. Moses got it wrong. There should of have been 11 Commandments. Thou shalt never kill a dog. So for me I would choose dogs over guns. Why? A gun will never wait patiently for you by a door after a hard week or curl up at your feet you on a cold night. And a gun will never stare into your eyes like only it knows how much worry can fit into the end of a month. I knew an old man once. His wife had died suddenly leaving him with only time and memory to accompany him. On advice from a friend he got a shelter dog someone had pushed out of a car when it was too old to keep. The old man, injured by love and loss, had grown bitter. He tried to teach the old dog new tricks. He tried endlessly to teach it to play dead. When the dog refused, he would kick it. The old dog forgave the man, who it turned out, was teaching himself to play dead. And in time it was the dog that taught the man what every thrown away shelter dog knows. How to forgive. And how to live again. Guns do not have puppies but even so there will always be more guns than dogs.

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Guns properly maintained can last forever. And as anyone that has ever owned one knows even old dogs die too young. Killing a dog may be a sin but I understand this week in Percy Warner park, the dog’s owner, an enlightened and grace filled soul tearfully embraced the shooter. Forgiveness however is not a trick. It requires a certain kind of spirit. And it takes practice. I bet he learned that from his dog.

*11th Commandment was published in the Tennessean after the tragic event happened in Percy Warren Park. Will Maguire is a writer and songwriter living in Nashville, Tennessee. His most recent short stories, “Higher Power” and “Unisphere,” have appeared in The Saturday Evening Post.

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BETWEEN THE PAGES - INTERVIEWS, READINGS, AND MORE

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NETWORKING

Pat Conroy Literary Center 601 Bladen Street Beaufort, SC 29902 Thursday through Sunday noon-4:00 p.m. Other times available by appointment

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NETWORKING

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NETWORKING

Authors’ Networking Group

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NETWORKING

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If Our Pets Could Talk by Carol Van Den Hende

I’ve heard that ginger cats like us share one brain cell and spend our days waiting to use it. Underneath our human “Two-Legs” coffee table, my brother Stinky accelerates round and round, attempting to nip the elusive tail that swishes just ahead of his sharp teeth. Guess it’s not his turn with the brain cell. Bummer. I have a question and no one to ask. What’s our purpose? It’s been one paw’s worth of full moons since Calico Mom and Midnight Dad said it was time to set off on our adventure to a new home. We’ve been swallowed by the

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big metal cat only twice since then, “to go to the vet,” Two-Legs Mama said. She’s sweet but keeps asking me questions in response to my curiosity. “Who’s the good boy?” “Do you want a treat?” Really, does she need to ask? Outside of the open window, songbirds tweet, puffing my chest with an urge to hunt. I pounce onto my silly brother, halting his spinning that seems to be stuck on ‘repeat.’ His orange cyclone turns into a flurry of furry legs and half-sheathed claws wrapping around my midsection. We tumble, his round belly against my ribcage, my nose perilously close to his pungent arse. “Aww how cute!” coos Two-Legs Mama, who has her hand extension pointed at us. It’s her most common pose. Really, I need to teach her some cat fight moves. Stinky takes advantage of my momentary distraction and springs free. Darn. But I’m fast on his hindquarters. We’re off, darting faster than birds in flight, me almost catching him under the armchair, him speeding past the sleek white box they call a ‘fireplace.’ Wait, I need to ask you the meaning of life! His crazed path hurls us right towards the wall whose white brightness hurts my eyes. Stinky skitters all four paws onto the flat surface, executing an impressive midair turn. I follow with a half-parkour and bound after my twin,

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my pulse pounding to the tip of my tail. What are we doing here? I ask. Huh? We’re playing, he calls over his shoulder. I fling my weight onto his furry haunches, finally bringing him down. We’re both panting. His whiskers twitch with happiness. Our tummies are full after morning meal. Not the playing, silly. What’s our job here? This has been on my mind because everyone else seems to know their role. Two-Legs Dad rides the beast that trims the grass outside our windows. Two-Legs Mama flips through tree-pages and taps on her metal box with the glowing screen. Stinky slips out from my now relaxed grasp. My breathing regulates. I’ll show you, he says, and heads towards Two-Legs Mama. She’s seated on the sofa, her legs folded beneath her. The space between her eyes is pulled together with the sad expression like the time her stove smelled like smoke. “Shoot, I was writing and forgot!” she told Two-Legs Dad and scraped blackened vegetables from a pan into the compost pail. Now, her hand extension shows an image of her younger Two-Legs. She says with a whoosh of air “I miss my college boys.” My head nods towards the fuzzy indoor-grass. TwoLegs Mama pushes back her dark mane, black like

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Midnight Dad’s fur. Her furless face reminds me of soft rubs and coos of praise. Soon, sleep will overtake me. Stinky climbs onto the sofa, stretches, and turns around on the soft jeans nest of Mama’s lap. “Aww sweetie, who’s the good boy?” She abandons her hand extension and wraps both arms around his furry body. He purrs as she strokes the magic spot on his forehead. Her sad expression evaporates. “I love you,” she says to my brainless brother. She lifts her gaze towards me “Love you too, sweetie.” My vision blurs. That’s the answer. My pulse, slowing as sleep approaches, feels full and warm. Two-Legs Mama and Dad, Calico Mom and Midnight Dad, even brainless Stinky, we are love. My furry chin slips onto my furry paws. There’s no need for a job, we just need to be. Maybe Stinky did get a turn with the brain cell after all. Love you, Mama. Love you all. CAROL VAN DEN HENDE is an awardwinning author who pens stories of resilience and hope. Her novels Orchid Blooming and Goodbye, Orchid draw from her Chinese American heritage, and have won 30+ literary and design awards, including the American Fiction Award, IAN Outstanding Fiction First Novel Award, and Royal Dragonfly Awards for Cultural Diversity and Disability Awareness.

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WHAT’S YOUR STORY?

I’m looking for pets to feature on our If Our Pets Could Talk page, Authors Interviewing Authors, and would love to shine a spotlight on your favorite Independent Bookstores, Book Sellers, Libraries, and Librarians.

Send YOUR stories, as well as any questions about the magazine, to wellreadmagazine@gmail.com

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OFF THE PAGE

A monthly column that takes us off the page and into the life of

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OFF THE PAGE WITH RAYMOND ATKINS

I found myself saying, “That’s how they get you,” yet again the other day, and it got me to thinking about how often I get got, and about how it’s certainly not just me, and about how often you get got too. Truly, I have spoken the phrase so many times in recent years that I guess it has become my motto. Sometimes I even say it in Latin, because it’s classier that way: Id quam te. Getting got has become so common in modern life that on those rare occasions when you don’t get got, you feel like something is missing—like you’ve been shortchanged somehow— and then you walk around all day stressed out, waiting for the other shoe, the get shoe, to drop. Id quam te indeed. This time I was at one of my neighborhood Dollar Generals—we have three. I love Dollar General because I’m a cheapskate, and they have an awesome dress code on top of that, and while I was there I bought a box of Little Debbie Jelly Cream Pies, for which I have held a lifelong weakness. Hey, don’t judge me. If you have never had one, my advice is to be very careful, because they are like heroin for old people, and once that creamy chocolatey fruity goodness crosses your palette, you will be hooked, just like me. I took that box home and popped it into the freezer for an hour or so because they are even better when they are cold, and then I took it out, opened it, and dumped the contents onto the kitchen table. Eight pies. Not twelve like

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there used to be. Not twelve like the box size implied there would be. Not twelve like the price indicated that there ought to be. Eight. I looked at the picture of a cheerful Little Debbie on the side of the woefully under-utilized box, wearing her cute little farm-girl hat and smiling her winsome smile at me, and I sighed. I would have been smiling too if I had just sold eight jelly creme pies for the price of twelve. That’s how they get you. If it were just the snack cake industry that was getting us, I wouldn’t be so worked up. But everywhere you try to do a little bit of legitimate business, the get is in. One of the major examples of this is the airline industry. When you go online to shop for tickets, don’t imagine for even a moment that the price you are seeing on the website is the price you are going to pay. What you do is you take that price and add to it the booking fee (even though you are booking it yourself), the luggage fee, the butt upgrade (yes, you can get four more inches of room if you pay for the butt upgrade), the airport fee, the travel taxes, and, I swear to God, the landing fee. Now, and stay with me here because this next part is

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pretty important, what good is an airline ticket to anyone if at some point you don’t land? I mean, don’t you just assume that if you take off in one of those flying cattle cars, the implication is that they will land you too? Uh uh. Silly consumer. If you don’t pay that landing fee, they will keep you in the air forever! My brother is kind of stubborn, not like me at all, and he has been refusing to pay the landing fee since about 1986. He is up there now, circling Detroit in a DC-3, eating stale peanuts while reading the in-flight magazine for the 700th time, sweating out the airline as a matter of principle. And that’s how they get you. My wife and I recently booked a cabin for our 48th wedding anniversary, and oh honey was the get in force on that deal. It was a picturesque little place and the price was right, so we jumped right on it. Then the gets started coming in. They were, in no particular order, the resort fee, the lodging tax, the booking fee (again, we booked it

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ourselves), and the cleaning fee, and once these were all tacked on, our per-night outlay went up about $200. Don’t get me wrong. We had a great time, but we would have had a greater time if they had been honest about the cost, because we would have said aw hell no and just stayed home with our money’ our television, and maybe a box of Little Debbies. Oh, and that cleaning fee? The cleaning fee is to the vacation cabin industry what the landing fee is to the airlines. In our case it was $100, which is about par for these things. Being that I am an old guy who gets everywhere early because I want to be sure I can find where I’m going and also because it’s really annoying and that’s how I like to roll, I happened to be sitting at our cabin three hours before check-in and saw what I got for my $100. My cleaning person whipped in there, took a garbage bag and a mop into the place with her, and was in there seventeen minutes including a quick smoke break on the porch. I understand that the poor dear never sees that $100 and probably gets about $10 per cabin to clean them and must work fast, so the rest of it went to the get. And that’s how they get you. The first time I ever got got was way back in the early Sixties at the hands of a Three Musketeers bar. I had seen a rich kid eat one once, and I yearned to have one for myself. I was a poor kid, you see, and the only other candy

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OFF THE PAGE WITH RAYMOND ATKINS

I had ever eaten was wax lips, those little orange circus peanut things that smelled and sort of tasted like recycled Play Doh, and licorice whips, about which I will say no more. So, I saved up my allowance for an entire year, and then I took that nickel to the store (yes, allowances have grown since the old days), put it up on the counter with a flourish, and purchased a Three Musketeers. The thing was huge, and I wondered if I was going to be able to pick it up by myself. When I got it outside I ripped it open with my teeth, and my hands were shaking with excitement as I slid that bad boy into my palm. As it turned out, and if you are of a certain age you will no doubt remember this, the Three Musketeers package was much larger than the actual Three Musketeers bar, and I had been got. The list of gets in our lives is seemingly unending. Ice cream used to come in half-gallons, but now it is marketed in containers that look like half-gallons and cost like halfgallons but are not half-gallons. There is just about enough ice cream in there to make you mad, and if you have kids at home, you might as well forget the whole thing. The other day I had to buy a refrigerator, and during that transaction I was hit with the double-get of a delivery fee ($80) for bringing the new one to me, and a haulage fee (also $80) for taking the old one away, on the same truck, by the same two guys, using the same dolly. When I questioned my delivery crew about the redundant fees,

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OFF THE PAGE WITH RAYMOND ATKINS

guess what they said? “That’s how they get you.” The list could go on and on, but Mandy just hates it when I perseverate, so I will wind it up. I feel better now, anyway, and you will too after you send me the $9.95 you owe me for reading this enjoyable essay. Hey, it was all covered in detail in the Terms and Conditions! And that’s how they get you.

Raymond L. Atkins lives and works in the mountains of Northwest Georgia. You can reach him at raymondlatkins@aol.com or on Facebook at https:// www.facebook.com/raymondlatkins.

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WELL READ MAGAZINE

OFF THE PAGE WITH RAYMOND ATKINS

NOVEMBER 2023 ISSUE NO. 16

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Hiss Me Deadly by Miranda James Charlie and Diesel must catch a killer before he strikes another deadly note in this latest installment of the New York Times bestselling Cat in the Stacks Mysteries. Charlie Harris remembers Wilfred "Wil" Threadgill as one of the outsiders during high school in Athena. Although Wil was a couple of years ahead of him and his friend Melba Gilley, Melba had a big crush on Wil, who dropped out after his junior year. An aspiring musician, Wil hit the road for California and never looked back. Wil eventually became a star, fronting a band and writing award-winning songs. Coming back to Athena to work for two weeks with students in the college music department, Wil is now the big man on campus. Not everyone is happy to have him back, however. His entourage have been the target of several acts of petty harassment. At first they are easy for Wil to shrug off, but the incidents escalate and become more troubling. When one of the band members is killed Charlie worries that Melba, now deeply involved with the man at the center of the attacks, could be in deadly danger. It is up to Charlie and Diesel to find out who hates Wil Threadgill enough to silence his song . . . forever! “Let us now praise the cozy mystery, so comforting on dark days, so warming on chilly nights—the literary equivalent of a cat.”—The New York Times Book Review “Courtly librarian Charlie Harris and his Maine Coon cat,

Diesel, are an endearing detective duo. Warm, charming, and Southern as the tastiest grits.”—Carolyn Hart, New York Times bestselling author of the Death on Demand Mysteries “Ideal for Christie fans who enjoy a good puzzle.”—Library Journal “A pleasing blend of crime and charm.”—Richmond TimesDispatch “All my must-haves for a cozy mystery read: engaging story line, interesting and spunky characters . . . and a charming pet.”— Open Book Society “Combines a kindhearted librarian hero . . . a sleepy Southern town, and a gentle giant of a cat that will steal your heart.”— Lorna Barrett, New York Times bestselling author of the Booktown Mysteries “Excellent. . . . Reinforces James’s place in the top rank of cozy authors.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) “James presents a sharply focused story that celebrates the role of the armchair investigator and his informants.”—Kirkus Reviews Miranda James is the New York Times bestselling author of the Cat in the Stacks Mysteries and the Southern Ladies Mysteries.

WELL READ Magazine November 2023

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