Southern Writers, MAC Winner

I told you I was reading Georgia Bottoms by Mark Childress. It was no surprise that the book is as witty and poignant as his other books, although GB seemed to be less intense. Georgia is the quintessential, naughty Southern belle who manages to make her lifestyle seem almost normal. If the townfolk know what she's up to, they conveniently ignore it.

All the secondary characters are cast perfectly and well worth getting to know. Much like the refrain of "Harper Valley PTA" Georgia gets her come uppance when the preacher decides to bare his soul and hers from the pew. A typically wild ride ensues, taking her small town with it as Georgia works herself free of her problems. Using the shock and trauma of 9/11, Childress weaves an effective sequence of events far away from the center of activity in New York. The ending is quite good and could lead to a sequel. I would love to see Georgia plowing her way through other dilemmas.

Congratulations to another Southern writer, Dee Jordan. Today I'm posting the Second Place Winner of the MAC April contest. A retired schoolteacher, Jordan's first novel was published under the pen name, N. L. Snowden. The novel, In and Out of Madness, is available on Amazon. Jordan writes a column about the life of a published author for a California e-zine called Active Voice. She also does book reviews for the Alabama Writers' Forum Online Reviews, and she writes articles dealing with mental illness for the newspaper, New York City Voices. She has had short stories published in two literary magazines and in four different anthologies. She is a featured author in A Gallery of Voices 2012. One story won first place at the Baldwin County Writers Fiction contest. Jordan can we reached via www.inandoutofmadness.net and mobiledeelight@gmail.com. Thanks for submitting this thought-provoking story.

The Jump

Jolly hadn’t ridden her horse, Cisco, since 1997. They were a team when she showed him. He provided the sensitivity to her hands and body movements. She provided the cues that produced a high score along with many a blue ribbon. They were on their way up, when my fall into insanity stopped everything normal in Jolly’s life.

I had tried killing myself eight times, which put my needs above her desire to be a winner. Jolly was that way, unselfish and very pragmatic.

Last week we drove to Mississippi to visit with twenty-one year-old Cisco. She mounted him. While cantering, she leaned forward in the saddle, and he was able to spring over the four-foot log as if it were nothing.

Neither had forgotten.

First and third place winners to be posted over the next week. Stephanie Lawton, Mobile author of YA will be our guest poster this Friday.

Mahala