Mojo Rising (Volume 2): Contemporary Writers

3.4/5 ( ratings)

“Often an editor’s idea of contemporary southern literature is rooted too deeply in setting and mood. The dozen stories collected in 'Mojo Rising: Contemporary Writers' by Joseph B. Atkins offer a vibrant counterpoint. These eight men and four women take risks with voice, setting, point of view and genre and the payoffs for the reader are enjoyable and edifying.
“In “Beg Borrow Steal,” Maurice Carlos Ruffin expertly creates space for the reader to become the protagonist, who spends his time searching for some way other than his feet to move from one place to another. While Sheree Renee Thomas’s charming “Aunt Dissy’s Policy Dream Book” explores the difficult truth that you don’t get what you want because you want it—even with the help of palm readers and dreams. Margaret Skinner transforms our antiquated idea of kin into a nuanced understanding of the American Dream and in doing so, revitalizes two clichés.
“This collection proves that the link between southern writers is not regional storytelling, but fearless storytelling.”--Courtney Miller Santo, English Department, University of Memphis, Director of River City Writers Series

This is short fiction from the Mojo Triangle, the same magical geographical area that gave us blues, jazz, country music, and rock ‘n’ roll. Included are stories from trendsetting writers such as New York Times bestselling author Ace Atkins, author of two dozen novels, including "The Fallen" ; writer Sheree Renee Thomas is editor of the "Dark Matter" anthology, which was named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year ; William Boyle, who lives in Oxford, MS, is the author of "Gravesend" and numerous short stories; author Julie Smith, who lives in New Orleans, is the author of numerous novels, including "P.I. On a Hot Tin Roof" and "Mean Woman Blues"; she is a graduate of the University of Mississippi; Steven Barthelme is the author of two short story collections, "Hush Hush" and "And He Tells the Little Horse the Whole Story" (he lives in Hattiesburg, MS; Maurice Carlos Ruffin, who lives in New Orleans, is the author of a forthcoming novel to be published by One World/Random House, and the winner of the 2014 Iowa Review Award for fiction; former University of Mississippi journalism professor Jere Hoar, who lives in Oxford, MS, is the author of a novel," The Hit," and a short story collection, "Body Parts"; Corey Mesler, who lives in Memphis and co-owns Burke’s Bookstore, is the author of numerous poems, short stories and novels, including "Memphis Movie"; James L. Dickerson, a longtime resident of Memphis and Nashville who currently lives just outside Jackson, MS, is the author of more than 30 books, including "Mojo Triangle" and "Memphis Going Down"; Margaret Skinner of Memphis, author of "Cold Eye: A Short Story Collection" and two novels published by Algonquin Books, "Old Jim Canaan" and "Molly Flanagan and the Holy Ghost" ; plus an "In Memoriam" to the late Larry Brown, author of the novel "Joe," which was made into a movie starring Nicolas Cage, and "Big Bad Love," which was made into a movie starring Debra Winger; Brown's contribution is an excerpt from his novel, "Fay";and the editor of this book, Joseph B. Atkins, who is the author of a novel, "Casey’s Last Chance."

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Joseph B. Atkins, a journalism professor at the University of Mississippi, is a veteran journalist and former congressional correspondent.