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Articles by Bradley Sides
Bradley Sides’s Book Notes music playlist for his novella The Volcano Keeper
In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book. Previous contributors include Jesmyn Ward, Lauren Groff, Bret Easton Ellis, Celeste Ng, T.C. Boyle, Dana Spiotta, Hanif Abdurraqib, Andrew Sean Greer, Roxane Gay, and many others. Bradley Sides’s novella The Volcano Keeper is a moving fable of family and love.
The Volcano Keeper
The Volcano Keeper By Bradley Sides Regal House Publishing; 2026 Paperback: $18.95 Genre: Southern Fiction Reviewed by Edward Journey In a 2024 review of Bradley Sides’s short story collection, Crocodile Tears Didn’t Cause the Flood, I used the word “audacious.” Sides’s hugely different but equally audacious new offering, The Volcano Keeper, is a beautifully wrought novella of love, grief, persistence, resilience, and miracles set in pastoral Alabama, where the death of a beloved grandparent...
A Study of the Complexities of Love in “The Tulip Poplars”
Silas House, the author of such recent novels as Lark Ascending and Southernmost, returns with The Tulip Poplars, an epic Appalachian romance. As the book opens, House plants us in Bright Star, Kentucky, in 1918. It’s here that we meet the cast of characters — Tom, Amos, Maeve, and Paschal — that guide the rest of the book. Quickly, we witness Tom and Amos fall in love, just as we learn of the love bubbling between Maeve and Paschal.
The Southern Summer Book Club: Spencer K. M. Brown
This year’s book club wraps up with a conversation with Spencer K. M. Brown about his recent short story collection, Slow Fire. If you missed Bradley’s introduction to the book, don’t forget to check it out before you watch. While there is much to admire in Slow Fire, what stands out the most is the tonal balance Brown maintains from the first story until the last. Yes, there is such heaviness from pain and struggle. And there is a lot of pain and struggle.
The Southern Summer Book Club: August
I was reading Salvation South when I first came across the work of Spencer K.M. Brown. This was back in January of 2025, and the story was “I’m Bound to Leave This Dark Behind.” Immediately, I was hooked. Brown’s story featured my favorite kind of writing. It was poetic and atmospheric, and it covered father-son relationships, our responsibility to the land, love, legacy, and even faith. I looked up the author to see if “I’m Bound to Leave This Dark Behind” belonged to a collection yet.
The Southern Summer Book Club: Tommy Hays
Our second book club interview for this year features Tommy Hays chatting with Bradley Sides about his recent novel, The Marriage Bed. If you missed Bradley’s introduction to the book, don’t forget to check it out before you watch. As much as this book is about grief and love, it also very much considers fatherhood and survival. How does a flawed man make amends with his children, especially a son that he doesn’t fully understand?
Southern Summer Book Club: July
I read widely. I like a mix of voices and approaches and styles. But if forced to declare a topic that is tough for me to pass on, it’s always (and I do mean always) going to be a book that looks at the complexities of grief. These books so often contain something that feels deeply intimate and, somehow, also universal. When these kinds of books are done right, they tend to expand our view and understanding of grief, of course, but they also inform other aspects of our lives.
The Southern Summer Book Club: Aimee Nezhukumatathil
It’s finally time to debut our first installment of the 2026 Southern Summer Book Club with a conversation between Bradley Sides and Aimee Nezhukumatathil! If you missed Bradley’s introduction to NIGHT OWL, don’t forget to check it out before you watch, but here’s a snippet about the collection: From the first poem, “Nocturne for Dark Things,” it’s clear that this is a book that shows Nezhukumatahil at her best.
2026 Southern Summer Book Club Kickoff
If we are lucky, we get to have that magical experience of coming across the right book exactly when we need it. I experienced this kind of rarity with Aimee Nezhukumatathil’s latest collection of poetry, Night Owl. Night Owl first came to me in December, and that last month of 2025, at least where I live in northern Alabama, was unusually cold. I was skipping my daily runs. My dog, missing her own squirrel hunting sessions, whined at the door, in prayer for something just beyond her grasp.
The 2026 Southern Summer Book Club
I am excited to announce that The Southern Summer Book Club is back for another round, y’all! We hope you’ll join us as we continue to build literary communities throughout the South. Plus, being a part of our book club is a great way to celebrate contemporary Southern lit. And I know we all love that! Without further ado, I’m thrilled to announce our reads for this upcoming summer: June Aimee Nezhukumatathil’s Night Owl July Tommy Hays’ The Marriage Bed August Spencer K. M.
Predicting the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (and How to Watch It Live!)
Reading Lists The contenders we have our eyes on for America's most desired literary prize Photo by James Coleman on Unsplash It feels good to type these next few words: The Pulitzer Prize announcement is nigh! On Monday, May 4th, at 3:00 p.m. EST, we’ll find out which book takes home one of the literary world’s most celebrated prizes. Live stream the announcement here! To be honest, it’s nice to be able to celebrate something.
Book Review: Erica Wright’s latest mystery sets a murder in a special kind of tourist town
Book Review: Erica Wright’s latest mystery sets a murder in a special kind of tourist town 15 minutes ago by Bradley Sides / Chapter16.org × "The Museum of Unusual Occurrence" Severn House
Dan Leach Explores Y2K Apocalyptic Sincerity in “Junah at the End of the World”
Every once in a while, if you are lucky, you come across a book that you can’t put down. You begin that first word, and in a few hours, you’ve read the last one. Junah at the End of the World, Dan Leach’s first novel, is one of those rare books for me. This is a slim novel brimming with warmth, tenderness, humor, and wisdom. It was an absolute MUST for inclusion in “The Southern Summer Book Club”.
The Southern Summer Book Club: “Junah at the End of the World”
The Southern Summer Book Club: “Junah at the End of the World” Somehow, it’s nearing the end of summer and this is the last edition of our Southern Summer Book Club! We’ve loved all of the books and conversations over the last few months, and we hope you have too. For this last book, we wanted to give you the opportunity to chime in, so let us know what you thought of Dan Leach’s Junah at the End of the World in the comments! Junah at the End of the World By Dan Leach Hub City Press June 17, 2025
Neighbors Hold Unusual Burials in “The Curious Calling of Leonard Bush”
In the most fitting of circumstances, on the day I began Susan Gregg Gilmore’s The Curious Calling of Leonard Bush, a book that begins with a funeral for the titular character’s leg, I, too, conducted an odd funeral. It was for one of the backyard birds my dog had long held as an enemy (and, that day, decided to move upon). This, combined with the regional similarities of my own rural Tennessee setting reflected within Gilmore’s book, made the novel engaging from the opening chapter.
The Quiet Motion of the World Informs “Feller”
Skip to content interviews Denton Loving on writing about grief, place, and the conundrum of privacy in poetry I first read Denton Loving’s latest collection of poetry, Feller, shortly after the sun rose, on my back porch. It was one of those seasonally cool summer mornings. The wind was stirring. Branches were gently swaying. Squirrels and chipmunks were mingling below my birdfeeders out in the yard, and a couple of blue jays, in conversation, were making use of one of the old birdbaths.
“Stagnant and Delirious”: A Conversation with Julia Elliott
Julia Elliott’s latest story collection, the fantastic and fantastical Hellions, is an absolute summer delight, containing humid swamps, muddy magic, and dreamed escapes. When reading for titles for “The Southern Summer Book Club,” I knew within the first two stories that this one had to be a part of the fun.
The Southern Summer Book Club: “Hellions”
Welcome back to our Southern Summer Book Club! We’re sure you’ve already seen the buzz around Julia Elliott’s Hellions, but if not, hopefully this book club discussion will give you all the insight you need to want to read it for yourself! We gathered friends and book world voices to discuss Elliott’s stories, including Dawn Major, author and editor in Georgia; Jenna B. Morgan, writer and teacher in Tennessee; and Andrew Siegrist, short story writer in Tennessee.
Civil Rights and Hurricane Katrina Histories Converge in “Behind the Waterline”
When I began reading new and upcoming books earlier this spring for The Southern Summer Book Club here at Southern Review of Books, the first title on my stack was Kionna Walker LeMalle’s Behind the Waterline, winner of the Lee Smith Novel Prize. Within reading the first chapter, I knew this was the novel that would be the inaugural selection of our Book Club.
The Southern Summer Book Club: “Behind the Waterline”
Welcome to the very first edition of our Southern Summer Book Club! We hope you’ve already heard a lot about Kionna Walker LeMalle’s Behind the Waterline, but if not, hopefully this book club discussion will pique your interest! We gathered friends and book world voices to discuss LeMalle’s novel, including Scott Gould, author of 6 books (including one coming later this summer!) in South Carolina; Donna Newsome, Associate Professor of English at River Parishes Community College in Louisiana;...
Predicting the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
The year that was has made its artistic judgments. Mostly. The world of film declared Anora as Best Picture. Music selected Beyonce’s Cowboy Carter as Album of the Year. Now, finally, on May 5th, book world gets its big moment. Pulitzer time is here! As most of us book-loving folks know, there are a lot of book awards. The Pulitzer, however, is the one that seems to get the most attention. For a brief moment, with the announcement fresh, it’s like the world takes a break and celebrates books.
Review: Investigator Mick Hardin gets a new job in Chris Offutt’s ‘The Reluctant Sheriff’
"THE RELUCTANT SHERIFF" by Chris Offutt (Grove Hardcover, 288 pages, $27). Ex-Army CID investigator Mick Hardin is back at it in the Kentucky hills in "The Reluctant Sheriff," the fourth installment of Chris Offutt's popular series. Offutt wastes no time in the opening, as two liquor delivery drivers come across a dead body in the parking lot of a local tavern. This body is only the first to fall.
Pain and Pure Beauty
Ex-Army CID investigator Mick Hardin is back at it in the Kentucky hills in The Reluctant Sheriff, the fourth installment of Chris Offutt’s popular series. Offutt wastes no time in the opening, as two liquor delivery drivers come across a dead body in the parking lot of a local tavern. This body is only the first to fall. Readers who’ve come to know and love the Mick Hardin novels can safely anticipate that there will be more to follow.
Bradley Sides interviews Maggie Nye, author of The Curators
Maggie Nye’s debut, The Curators (Curbstone Books 2024), mixes magical realism with history. Set in Atlanta during the summer of 1915, The Curators follows a group of young girls–known as the Felicitous Five–as they create and deal with a golem in the aftermath of Mary Phagan’s murder and Leo Frank’s lynching. Nye’s novel boldly and authentically looks at desire, hunger, and friendship. It’s the kind of book that you don’t soon forget.
Bradley Sides interviews Willie Davis, author of “I Can Outdance Jesus”
Willie Davis’ I Can Outdance Jesus (2024) is a rip-roaring collection of excellent rural short fiction–one that is almost certain to leave a lasting impression on readers. In Davis’ stories, songwriters taunt Episcopalians leaving church, a young girl preaches to chickens, and miracles appear (well—maybe not). It was my pleasure to be able to talk with Willie about humor, rascally characters, and rural fiction. Bradley Sides: Thank you for taking the time to chat with me, Willie.
Bradley Sides Interviews Jen Fawkes, author of Daughters of Chaos
For those readers who believe nothing original or new is being written these days, check out and marvel at Jen Fawkes’s Daughters of Chaos, a shapeshifting, powerhouse novel that balances explorations of history, myth, identity, and monsters. Fawkes’s novel, told in letters and a variety of forms, tells the story of Sylvie Swift as she makes her way to Nashville to learn more about a mysterious script that she receives.
Bradley Sides interviews Shaun Hamill, author of “The Dissonance”
Shaun Hamill’s The Dissonance is a big and bold novel that mixes fantasy, horror, and heart. The magical story weaves between characters and time periods, as readers encounter themes of friendship and love. Just like with the author’s previous book, A Cosmology of Monsters, there are even monsters. Shaun Hamill received his BA in English from the University of Texas at Arlington, and his MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. His debut novel, A Cosmology of Monsters, was published in 2019.
‘Hollow Bones’ Retells Shakespeare in West Virginia
Knoxville author Erica Wright opens her latest novel, Hollow Bones, with the image of a snake being pulled onto a lap. It’s an eerie beginning, and it serves as the perfect transition from the author’s 2020 essay collection, Snake, about the often-maligned creature. In both the earlier book and this new one, fear exists — and it is consuming. Hollow Bones By Erica Wright Severn House 208 pages, $29.99 Wright will appear at the 2024 Southern Festival of Books, Oct. 26-27.
Review: Erica Wright’s latest novel features real and metaphorical serpents
"HOLLOW BONES" by Erica Wright (Severn House, 208 pages, $30.) Knoxville author Erica Wright opens her latest novel, "Hollow Bones," with the image of a snake being pulled onto a lap. It's an eerie beginning, and it serves as the perfect transition from the author's 2020 essay collection, "Snake," about the often-maligned creature. In both the earlier book and this new one, fear exists — and it is consuming.
A Venomous Presence
Knoxville author Erica Wright opens her latest novel, Hollow Bones, with the image of a snake being pulled onto a lap. It’s an eerie beginning, and it serves as the perfect transition from the author’s 2020 essay collection, Snake, about the often-maligned creature. In both the earlier book and this new one, fear exists — and it is consuming.
Review: James Seay’s essay collection reflects on mortality, literature and the natural world
Advertisement Advertisement Review: James Seay’s essay collection reflects on mortality, literature and the natural world Today at 12:00 p.m. by Bradley Sides / Chapter16.org Photo by Tom Rankin / James Seay "COME! COME! WHERE? WHERE?" by James Seay (University of North Carolina Press, 184 pages, $23). James Seay takes readers to Mississippi, Moscow and many places in between in his latest book, a reflective and tender essay collection titled "Come! Come! Where?
Predicting the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
news We're betting on these contenders for this year's most coveted literary award in America With March Madness and the Super Bowl recently crowning champions and the Grammys and Oscars awarding music and movies, it’s finally time for the literary world to have its own big moment in the sun.
Buzzing with Life
James Seay takes readers to Mississippi, Moscow, and many places in between in his latest book, a reflective and tender essay collection titled Come! Come! Where? Where? In the opening essays, the author reflects on his own loss and grief. For example, “Down among the Bones, the Darks, the Sparrows” finds Seay at his son’s grave, observing a bee.
7 Magical Realism Stories from the American South
I’ve lived in Alabama my entire life, and if I’m being honest, I doubt I’ll ever leave. It’s my home—my beautiful, strange, complicated home. My new speculative/magical realism short story collection, Crocodile Tears Didn’t Cause the Flood, has a particular fascination with the American South.
Review: George Singleton brings his gift for storytelling to the essays in ‘Asides’
Advertisement Advertisement Review: George Singleton brings his gift for storytelling to the essays in ‘Asides’ Today at 12:00 p.m. by Bradley Sides / Chapter 16 Contributed Photo / George Singleton "ASIDES: OCCASIONAL ESSAYS ON DOGS, FOOD, RESTAURANTS, BARS, HANGOVERS, JOBS, MUSIC, FAMILY TREES, ROBBERY, RELATIONSHIPS, BEING BROUGHT UP QUESTIONABLY, ET CETERA" by George Singleton (EastOver Press, 196 pages, $20).
The Good-Heartedness Never Leaves
In the introduction to his latest book, an essay collection titled Asides, George Singleton writes, “There happen to be some great essayists. I don’t count myself in this group.” I think most readers who dive into this lovely slim book full of dogs, writing advice, and summer jobs will disagree. Asides, following hard on the heels of Singleton’s August 2023 story collection, The Curious Lives of Nonprofit Martyrs, is the author’s first full-length collection of essays.
50 Years, 50 Books
Humanities Tennessee celebrates its 50th birthday in 2023, and we're marking the occasion at Chapter 16 by celebrating 50 great Tennessee books published since 1973. Check the website this Friday, June 9, for the first in a series of posts about these notable books. We'll also be featuring essays on selected titles from the list, followed by an online discussion that everyone is welcome to join. First up is Richard Powers' Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Overstory.
Human Drama
Chris Offutt introduced readers to Army CID investigator Mick Hardin and his rural Kentucky community in 2021 with The Killing Hills, the first of a series of thrillers balancing murder and crime with loyalty and humor. Shifty’s Boys followed in 2022, and 2023 brings a third novel, Code of the Hills, taking Mick back to his hometown, where once again trouble is brewing. As the book opens, Mick’s sister Linda, the local sheriff, is busy investigating a murder, and there’s more killing to come.
Predicting the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
The Pulitzer Prize isn’t the only major literary award, but it is the one that seems to get the most attention. The Old Man and the Sea. To Kill a Mockingbird. The Optimist’s Daughter. The Color Purple. Lonesome Dove. Beloved. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. Gilead. The Road. The Goldfinch. The Underground Railroad.
The End of Tennessee as We Know It
David Wesley Williams, author of the 2013 novel Long Gone Daddies, takes readers on a post-apocalyptic journey from Nashville to Memphis in his latest work of fiction, the rambunctious and rollicking Everybody Knows. As Everybody Knows opens, we find that the world has ended — or the world as we know it in Tennessee, at least.
Calling Young Chattanooga Writers
A heads-up to Chattanooga folks: There's one week left for K-12 students in Hamilton County, including homeschool students, to have their work submitted for the Young Southern Student Writers Contest. The contest was established in 1999 and is presented by the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in partnership with SoLit (formerly Southern Lit Alliance). Submissions are open until January 15, and details for entering can be found here.
Silas House’s Lark Ascending Finds Kindness and Hope in a Bleak World
Lark Ascending By Silas House Algonquin 288 pages $27 Readers who fell in love with Silas House’s writing after the release of his widely acclaimed 2018 novel Southernmost will likely have that love deepened by Lark Ascending, the author’s latest work of fiction, as it pulls off the difficult task of being an apocalyptic novel that is truly harrowing, yet even more deeply affecting and tender.
Review: ‘Lark Ascending’ finds kindness and hope in a bleak world
"LARK ASCENDING" by Silas House (Algonquin, 288 pages, $27). Readers who fell in love with Silas House's writing after the release of his widely acclaimed 2018 novel, "Southernmost," will likely have that love deepened by "Lark Ascending," the author's latest work of fiction, as it pulls off the difficult task of being an apocalyptic novel that is truly harrowing, yet even more deeply affecting and tender.
Something That Wants to Live
Readers who fell in love with Silas House’s writing after the release of his widely acclaimed 2018 novel, Southernmost, will likely have that love deepened by Lark Ascending, the author’s latest work of fiction, as it pulls off the difficult task of being an apocalyptic novel that is truly harrowing, yet even more deeply affecting and tender.
Autumn Is Almost Here
Fall officially arrives this Thursday, September 22, and that means it's time to start storing up books for the winter — right? Okay, most of us already have a well-stocked TBR pile (or two, or three), but you can never have too many books. Everybody knows that. And there's always a new book (or one that's new to you) just waiting to take you someplace you didn't know you needed to go.
Party Invitation
Save the date! The 2022 Southern Festival of Books is still a few months away, but Humanities Tennessee will be offering a glimpse of this year's author lineup at a reveal party on July 7. The in-person gathering will be held at the Tennessee State Library and Archives in Nashville, with the announcement portion livestreamed on Facebook. The event is free, but attendees are asked to register in advance.
Shareable Treasures
I used to think about the longevity of gifts. What could be given that would be cherished for more than a handful of days or a couple of weeks? A pie is a safe gift, but, in my experience as a recipient, even a mediocre one doesn’t last more than a few minutes. A birdhouse is nice, too, but let one hungry snake crawl up inside it, and the carefully painted blocks of wood you spent the better part of a week on are probably going to be taken off the back fence post before the sun sets on the day.
Backyards and Bookstores
The weather was perfect here in Middle Tennessee for honoring Earth Day on April 22, and we were delighted to see that PBS NewsHour chose to mark the occasion by featuring an interview with Tennessee's own Margaret Renkl, who urges us to fall in love with the natural wonders in our own backyards.
When the Corn Is Waist High Is a Fast-Paced, Complex Murder Mystery
Jeremy Scott, author of The Ables novel series and co-creator of YouTube’s CinemaSins, returns with the propulsive and thrilling When the Corn Is Waist High. Set in the 1980s in the small town of Crooked Creek, Ind., Scott’s novel opens with a murder. This might not seem like the most original of hooks, but Scott smartly constructs the opening to transform quickly into something much larger — and something quite sinister.
Poor Girls from the Countryside
Steve Yarbrough opens his latest novel, Stay Gone Days, with these words: “In Ella’s recollections, their house stands on the east side of the gravel road, a cotton field to the north, an orchard to the south. It’s a boxy little two-bedroom with Sheetrock siding, hot in spring and summer, cold in fall and winter. They had a window unit, but it mostly just made noise.
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