Southern Humor Fiction

In You Will Never Be Forgotten, Mary South explores how technology can both collapse our relationships from within and provide opportunities for genuine connection. Formally inventive, darkly absurdist, savagely critical of the increasingly fraught cultural climates we inhabit, these 10 stories also find hope in fleeting interactions and moments of tenderness. They reveal our grotesque selfishness and our intense need for love and acceptance, and the psychic pain that either shuts us off or allows us to discover our deepest reaches of empathy.

An eclectic collection of stories from the members of the North Alabama Science Fiction and Cake Appreciation Society. Earl, Bubba, and the Flying Hubcap -- by Louise Herring-Jones – Two Alabama good ol’ boys have a close encounter. Messenger -- by Dan Thompson – A wanderer arrives at an isolated village with news about the plague that devastated the world. Pink Eggs in a White Box -- by Michael Guillebeau – A lonely technician finds love in an unexpected place. Mother Gone -- by Nancy G. Swanner – Three children search for their kidnapped mother, unaware that there is magic ...

"When Poppy Wainwright's grandmother dies, she travels from her home in Arkansas to live with her grandmother's older sister, Sookie, in Savannah, Georgia. 'Your Grandma Lainey was a self-righteous nit-wit,' Sookie tells Poppy upon their first meeting, 'and if I had the gumption, I'd drive myself up to Mountain Home and spit on her freshly dug grave.' Sookie is everything Poppy's grandmother was not: atheistic, slovenly, suspicious, prone to vendettas, and completely lacking any verbal filter." (Kirkus Reviews)

Lou Ann Hunter’s mother, Patricia, has always had a passionate nature, which explains why she’s been married and divorced five times and spooned enough male patients to be ousted from three elderly care facilities. She also has Alzheimer’s, which is why she wants to spend the rest of her life surrounded by childhood memories at Sutton Hall, her family’s decrepit plantation home in Louisiana. Lou Ann, aka Lulu the Love Guru, has built an empire preaching sex, love, and relationship advice to the women of America - mostly by defying the example her mother has set for her.

Highly educated millennial David Harper is adrift. He is also the pastor’s son. Or he was, until his father dropped dead in the pulpit. When David learns his widowed mother is in danger of losing the roof over her head, he surprises everyone, most of all himself, and steps in to fill his father’s shoes.

World War II, The South Pacific - Australia - Morotai - The Philippines - Submarines, and then there is Clyde and Neville, a unique pair of English plantation owners who own their own steamship (sort of) and have visions of finally having some money before the war ends.Bouncing from one problem to another, from potential disasters to real ones, Clyde and Neville deploy their unique understanding of how to win a war and have a good time doing it. Inspectors are after them, the Japanese Army is after them and the Australian government is sorry it ever heard their names. Come along and enjoy ...

Meet the women of American Housewife: They wear lipstick, pearls, and sunscreen, even when it's cloudy. They casserole. They pinwheel. They pump the salad spinner like it's a CPR dummy. And then they kill a party crasher, carefully stepping around the body to pull cookies out of the oven. These 12 irresistible stories take us from a haunted prewar Manhattan apartment building to the set of a rigged reality television show, from the unique initiation ritual of a book club to the getaway car of a pageant princess on the lam.

"Memories stick with you, now and forever." Mavis Montgomery made a spontaneous decision that hasn’t sat well with anyone. Her love interest, Earl Boudreaux, is not exactly the knight in shining armor that she was expecting, but she made her bed and now has to lie in it. Ruby Montgomery is distraught after a big fight with her granddaughter, Mavis. When Mavis runs off to Louisiana with the con man, Wilbur must take over all duties at the Manor, as well as keeping the aging Stone Sisters in check. Maude Cooper has to balance her emotions and the health scares of her two best friends that ...

On the Ides of March, our hero, Raleigh Whittier Hayes (forgetful husband, baffled father, prosperous insurance agent, and leading citizen of Thermopylae, North Carolina), learns that his father has discharged himself from the hospital, taken all his money out of the bank and, with a young Black female mental patient, vanished in a yellow Cadillac convertible. Left behind is a mysterious list of seven outrageous tasks that Raleigh must perform in order to rescue his father and his inheritance.

Is she beyond the reach of redemption? Jolene Spencer had been perplexed from the first mention of Micah Abrams. Why would a grown man uproot his life and move two states over at the urging of Jo’s momma? How did he and Ma even meet? And he’s raising a daughter by himself. Where is the child’s momma and how does she fit into his plans? When Jo first sees him standing on the front porch, staring like a deer caught in the headlights and seemingly unable to speak, she pegs him as a shy one. But then he walks in with a confident swagger and mingles with her family like he’s been there ...

Combining southern warmth with unabashed emotion and side-splitting hilarity, Fannie Flagg takes readers back to Elmwood Springs, Missouri, where the most unlikely and surprising experiences of a high-spirited octogenarian inspire a town to ponder the age-old question: Why are we here?

Off the coast of Maine, Ruth Thomas is born into a feud fought for generations by two groups of local lobstermen over fishing rights for the waters that lie between their respective islands. At 18, she has returned from boarding school - smart as a whip, feisty, and irredeemably unromantic - determined to throw over her education and join the "stern men" working the lobster boats.

Retired school teacher Patricia Anne has a knack for landing right in the middle of murder investigations, but this time she is fighting to clear the accused. Patricia Anne has been good friends with her neighbor Mitzi for 40 years. She’s surprised when she sees Mitzi’s husband Arthur having lunch at the Hunan Hut with an attractive woman. She’s positively shocked when that same woman drops dead moments later. Then Arthur is accused of murder, their home catches fire, and he gets shot in the butt.

From Janet Evanovich, author of the best selling Stephanie Plum bounty hunter series, comes this romantic adventure tale written in the Plum tradition, teeming with fast-paced action, dysfunctional loveable characters, steamy sex, suspense, and lots of laughs.

Lady Miss Jacqueline swears that hair makes a difference. And it does! Now Janet is taking charge on the job and making moves on a local barista she’s always shied away from. But when her brash new Lady Miss drawl gets all the wrong attention, Janet realizes that she needs to change her style - and her wig. It’s all a matter of finding the perfect fit.

BETRAYAL. PASSION. MAGIC. And...WIGS! From the sparkling imagination of gifted entertainer Keke Palmer and her iconic alter ego, Lady Miss Jacqueline, comes a hilarious modern fairy tale about a wilting violet, a clash of personalities, and a multitude of hair.

After slipping on Chelsea - a magical wig that comes with a gregarious personality - Janet is making strides at work and has a new friend and a confident strut. Life is fab. Isn’t it? Honestly, there’s something missing. Where’s the adventure? The purpose? What she needs is to tap into her inner daredevil. But her mystical wigmaker has a word of caution: should Janet lose control, it might not be so easy to get it back.

Welcome to the front porch of Possum Neck, Arkansas—where the tea is sweet, the air is thick with crickets and mischief, and Grandpa Charlie’s rocking chair creaks with more secrets than a preacher at a pie auction. In That Reminds Me of a Story, you’re about to experience twenty outrageous, side-splitting, and possibly-not-entirely-true tales straight from the mouth of the South’s most animated storyteller. From possessed hams and time-warping lawnmowers to ghost-filled outhouses and championship possum pageants, these stories walk the fine line between “that never happened” ...

If it wasn’t for bad luck, Nik Briscoe wouldn’t have any luck at all. On the run from a criminal gang for a crime she didn't commit, she finds herself arrested in the obscure town of Possum Trot for yet another murder she didn't commit. Sensing a trend here, Nik knows she needs to clear her good name—and fast. As a disabled ex-Navy SEAL, Nik is no stranger to challenges, but facing off against Sam Beaulieu, a local power player with seemingly limitless influence, pushes her skills to the limit. With the odds stacked against her, Nik dives into the murky underbelly of Possum Trot, ...

High school wasn’t a grand time for everyone, but when a group of friends decide to meet up at a B and B ahead of their 10-year reunion, old grudges resurface, and one of them ends up dead. Now the owners, a kindly older couple, are on the hook for the accidental death due to anaphylaxis, but they insist no mistakes were made on their part. Fortune is asked to look into the situation before the inept local sheriff railroads the couple or simply allows gossip to run them out of business, which will cost them their home. Swamp Team 3 heads to Voodoo Island to find a way to clear the couple.