Southern Humor Fiction

As the rest of America struggled during the Great Depression, the denizens of Hopewell Valley, Kentucky, were unmoved—they had always struggled. Henry Van Boorean made his own way—backstreet boxing, bootleg wine-making, and homemade fertilizer (spiked with roadkill). Along with his polio-stricken wife, two sons, a temperamental rooster, and a cast of eccentrics, he withstood the mid-twentieth century on a rundown farm in the foothills of Appalachia. Van Boorean’s Hill is the anti-Waltons. Unrue deftly subverts a century of Appalachian stereotypes with warmth, depth, and delicious ...

Explore Southeast Texas in Seeds of Bliss, where humor, danger, and the faith of hometown hero Scott Mitchum come together in a thrilling Americana tale. Seeds of Bliss is about the East Texas town of Lyric, its triumphs and its struggles, and the people who are an integral part of it. The novel focuses on a hometown man, Scott Mitchum, and his daily goal to live out his faith in God, how he translates it into practical actions which he inoculates into his relationships and his will to survive and thrive. The story includes other characters who are positively influenced by Scott, and those ...

From the author of The Loser Fandango and Van Boorean’s Hill There’s a serial killer loose in Atlanta and the only man who suspects it is a washed-up cop on his way out. Fighting against the clock, fighting against apathy, he’s on his own, on his last legs, and down to the wire. social satire at its best. Unrue deftly skewers the genteel south and gets away with it

Dr. Frederick Eichner, world-renowned dermatologist, is visited by the entrancingly irritating Felix Treevly who comes to him as a patient and stays as an obsession. Prosaic incidents blossom into bizarre developments with the sharpened reality of dreams as the spectral Mr. Treevly leads the doctor into a series of increasingly weird situations. With the assistance of a drunken private detective, a mad judge, a car crash, a game show called What’s My Disease, and a hashish party, Treevly drives Eichner to madness and mayhem.

This delightful collection of short stories from acclaimed writer Susan Gabriel (The Secret Sense of Wildflower, a Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2012 and an Amazon number one best seller) is rich in humor as well as mystery and meaning. Whether white or black, living or dead, down home country or upscale urban, Gabriel's characters are quirky, poignant, and deep.

Author and professional storyteller Brooke Cox believes sauces from the Lord are all around us. Don’t be misled; this is not a book about food. For the most part, Cox considers these sauces as the basis for stories that equal fun lessons from God. She says these sauces often leak into our lives in the guise of stories that are equipping us to live, not only in our present, but also in our future. In the book, Saucy Southern Stories, Cox shares the zesty sauces the Lord has generously poured onto her quirky tomboy life.

Finding yourself without a home in the weeks before Christmas would break most people, but for Bridget Carrington, it’s a chance to start again. Mulberry-On-Sea has always been her happy place, and she’s hoping it can work its magic this festive season and heal her family after a difficult year. Now, as the community wraps Bridget and her children - six-year-old Freya and 14-year-old twins Oscar and Olly - in their warm embrace, she starts to feel like herself again.

The Donkey and the Darling is an infamous parody of children's fairy tales that is classic Terry Southern. Originally a collaboration with painter Larry Rivers, there were only 35 physical copies created of what turned out to be the most expensive and labor-intensive project ever created by University Limited Art Edition. This audio version is a unique, winking performance by Steven Crossley.

In the quaint town of Amblewood, Booked Bliss is the heart of the community—a cozy bookstore where neighbors gather, stories come to life, and mysteries are best kept on the shelves. But when famed author Samuel Rowley dies suddenly during the weekly book club meeting, the quiet comfort of the store is shattered. The town’s beloved barista, Eliza Harrington, can’t help but suspect there’s more to Samuel’s death than meets the eye—especially when the police suggest foul play. With her trusty orange tabby, Agatha, by her side, and her sharp intuition honed by years of reading ...

In the South, we believe in being polite, even if it kills us. So, when we just can't fight the urge to say something nasty, we follow it up with a "bless her heart" just to make us feel better. "Look at that poor woman trying to jog around that track. Her rear-end is dragging a trail, bless her heart." Youngblood and Poole talk about the ins and outs of nosy neighbors, sibling rivalry, and why every Southerner worth her salt feels the need to offer advice.

This is volume 2 in The Madame Timbu Adventures Series. As Madame Timbu languishes in her lovely townhouse in London's fashionable Mayfair one late summer afternoon, a telephone call from America changes her life forever. Why would a world-renowned Spiritualist from London uproot her celebrated life to move to a small North Carolina hamlet at the mouth the Cape Fear River? It's a mystery, indeed! And one that only The Most Amazing Madame Timbu can solve. In this exciting new Madame Timbu Adventure, The Grande Dame of the Divine comes face to face with every eccentricity a Southern Gothic ...

Fanny and Dora's South American Adventure takes two fabulous and very glamorous ladies on a life-changing trip to Brazil (Sugar Loaf Mountain, an inspiration for cake), Argentina, Easter Island, Chile, and, finally, Peru (where you are given magical skills to fly up to the top of the world)!

Harper Kirkpatrick is not what Cameron Bennett expects for the bachelor party in his Savannah mansion. She's desperate when he sends her home in her cat costume. Jobs are scarce and eviction looms. Former boyfriend Billy took off for California and she's too proud to head home to Chicago. Although Cameron may not go for her cheerleader kicks, he does admire Harper's spunk. When she answers his ad for a nanny, she's horrified to find herself back at his mansion.

In 1732, Mother Leeds gave birth to the infamous Jersey Devil, who has roamed the Pine Barrens ever since. The truth is, Mother Leeds was a witch and opened the portals to hell, unleashing hundreds of devils into woods. But the villagers next door in Abe’s Hat noticed and formed a secret hunting society to track down the fiends and send them back to the abyss. Their descendants continue the hunt in secret to this day. So grab your pork roll, put on your Piney Power hat, and join the hunt, because the Galloway cousins are coming to save you whether you like it or not.

Single-again Lucinda Mae Watkins - of "Edison, Mississippi, fried chicken royalty" - learns Big Doodle Dayton is blaming her dead daddy for the drug scandal exploding at the local Chicken Palace fried chicken joint. She takes off cross country on the train to clear her daddy's name, while hopefully discovering the secret to happiness along the way. Join Lucinda on the most hilarious - if slightly ribald - adventure of her life.

Remember the stories your grandfather used to tell you about way back when? Remember laughing out loud as the stories got deeper? If you like to LOL, then this really is a book for you. Here you'll find some observations on life in general and people in particular, as seen through a collection of newspaper columns, presenting skewed, offbeat, semiserious, and sometimes amusing views of the world.

Marvin Spangler is a self-centered, ill-equipped teacher of high school history, tasked by his principal to form an auctioneering team that has a chance in hell of winning a Tennessee state championship. He assembles a team comprising three very different souls: Larry Jr., the damaged prodigy, is led by fate; Eric, the obsessed jock, by unrequited love; and Helen, the usually disinterested beauty, by an inexplicable fascination. Together they surrender to a journey that carries them to the cusp of the summit of their dreams...and the nightmares awaiting far down below.

For over five decades, Ruskin Bond has written charming tales that have mesmerized people of all ages. This collection brings together his finest stories for children in one volume. Published previously as a Treasury of Stories for Children, this attractive edition includes two new stories: "The Big Race" and "Remember This Day". Filled with a rich cast of characters, The Room of Many Colours, A Treasury of Stories for Children is the definitive book for all Ruskin Bond fans truly a collector's item.

Beautiful, innocent, and generous to a fault, young Candy is thrust into an outrageous world of debauched lechers and dirty old men. Can she close the gap between people by giving fully and satisfying their sizeable needs? Come with Candy on her hilarious misadventures in this raunchy, irreverent, and wildly funny satire of pornography.

Jesse Few peddles lies. His boss and clients order a couple. His married girlfriend gets a few. His family buys several. But he saves the top-of-the-line dishonesty to sell to himself. The 49-year-old suburban rogue focuses on carousing with his golf buddies, chasing women much too young for him, and surviving the Great Recession that’s raging across the South like it's the Big Banks March to the Sea.