Richard Horton: Suppose (Fiction)
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I was born and grew up in Rural Texarkana, TX. There were cows, pigs, hound dogs, an old swimmin’ hole and a little church in the wildwoods. There was a shabby “mansion” in town; at least it...
Claire Fullerton: Shake (Fiction)
Claire Fullerton hails from Memphis and has the accent to prove it. She loves Al Green, Big Star, Dixie Carter, and is the biggest fan of Beale Street’s radio station, WEGR Rock-103, and its infamous DJ, Kelly Cruise. Shake The...
The February 2018 Mule
Welcome to the new Mule. We are so all fired up glad to have you with us this month. The writing? Superb. We have a wide range of delicacies for you to peruse this month. Essays, memoirs, fiction and more....
Jessica Simpkiss: Moon’s Truth ( short fiction)
Southern Legitimacy Statement: Despite being born in Sin City, I was raised on I-95, traveling and living in all the states between the Mason Dixon Line and the Florida Everglades, always finding home in a North Carolinian sleepy, coastal town....
Happy New Year to our Mule Readers
This year, 2018 (duh) promises to be an extraordinary one for the Dead Mule School of Southern Literature. We’re seeing many of our promising talented writers turn into NOVELISTS right before our very eyes. Look forward to book reviews and...
Chris Espenshade : One Many Casting: Fishing for Blues (memoir/essay)
Southern Legitimacy Statement: From the 7th grade through college, I lived in the North Carolina Piedmont. I worked for 12 years in Atlanta, and eight years in Greensboro, NC. I respond positively to a cold Cheerwine and a side of hush puppies. One...
Brittny Meredith: The Ladies of Lazarus
Southern Legitimacy Statement: Twenty miles north of the New Madrid Faultline surrounded by cotton fields– or land that used to be cotton fields but is now filled with manufactured homes, sits the town of Sikeston, Missouri–or, if you are over...
Gabrielle Montesanti: I Used To Run In Kalamazoo (essay)
Southern Legitimacy Statement: Like Missouri, a state considered both midwestern and southern, much of my work revolves around my clashing identities. Having lived in Alaska, Michigan, and Ohio, moving to Missouri to pursue an MFA in creative nonfiction afforded me...
Stephanie Haun: Thoughts on Beauty, Bologna, and Lewis Grizzard (essay)
Thoughts on Beauty, Bologna, and Lewis Grizzard Anyone who knows me understands there are very few books or articles I haven’t read. Amongst all the scholarly and literary reading I have done, I’ll even admit to enjoying the occasional trashy...
Joseph Murphy: Dining With The Vultures (poetry)
Southern Legitimacy Statement: My wife and I own a 130 acre farm in Franklin, Tennessee. We have a parcel of horses and grow grass, i.e. hay. Before we bought the spread the only way to the house was across a ford....
Abigail Thomas: Good Evening (memoir)
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I lived in New Orleans for several years when I was a kid, on the campus of Tulane. I went to the R.M. Lusher School. My address was 51A Macalester Place. I loved it there. Now I live...
Susan Little: Donkeys in Paradise (memoir)
Southern Legitimacy Statement: “I was born in Memphis for the sole reason that it had the hospital closest to Earle, Arkansas. My daddy was informed of my birth via telegram, as he had enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps during WWII....
Donna Walker-Nixon: Daddy’s Legacy (fiction)
Southern Legitimacy Statement: My daddy was a good man, who asked for little or no praise. He worked hard to provide for my sisters and me, and this prose piece shows the sacrifices of men who long for the country can...