Salvation South

12/18/2025

Grab some t-shirts for the people you love and share the Salvation South vibe.

https://salvationsouth.myshopify.com/collections/apparel

12/13/2025

All year long, Southern poets have poured memory, work, faith, grief, food, and music into our pages. Now, poetry editor Andy Fogle and editor‑in‑chief Chuck Reece each offer a tour through the Salvation South poems of 2025 that stayed with them the longest. Settle in with their picks, then pass these poems along to someone who needs them.

Chuck’s list lifts up a different chorus: Jimmy Carter building houses, a Family Dollar worker on the early shift, a homeless veteran on a cold sidewalk, and Black q***r boys held in the light of a tender, defiant elegy. Together, these poems braid labor, injustice, faith, and stubborn love into the heartbeat of the South.

https://www.salvationsouth.com/southern-poetry-2025-chuck-reece-favorite-poems/

12/07/2025

All year long, Southern poets have poured memory, work, faith, grief, food, and music into our pages. Now, poetry editor Andy Fogle and editor‑in‑chief Chuck Reece each offer a tour through the Salvation South poems of 2025 that stayed with them the longest. Settle in with their picks, then pass these poems along to someone who needs them.

Andy’s list leans into seeking and surprise: heroic crowns of sonnets, oranges and carrots, catfish suppers, and images of everyday life that suddenly turn radiant. These are the Southern poems he simply can’t shake.

12/04/2025

Ready to unlock your writing potential? 🌟Join the Salvation South Writers' Circle, a vibrant online community where writers of all levels come together to spark creativity and kindle their writing journey. Led by expert Chuck Reece, each monthly session includes a writing prompt, sharing circle, and connection time. Just $25/month (discounts available for Family Circle members). Meets 1st Monday, 6-7pm ET.

https://salvationsouth.myshopify.com/products/salvation-south-writers-circle

12/03/2025

11/30/2025

This week, Salvation South brings you something special: a long, unhurried conversation between two of the most important crime writers working in the South today, S.A. Cosby and Ace Atkins, both of them regulars on The New York Times’ bestseller lists. Cosby is the author of Blacktop Wasteland, Razorblade Tears, All the Sinners Bleed, and this year’s King of Ashes. Atkins has written some thirty novels, including the Quinn Colson series, the forthcoming Everybody Wants to Rule the World, and several acclaimed continuations of Robert B. Parker’s Spenser books.

In their conversation, Cosby and Atkins talk about why the South on their pages has to be as complicated as the South they live in—diverse, beautiful, brutal, and never just one thing. They dig into Ace’s new novel, set in mid-1980s suburban Atlanta, where a fourteen-year-old boy becomes convinced his mother’s new boyfriend is a KGB plant. Both Gen X-ers, Atkins and Cosby talk about the VHS-era movies, Cold War paranoia, and the Prince-on-MTV soundtrack that shaped their generation of Southern kids. They also talk frankly about violence, race, class, and how crime fiction can tell truths that more “respectable” stories sometimes dodge.

https://www.salvationsouth.com/ace-atkins-interview-sa-cosby/

11/29/2025

When two lifelong friends finally confront the cost of their secrets, what will their meeting reveal about hurt, love, and survival? Patrick Strickland’s powerful short story takes you from bruised childhood nights to barstool confessions. If you’ve ever wondered what happens after the violence, this is the story you cannot miss.

https://www.salvationsouth.com/bucket-patrick-strickland-abuse-secrets/

11/29/2025

Ever wonder what it means to truly melt into another? Emma Gousset’s poem uses braided trees and Southern landscapes to craft an unforgettable ode to love, identity, and belonging. Come savor every line.

https://www.salvationsouth.com/inosculation-emma-gousset-q***r-nature-poetry/

11/27/2025

We hope all y’all look like this guy right about now.

And don’t forget - All of us here at Salvation South are so grateful for all of you.❤️

11/27/2025

Dive deep into North Alabama’s musical magic, where heartbreak and stubborn vision gave birth to global hits—Aretha, Percy Sledge, even the Stones. In the latest Salvation South Deluxe podcast, host Chuck Reece invites Drive-By Truckers co-founder Patterson Hood and music historian Rob Bowman into the studio to give you an inside look at the sound that made the world dance.

https://www.salvationsouth.com/muscle-shoals-music-history-swampers-podcast

11/23/2025

Meet the woman behind “Auntee Pam”—the Southern matriarch who’s turned sassy church-lady talk, family drama, and unscripted social media into comfort and comedy for hundreds of thousands. Erika Kellom’s journey is proof that faith, laughter, and fierce style still change lives. You’ll want to follow her every word.

https://www.salvationsouth.com/auntee-pam-erika-kellom-southern-comedy/

11/21/2025

In two poignant Texas poems, Ellis Purdie meditates on resilience through trials—a girl child in leg braces outpacing her limitations, a lone poet chasing wildlife and dust through East Texas. Purdie’s lines ask: What endures when all else fades? His work, rooted in a sense of place and hard-won hope, invites you to witness both struggle and stubborn beauty.

https://www.salvationsouth.com/ellis-purdie-texas-poetry-wildlife-resilience/