A collection of short stories
Truth and Otherwise
Southern Short Stories
Rural neighbors take each other in, foster children of geography, a history from harsher times, when you clung to your neighbor in hostile land.
- Five stories, the first of Bishop’s career
- Best neighbor, an eccentric hunting partner, dog school, a memorable funeral, Fishing in heaven?
- Characters who love the only way they know
Admit it. You have a favorite child (daughter, son, nephew, niece). You secretly like them better because they honor you more than the others or don’t madden you as much. They probably remind you of yourself at a young age.
As an author, I have my most beloved children too—my short stories. When I write one, I am in charge of the story telling, where it is going and exactly what each character is to do and what they are not to do.
Not so with a novel. Left alone, the characters vie for attention and struggle over control. Midway through writing my new novel, upstream, I took a four-day sabbatical from the book. Bad things happened. When I got back, the characters had redirected the plot, and I had no choice but to surrender to the angry mob.
Read upstream and you may discover what I am talking about. It has to do with Elsie. But before you do, hang around with my favorite children, these stories.
This collection of my first five short stories touches on some of the South’s most endearing, quirky, absurd, and even painful moments and misfits among familial and friend relationships. Characters who love the only way they know, whether it be helping to find a stray filly in heat who escapes only to torture a stallion behind a “chastity fence,” (see upstream, the novel) or allowing a favorite hunting dog to teach a friend life lessons. This is the way among a people for whom a day of fishing or hunting or even a family funeral can deepen enduring relationships.