"The rough estimate of these riches was set at fifteen thousand dollars; my take of this more than tripled my savings, and as we left the musty basement, heading up the stairs and into the light, I felt two things at once: a gladness at this turn of fortune, but also an emptiness that I... Continue Reading →
I Heart Epiphanies
SUMMARY Collard County is a collection of 5 short stories by Tamara J. Madison. With bold characters set in rich southern tradition and lushly poetic description, each of the tales carries its own unique twist, flirting with the paranormal and metaphysical. Subject matter includes a woman who discovers that she is literally falling apart and... Continue Reading →
On Writing, Motivation, Purity, and Other Stuff
"A writing life is at the very least a double life. It is a life in which not only memory but also forgetfulness has value." This wonderful resource takes the author's personal experiences, literary references, and environmental variances to address common hindrances for the dawning of and hopeful success in writing. There is so much... Continue Reading →
No Greater Truths Are Learned Than In Competition
"Heavy rains fell on the inner city after a long dry spell, washing away the layers of limestone paint from the old buildings, exposing more patches of their brickwork. Water, which had united elements in the process of construction, now aided disintegration, allowing decay to make deeper inroads into the edifices. New cracks formed in... Continue Reading →
As Tomorrow Creeps / An Ode to Yesternight
"As I read it I experienced what was becoming a familiar sensation: the world was rearranging itself around me while I processed words from a liquid-crystal display. So much of the most important personal news I'd received in the last several years had come to me by smartphone while I was abroad in the city... Continue Reading →
What’s Love Got To Do With It?
The great Canadian singer/songwriter and known cynic Joni Mitchell most famously wrote that "you don't know what you got 'till its gone." What you realize after reading some of these stories is the lack of perspective that enables mistakes to take shape in relationships (usually from the men's side) to ultimately lead to the end... Continue Reading →