Florida Snake Stories
Florida certainly does not lack for snakes – or stories about them.
Growing Up After Apocalyptic Climate Change
The young protagonists of Rick Wilber’s “Finals” and Karen Russell’s “The Gondoliers” share a bleak optimism in their ruined Florida landscapes.
The Most Dangerous Sandwich
Jeff Klinkenberg’s essay “Revenge of the Sandwich” is both a meditation on a classic Florida sandwich, and a heads-up that yes, groupers can be dangerous (if you let them be).
If You Hated “As I Lay Dying,” Read Dima Alzayat’s “Alligator” Instead
Dima Alzayat's "Alligator" will shock and upset some readers, and make others extremely uncomfortable. That’s what makes it so good.
A Season 2 Teaser, and More to Come
Between seasons, I’ll be dropping in here from time to time with some short pieces (don’t worry, there’ll be no need for a TL;DR synopsis). Reviews and thoughts on various…
Shelley Katz’s “Alligator” – Season 1, Episode 8
"Alligator" looks like the cheapest kind of pulp horror novel upon first glance. The cover, the summary, the title – they all do it no favors in terms of perception.…
Shane Hinton’s “Radio Dark” – Season 1, Episode 7
Shane Hinton’s 2019 novel "Radio Dark" doesn’t seem like the kind of book one would want to read in 2020. It’s about a plague that effectively ends society, it uses…
“The Letters of George Long Brown” – Season 1, Episode 6
George Long Brown was no Harriet Beecher Stowe. I mean, he bought slaves when he settled in Florida after emigrating from New England, and Stowe was a fervent abolitionist. But…
George McCowan’s “Frogs” – Season 1, Episode 5
Frogs aren’t really scary. Well, unless they’re telepathically controlling lizards, alligators, snakes, and other reptiles and commanding them to attack humans. I mean, these are humans with lots of hubris…
“Florida Reimagined” – Season 1, Episode 4
Walt Disney World, it could be argued, has not had a net positive effect on Central Florida, environmentally speaking at least. University of Central Florida professor of art history Keri…