This volume collects 19 stories self-selected by its contributors, the Fellowship of Southern Writers. It includes works by Madison Smartt Bell, Doris Betts, Fred Chappell, Ellen Douglas, Shelby Foote, George Garrett, Allan Gurganus, Barry Hannah and Elizabeth Spencer, among others. All are affiliated with the Fellowship which was organized in 1989 under the inspiration of the late Cleanth Brooks for the purpose of encouraging and honouring excellence in southern letters. Each piece celebrates the distinctness of the southern experience, giving expression in story form to a singular episode of mind, heart or will.