Friday, January 20, 2012

Some Tall Southern Pines


In the short life of GNARLED OAK, KNOTTY PINE, I've been lucky to host stories and poems by some talented Kentucky writers. January's post honors these folks.

"The Fight", by Sheldon Lee Compton was the first story by a guest author to cast it's long shadow across our page.

"Ground", by Jarrid Deaton (like Sheldon, an editor at WRONG TREE REVIEW) was published soon after. Slap that child and show her you love her.

The Book of Hotels, by Nicholas Shaner came out in the following year, on the heels of some late night readings at the Black Feather Cafe'. (A poem of my own took root in that same fertile soil.)

Finally, Crutches Are for Hanging, by Sheldon Compton, was the most recent contribution. Amen, Brother.

A link to each of these stories has been added, upper right. Also, the submissions policy has been modified slightly, and reprinted below. I look forward to reading your work.

"GNARLED OAK, KNOTTY PINE focuses on the working class experience in rural Appalachia and The Deep South. If reading your work feels like listening to a song by David Allen Coe, send it to randywords at gmail dot com. I will respond."

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Crutches Are for Hanging, short fiction by Sheldon Compton



Gnarled Oak, Knotty Pine is honored to host the following story by eastern Kentucky's own Sheldon Compton.

Crutches Are for Hanging

This little building here is my church. Could be your church now that you’ve moved to these parts. We sure hope so. That’s right, we’ve got some bus seats in there for pews and a collection plate is just something everybody passes around like a hot potato, but it’s my church. And we’re always on the lookout for new members, members just like you. Fine, upstanding citizens. Hard-working men and women. Hello, ma’am. And, now what was your question, Mr. Daniels? Oh, yes, that’s right. The crutches we’ve got up on the walls in there. Crutches are for hanging. That’s what I tell these folks. Let me explain that just a little bit more. Just a little bit more. Watch your step. We’ve got one carpenter who’s a member, but he’s busy a lot. That busted board, yes sir, right there. Just step over that. You, too, Mrs. Daniels. This church holds God every Sunday, folks. Can’t you just see it around you. The wood-burning stove there in the middle. The old piano in the corner, out of tune, chimes out like a heavenly harp for us every single Sunday. This church is a survivor with the help of the Lord Almighty. Humility is the key. Realizing that the size of the building don’t matter. Bus seats and empty plates don’t make people any less devoted. The only thing that matters are the people who come in, the size of that congregation. The more the better, wouldn’t you say? And here are the crutches nailed up on both of the side walls. And there are some canes. That one was my father’s. See how it was made from a branch? He was the preacher, too. Ordained, proud, hard-working man. The hardest worker for God any of us may ever meet. Made that cane himself out of cedar. Cried like a baby when the healing took place. See, that’s what this is about, folks, all these contraptions of sickness are the sickness of Satan. My wife, Helen, is a faith healer. She took away my father’s arthritis right here in the church on February 19, 1957. He was the first one to be healed here, bless the Lord. He walked across the church like a ten-year-old skipping to school and drove a nail for that cane right up there himself. I hadn’t seen tears of joy from his face in so many years. Since then, it’s just something we do with each healing. Add something to wall. Every church has there own things they hold close and do to praise God in their own ways. This church is no different. And that man skipped like a young boy. I’m sorry. I get emotional thinking about all the good that this place of worship has brought into my life. You’ll have to excuse me, ma’am, Mr. Daniels. We ain’t suppose to cry, right Mr. Daniels? Well, I’ll shed tears of joy for God any day of the week and twice on Sunday and in front of anybody. There is no shame for that, not in my book. Oh, yes indeed. That picture. Well, I’m a little embarrassed by that picture to be honest. Helen insisted we put it right behind the altar, right in the middle of where we hang our hats and coats and what have you. That’s me about six years ago right after we started the church. It was our first revival. That’s me standing in front of the altar with my hands raised up in the air. Had a lot more hair then, my my! Didn’t we all, though. Old time is a-flyin, right? But that’s me and you see the crowd we had for that first revival. That’s about hundred people crowded into this little place, and that was even before Helen received the touch. Lord, look at that picture! Embarrassing, but I shouldn’t think that way. Look here. Lean in close. Everybody’s looking right at me there with my head lowered and the almighty power of the Lord working through me. All of them except this little girl here. See her there? Yes, that one. She’s looking directly at the camera. I always thought her eyes looked painted on there, like two little chocolate drops. I can’t help but think about Dr. King’s speech the other day in Washington, the one about letting freedom ring, just letting all that freedom ring. When I look at her in that picture all by herself watching the camera timid as a little colored rabbit, I sometimes think now that she might be scared in that picture. For the life of me I can’t remember her being here, but it happened, cause right there she is. We had a family come in, newcomers just like you fine folks. It could have been their girl. No one is turned away, you know. That’s for sure. I can’t really say I know who she is, to be honest, though. But I think of Dr. King every time I see that picture, now. The whole gang of us watched it on the television right when it was happening, my family, just like your family probably did, right Mr. Daniels? I listened to every word and my boys sat still as stones in the floor and never moved a muscle. It’s a fact! I kid you not! Dr. King. Boy! There’s a feller who knows what he’s talking about.




Sheldon Lee Compton is the author of The Same Terrible Storm (Foxhead Books, 2012). He survives in Eastern Kentucky.

Saturday, November 12, 2011

The Dark Days Approach, Oh Yeah


Hello again, friends, family members, fans of fiction, the FBI agent assigned to my case, and the deadbeat former-tenant who now stalks me online under various guises. Greetings to you all.

The weather is cooling. The days draw shorter and, coupled with the time change, that means the gray of evening arrives ever sooner. Bleak weather, dark skies. Ah, yes, the ideal climate for some grim literature.

Since last I blogged, two of my stories were published in some very Southern journals. Kathy Rhodes dug “A Night Out in Flat Rock” (in which I experiment with multiple points of view) for MUSCADINE LINES, and David Hornbuckle selected “A Father's Love” (featuring a cameo by Berea's own Mitch Barrett) for the Birmingham-based STEEL TOE REVIEW. Major thanks to the both of them.

Following are teasers and links to each. I also anxiously await the next issue of the noir print journal SWILL. “Junior on the Lam”, my tale of an aging revolutionary on the run, is to appear in that issue. Alas, I have no estimated date of publication.

That's it for this time. Until we meet again, stay warm, be well, and don't forget to love each other. We all need it. Yes, even you.


A Night Out in Flat Rock

"Gravels crunch underneath the pickup truck as it crawls through the parking lot. A clipboard with a sheath of rumpled papers rests on the dash, visible through the glass on the driver's side. RAM TOUGH is lettered across the windshield."

"Marcus shifts into park and gets out, leaving the engine running. A stream of white exhaust, like wintertime breath, eases from the pickup's silent tailpipe as he examines the familiar trappings of his wife's Accord. The feathered dream-catcher dangling from her rear-view. The unopened box of cigarettes reclined across the passenger seat."

"Music and voices from inside the bar sound distant, faint, like television noise from a neighbor's bedroom window. Marcus holds his breath and listens. A woman's laughter trills above the others, and he wonders if it's her. He climbs back in his truck and continues down the line of automobiles..."

To read the entire story, click here.



"A Father's Love"

"In the privacy of his mind, Danny Lee called her The Beast. He felt bad about that. She was after all a human being, a child of God, a fellow pilgrim on life’s path. But she was also grotesque,misshapen, hideous, and he didn’t know her legal name. So the nickname stuck.'

"Her father owned the local laundromat. Not the nice establishment over by the health foodstore, but the rundown, not-really-filthy but never-quite-clean one located between the meatpacking plant and the pawnshop. Lee would have preferred to frequent the former, but they didn’t open until nine and were closed on Wednesday. That didn’t jibe with his cab driving schedule. So he went to the place that was always open."

"Seven days a week, The Beast’s father unlocked doors before dawn, and he didn’t bar them again until ten PM. Unlike the other laundromat, an attendant was rarely on duty. But when money was removed from the machines, the father of The Beast toted a gun..."

To read the entire story, click here.

Monday, September 5, 2011

August Was a Very Good Month


During the previous month, two new stories and a poem of mine found their way into publication. Many thanks to Russell Streur, Rusty Barnes, and Alison Ross for digging my work.

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In spite of the name, "The Confrontation" may be the closest thing to a love story I have written:

"The interior of the apartment was cool but she brought the wet heat inside with her, her words erupting before the door had closed behind her. There were no pauses between sentences. 'Damn it, Gabriel, we got to talk, you are moving way too fast, I mean, I like you, I like you a lot, you know that, but you just got to hold your horses and slow down a minute.' She stood, breathing, waiting for a response..."

To read the complete text at The Camel Saloon, click here.

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"Waiting for the Man", on the other hand, lands squarely in the grit lit aisle. I consider it one of my better efforts in that genre.

"He didn't flinch when the metal roof popped on the far side of the trailer. Just kept look­ing out­side, eyes level, gaze steady. Fin­ger­tips rest­ing lightly on the windowsill. Cops had been watching Lester from the pine forest out back for days. Maybe weeks. It was hard to remember how long. Seemed like a century he had crouched at this window, watching and waiting. He wouldn't give the bastards the satisfaction
of making the first move. Besides, he had one more cook to finish..."

To read the complete text at Fried Chicken and Coffee, click here.

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And finally a poem, "Coffee Shop Renegades", was published in Atlanta's subversive journal Clockwise Cat, and may be found here.

Saturday, August 6, 2011

In Praise of Fried Chicken and Coffee


After a brief hiatus due to technical difficulties, Fried Chicken and Coffee is back online.

For those unfamiliar, Fried Chicken is a blogazine devoted to rural Appalachia. When I first happened up on it, I was in the process of finding my voice as a writer, penning tales of alcoholic mechanics struggling for love and survival in the trailer parks of the South. (For those who know my history, no explanation is necessary. For those who don't, none is possible.) The value of the validation in learning there was an entire genre--"grit lit"--devoted to this type of fiction can hardly be discounted. Of course I immediately sent the editor, Rusty Barnes, a story.

He turned it down. He did mention that, while this particular story had not made the cut, the subject matter was indeed the type he was looking for. Thanks for playing, try again later. In due time--after an extensive editing process--"Sunday Afternoon at Earl's" was published. I considered it one of the two best stories I had written.

The other was rejected.

When a third story was refused--not among my best, but good enough, and one that was soon published elsewhere--I pouted. I stopped submitting and, when finances robbed me of internet access at home, I even quit reading.

But I couldn't stay away long. So now I'm back in the thick of it, perusing a review of grit lit demigod Larry Brown, and wondering if the editor received the tale I submitted while the site was down.

What, you ask, is the point of this minor literary history? Only this: if you have enjoyed my stories in the past, you should check out Fried Chicken and Coffee. It's the genuine article.

Oh, and a final note. While looking over the site to see what had changed, I noticed my own former pen name (with a link to this blog) listed under "Rednecks and Honorary Rednecks". That's right, alongside such luminaries as Ron Rash, Sheldon Compton, and Silas House, was the lil ole name Randy Lowens.

Thanks, Rusty. I'll never pout again.

Monday, May 30, 2011

The Unkind Months




Hello again, fans of fiction, family members, and friends I went to school with. Alas, your faithless scribe has no new publications to report. I submitted but one story to one journal since last I blogged, and it was rejected.

April and May are ordinarily months of joy, but 2011 was different. Struggles with romance, finance, and my own psyche have distracted from the authorial calling. Rather than showers and flowers came tornadoes, both real and allegorical, each scattering debris in its wake.

But summer approaches. Love lies bleeding, yet draws its ragged breath. My darling daughter returns to home school next year. Hope survives, or has been resurrected.

A coming issue of Clockwise Cat will feature my poem, "Coffee Shop Renegades". Upon posting this missive, I will edit the previously-mentioned rejected story and try again. And soon, I will once more take up the plodding task of peddling my novel, Midnight Prayers and Comic Books, to publishers of working-class Appalachian literature.

You heard it here first. Perhaps these actions will inspire some new short fiction. Regardless, remain calm in the meantime, exercise, and drink plenty of fluids.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

A Name Change, and Two Tales Set in the Deep South

"Sit down, Mom, Dad. I have something to tell you, and it won't be easy. But I must be true to myself. For years, I've been leading a double life. On the side, I've been moonlighting as a... God, how can I say this? I'm a *writer*."

Yes, fellow fans of fiction, I am retiring my pen name. Future stories will be submitted under my legal name, Don Jennings. But I will ever remain ole "randy loins" at heart.



The month of March was a Deeply Southern lunar cycle, with publication of stories set in Chattanooga and rural Alabama.

Read. Enjoy. Leave comments. Earn my undying gratitude.


"I would tell people the tattoo was ironic, a joke. Sometimes that worked. But some old boys didn't think it was funny at all. What finally worked best of all was the truth, when I admitted that I got the tattoo as an expression of love for my mother. One thing no Southern boy will do is talk bad about your mother..."

Read the complete text of The Hammer and Sickle Tattoo here.


"John wondered if the guy was headed to the corner bar to shoot some stick, croon a tune with his pals, then turn some cowgirl's head before leaving for the night. When he lit a smoke, nobody nagged. Men slapped him on the back, and women waited in line to two-step... John considered tailing him, but instead, snuffed his butt on the sidewalk and walked towards home. Otherwise, Carol would rag his ass..."

Read the complete text of Working Without a Net here.


Until next time.