The title says it all. Preferably alive and actively writing. Bonus points for lesser known.
For example, I highly recommend J.C. Sasser’s Gradle Bird. This book has received very little attention despite numerous awards and is a fantastic example of contemporary southern gothic / rural noir.
by Lem0nPancakes
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Joe R. Lansdale – East Texas noir at it’s finest.
Bob McGough – author of the Jubal County Saga – not for the faint of heart. And the MC is an asshole…except when he isn’t & that is what the stories are really about.
Grady Hendrix
*Demon Copperhead* by Barbara Kingsolver !! It’s set in Appalachia and follow the life of a little boy living a very rural, very dark life. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2023 and it was definitely deserved imo.
Jesmyn Ward is as Southern Gothic as they come.
Vicki Lane writes the Elizabeth Goodweather (an herb farmer in the Appalachian area) mysteries. Vicki has a clever way of weaving and old story to a current mystery….then tying it all up at the end. She’s from the Asheville area and her first book in the series even has dialogue how locals speak. I love this author. She’s very creative.
I love Mark Childress. He’s best known for {Crazy in Alabama} but I really enjoyed {Georgia Bottoms}. His writing can be poignant and often hilarious. It’s like he’s writing a love letter to southern culture while simultaneously deriding it.
S.A. Cosby. Greg Iles.
Bobbie Ann Mason
Andrew Fox, author of the Fat White Vampire series. Hilarious and underrated books. Apparently, he used to be a social worker, and I picked up the first book to read on the plane on my way to a social work conference in New Orleans.