Southern Gothic: Chapter Six
The Life You Save May Be Your Own
Why hello there. Welcome to chapter six of Southern Gothic!
Can I just tell you how much I enjoyed the first edition of “The Purloined Letters” last month? Keep those messages coming! You can always reach us at thenewfuturists@gmail.com . Remember to include “Southern Gothic” in the subject and please indicate “OKAY TO PRINT” if you’re good with your letter being included in a future letters page.
I don’t want to get into too much of a preamble because this chapter is a REAL creeper and I want to get straight to it. Stick around for a couple of timely “Purloined Letters” after the feature presentation.
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A quick note about today’s story: Southern Gothic is a horror comic and is not suitable for all readers. Chapter six features depictions of blood, violence against women, gun violence, and supernatural horror. Reader discretion is advised.
Welcome to the Southern Gothic fan correspondence nook “The Purloined Letters.” A few timely notes came in just before we were publishing, so let’s see what the people have to say:
I don’t read a lot of comics, but I love Flannery O’Connor and was interested in seeing how she fit into your story. I hope we get to see a lot more of her. The cover for [chapter 5] got my attention. Do you have any idea why Flannery and Carson McCullers didn’t get along? From what I’ve read, they really did not like each other.
— Mary Ellen, Cary, NC
Ben Bolling: Thanks for checking us out, Mary Ellen! And like you, I thought Ezequiel’s cover for chapter 5 captured the vibe between Flannery and Carson perfectly. I don’t want to give any spoilers about our cast, but I can tell you this: in the very first draft of the script, Flannery shoots The Misfit dead to save Carson. But as you read in chapter 6, scary stories aren’t that easy to kill.
I don’t know why Flannery and Carson didn’t care for one another IRL. I guess you get something as close to a thesis as you’ll get from me in the story above. I read Brad Gooch’s excellent biography Flannery while revising the script for Southern Gothic and let me tell you: Ms. O’Connor does not mince words. Flannery described Carson’s Clock Without Hands as “the worst book I have ever read.” Carson’s biographer Virginia Spencer Carr suggests that there wasn’t any real resentment between the two, but I’d wager there was a healthy dose of professional jealousy and maybe a little moral judgement in the space between them. But as far as I know, there’s no evidence the two women ever met, though so much of their lives and work occurred just a few hundred miles apart.
BB: So apparently the New Futurists has a Facebook account? As I’ve ranted before I’m…skeptical… of social media and particularly disdainful of the Meta portfolio of rage engines. But, we had to establish a Facebook account to post on Instagram. Blah, blah, blah, BORING. My point is: after the corner box art (above) found its way onto Facebook, some dinguses got into a very bothered convo with themselves:
Lol. I don’t know who ANY of these goons are. I’m guessing they’re not avid readers of the Substack. As I said in the introduction (i.e. PER MY LAST EMAIL) Southern Gothic is just the title of the comic. It’s just a little story. A work of fiction. I ain’t trying to make no list of GREAT WRITERS in this GHOST STORY.
With my Ph.D. in American Literature I TOTALLY COULD, THOUGH, bros. So if you’re going to come, you’d better come correct.
Because Shirley Jackson is not exactly FROM New England. She was born and spent her youth in Northern California, though she DID live a good bit of her life in New York, Connecticut, and Vermont.
And James Baldwin WAS born at Harlem Hospital in New York City. To say he “is not a Southern writer” is a bit myopic, IMHO. A little rag called The Washington Post ran an intriguing piece by Blake Rogers Wilson in August called "How a trip to D.C. helped James Baldwin affirm his Southern identity.” But really, I’m not trying to argue whether or not Baldwin should be considered a SOUTHERN writer; frankly I find taxonomies exhausting, especially in the context of a very fictional HORROR STORY.
And geez oh pete, if you can hold your horses for like 5 more minutes on the Faulkner, Karen. Dang.
So, this is just a friendly reminder to free yourselves from the shackles of idiocy! Delete your Facebook account!
And finally, if you’re interested in joining Special Agent Grant in his investigation, consider a paid subscription! All sensitive documents are UNREDACTED below the paywall! And you’ll also get a sneak peek of chapter seven in which we head to one of my favorite places in the world, my darling hometown: Big Stone Gap, Virginia. See you in the funny papers!
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