Welcome to the Surreal South, the dream of the nation within the nation, the world within the world, shadowed by all the unmitigated horrors and illuminated by all the dubious glories of its distant and ill-remembered past, a puzzle, a slightly gruesome enticement, a boundless ambiguity, an enduring paradox, and an endless source of myth.

Contributors:

Joyce Carol Oates

Robert Olen Butler

Ron Rash

Tom Franklin

Ann Pancake

Chris Offutt

Beth Ann Fennelly

Katie Estill

Jacinda Townsend

Greg Johnson

George Singleton

Lee K. Abbott

Julianna Baggott

Brad Vice

Benjamin Percy

Kyle Minor

William Gay

Dean Paschal

Daniel Woodrell

Pinckney Benedict

Laura Benedict

Rodney Jones

Jon Tribble

Andrew Hudgins

Joy Beshears Hagy

Susan Woodring

Kathy Conner.