Reading the South
New Fiction by Regional Authors, November 2004
by Hal Jacobs
for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The hard-fought battles leading to the final assault on Atlanta are seen through the eyes of a young Southern sharpshooter in Philip Lee Williams' vivid Civil War novel A Distant Flame (Thomas Dunne Books, $24.95).

In the waning months of the war, as the Northern army smashes its way toward Atlanta, Charlie Merrill joins the Army of Tennessee in Chattanooga. Even though he believes slavery is evil and the Southern cause is doomed, he picks off unsuspecting officers and artillerymen with the efficiency of an accountant during tax season.

In alternating chapters, we also see Merrill as a distinguished elder in his small hometown east of Atlanta. It's the 50th anniversary of the Atlanta battles, and the whole town is buzzing about whether Merrill is mentally capable of delivering the keynote speech after the parade. Of course, he knows what his family, friends and neighbors want to hear. They want him to salute the war -- they want their history wrapped up with bows and ribbons. But the pieces of history he carries around are too brutal and senseless. He remembers the nobility and honor of certain men, but he agrees with Sherman that "war is hell."

Williams, the author of 10 books and a professor of creative writing at the University of Georgia, uses historical sources to provide a fascinating, up-close account of the fighting that led to Atlanta's fall. He also highlights an intriguing part of the war: the sharpshooters who view the war through a rifle scope, and the pressures that occasionally drive them over the edge.

The novel goes a little weak in the knees when describing young Merrill's prolonged romantic inflammation with a Boston girl visiting his hometown. If we've learned anything from "Cold Mountain," it's that romance works best when two young lovers are far apart --- and trying like hell to get back together.

As in all his books --- from his gentle childhood reminiscences ("The Silent Stars Go By") to his excursions into the darkest heart of fiction ("Blue Crystal") to his sentimental meditation on nature and healing ("Crossing Wildcat Ridge") --- Williams writes in an unadorned style that gathers momentum slowly and subtly. His foray into Civil War territory is an interesting chapter in his adventurous life's work.

* * *

Roy Hoffman's Chicken Dreaming Corn (University of Georgia Press, $24.95) is a fascinating look at an immigrant's life as he puts down roots in Mobile in the first half of the 20th century. The tale of the immigrant who arrives, perseveres and paves the way for future generations is often associated with the boroughs of New York City, but lest we forget, such things also occurred throughout the South.

As a businessman in Alabama, Morris Kleinman has one foot in the New World and one in the Romanian countryside. On the surface, he is a modest Jewish businessman with a strong work ethic who copes with tragedy and prejudice as he raises his sons to follow in his footsteps. Below the surface he is haunted by the terrors of his childhood. When he returns to Romania to visit his ailing father, Kleinman reconnects with his past in an unexpected way.

Morris' ordinary experiences are rendered special by Hoffman's clear, lyrical treatment. The expression "chicken dreaming corn" sums up the spirit of the novel. The words come from a Romanian folk saying that the author's grandmother was fond of using. It refers to someone ordinary who yearns for something special.

Hoffman, a staff writer at the Mobile Register, is the author of "Almost Family," winner of the Lillian Smith Award for fiction in 1983, and "Back Home," a novel about life in the civil rights-era South.

* * *

In Atlanta Blues (Harbor House, $24.95), Robert Lamb provides an entertaining, albeit highly voyeuristic, glimpse of Atlanta's underground nightlife of the early 1980s. The story revolves around a newspaper reporter, Ben Blake, whose series of articles about cops leads to an investigation into the whereabouts of a missing teenager.

The trail of the runaway girl leads to Midtown, opening up the world of gay clubs, lesbian bars and prostitution to the inquiring journalist. Later, when the bodies of two other runaways are found in a shallow grave in Brookhaven, Blake and his cop compatriots realize that all signs point to a locally made snuff film.

Except for the adult content, "Atlanta Blues" bears a strong resemblance to a "Rockford Files" episode, albeit one set in Atlanta, with Blake as the laid-back investigator who wanders from one clue to the next. Perhaps the novel will appeal most strongly to an older generation of Atlantans who always wanted to know what was going on in Midtown, but were afraid to ask.

Lamb, a former reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, teaches creative writing at the University of South Carolina.

An edited version of these reviews appeared in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Sunday, November 7, 2004.

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