Many people who were not alive at the time can hardly envision the casual racism, misogyny and classism that was alive and well in the 1940s and 1950s. The television series “Mad Men” gave a bit of a hint, but from what little I can remember—I was a child at the time—it was the everydayness … Read more
Excerpt from Angels Sleep Alone by James Robert Peery With introduction by Alec Clayton Newt Carter was a “Holy Roller” preacher in North Mississippi in the 1930s and ’40s whose revival tent filled with worshipers was destroyed in a tornado in his novel God Rides a Gale (Harper and Brothers 1940). Peery died in 1954 … Read more
A note from Alec Clayton: Jack Butler is one of the great Southern writers. His poetry, short stories and reviews have been published in The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, Poetry, Southern Poetry Review, Mississippi Review, New Orleans Review and elsewhere. His novel Living in Little Rock with Miss Little Rock (Knopf, 1993) was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. His other … Read more
I have wanted to write this for so long, but I get tired of my regrets and my shame of one kind or another. These days I try my best to find some shiny nuggets among the dross but mostly come up empty. I succeed most in looking at the clouds or at the … Read more
I never knew my uncle James Robert Peery, or if I ever did meet him I was too young to remember. He died when I was 11 years old, and for reasons I never knew, our branch of the family seldom visited his branch of the family. Nevertheless, he was my hero when I was … Read more
It was 1970. Abstract-Expressionism had dominated American and world art for almost three decades. For thousands of years before that, art had been pictures on walls and sculptures on pedestals meant to be admired for their beauty. Revolutionary new approaches to art during the 1960s changed all that. Alec Clayton’s graduate thesis with the academic … Read more
People ask me what my books are about. I’ll be damned if I can give a clear and definitive answer. I’ve written a book of art criticism, As If Art Matters: Modern and Post Modern Art – Reviews and Commentary. That one’s easy. The subtitle tells what it’s about. There are essays such as “The … Read more
The city of Tumwater, Washington held a book event called “Author’s Afternoon” on Sunday, Oct. 20 with a dozen writers tabling, talking, reading and selling and autographing books Mud Flat Press authors Alec Clayton and Christian Carvajal (not pictured) were among the authors. Click the title to see the photo.
Mud Flat Press is proud to announce the latest book by Ricker Winsor, Everything in its Season, a photo-essay book about living in Lyme, New Hampshire from 1970 to 1985 — a book of beautiful black and white photos and honest observations, plus poetry from the likes of ee cummings, Robert Frost and more. From … Read more
I don’t know who first used the term Grit Lit, but I like to think it was Barry Hannah, a great grit-lit novelist and short story writer who used the term in reference to Larry Brown, another great novelist and short story writer. Both Hannah and Brown lived in Oxford, Mississippi, and both died young. … Read more