Janice Daugharty: 80 books

(Companion story to "Jesus Bus") Dot Knight's car is brand-new in this story and she aims to keep it that way. Problem is, she has been enlisted by her adored preacher to drive those nasty Odums' kids to Vacation Bible School halfway across the county. Then her car breaks down along a remote road, and the kid's turn her car into a wreak...

It was all over the news, several years ago, the story of Susan Smith deliberately driving her car into a lake and drowning her two children. That was in S.C. In South Georgia, another young mother, Ginger, spellbound by the story, imagines the episode and thinks she has a special understanding of how and why Susan Smith killed her children.

Jilly's young days outside the diner are anger, heat, boredom and filth. Waiting with her are two foul-mouthed, angry Mexican teens and her younger brother, Stinker, whose nickname stuck for a reason. Burning up in the sun from the bay on the Gulf of Mexico, they wait for their mothers table-hopping...

Katy Land, country music singer at a local bar, is walking along the sidewalk on a cold bright morning when a goat trailer belonging to Skip, "the goat man," slips its hitch and rolls back, scooping Katy up and taking her on a wild ride before dumping her. Skip, a broke country music singer also, on the side, tries to make ammends but the media encourage Katy to sue.

Land for sale! Best Offer. Or free--if you are willing and able to take over annual property taxes at $4,000 dollars on one acre of swamp in Southeast Georgia. View at your own risk. No refunds.

Sissy, 6, and Jim, 8, have been sent to their father, the community drunk, for the summer, hoping to find food and a kind word from the man they barely know. Always hungry, obviously unwanted, Sissy repeats "Thank the Lord" at every meal, which their grandmother, aunt and uncle find obnoxious....

REVISED: Like "Fried Green Tomatoes," this short novel explores a town's misjudgment of two spirited young women, one an insider and the other an outsider. Following 9-11, 2001, and the attacks on the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, the residents of Statenville, Georgia are edgy and eager...

My niece Shanna called me on the phone. I thought we had a bad connection. "What's that background racket?" I asked. "Oh," she said, "that's the little shovel on my lap scraping against the table." "Why do you have a shovel on your lap?" I asked. "Well,...

A young bride in 1963, my friendly new neighbors showered me with Castor Bean seeds. Nobody knew then that the seeds contained Ricin. They were just tall exotic plants, free for the sharing. Later I learned how toxic the seeds are and wondered how many had been carried downstream to Florida by the Alapaha River. But that was a different time--that was before the grasshopper became a burden.

Miss Faye is recovering from a broken hip. Sick of the physical therapy session, in which a bunch of old people are tossing a big yellow ball, she wheels her chair from the room, and keeps wheeling it till she is sitting outside the hospital. Not her fault that a cab driver named Stinker mistakes her for his fare. A whole day with Stinker teaches her what happens when you don't play ball.

Where did the Dixie Chics disappear to for a while, and why did they disappear? Who decides who get to be little and big in entertainment? Here's what this author thinks...

I'm likely to be proved a liar for believing that life gets easier, if not sweeter, with the passing of time. I remember the old days, the hard times, and can't help thinking that progression of time brings us closer to that place of everlasting rest.

I know what it's like to be on the receiving end of mercy; I know what it's like to be hungry and broke. I couldn't scrap up enough change from my Gucci purse to buy even a drink. The fast food manager discounted my food 100%. The Spirit was moving among us in a most unlikely place.

If you miss your grown children and think you'd like another chance to get it right, read this personal essay. Maybe you would like child-raising to be a little easier this go round--read "Real Dolls." Maybe you have a grandchild (or grandchildren) who you don't get to see that often--well,...