a sweltering haze. The people scream in a grotesque holler. David van den Berg's collection sings the land and people of these cryptid southern wastes in a monumental triumph of a rural voice that demands recognition in a world too often ignorant of how rural life is the breeding ground for a true and honest look at humanity's victories, shortcomings, and battles with life, death, and a silent God. Sometimes calling on the likes of Greek mythology, sometimes giving voice to Grandma Voodoo, Brer Rabbit, and warnings of a dog who only loves you at dinner, van den Berg, here, raises the stakes of a new southern voice, and ultimately, burns and triumphs.