Sharp as a Serpent's Tooth: Eva and other stories

You'll meet Eva, the young daughter of traveling Pentecostal preachers, who catches snakes while her parents hide behind the bible and a large wooden crate. Eva's life changes when she makes her first friend and realizes there is more to life than fear. In Plans for Sweet Lorraine, you'll meet Lorraine's mama, Cordelia - a fiery red-head with a temper to match, and a mind as sharp as the sting from a leather strap. She'll do anything to keep her daughter safe. Even if she has to beat the devil himself. Laurel, the young girl in The Day I Threw the Rock has no idea that she saved someone's life, or that she may have killed someone to do it. She just knows that she should be allowed to wear overalls and play ball like the boys. Well, ain't it true that she can throw a baseball harder and faster than Luke or John Randall? Just ask Sarah Rose's Uncle... Junebug Fischer is ready to set the record straight and let you know what really happened the summer she turned fifteen. It's true, she killed someone, but she never killed nobody on purpose. That was purely accidental. When Charlotte's world is turned upside down, her aunt is there to put it back on its axis. Charlotte learns that everything she's been told about her long lost aunt has been a lie, and her aunt teaches her many important lessons. The most important lesson is forgiveness. Cussing Snakes and Candy Cigarettes is proof that there's magic all around us, all we have to do is open our hearts and minds.

About the Author :
Mandy Haynes spent hours on barstools and riding in vans listening to great stories from some of the best songwriters and storytellers in Nashville, Tennessee. After her son graduated college, she traded a stressful life as a pediatric cardiac sonographer for a happy one and now spends her time writing and enjoying life as much as she can. She lives in Semmes, Alabama with her three dogs, one turtle, and helps take care of several more animals at Good Fortune Farm Refuge. She is a contributing writer for Amelia Islander Magazine, Amelia Weddings, author of two short story collections, Walking the Wrong Way Home, Sharp as a Serpent's Tooth Eva and Other Stories, and a novella, Oliver. She is also the editor of the anthology, Work in Progress, and co-editor of the Southern Writers Reading reunion anthology, The Best of the Shortest. Like the characters in some of her stories, she never misses a chance to jump in a creek to catch crawdads, stand up for the underdog, or the opportunity to make someone laugh. Mandy is founder and editor-in-chief of WELL READ Magazine, an online literary journal created to give authors affordable advertising options and a place where authors of all genres and writing backgrounds can submit their work for publication. Find out more about her at www.mandyhaynes.com

Review :
"Mandy Haynes gives us a direct line into the heart of the Deep South. To understand what is genteel and genuine, one must also understand what is not. Strong female characters who get the better of villains who seek to destroy them abound in this brilliantly crafted collection of short stories. She is Flannery O'Connor's equal in the new millennium. I can't wait to read whatever Haynes writes next! Brava!" Marci Henna, author of What Lies Ahead "Flannery O'Connor's stories have nothing on the wonderful novellas and short stories in Mandy Haynes' new collection, Sharp as a Serpent's Tooth: Eva and Other Stories. It is more than her strong female protagonists and powerful sense of place that establish Haynes' prose as some of the best writing in today's southern literary landscape. And it's more than the stories themselves- full of silver-tongued, snake-handling preachers and arrogant moonshiners who don't see the power of the women they victimize until it is too late. It's the magic of her language, as she uses all the senses to bring the characters in each story to life."-Susan Cushman, author of Friends of the Library and Cherry Bomb, and editor of Southern Writers on Writing "Mandy Haynes' writing voice is as smooth as fabled Tennessee whiskey. And she's a Southern front porch storyteller. The back porch is for those who wander all over the place and never get a good story told, them that don't know what's boring and what's not. Mandy knows good stories and this collection, SHARP AS A SERPENT'S TOOTH, like her first, WALKING THE WRONG WAY HOME, proves her top shelf skill as a writer and gives readers more than they came for." -Sonny Brewer, author of The Poet of Tolstoy Park "Mandy Haynes writes about the poor and damaged, about simple folks with fire and crazy pulsing through their veins. In the story "Eva" she displays the ugly drippings of an evil soul beside the strength and wisdom of a child. With a warped sense of humor and an eye for sweet revenge, Haynes, in her collection of short stories "Sharp as a Serpent's Tooth," reveals herself to be an emerging talent with a command of southern dialogue and a tendency to create dirt-under-the-fingernails characters. She'll be around for the long haul." Brenda Sutton Rose, author of Dogwood Blues "Mandy Haynes pushes us into the carnival tents of holy roller snake oil barkers wielding serpents against the hearts of innocents who see their nakedness. She shows us preachers both benevolent and malevolent. She places us behind the eyes of girls who chunk rocks and aim arrows at bad guys who might once have taken them in, but who figure it out and serve up just desserts. It's no wonder such a young woman might be enthralled with a guitar strumming rebel who tangles with a serpent handler. This is a slithering snake pit of gothic tales that rattle and hiss with the truth we don't always like to see." Joe Formichella, author of Waffle House Rules