Lies and Other Truths: Rants, Raves, Low-Lifes and Highballs (INSCRIBED)

With a healthy but not slavish attention to veracity, a popular southern humorist casts an evil eye on the New Millennium South in this entertaining collection of essays that “acts rurally but swears globally.” Topics range from a visit to Al Green’s church in Memphis, to the fate of the Cypress Garden mermaids, to the inventor of sweat—Richard M. Nixon. Dees takes us through the southern seasons and the majesty of deer at dawn, the true meaning of homegrown tomatoes, how to ruin a perfectly good fishing hole, and the fragile physics of gin and tonic. Essays titled "My Dog Can Mix Drinks," "I Am the Love Child of James Brown," and "Things I Have Smelled While Bicycling," offer a fresh perspective on life in and around Oxford, Mississippi.

Jim Dees is the host of Thacker Mountain Radio, a weekly music and literature show on Mississippi Public Broadcasting. He is the editor of They Write Among Us, an anthology of southern essays and fiction. He writes a weekly humor column for the Oxford Town and contributes to numerous publications, including Paste and Spin. He lives Oxford, Mississippi.