In this episode of our Conversations series, Wes Blake and Em J Parsley discuss novellas and more. Things Mentioned Appalachian Literary Arts FestivalBooks Mentioned Pineville Trace by Wes BlakeYou, From Below by Em ParsleyKinfolks by Gurney NormanNothing Gold Can Stay by Ron RashStories by Breece D’j PancakeDeviant Hollers edited by Zane McNeill and Rebecca ScottQueer Communion edited by Davis ShouldersDemon Copperhead by Barbara KingsolverAll About Love by bell hooksThe Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham JonesThe Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham JonesFlux by Jinwoo ChongThe Caretaker by Ron RashReturning to Earth by Jim HarrisonTrigger Warning by Jacinda TownsendLove in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García MárquezLight Years by James SalterGuest Info Wes Blake is the award-winning author of Pineville Trace, a Southern Gothic flash novella (Etchings Press, 2024). His narrative nonfiction collection Hazelgreen and Other Haunts, a memoir of place-in-essays, is forthcoming in 2027 from West Virginia University Press. Wes’ debut book won the Etchings Press Novella Prize and was a finalist for the Eric Hoffer Book Award. His fiction and essays have appeared in Electric Literature, storySouth, Louisiana Literature Journal, and Untelling, among others. He is part of the visiting faculty at Eastern Kentucky University’s Bluegrass Writers Studio MFA in Creative Writing Program and lives in Nonesuch, Kentucky with his wife and cats, where they’ve planted 100 trees. Learn more at wesblake.com. Website | Instagram Em J Parsley (they/he) is a farmer, environmentalist, and cultivator of oyster mushrooms living in Lexington, Kentucky. They are the author of the novella, You, From Below (Split Lip Press, 2025) and the poetry chapbook, The Anonym Gospels (April Gloaming Publishing, 2024), which won the Apogee Poetry Chapbook Award. Website | Instagram --- Show Your Love for Read Appalachia! You can support Read Appalachia by heading over to our merch store, tipping us over on Ko-fi, or by sharing the podcast with a friend! For more ways to support the show, head over to our Support page. Follow Read Appalachia Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | TikTok Contact For feedback or to just say “hi,” you can reach us at readappalachia[at]gmail.com Music by Olexy from Pixabay
