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Hi everyone, it’s Robbie Cheadle with you today and I’m sharing my review of Whispers of a Southern Moon, a collection of short stories & verse by Priscilla Bettis, a mini-interview, and a recipe.

My review of Whispers of a Southern Moon by Priscilla Bettis

This collection of short stories and poetry is powerful. Every piece in the collection is carefully crafted for maximum impact in fewer words, and I was moved by each and every story and poem. I have read a few other books and short stories by this author in the genre of horror, so I wasn’t sure what to expect with this book that is classified as Christian fiction. I realised that genres aren’t that important to me and it is the quality of the writing and the stories that captivates me as a reader. While there is a Christian thread through the pieces, it is subtle and included as a characteristic of the various characters. The final piece, My Testimony, is the only section of writing that is solely devoted to a Christian story; that of the author. I found this memoir fascinating, and I learned a great deal about the author and her life. As a person who has suffered a home invasion, I am able to empathise and relate to some of the detail (nothing graphic) included in this piece. I think it is an invaluable read for anyone who has suffered trauma.

A few of the stories that I found the most thought provoking and engaging are as follows:

1. Ernest and the Dust Angel about fraternal twins. As this story unfolds, the psychology of the narrator becomes more and more intriguing, and the ending is an extraordinary twist.
2. After the Fire is a sad story about an elderly lady who has been moved into a care home by her son following an accident the resulted in her home burning down. She is very resistant and blames her son for unwanted change in circumstances. A relatable story for anyone who has interacted with aging relatives.
3. Prayers Heavy with Smoke is an insightful story about the psychology of a smoker including an internal battle between the desperate need to smoke and the advice to stop smoking for health reasons (the smoker’s own and her grandchild’s).

This short collection is a fabulous read and I recommend it highly.

Purchase Whispers of a Southern Moon by Priscilla Bettis from Amazon US here: https://www.amazon.com/Whispers-Southern-Moon-Priscilla-Bettis-ebook/dp/B0FT55ZJMJ

Mini interview

Tell us a bit about Priscilla Bettis and your writing journey

I read The Exorcist by William Blatty when I was ten years old, and it had a huge influence on me. Why? Because my family went through some crazy, torturous things when I was a kid. The bad guy got away with everything and left my sisters and me scarred. The Exorcist was the first inkling that someone, even if it was a grownup author who lived on the other side of the country, understood the horror that could happen to a family.

I enjoyed writing when I was young, and dark stories came naturally. They were even therapeutic the older I got, but they didn’t cure my traumatized brain.

In middle age, I had a freakish, supernatural healing. (No, really, it was supernatural. Miraculous!)

Afterwards, I switched genres and now write Christian fiction with a literary vibe. One bonus is that I can tap into the storytelling side of my extended family. My dad and his kin mesmerize me the way they sit around at family reunions and tell their Southern/Midwest Gothic stories (some true!) and recite their simple-sounding but profound poetry.

The full story of my writing journey is detailed in “My Testimony,” the last piece in my Whispers of a Southern Moon collection.

Which is your favourite story in the collection, Whispers of the Southern Moon, and why?

I wrote this collection during the last months of my mother’s life. “After the Fire,” which is about an adult child (a son in this case) who must move his elderly mother into an assisted living facility, hits close to home. It reminds me how much we all love our aging parents, no matter how difficult the circumstances are.

What’s next for Priscilla Bettis?

I’m writing a novella set in Alaska about an albino child, a Sugpiaq (an Alaskan Native) nurse, and a deluded, Jabba-the-Hutt type of villainess who kidnaps them both. There’s a fantastical element to the story which is always fun to write. I still need a title, though…

Recipe

“Ernest and the Dust Angel,” the first story in Whispers of a Southern Moon, takes place in Alabama in the 1970s when church potlucks and strange concoctions that passed as “salads” were the norm. Ernest’s Mama no doubt made many a Jello salad like the following recipe:

Vintage Jello Salad Potluck Dish

(Which Aunt June swears is her original recipe, but then Memaw says it’s her recipe and that her brother Wilbur has a picture of her at Thanksgiving holding a brand new Corelle bowl—the 1970 Golden Butterfly pattern—full of the bright orange salad to prove it. Of course, you see the bowl and someone’s hands, but Mama can’t say for sure whether them’s Aunt June’s hands or Memaw’s hands, and ol’ Wilbur’s done lost his marbles and thinks they ain’t hands at all but loaves of bread that Emma Jean brought. Wilbur always has had a hankerin’ for bread.)

2 cups boiling water

2 packages, 3 ounces each, orange-flavored Jello

1 cup cold water

1 can of crushed pineapple, 14 ounces

4-5 carrots (enough to make 2 cups finely shredded carrots)

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup chopped pecans

Empty powdered Jello into a 2-quart glass dish, and stir in boiling water until Jello is dissolved.

Next, firmly drain the juice from the canned pineapple into a large measuring cup, and add enough cold water to make 2 cups. Set aside the pineapple fruit. Add the juice-water liquid to the dissolved Jello, and place the Jello in the refrigerator to cool.

While Jello is cooling, finely shred carrots until you get 2 cups. Then stir carrots, pecans, salt, and reserved pineapple fruit into the Jello.

Return Jello to refrigerator for about 4 hours or until set.

Enjoy!

About Priscilla Bettis

Priscilla Bettis is an avid reader and a joyful writer. Priscilla lives in small-town Texas with her two-legged and four-legged family members. She is a former secular horror author who now writes Christian short stories and poetry inspired by her awe of God and love for fellow human beings.

Find Priscilla on X (at PriscillaBettis) where she chats with others about life and writing.

Find Priscilla Bettis on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Priscilla-Bettis/author/B08R97Z63M

About Robbie Cheadle

South African author, photographer, and artist, Robbie Cheadle, has written and illustrated seventeen children’s books, illustrated a further three children’s books, written and illustrated four poetry books and written and illustrated one celebration of cake and fondant art book with recipes. Her work has also appeared in poetry and short story anthologies.

Robbie also has two novels and a collection of short stories published under the name of Roberta Eaton Cheadle and has horror, paranormal, and fantasy short stories featured in several anthologies under this name.

You can find Robbie Cheadle’s artwork, fondant and cake artwork, and all her books on her website here: https://www.robbiecheadle.co.za/

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