Working to recover, revive, and renew in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
(Coming soon: The Wicked South Podcast!)
Dear readers, followers and subscribers: I was unable to connect with you last week, and I hope to make that up to you with great offerings to come.
Hurricane Helene, while not as catastrophic and destructive in the South Carolina Lowcountry as it was for some of our Southeast neighbors, still took a toll on my hometown and family. Several of our friends, neighbors and extended family members were without electricity and running water for close to week, and one of our ancestral family homes is still surrounded by fallen trees and debris, a monster mess we are still working to clean up.
It had already been a rough summer and fall for our family, a rough patch that included everything from health problems and an emergency surgery to another damaging storm, Hurricane Debby. I was lying in bed last night feeling pretty stressed and depressed, when my wife reminded me of how fortunate we were in the Lowcountry compared to the hurricane victims in the upstate, and in the mountains of Georgia and North Carolina, where homes and entire towns were washed away, and people died or went missing by the hundreds. I’m not the corny, cliché “thoughts and prayers” kind of person, but these unfortunate people were definitely on our minds, and still are. I sincerely hope that life can one day return to somewhat normal for these storm victims, and I encourage everyone to join me and my family in making any donation you feel is needed to support relief and restoration efforts in the impacted areas.
As I am also trying to return to a somewhat normal writing and working schedule, I also want to take this moment to thank each and every reader, follower and subscriber who has supported and enjoyed my work since I joined Substack just a few months ago. It has already been an amazing, rewarding experience and will only get better, and I owe it all to you. Thank you for your support, and I hope that I can share my stories with you for years to come.
I’m also excited to announce that, within the coming week or so, I will be launching my new Wicked South Podcast here on Substack. I originally launched this podcast last year as a joint effort with two great, veteran podcasters, Seton Tucker and Matt Harris (co-hosts of the Impact of Influence podcast), and after enjoying this group effort, and learning a lot, I am now ready to fly solo and make the new Wicked South a wonderfully wicked listening experience that will hopefully reflect my somewhat unique voice and style. (I will post links to previous episodes below.)
The new Wicked South Podcast will include everything from storytelling, modern true crime (lots of Murdaugh crime saga updates), historical true crime, fiction, literary reviews and discussions, moonshine lore, and even a few cocktail or Southern cooking recipes.
My plan is to post a new Wicked episode weekly, or at least bi-weekly, but there will be weeks when I am more inspired and you may be treated to multiple episodes, or a series. Some episodes will be free to all listeners, but you can enjoy all of the episodes with my modest paid subscription plan. And the best part is, you don’t have to go searching the Internet for this podcast, it will be waiting in your email inbox.
In trying times like these, when natural disasters and storms of life seem to be constantly on the horizon, I personally find comfort and solace in the power of humor and story, to both uplift my soul and distract from the often gritty and tragic realities of life.
We can’t stop raging floodwaters or calm the tropical storms, but I hope that someone out there who is going through a rough patch reads or listens to my humor, fiction, or storytelling, and it makes their day just a little brighter and calmer.
Thank you again for joining me on this storytelling journey, and here are links to the previous Wicked South episodes for you to enjoy until we chat again.
Here is the final joint episode with Matt and Seton where we reflect back on the podcast series, and preview the new solo Wicked South:
Here is the home page where you can find all of the previous Wicked South episodes:
Michael, having been in the path of the hurricane but with only minor damage to home and hearth, I can certainly sympathize. We were fortunate to have our power restored after two days, but many friends and neighbors struggled for a week or more, and the damage to trees is incredible. Glad you gave yourself permission to rest! Hey! I'd like to be a guest on your podcast again!