What The Ledger Kept

An Anthology of Short-Stories inspired by songs

What the River Kept — Mississippi Delta, 1967/present. County clerk Estelle and archivist Dana excavate the suppressed record of Billie Jo Mobley's death. Bones recovered from the Tallahatchie. The ledger that was altered. What official record hides and what private conscience keeps. Inspired by "Ode to Billie Joe."

Copperhead Oak — Eastern Kentucky hill country. FBI agent Lydie Voss, whose family land is entangled in a three-generation criminal operation. The hollow holds the evidence. She buries the stone on the survey pin and walks out. Justice at a slant. Inspired by "Copperhead Road."

The Permanent Guest — Pacific Northwest Gothic. Arthur, a burned-out journalist, arrives at a mountain lodge and is slowly absorbed by it — the mineral water, the silver cup, the tremor stilling. Valerie the keeper. A man who arrived exhausted and won't leave. Inspired by "Hotel California."

The Meridian Ledger — 1925 New Orleans. Josephine, a midwife/healer working the French Quarter's economic underworld. The Rising Sun as an institution of entrapment. Who keeps the ledger of who owes what to whom. Inspired by "House of the Rising Sun."

Ledger of Pawn 2B — Modern urban tenement. Frank, the superintendent of twenty-two years, in the aftermath of a police call from 2B. What the building knows. What the super's silence costs. Inspired by "Luka."

The Last Set — 1946 Harlem. Lige Carter, jazz pianist, recognizing at last that his hands are done. Mae, his singer, who has been covering for him. A torn contract. The question of what it means to love something that can no longer carry you. Inspired by "The Night We Called It a Day."