In Wetumpka, Alabama, the old South and the New are colliding. As small-town life in the Deep South confronts the restrictive social mores of Southern culture, its people must reckon with what they've inherited—and what they're ready to leave behind.
A young truck driver must come to terms with his racist father. A teenager processes his father's infidelity. An old friend tells a couple that he and his wife are splitting up. And a son returns home after a few years in the porn industry.
Together, these stories reveal a South caught between an old way of life and a new one, where ignorance and bigotry are slowly melting away.
"The unforgettable cast of characters that James Ladd Thomas introduces us to in Something You Should Know About shows men trying to negotiate the mores of the new South. We see them facing divorces and infidelity and trying to make sense of their changing relationships to family and place. In this way, Thomas presents us not with idealized heroes in glamorous locales but with the kind of people we know who live in places like Wetumpka. These windows into ordinary lives are rendered with extraordinary skill and pitch-perfect prose that would make Larry Brown raise his beer in tribute." Beth Ann Fennelly, author of The Irish Goodbye: Micro-Memoirs
“On every level these stories appeal to me. The characters are vividly rendered, and when they open their mouths real human voices speak strongly about the stuff of day to day life. Place is a thing unto itself, and not only can you see it, you can also smell it and feel the texture of the air on your skin. Collectively, the stories have the sweep and unity of a novel. I loved every minute I spent reading these pages.” Steve Yarbrough, author of The Unmade World
"Detour, night, unfamiliar road, varied porch lights shielding cryptic lives behind a patchwork of front doors. That image in James Ladd Thomas's story collection Something You Should Know About nails for me the impact of this keen insightful collection of lives: the hopeful, the disheartened, the unashamed melancholic, the idiot savant. Each story, lit by a single or garish porch light, reveals real lives, real people who either experience or tuck away hope, but hope is what drives them past the end of their stories." Ron Harris, 40-year Biology/Speech/Theater teacher, author of the memoir Mr. Boy: Tales of a Southern Gentleman and the play Like Moles, Like Rats which served as the basis for the film 20 Years After
"Duck hunting in the frigid waters of the Alabama River. Philandering fathers on Christmas Eve. Girlfriends, old, new and illicit. Twelve packs with old friends. Rude gas station attendants. Author James Ladd Thomas serves them all up with a healthy dose of southern charm, mystery and pathos - he’s well aware no one drinks, cusses, kisses and suffers like a Southerner. Thomas knows the song of the South because he’s a son of the South. His tales of Wetumpka offer up plenty of guilt, joy, promises, accusations and compromise - life in a Southern Gothic pecan shell. Pour a few fingers of bourbon, head out to the back porch and spend some time with Thomas’s perfectly imperfect characters." Sam Marsh - actor, director
"In these deeply human stories, James Ladd Thomas explores the quiet moments that shape a life. Set across the American South, his characters transcend setting, navigating fractured families, impossible choices, first loves, betrayals, small-town rituals, and the ordinary, idiosyncratic miracles that keep us moving forward.
With warmth, wit, and emotional precision, Thomas uncovers the extraordinary hidden within everyday life. A Christmas tree, a riverbank, a roadside conversation, a marriage unraveling, a son searching for forgiveness. Each story reminds us that the people we love, the mistakes we make, and the memories we carry become the architecture of who we are.
Tender, funny, and quietly devastating, this collection is a testament to the resilience of the human heart and the grace that can still be found in even life's most uncertain moments." Ryan Buynak, author of 15+ books of poetry and host of the music podcast Bothering the Band
"Something You Should Know About by James Ladd Thomas sweeps the reader along on a 21st century Faulknerian journey into the lives, marriages, and families of a small Alabama community. Told with a keen contemporary sensibility, these stories weave timeless connective threads between regional culture and the larger national culture. Smartly written, with funny, affectionate dialogue and a kick-ass sense of place, Thomas’ collection is filled with emotional import, with particularly deep reveals of the wanderlust and malaise of married men. These are nuanced and textured narratives of the “New South” and its people." Elizabeth Bruce, author of Universally Adored & Other $1 Stories