In the Swampyland

Autobiographical fiction from the author of the memoir The Magnolia Code
B’rer Rabbit, trickster of the Uncle Remus tales. A chicken’s head bobbing in a bowl of soup, its dead eyes accusing the diner. Cockroaches, venomous snakes, biting frogs. These are among the lively characters in Joan Brooks Baker’s second book, a collection of stories called In the Swampyland, which spans the author’s life from her childhood in New York City to her eye-opening, sometimes-risky world travels. In the Swampyland examines the world in which Baker grew up and aims equally intense scrutiny at the exotic cultures her innate curiosity has motivated her to visit, from the jungles of Colombia to the streets of India and the attractions of the American South, in her search for belonging. We empathize as she confronts the constraints of her world in The Burrito and learns to appreciate its advantages in Beyond the View; we watch her literally close the door on her past in A Lingering Scent. We admire her risk-taking, as a child and as an adult, as she forges a different path than the one she was expected to take. Following on the heels of her award-winning memoir, The Magnolia Code (2020, SF Design/Fresco Books), In the Swampyland reaches even deeper into memory, meaning and desire. In the story after which the book is titled, Baker persuades us to ponder the notion of our own swampylands and discover how we can survive these dark, dangerous, and yet fecund locales in our own minds and hearts—and in the process, if we are lucky, find out where we belong.

Joan Brooks Baker