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Essay proposals are invited for a special themed issue of The South Carolina Review that examines the images of zombies, vampires, and other undead in the American South. We are particularly interested in how the narratives of these specters exorcise cultural guilt about slavery, fears of racial contamination, and the split personality of the state that once succeeded from the Union. We are also happy to consider contributions that take a broader view of what the “Spectral South” might mean. Possible topics might consider the following:

*Manifestations of memory or trauma in Southern art, literature, or culture.
*Local ghost stories and the way they preserve the region’s plantation history
*The commodification of the South’s history in such tourist cities as Savannah, Charleston, and New Orleans
*The South itself as a specter/spectacle in popular entertainment
*Other “specters of the South” might include: monsters, witches, bogeymen, and any other narrative that reveals the way the region preserves its history or culture in myth

Please send abstracts of 500 words and CV to the issue’s two guest editors, Sarah Juliet Lauro (slauro@clemson.edu ) and Kimberly S. Manganelli (kmangan@clemson.edu), by April 5, 2013. Essay submissions will be approximately 6- 7,000 words or 20-25 typed, double-spaced pages, including citations and bibliography, and due by September 1, 2013.

We will also consider original creative pieces, namely short stories, creative non-fiction (1,000 to 4,000 words), poems (up to 3 single-spaced pages), and photographs (black and white, 600 dpi, 5x7 inches), for inclusion in the issue. Please email creative submissions to Wayne Chapman (CWAYNE@CLEMSON.EDU); Please specify at that time that it should be considered for this issue.

A portion of the issue will be devoted to reviews of recent works of criticism or fiction. If you would like to suggest a review for inclusion in this special issue, please contact Cameron Bushnell (CBUSHNE@clemson.edu) and describe the text you would like to review; Please specify at that time that it should be considered for this issue.

Please do not send work that has been previously published or is currently under consideration for publication elsewhere. This themed issue will be published in Summer 2014.