The Great State of West Florida

In 2026, the denizens of West Florida—10 counties, 180 miles of coast and pineland—are restless. A measure has been introduced in the state legislature to let the region break out from greater Florida, and it will almost certainly lead to warfare. The West Floridians’ goal is a white Christian theocracy ruled by talk-radio host Troy Yarbrough and his uber-religious spouse. Then there’s “the Governor” (just as extreme as Troy and with an arm made of metal); she’s set against Troy, who brainwashed relatives of hers into massacring her family. The Governor’s orphaned young cousin Rally lives with his uncle Rodney, a gunfighter who earns a living fighting state-approved duels; Rally has a girlfriend who drives an ATV and shoots whoever get in her way. Nobody talks to anybody else in this world; guns are simpler. Wascomb’s (The Blood of Heaven) newest isn’t so much a cohesive story as a maniac ramble through a nightmare landscape—Southern grit lit, inspired by Jonathan Swift out of Harry Crews and Flannery O’Connor.