Harshbarger Mills by Joan Spilman
Subscribe
Sign in
Home
Notes
Chat
Silver Bottle
Establishing Witness
The Nonna + Gaylene Stories
Harshbarger Mills
Archive
Newsletters
Leaderboard
About
Back to Egypt, conclusion
There’s guilt and there’s false guilt, and the burden of false guilt is equally hard to bear because somewhere, there’s a knot of truth in it, an emotion fast growing and distorted by fear.
READ THE LATEST
Most Popular
View all
Silver Bottle
Feb 12, 2024
•
Joan Spilman
4
1
Silver Bottle, Episode 11
Apr 1, 2024
•
Joan Spilman
3
2
Silver Bottle, A Novel
Feb 9, 2024
•
Joan Spilman
3
2
2
Big Pete, 1887-1929
Apr 16, 2024
•
Joan Spilman
8
3
Recent posts
View all
The Search for the Blue Stone Begins, Chap. 35
My guess is that she picked up the stone as a crow might filch a bright object. What woman could resist?”
Jan 14
•
Joan Spilman
1
2
This Rain by Llewellyn McKinnie McKernan
Featured Poet
Jan 10
2
1
Mirella Escapes Death, Chap. 34
Was she dying? She didn’t think so. She’d seen dying, and it was harder than this.
Jan 8
•
Joan Spilman
1
1
1
Oren's Return
The moon, plagued by clouds, now broke free, revealing the girl.
Jan 6
•
Joan Spilman
2
See all
Silver Bottle
View all
Lizzie Speaks, Chapter 75 (final chapter)
Her desertion built up in me until the pressure exploded in my head. Hemorrhagic stroke were the words over my hospital bed. “Lizzie’s lucky to be…
May 15, 2025
•
Joan Spilman
1
1
Lizzie Speaks, from Silver Bottle, Chap. 74
You think the dead can't talk? Ha! It's the living who can't hear.
May 10, 2025
•
Joan Spilman
3
1
Lizzie Speaks, from "Silver Bottle", Chap. 73
Hugh was a good man, but he never did anything right. He didn't even die right.
May 7, 2025
•
Joan Spilman
2
1
1
Buy The Book
Buy Silver Bottle
on Amazon
Silver Bottle
A illuminating book of the lives of four Appalachian women beginning in the late 19th century to the present day.
Establishing Witness
View all
Establishing Witness, Conclusion
Kaylene sat up as though plugged into an electric outlet and wailed, “He weren’t mine but I loved him like he was my own!”
May 31, 2024
•
Joan Spilman
2
1
Establishing Witness, Part 3
Vernie was attuned to her inner antenna, the one dealing with mystic portents and divine interpretations, listening as it throbbed violently in her…
May 27, 2024
•
Joan Spilman
2
1
Establishing Witness, part 2
Once she’d spotted a cloud as perfect and round as the half-wit’s head. She’d stood on the porch step and shouted at the sky, “Why do you delay?”
May 23, 2024
•
Joan Spilman
1
2
Establishing Witness, part 1.
A slow flush began at the base of Vernie's neck and traveled up her throat, splotching her skin until she appeared in the throes of an allergic…
May 21, 2024
1
1
Harshbarger Mills
View all
Wind in her Arms
A serialized fantasy
Aug 9, 2025
•
Joan Spilman
1
The Facts of Life, part 3
Below where her stomach should be, looked like an outline of a deer skull with antlers. The antlers curved down and were attached to either side of the…
Aug 29, 2024
•
Joan Spilman
2
The Facts of Life, Part 2
Ava was back two hours later with a load of Queen Anne’s Lace and itchy arms. By morning, she was covered in a rash.
Aug 23, 2024
•
Joan Spilman
1
1
The Facts of Life
I took the booklet. The title was “Growing Up and Liking It” by someone named Kimberly Clark Corp. I usually read Nancy Drew.
Aug 17, 2024
•
Joan Spilman
3
2
The Nonna + Gaylene Stories
View all
The Nonna Galene and Lyddie Stories
The Place
Jan 23, 2024
•
Joan Spilman
1
2
This site requires JavaScript to run correctly. Please
turn on JavaScript
or unblock scripts