My Books
Blurbs, synopses, excerpts, video
trailers, reviews and where-to-buy info for the novels in the Legacy
of Fortitude series, Southern Man, its sequel, Sweet Southern
Boys.
Also check out the page for Storm
Surge, a romantic suspense novel set in Pensacola, Florida published
by Desert Breeze Publishing.
Then, take a look at my latest release,
Love
in Smallfoot Alley, for romantic suspense with a touch of mad-scientist
sci-fi and a whiff of the paranormal . (Go
to BOOKS PAGE)
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My Blog
(where nearly anything
goes)
News, essays on writing and reading,
behind-the-scenes looks at characters, locations, even the cuisene that
shows up in my stories. Discussions of historic, contemp- orary and
cultural influences that go into writing fiction, and more. Be sure
to leave your thoughts in the comment section.(Go
to MY BLOG)
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Extras
(including free reads
and contests)
Here you will find free short stories
featuring Verona Vignettes, scenes and snippets from the Legacy of Fortitude
series that didn'nt make it into the books, for one reason or another.
Also check here for periodic contests and give-aways.(Go
to EXTRAS PAGE)
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Biographical Info
I'm a preacher's kid who grew up
in Georgia and Alabama, and a former staff writer for The Florida Sun,
(now the Independent News), which began publication in Pensacola, Florida,
in 1999, by then- Congressman Joe Scarborough.... (Go
to BIO PAGE)
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Published Novels
Click
the covers to go to each book's dedicated page.
Visit
the BOOKS PAGE for information
about my short stories.
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The
South ~ My Writing Inspiration
A
Land of Legend, Song, and Hallowed, Heroic Memories
Why Southern
fiction? The words of Edward Carmack (1858-1908), Congressman, Senator
and prominent journalist in Tennessee, offer a an insightful place
to start a discussion of my motives for writing about the South and its
people:
| The South is a land that hs known
sorrows. It is a land that has broken the ashen crust and moistened it
with tears, a land scarred and riven by the plowhare of war and billowed
with the graves of her dead, but a land of legend, a land of song, a land
of hallowed and heroic memories. To that land, every drop of my blood,
every fibre of my being, every pulsation of my heart is consecrated forever.
I was born of her womb, I was nurtured at her breast and when my last hour
shall come, I pray that I may lie upon her bosom and be rocked to sleep
within her tender and encircling arms. |
Southern literature,
has long been recognized as a distinctive genre few other regions of the
United States can claim, the exception being the Western. A look
at the genre and its writers gives one a clue about the depth, breadth
and richness of the vein of storytelling ore that runs through the culture
of the South.
The variety
of locatings and settings is equally rich -- from mountains to seashore,
great forests to desert to lush farmlands, glittering cities to sleepy
small towns to vast rural stretches.
The South boasts
other elements that speak to its uniqueness... its 160 or so spoken dialects
and delightful Southernisms... the cuisine -- sweet tea, tomato sandwiches,
cornbread, fried chicken (for that matter, fried anything), succulent seafood
and spicy gumbo ... the flora -- live oaks draped with Spanish moss, ubiquitous
pines, creamy-blossomed magnolias and yucca, showy azaleas, sweet-smelling
honeysuckle...
Then there's
the history, the culture -- ten thousand years of Indian civilization,
European settlement, antebellum plantation society, the pervasive influence
of Christianity and tradition, and postbellum economic oppression that
lasted for generations. Throw in the hunting and fishing, Sunday
singings, college football extravaganzas, going to mama'n'them's, the many
distinctive music genres, renown hospitality and much, much more, and you
begin to see what makes Dixie a fascinating backdrop for the storyteller's
art. |
