Four Short Novels


Book Description

THE NAVIGATORS is about the hardships and disappointments the Del Vecchio family encounter when they immigrate from Italy to New York City at the beginning of the 20th century. They encounter harsh conditions which they are not ready for. In PULLING A GAUGUIN, Caril Bridgewater abandons her husband and family to pursue her dream of becoming a painter. With Paul Gauguin as her model, she slips away, leaving no information about her destination. When her husband Ben goes in pursuit of her, many confl icts and complications ensue. Caril accomplishes her goal, but pays a heavy price. BIRDS OF A FEATHER is about a violent student revolt in an isolated high school during a severe blizzard. This turbulent event cuts off students and teachers from their normal lives and routines. Smoldering confl icts then erupt between students and teachers which lead to the student revolt. CONDOMANIA, about snow birds on vacation in Florida, begins in a comic mode. But that atmosphere slowly deteriorates when pettiness, superfi ciality, and vicious infi ghting emerge. These events are mild compared to sweet, 93-year-old Dolly Flynn’s slide into vengeance and retribution.




Postregional Fictions


Book Description

Drawing from recent debates about the validity of regional studies and skepticism surrounding the efficacy of the concept of authenticity, Clare Chadd’s Postregional Fictions focuses on questions of southern regional authenticity in fiction published by Barry Hannah from 1972 to 2001. The first monograph on the Mississippi author’s work to appear since his death, this study considers the ways in which Hannah’s novels and short stories challenge established conceptual understandings of the U.S. South. Hannah’s writing often features elements of metafiction, through which the putative sense of “southernness” his stories dramatize is complicated by an intense self-reflexivity about the extent to which a sense of place has never been foundational or essential but has always been constructed and performed. Such texts locate a productive terrain between the local and the global, with particular relevance for critical apprehensions of the post-South and postsouthern literature. Offering sustained close readings of selected stories, and focusing especially on Hannah’s late work, Chadd argues that his fiction reveals the region constantly shifting in a process of mythmaking, dialogue, and performance. In turn, she uses Hannah’s work to suggest how notions of the “South” and “southernness” might survive the various deconstructive approaches leveled against them in recent decades of southern studies scholarship. Rather than seeing an impasse between the regional and the global, Chadd’s reading of Hannah shows the two existing and flourishing in tandem. In Postregional Fictions, Chadd offers a new interpretation of Hannah based on an appreciation of the vital intersection of southern and postmodern elements in his work.







The Coal Miner's Daughter


Book Description

A wealthy landlord’s son, and a coal miner’s daughter... Growing up in poverty, one of six siblings, Hannah Armstrong never thought she’d know anything other than her little mining town. But then she falls for Timothy Durkin, a wealthy Oxford student... Following her heart, Hannah sacrifices everything she holds dear and follows her new husband to Oxford. But will her new life of luxury be everything she expected - or will she find that once a coal miner's daughter, always a coal miner's daughter...?




Tangleville


Book Description

Talk show host Harry Sting is well known to his listening audience for his disdain of all things religious. But when invited guest Reverend Barclay Steadmore, a rector at St. Bartholemew’s Church, catches him off guard by speaking with confidence from a secular perspective, Sting’s bravado wavers. Reverend Steadmore is invited to return the following week and their discussions leave the station full of turmoil that is swiftly reflected in the responses that come from all directions. “Tangleville has been aroused,” the Reverend’s secretary says. “You really blew it,” his parish warden affirms. What starts as a one-off encounter between two seemingly disparate forces turns into a weekly discourse that boosts the show’s ratings as well as attendance at St. Bart’s. Most surprising, though, is the unexpected friendship that develops between the two men. Tangleville: Just About Any Town, Anywhere invites Christians and secularists alike to rethink their commitment to the teachings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.




The Estrada Plot


Book Description

By 1926 the Mexican government of Plutarco Elías Calles had sparked widespread discontent with its radical social policies. Plots to overthrow the administration ran rampant. One of the strangest conspiracies arose within a clique of exiled Mexican military officers . . . in Hollywood. Bill Mills takes readers inside the forgotten story of General Enrique Estrada and his Southern California army. Secretly gathering recruits from city barrios and Imperial Valley farms, Estrada and his staff of ex-generals not only built an invasion force but stockpiled an arsenal of small arms to supply it. Attempts to acquire armored vehicles and airplanes had moved forward when law enforcement got wind of the clandestine military activity. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, newly reorganized under J. Edgar Hoover, assigned a four-man team to unravel the plot. Racing against time, the agents pitted old-school legwork against Estrada’s determination and, as the day of the invasion arrived, confronted the general’s caravan fewer than ten miles from the Mexican border. Packed with intrigue, The Estrada Plot is the unlikely true crime drama of how the early FBI foiled an invasion from within the United States.




Adventures in Alliteration


Book Description

Words are wonderful, wacky. wise, winsome things to use. Sometimes seemingly senseless, sometimes soulful or sorrowful, sometimes spiritual or soulish, and sometimes startling, strengthening, sarcastic, sinful, or soul winning. Words are used in many ways and have many faces, fonts, facets, fortes, factions, flavors, and fans. Use them carefully for they can hurt to the quick, encourage to be quick, quicken the spirit, soothe the sorrowful, and confuse the illiterate. The paragraph above is an example of alliteration run rampant. So run, rally, reiterate, read, and return. Alliterative poems, short stories, and pithy proverbs in this book abound with humor, social comment, and even silliness. If you want a laugh, a jolt, or just a smile, you need to curl up with this book and get ready for the unexpected. Its not a childrens book, but its rated fun. Heres a couple of examples BS Bruce Sturgess bought string beans and stuffed broiled sirloin before sending Bryan Scott, burdened somewhat, back soon for baked swordfish. Bruce smiled beamingly, seemingly, because swordfish brought some bright, sweet memories to mind. Before Sandra Beavers split, Bruce and Sandra both savored baked swordfish. Bittersweet but soothing memories of being sweethearts bloomed somewhere in Bruces soul. Sandra Beavers stood, built sweetly, built solid, built slender, built sprightly, bust size beautiful and sensual. Besides stirring Bruce Sturgess best stuff between Bruces strong legs, Sandra brought sensations to brighten Sturgess brain. Somewhat better since breaking up, Sturgess became sadly bewildered sometimes, but soon Bruce would bite swordfish again, and Bryans smile would brighten Sturgess beautiful suite on Boston Street. Bitter soon after Sandras brother stiffed Bruce and Bruce stuffed Sandras brother into a blue suit, a big sack, and a black Studebaker, Sandra broke with Sturgess and stomped back to South Burbank steaming and bristling. Better start being sensible, Bruce Sturgess, said Bruce to himself, seconds before smartly backing into a Buick Skylark. Buck Smothers burst from the Skylark and busted Sturgess on Bruces suntanned beak. Big, stupid, backward, stunted, brainless student of bashing standing Buicks! screamed Buck. Be still! said Bruce. Some bystander, stand by for something beautiful! Bruce stood before Smothers, and, before some could blink, struck Buck with several blows. Smothers, bruised and somewhat bloody, slowly bowed and sank to the busy sidewalk. A bit stupid, Buster! said Bruce. Later, after settling business, Sturgess, Bryan Scott, and Buck Smothers began eating swordfish between solemn bodyguards. The bodyguards were protecting Bryan Scott, because it was Scotts bundles and such that blocked Sturgess back window and contributed to the bruised Skylark. Anyway, Bruce Sturgess, Bryan Scott, and Buck Smothers, bellies stretched by swordfish, BSd the night away. But whats the difference? This is all BS anyway! COMMENT In the forgoing piece, paired words, one beginning with B, one with S, are used for the alliterative effect. In the following piece, alliteration is achieved by the more direct traditional approach almost all of the words begin with the letter M. MUSKETS Misfired muskets mutilate millions. Must muskets multiply? Maybe muskets might make mommy miserable, but must masses be miffed? Muskets make moose huntable. Moose meat makes mighty fine eating! Moose might be merry without muskets, but musketeers might go hungry without muskets. Might a moose be misused because of muskets? Mounts and muskets make might, and me being mighty makes me militant. Mark my words, muskets must not be withheld from the masses, minorities maybe, Mormons for sure. Muskrats may multiply without using muskets to maintain a manageable balance. Missed making my mark because of my missing




South Carolina Baptists, 1670-1805


Book Description

Baptist Churches of South Carolina and list of Baptists.




Pink Triangle Legacies


Book Description

Pink Triangle Legacies traces the transformation of the pink triangle from a Nazi concentration camp badge and emblem of discrimination into a widespread, recognizable symbol of queer activism, pride, and community. W. Jake Newsome provides an overview of the Nazis' targeted violence against LGBTQ+ people and details queer survivors' fraught and ongoing fight for the acknowledgement, compensation, and memorialization of LGBTQ+ victims. Within this context, a new generation of queer activists has used the pink triangle—a reminder of Germany's fascist past—as the visual marker of gay liberation, seeking to end queer people's status as second-class citizens by asserting their right to express their identity openly. The reclamation of the pink triangle occurred first in West Germany, but soon activists in the United States adopted this chapter from German history as their own. As gay activists on opposite sides of the Atlantic grafted pink triangle memories onto new contexts, they connected two national communities and helped form the basis of a shared gay history, indeed a new gay identity, that transcended national borders. Pink Triangle Legacies illustrates the dangerous consequences of historical silencing and how the incorporation of hidden histories into the mainstream understanding of the past can contribute to a more inclusive experience of belonging in the present. There can be no justice without acknowledging and remembering injustice. As Newsome demonstrates, if a marginalized community seeks a history that liberates them from the confines of silence, they must often write it themselves.




Apple Turnover Murder


Book Description

"New York Times"-bestselling author Fluke never fails to satisfy readers' appetite for intriguing culinary mysteries. In the latest installment of the Hannah Swensen mystery series, the beloved baker and sleuth may have bitten off more than she can chew.