A Talking Crow in the Family Tree
by Holly Trinkle

"Several stories concerning a talking black crow have been circulating through my husband’s family, the Trinkles, for the past forty years. These stories were compiled after conducting interviews with three different members of my husband’s family: R.L. Trinkle, his father; Bernice Booher, his aunt; and Pauline Fields, his mother. ."

Goose
by Katie Fallon

"It is the night of the homecoming dance, sophomore year of high school. You’ve lied to your parents and you never go to the dance, though they bought you a dress. Instead, your boyfriend, whom you aren’t allowed to date, picks you up at your friend’s house."

"After retiring Vernon hunted turkeys nearly every day of the season. Even when Marlene got sick he still managed to slip out most mornings. He loved being in the spring woods, watching nature put on its pretty green dress."

Cold and Smellin' Like Pickles
by Britt Kaufmann

"After all, this was Dot’s one and only novel—and an advance copy. My big plan was to read a book by each festival author so I could impress them, or at least appear competent, if I ever got a chance to talk to them."

Moving Forward in Island, Kentucky
by Jamie Merriman-Pacton

"I was lost somewhere on the lonely, corn-lined corridor of Kentucky Rural Route 2226. It was a blazing ninety-five degrees outside, and the August heat radiated from the pavement in waves."

Wildness in the Garden of the Satus Quo
by Randy Sanders

"The year was 1932. The Great Depression was at full tilt. The number of unemployed Americans reached thirteen million. Average wages were sixty percent less than they had been just three years before."

Wild and Elusive: The Appalachian "Painter"
by Michael Joslin

"Modern technology has left few mysteries to Earth. Yet still today an enigmatic shadow haunts the Appalachian Mountains. Painters, those mythical black panthers that have prowled through mountain folk tales for generations, refuse to disappear."

The Perfect Ten
by Karen Travis

"n August 20, 2007, Bays Mountain Nature Preserve in Kingsport, Tennessee, added four new wolf pups to its wolf pack, bringing the total number to ten. The gray wolves, also known as timber wolves, were purchased at Bear Country USA in Rapid City, South Dakota."

The Red Wolf
by Jeff Kerr

"I could hear his paws clattering on the weathered boards of the old dog pen.
“Well, come on and I’ll show him to you,” said Hooky Newcome, my buddy and owner of Hooky’s Gas and Animal Garden."

Ursus Americanus
by Sarah Thomas

"Bears, once encountered only occasionally in the forest and even more rarely in urban areas, are now seen roaming subdivisions, crossing highways, wandering through parking lots, and raiding trash cans, pet food containers, and bird feeders. Bear-related nuisance calls to departments of natural resources throughout Appalachia have skyrocketed in recent years."

The Power of Prayer
by Michael Chitwood

"All the way home, the single catfish the boy had caught bumped against his thigh with every step. The otherwise empty fish stringer jangled as it shook. The fish swung on the chain, a bell tolling in its silent way."

Song for a Salve
by Janice Willis Barnett

"After three years of “digging” into his memory and old songbooks, Analo has rediscovered the lyrics to nearly a hundred ballads and gospel songs. Though some of the ballads are among those that British folklorist Cecil Sharp collected in Madison County in 1916, Analo doesn’t limit himself to singing only songs from the traditional canon as defined by Sharp and other folklorists."

Mountains of Tea
by Katey Schultz

"Later in life, it was the Adirondacks, the Greens, the Whites, the Berkshires, the Wind Rivers, the Blacks, and the Smokies that showed me quite clearly what I had been given: the power of determination, an unwillingness to accept physical defeat, and a heart that could force my body to its limits."

A School of Foresty by Heather Ross Miller

That Year He Quit School by John Cantey Knight

Green Snake by Bill Brown

Snake Canes for Sale by Charles A. Swanson

Western Wind by Steve Rhodes

Harmony with Nature by Ron Houchin

Jimmy Mrtin: Too Wild for the Opry by Wayne Winkler

The Appalachian roots of Rock and Roll by Rob Russell

Music in Brief by Wayne Winkler

Blood Kinn: A Novel
by Mark Powell
Reviewed by Meredith Sue Willis

Driving with the Devil: Southern Moonshine, Detroit Wheels, and the Birth of NASCAR
by Neal Thompson
Reviewed by Don Good

Lake Effectb
by Laura Treacy Bently
Reviewed by Joyce Compton Brown

Bright Hope
by Fred Sauceman

"I wonder how many friends of mine have circled strange ponds for hours on summer nights blinding amphibians."

The Wildflower Woman
by Melissa Shipley

"While washing and cooking the flowers Minnie had picked, her mother set many to the side because she wasn’t sure if they all could be eaten. It wasn’t until years later that her mother admitted she had set them aside because she was afraid they might poison the family. Minnie insisted, however, that it would have been all right because she didn’t pick anything that “Aunt Sally” hadn’t chosen herself."

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