This Saturday, my elder daughter will be joining me for a lovely jaunt upstate to enjoy Fairmont State University's Frank and Jane Gabor West Virginia Folklife Center's Spring Gala (that's a mouthful).
The latest issue of TRADITIONS: A JOURNAL OF WEST VIRGINIA FOLK CULTURE AND EDUCATIONAL AWARENESS is being released at the Gala, and features "Fed From the Blade," West Virginia Writers' latest anthology published by Woodland Press.
Editor Cat Pleska and co-editor Michael Knost put together a great collection of short stories and poetry, and publisher Keith Davis did a wonderful job producing a quality book. Cat's cover design and photography made "Fed From the Blade" a trifecta of artistic achievement. "Fed From the Blade" was nominated for the prestigious Appalachian Writers Association 2012 Appalachian Book of the Year Awards. The winners will be announced in October 2013.
Phyllis Wilson Moore reviewed the collection for TRADITIONS, which includes my story "Bringing Home the Bacon" in its entirety, as well as an interview of me conducted by Cat Pleska. I am so pleased to have "Bringing Home the Bacon" immortalized this way. Phyllis remarked on Facebook recently that "'Bringing Home the Bacon' is so graphic. Harry Crews couldn't have done any better."
To have my story mentioned in the same breath as Harry Crews! Oh, a dream come true!
Copies of the journal are available for purchase, as are copies of the state's literary map. I'll provide links and information as I discover it. ~~GH
Unexpected news today! Woodland Press released the above image of its latest forthcoming publication, "Fed From the Blade," due to be released in a couple of weeks (I'm guessing). This book is special to me for several reasons.
"Fed From the Blade" contains my short story "Bringing Home the Bacon." The unnamed narrator is a crone instructing a young person on the finer aspects of, well, bringing home the bacon (in the realest sense of that phrase's meaning). I wanted to preserve a traditional procedure, and I experimented with how best to disturb the reader without being at all graphic.
I believe I succeeded wildly, in both regards.
My mentor Cat Pleska edited the book. She also designed the composition of the cover, arranged the apples, chose a special knife from her daddy's collection, and created the photograph for "Fed From the Blade."
Co-editor Michael Knost sat across a table from me not two months ago over Mexican food in the Barboursville Mall and issued a challenge for me to begin writing again. He urged me not to let the chaos in my private life rob the world of my gifts and talents. He demanded that I attend my readers.
Cat has supported me in so many ways over the past couple of years that words are inadequate. Suffice it to say that there are portions of my walk down Life's Beach where the single set of footprints belong to her and not me and I mean that in the most respectful way. I am eternally grateful, Cat.
Close to a dozen of my colleagues and friends are also involved in this wonderful anthology. My friend since first grade, Marion Kee, has her poem "On Hearing Bill Withers in the Ninth Grade" in "Fed From the Blade." I am tickled that fifty years after we first met, two of our word babies have likewise met on the pages of this book and will march hand-in-hand together throughout Time for future readers to enjoy. And if that sounds corny, well, that's how I roll tonight.
Thank you for your loyalty and love, from the bottom of my heart, and from the little girl version of me -- the one who inspires and encourages me to be who I am and to have the courage to share it with you.~~GHC
