Same as it ever was, Same as it ever was, Same as it ever was, Same as it ever was, Same as it ever was, Same as it ever was, Same as it ever was, Same as it ever was! —David Byrne, Once in a Lifetime I finally finished reading Walter Edgar’s tome, South Carolina: … Continue reading Same As It Ever Was
Today I learned of the passing of Tony Hillerman. Hillerman is best known for his mystery novels set in the American Southwest. Featuring Navajo tribal policemen Lt. Joe Leaphorn and Sgt. Jim Chee, the novels paint vivid descriptions of tribal life in a starkly beautiful landscape. I first learned of Hillerman from another Tony, my … Continue reading RIP – Tony Hillerman (1925-2008)
I added yet another book to my growing collection of South Carolina ghost lore. Tally Johnson has a book out entitled “Ghosts of the South Carolina Midlands.” While the subject itself was of interest to me, what sealed the deal as far as my purchasing the book was the dedication in the Acknowledgments section: To … Continue reading Ghosts of the South Carolina Midlands
From Lifehacker.com I stumbled across this post on the Google Operating System Blog about a method of embedding Google Books into blogs and web pages… Google made it easy to embed in a site any book available at Google Book Search. You can add a fully-functional widget using this code: <script type=”text/javascript” src=”http://books.google.com/books/previewlib.js”></script> <script type=”text/javascript”> … Continue reading Embeddable Google Books
While at the Open Book the other evening I picked up a copy of John Boyanoski’s More Ghosts of Upstate South Carolina. I had enjoyed John’s first book immensely because it was one of the first to focus on hauntings of the Upstate area. Most of the ghost books deal either with the state at … Continue reading More Upstate Ghosts
Today author Ron Rash visited Byrnes High School and spoke with students in the media center. Ron is the author of three of my favorite novels – One Foot in Eden, Saints at the River, and The World Made Straight. He has also published several books of poetry and short stories. Ron lives in Clemson … Continue reading A Day with Ron Rash
A bit of and update on what I’ve been reading lately – I just got through reading The Traveller by John Twelve Hawks. It’s basically a conspiracy book on steroids set on a slightly different reality, with people carrying Japanese swords to defend a strange class of mystics called Travellers [sic]. It was interesting enough, … Continue reading Ground Truthing
Last week I mentioned about my chance encounter with a book in the South Carolina Room of the Greenville County Library. I had picked up a random book off the shelf entitled “Life Sketches and Sermons” by “Reverend N. J. Holmes and wife” and had opened it to a random page to find my grandmother’s … Continue reading Life Sketches and Sermons