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Author Q & A with Bob Drury

On November 4, 2018

Interview by Jana Hoops. Special to the Clarion-Ledger Sunday print edition (November 4)

By examining the true story of George Washington’s six-month battle with disease, desertion, and frigid weather as he turned the Continental Army into a fighting force that would win America’s freedom from the British, co-authors Bob Drury and Tom Clavin show readers how this turning point in U.S. history is still relevant today.

Valley Forge is the pair’s sixth book together, supported by research that includes thousands of original documents written or dictated by Washington and highlighted with “a cast of iconic characters”–some of whose names have faded from history but who were instrumental in America’s struggle for freedom.

Drury and Clavin’s previous books include the New York Times number one bestseller The Heart of Everything That Was, and other New York Times bestsellers Halsey’s Typhoon, Last Men Out, and The Last Stand of Fox Company.

Drury said his collaboration with Clavin has “settled into a process” of shared research, with him conducting interviews and Clavin taking the lead in editing.

“He is a very good editor, and I do the writing,” Drury said. “We realized we couldn’t have four hands on the keyboard.”

Bob Drury

All told, Drury has authored and/or edited nine books, and his work has also appeared in The New York Times, Vanity Fair, Men’s Journal and GQ. Nominated for three National Magazine Awards and a Pulitzer Prize, Drury has covered news in Iraq, Afghanistan, Liberia, Bosnia, Northern Ireland, and Darfur, among other sites. He makes his home at the Jersey shore.

Clavin, who lives in Sag Harbor, New York, has worked as a reporter for the New York Times, and has served as a newspaper and web site editor, as well as working as a magazine writer and TV and radio commentator. He has earned awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and the National Newspaper Association.

What was it about Washington that motivated him to persevere despite not only the conditions of the Valley Forge winter, but the political battles he also fought on a regular basis?

In public, Washington showed his steely will, but we discovered a different side. In private, he was very conflicted. One of the tensions of Valley Forge was that Washington had the weight of the war and the protection of his men on his shoulders, as well as his political relationship with the Continental Congress–and it burdened him.

He had the console of his young officers and “surrogate sons”–the Marquis de Lafayette, who was only 19; Alexander Hamilton, who was 22; and John Laurens – the “forgotten founding father,” also 22. Alone, he unburdened himself to (his wife) Martha.

I have personally read every (document) Washington wrote during (a period from) 1777 to 1778. He wrote about how he felt the burden he could never show to the Congress. On the outside he kept a steely composure and will. His confidants and his journals allowed him to keep his composure.

Of the 2,000 men who perished at Valley Forge (that winter of 1777-1778), half died of starvation and exposure, and half from diseases like typhus, typhoid and cholera.

Washington had to make an example of himself. He was driven. We don’t think of Washington as insecure. But earlier he had to take orders from British officers whom he outranked. He was a man who had no college education. Yet he became the father of our country

Through the years, several other authors have written books about the events at Valley Forge that winter. What is it about your account of Valley Forge that separates it from other books?

We contend that Valley Forge was THE turning point of the American Revolution. As we were putting this book together, we knew that other (authors) have disagreed. Everyone has their own feeling of what was the turning point for the Americans. We give a view of Washington they’ve never seen before. We decided early on that we would be prepared for this (challenge).

We present a cast of characters others have not, and we dispel many of the myths.

One of those myths is the notion of what bad luck it was for George Washington and his men to have been at Valley Forge in such a bad winter. Actually, it was one of the mildest on record at that time. The records show that it would snow, then soon turn 40 degrees, then it would rain, and everything would turn to mud–and the latrines would overflow. Over 500 horses starved to death in the freezing cold. They would be buried about a foot deep, and the heavy rains would wash their bodies up. Together, this created a pervasive odor that hung over the camp and made it miserable.

Another myth was that everyone (around the Valley Forge area) was starving to death, but 1777 produced the greatest harvest of the decade. There was plenty of corn, wheat, cattle, and mutton. The problem for the soldiers was that the local farmers preferred to smuggle their foods to the British Army for money. Remember, not all Americans supported the revolution. About 40 percent of the country’s population then were for the revolution; about 20 percent remained loyalists to King George, and the other 40 percent were really not committed to either side.

Another fact we bring to light is that this was the first time in American history that the military was integrated. There were 750 black soldiers, all free men from the northeast, who fought alongside the Continental Army. American military units were not integrated again until the Korean War (in the 1950s).

If the British had chosen to attack Washington and his men at Valley Forge that winter, history would have surely been changed forever. Do you think it was America’s destiny that it didn’t turn out that way?

I think it was a combination of destiny and British hubris. Back then there was a “fighting season” in temperate climates, and armies didn’t fight in winter. If they had attacked Washington at Valley Forge that winter, they would have overrun the American forces in a minute. They were overconfident that they would brush the Continental Army like a piece of lint off their shoulder. They thought that in the spring, they would take care of this rag-tag army.

I think it was a little destiny, a little luck, and a lot of British hubris.

When you’re researching a book that dates back this far, do you find yourself in awe of the fact that you’re looking at actual diaries and documents that are as old as these, and that they belonged to real people?

Oh, yes. Valley Forge is so well documented. I read nearly 2,000 documents that were written or dictated by Washington. Quite often with centuries-old documents like diaries or journals, university libraries and sometimes historical societies preserve them in such a way that you cannot touch them with your hands. They may be stored in fiberglass boxes and you have to turn the pages with tongs because they’re so old and fragile.

On one hand it makes you realize how young this country is. Also, we can clearly see what we think we know about Washington, and what is actually true. His writings show us his angst and self-doubt about things we never think of.

Why do we need to be reminded about Valley Forge today–and how can we apply the hard-fought lessons of what they endured and what their sacrifice helped make possible?

Not to be too political, but our country is so polarized today–not that it wasn’t in 1777 and 1778. At that time the U.S. was in an age of enlightenment: there was a novel idea that thinking itself, and definitely expressing those thoughts, that was the ultimate form of political engagement.

I think that’s something we’ve lost today, and that (finding it again) would move our country forward.

Bob Drury will at Lemuria on Monday, November 12, at 5:00 p.m. to sign and read from Valley Forge. Valley Forge is Lemuria’s November 2018 selection for its First Editions Club for Nonfiction.

John M. Floyd’s ‘The Barrens’ is full of surprises

By Guest Author

On October 30, 2018

In Mystery, Short Stories, Southern Fiction

By J.C. Patterson. Special to the Mississippi Book Page

Well, the season is upon us: hundreds of hungry children dressing up like princesses and superheroes, anticipating candy by the truckload. But my treat came early in the form of John M. Floyd’s seventh exciting collection of mystery short stories. The Barrens contains thirty tales set mainly in the south, some in different time periods. But they all have zingers of a punch line.

In Floyd’s opening volley, “The Sandman,” the owner of a diner is being forced to close by nefarious mobsters. One of her patrons gets a double shot of revenge through his deceased friend’s help.

An escaped prisoner uses a one-armed fisherman as his hostage in “Crow Mountain.” But where will the old man lead the escapee? “Trails End” features an out of the way café that caters to murder, a returning sheriff and some suspicious circus folk.

Thugs confront an elderly man in a protection for hire scheme in the clever “Safety First.” Watch out for what the old fellow has up his sleeve. Set in New Orleans, “Dawson’s Curse” drums up some villainous voodoo that backfires on its owner. “Merrill’s Run” traps a man in the trunk of a car with a very unexpected outcome.

The middle section of “The Barrens” makes way for six chuckle-worthy short stories in Floyd’s “Law And Daughter” series. Featuring small town sheriff Lucy Valentine and her crime-solving mom Fran, these snappy stories convey some of the author’s most fun efforts.

In “Flu Season,” a talented knife thrower with a cold aims to keep his blades true when his wife is the target. An ex-gunslinger investigates a 22-year old murder in “Gunwork.” Another period piece, “Rooster Creek” would make a sure-fire movie, in which a young woman returns to her childhood home, only to find it inhabited by true evil.

“Pit Stop,” my personal favorite, tells a double tale of a mother defending her kids in the present while recounting a chilling narrative of how she became so brave.
A killer on the run with a fear of snakes confronts his worst nightmare in “The Blue Delta.” One of the shortest stories ever written, “Premonition” casts a shadow on a couple getting ready for an evening at the theatre. A deadly west coast virus threatens a family’s happy vibes in “Life Is Good.” A mom minding her daughter’s store must make a harrowing decision in “Rosie’s Choice.”

In one of Floyd’s strangest stories ever, “The Red Eye To Boston,” an old man tells a fellow passenger that there’s something in the bathroom in the back of the plane they’re on. And it isn’t extra toilet paper.

The finale takes two children into The Barrens, a dark haunted woodland featuring a vengeful stepfather, monsters and a witch who will surprise them all.
Be sure to grab this creepy, fast, violent, mischievous, clever and fun collection of some of John M. Floyd’s finest short stories. Each tale in The Barrens is like popping Halloween candy into your mouth. Savor these tasty tidbits of mystery gold.

J.C. Patterson is the author of Big Easy Dreamin’ and Mo’ Dreamin’.

John M. Floyd will be at Lemuria tonight on Tuesday, October 30, at 5:00 to sign and read from The Barrens.

Star-cross Singularity in ‘Original Syn’ by Beth Kander

By Hunter

On October 29, 2018

In Science Fiction

By Hunter Venters. Special to the Clarion-Ledger Sunday print edition (October 28)

What is the Singularity? For transhumanists, “the singularity” refers to the theoretical moment in the future when technology and biology become one, a point when the two reach an equal level of complexity that the lines between them will become blurred.

For the characters of Beth Kander’s Original Syn, however, the Singularity is history, not future. The book takes place fifty years after The Singularity, when humans began converting themselves into human-machine hybrids known as Syns.

This resulted in a conflict between the Syns and the “Originals,” those who either opted out of the procedure or simply were not given the opportunity. After the Syns’ victory, the Originals were forced into exile and fed chemicals that made it impossible for them to reproduce, while Syns lived in luxury and waited for them to go extinct.

In this world, Syns are wealthy, endlessly knowledgeable, and, with proper maintenance, they can live forever. Their counterparts, the entirely human “Originals,” live in constant poverty, mostly living in roaming clans that scrounge for what they need. It is a society divided on the grounds of both biology and class, and the real-world parallels are clear.

The novel’s shifting point-of-view allows the reader to experience the many facets of this world. Felix Hess, one of the fathers of the Syn process, crafts his schemes to improve Syn society while also trying to understand a mysterious prophecy. A strange agent known as Shadower tries to unravel the Syn world from the inside by revealing a series of events that the authorities are trying to hide. A man who left a child behind when he became a Syn regrets his decision and wants to make amends.

Original Syn tells the stories of many characters in this new and intriguing world, but the book’s primary story is that of Ere Fell and Ever Hess (the daughter of the aforementioned Felix), an Original and a Syn whose unlikely encounter in a swamp begins a romance that could threaten their way of life.

Ever and Ere are similar characters. Ever is the daughter of one of the most influential people in Syn society, while Ere is a member of a noted family among the Originals. The primary difference between them is that Ever has lived a much more comfortable life, and that she is decades older than him (though they appear the same age.)

For Ere and his cousin, both of whom are among the only young people remaining in Original society, life is a constant search for other young people, specifically romantic interests. For Ever, life is boring and played out. Decades of being a teenager have taken their toll on her, and all she wants is something new and exciting. When the pair meet, their needs override their initial distrust of each other and the result is an affair that nearly destroys everything they know.

Original Syn has one of the most creative settings in modern science fiction, with roots in real theories and ideas. Kander’s novel puts a bold new twist on the classic “Romeo and Juliet” story while also introducing a large variety of new characters and concepts that keep the book feeling fresh and new.

Hunter Venters is a Graduate of Belhaven University. He currently works as a bookseller at Lemuria Bookstore in Jackson.

Beth Kander will be at Lemuria on Thursday, November 1, at 5:00 p.m. to sign and read from Original Syn.

Author Q & A with Rachel Cobb

By Guest Author

On October 28, 2018

In Nature, Photography, Travel

Interview by Jana Hoops. Special to the Clarion-Ledger Sunday print edition (October 28)

Award-winning New York-based photographer Rachel Cobb has spent years–decades, actually-chasing the wind.

And although such a pursuit would generally be considered fruitless for the rest of us, Cobb has defied conventional wisdom–she has captured the wind. What she has found, through the lens of her camera, is that this invisible force of nature is, at times, playful. Awe-inspiring. Destructive. Refreshing. Frightening. And utterly beautiful.

Cobb’s new book, Mistral: The Legendary Wind of Provence, is a photographic story of the relentless mistral, or strong wind, that evidence shows has likely blown through Provence, France, since before recorded time. Its impact on the area’s culture, architecture, agriculture, and social norms is revealed through stunning images of everyday life in the area.

What she discovered is that this phenomenon is clearly visible in the form of “a leaf caught in flight, a bride tangled in her veil, spider webs oriented to withstand the gusts,” to new a few revealing signs. Accompanying these visuals are excerpts from writings by Paul Auster, Lawrence Durrell, Jean Giono, Frédéric Mistral, Robert Louis Stevenson, and others, who attempt to make sense of the power of the mistral.

Rachel Cobb

Cobb has photographed current affairs, social issues, and features in the U.S. and abroad for more than two decades. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Sports Illustrated, Time, Rolling Stone, Natural History, Stern, and Paris Match, among others. She has been recognized with Picture of the Year awards for her work during the 9/11 attacks in New York City and in war-torn Sarajevo; and a Marty Forscher Grant for Humanistic Photography.

Born and raised in Dallas, Cobb has lived in New York City since she graduated from Denison University in Ohio.

Please define mistral, and tell me what your book is about. How long did it take you to capture all of these images, start to finish?

The mistral is a cold, dry wind that blows down the Rhône River Valley through Provence and empties into the Mediterranean. It can blow 200 days a year. It is fierce–relentless, even. It can turn a summer day into a chilly affair. My book is an attempt to capture the feeling of wind, to make my audience experience this invisible force of nature and to show what it means to live in a place where wind is so often present.

The first photograph I made for this series was in 1998 on medium format transparency film using a 1959 Rolleiflex twin lens camera. I’d first imagined this series as a square-format, moody, black-and-white story of people enduring the wind, maybe inside while the wind beat against their houses.

Obviously, that idea had to go. Who would have understood it? Besides, color is essential to seeing the mistral. It clears the sky and turn sit brilliant blue. And red–locals say a red sky at night indicates a mistral will follow. My first image was of a vibrant red sky at night, and if you look carefully, you can see the trees already beginning to stir. The last image was made in September 2017. But is any photographer ever really finished with a project like this? It’s now such a part of me to look for and respond to wind, I can’t help but take photos.

Tell me how you came to know about the mistral that you have written about and photographed in this book. What was it about this wind phenomenon that heightened your interest so intently?

I’d been going to this region of France since I was a teenager. Anybody who spends any amount of time in Provence is well acquainted with its most famous wind. You simply can’t escape it. And people talk about it endlessly. They predict, they complain, they repeat old adages about how long it will last, how strong it will be.

It occurred to me that the mistral is an essential part of Provençal life, and in fact, it defines many aspects of life there. The plants and trees bend to the wind. Farmers both try to control it by planting rows of trees tightly together to protect their crops, and they also make use of it, for example, when they tie plastic strips to their cherry trees. The plastic flaps in the wind and scares away birds. Houses and other buildings are built with the wind in mind, not the sun. Entrances are always on the southern, sheltered side. On the windward side, there are few or no windows. Even spiders build their webs to reduce the brunt of the wind. The mistral is the story of this place.

How hard does the mistral in Provence generally blow?

I used to carry an anemometer while I was working so that I could record exactly how hard the wind was blowing. The Beaufort Scale of Wind Force breaks down wind speed into a scale of 1 to 12, and it describes wind’s effects on sea and on land. During a strong mistral, gusts can reach 12 on the scale–that’s greater than 73 miles per hour–which is the start of hurricane strength. A more common sustained mistral might blow at 35-50 miles per hour.

Which photos did you find most challenging to capture?

I have a background in newspaper photography, which was wonderful training for working quickly, but this project really challenged me. I had to be there when the wind blew, and I also had to find ways of showing wind’s effect on things without repeating myself too much. It took longer than any story I’ve ever done. It took me 10 years to get the images of the wind-blown snow atop Mont Ventoux. Conditions have to be just right. There’s a snowfall on the mountain, then slightly warmer weather softens the snow, then wind blows and freezes the snow as it’s blowing.

I would follow the weather in Provence from New York, and when I would see there was a mistral, I would call people who worked on the mountain to see if the conditions were right, if there would be these strange snow formations. I walked up the mountain a couple of times before I got the photos I wanted.

The day I made the photos in the book, I recorded the wind at about 62 miles per hour on the mountain top. I would take off my gloves just long enough to make a frame or two, then I’d have to warm them and my cameras under my coats.

You state int he book that the people who live along the mistral’s path in Provence have a “complicated relationship” with the wind. In what ways?

Order and tradition are an important part of life in France. Farmers tidy their fields. People don’t leave the house disheveled. They’re more buttoned up than Americans. There are generally accepted rules of behavior that can be confining. Along comes the mistral. It’s a nuisance that slams car doors, loosens gutters, and upturns plants. Imagine you’re a waiter carrying a tray of glasses at an outdoor restaurant during a mistral. Things happen. Ten glasses go crashing to the ground, well… [French shrug]. The mistral happens. Chaos happens. It’s liberating.

Tell me about the writings in this book–how you chose them.

Many writers over the years have been moved to write about the mistral, and I felt their words would enhance my images. Of course, I wanted to include the work of the great French writers and poets like Frédéric Mistral, Alfonse Daudet, and Jean Giono, who were from the region. I found it surprising that so many foreigners have been charmed by and in awe of the mistral, from Paul Auster to George Sand to Robert Louis Stevenson.

What did you start out wanting to accomplish through this book, and did it change any as your work progressed?

A long project like this reveals itself slowly. I always thought the mistral could be a lens through which I could observe and describe Provence, but, in doing the work, I saw the mistral is essentially the spirit of the place.

Rachel Cobb will be at Lemuria on Monday, October 29, at 5:00 p.m. to sign and discuss Mistral: The Legendary Wind of Provence.

Elliot Ackerman’s ‘Waiting for Eden’ is a tragic love and war story

By Guest Author

On October 25, 2018

In Fiction

By Jim Ewing. Special to the Clarion-Ledger Sunday print edition (October 21)

In Waiting for Eden, National Book Award finalist Elliot Ackerman offers a tragic love and war story that tugs at the heartstrings.

Eden is an Iraq War veteran who was all but killed when an improvised explosive device destroyed the Humvee in which he was riding.

Told from the vantage of his best friend who was killed in the blast, making it a ghost story of sorts, as well, we find Eden in a burn center in Texas where he has been hooked up to life support for three years.

In the blast, Eden lost all his extremities as well as his ability to talk. He has gone from the pinnacle of fitness as a Marine lance corporal weighing 220 pounds to a mere shell of a himself, weighing 70 pounds, and covered in scar tissue.

He is, we are told, the most wounded man in the history of war.

But Eden is not your average war story, or love story. As Ackerman tells it, Eden’s story is one of a young man who is caught up in the war, twisted by it even before the physical wounds, and finds that the only place he can cope or feel “normal” is in battle.

His life with his wife Mary, which began as a sweeping love story, finds her a victim, too, as is his best friend, who is waiting in a land of white light for Eden to cross over.

While it might seem counterintuitive that a narrative involving a semi-comatose man can be engrossing, Ackerman, who was nominated for the National Book Award for his critically acclaimed novel Dark at the Crossing, displays his writing craft magnificently.

Eden delves deeper and deeper into the minds and hearts of the wounded man, his best friend, and his wife. We become intimate partners in a suspenseful tale that reveals the deepest recesses of human lives, hopes, and dashed dreams.

Eden also acts as reminder of the effect of this nation’s never-ending wars, as victim counts continue to rise almost unacknowledged, with their detrimental effect on all of our lives, overtly and subtly, taking a toll that is too often brushed aside.

As Ackerman notes, the suffering of the world is in the individual, however we may wish to distance ourselves from its effects or our complicity. We are all victims and perpetrators, casualties of the wars we choose. We are all wounded.

Eden, a slender volume, is a masterful work, haunting and enduring.

Jim Ewing, a former writer and editor at the Clarion Ledger, is the author of seven books including his latest, Redefining Manhood: A Guide for Men and Those Who Love Them.

Waiting for Eden is one of Lemuria’s November 2018 selections for its First Editions Club for Fiction. Signed first editions can be found here.

John Grisham gives a Faulknerian flavor to ‘The Reckoning’

By Guest Author

On October 23, 2018

In Mystery, Southern Fiction

By Matthew Guinn. Special to the Clarion-Ledger Sunday print edition (October 21)

At this point in his long and bestselling career, John Grisham’s chief competition is himself. How to top the breakout sensations of A Time to Kill or The Firm? How to set the bar higher than the dozens of blockbusters that have followed? It would appear that Grisham has no mountains yet to climb.

But in The Reckoning, he seems to have found a new challenge to expand his achievement: to charge right into the territory of the Old Man of Southern literature himself, fellow Mississippian William Faulkner.

Grisham does so with a novel stuffed with all the elements of Faulknerian tragedy: family secrets, a buried history, illicit sex, race, and bloody retribution. It makes for a heady mix.

Fitting, then, that this ambitious challenge returns Grisham to the Mississippi setting of A Time to Kill and Sycamore Row, fleshing out his fictional Ford County after the manner of Faulkner’s Yoknopatawpha.

The Reckoning opens with an episode that seems inspired by Faulkner’s The Unvanquished. Decorated WWII veteran Pete Banning, home from the Pacific theater, strides into the office of the Methodist minister who’d counseled his wife while he was missing and presumed dead, and shoots him in cold blood. Banning surrenders himself to the police, but is otherwise uncooperative. Under repeated questionings, his response never varies: “I have nothing to say.”

Banning is, for the first hundred pages or so, one of the least sympathetic protagonists conceivable—he is to all appearances a laconic, cold-blooded killer. But Pete’s war service, it is revealed, involves a backstory that belies that facade.

And what a backstory it is. The novel reaches its full pitch in part two, “The Boneyard,” where we learn all that Pete endured through his service in the Pacific. Astutely researched, “The Boneyard” reads like a novella of the Bataan Death March, Japanese prison camps, and guerrilla warfare in the Pacific Theater. We learn that Pete was a true hero, a patriot, and a loyal friend to his comrades at arms. He not only endures the war atrocities of the Japanese, he prevails.

Pete returns stateside to convalesce from his war wounds, stoic and tight-lipped about his imprisonment. But if Pete thought he had escaped a living hell in the Pacific, he finds that back in Ford County another, more domestic hell has been brewing in his absence. Within a few months, he has committed his wife Liza to Whitfield, deeded the family farm to his children, and murdered the Reverend Dexter Bell.

Pete faces execution for his crime and does nothing to aid in his defense. With Pete not talking, it is up to the Banning children and their Aunt Florry to cipher his motives.

Not much else can be told about the story without revealing several major plot twists. Suffice it to say that a buried history of sex and madness emerges—and that Grisham keeps the revelations coming to the last page. The disintegration of the Banning family at times reads like Job’s saga. Several deaths occur and one of them, toward the novel’s conclusion, is among the finest scenes Grisham has written.

Georgia writer Flannery O’Connor once said that Faulkner’s towering presence in Southern literature “makes a great difference in what the writer can and cannot permit himself to do. Nobody wants his mule and wagon stalled on the same track the Dixie Limited is roaring down.” In The Reckoning, Grisham’s engagement with the Dixie Limited is as inspiring as it is bold. That engagement has produced a page-turner of literary caliber not often seen at the top of bestseller lists.

The Reckoning has also expanded the scope of what we can expect of the Grisham novels to come. One hopes that this most prominent of living Mississippi writers will continue to explore Ford County and demonstrate that the tropes of family, community, and history are still fertile ground.

“Hearing the truth is like grabbing smoke in our family,” one of the Banning children says toward the end of the novel. In The Reckoning, Grisham has not only grabbed smoke, but bottled it. What a pleasure it is to see him expand the “postage stamp” of his fictional soil.

Novelist Matthew Guinn is associate professor of creative writing at Belhaven University.

John Grisham’s The Reckoning is one of Lemuria’s November 2018 selections for its First Editions Club for Fiction. Signed first editions are available here.

Author Q & A with Erin and Ben Napier

By Guest Author

On October 21, 2018

In Biography/Memoir, Celebrity, Decorating, Southern Culture

Interview by Jana Hoops. Special to the Clarion-Ledger Sunday print edition (October 21)

Erin and Ben Napier’s passion for home renovation is obvious on every episode of their HGTV show Home Town, where they take on dilapidated, vintage houses in every stage of disrepair and create cozy homes in their own home town of Laurel.

How the couple has gotten to this point is the result of two lifetimes of struggles and triumphs as documented in their memoir, Make Something Good Today. Through 18 inspiring chapters, husband and wife take turns sharing their stories–complete with hopes and fears–but always filled with encouragement. The book also includes dozens of family photos and hand-painted sketches by Erin.

College sweethearts since their years as students at Jones Junior College and then at Ole Miss, Erin is a designer and entrepreneur who established her own international stationary company; and Ben is a mater woodworker and businessman who founded Scotsman Co., and is a co-owner of Laurel Mercantile Co. in Laurel. Together, they’re known nationally for their home restorations in Laurel. The couple welcomed their first child, affectionately known as “Baby Helen,” in January.

Erin, you grew up in Laurel; and Ben, as a Methodist minister’s son, you moved around to several different communities during childhood. After your years together in college and earning your degrees at Ole Miss, what brought you back to Laurel after you got married?

Erin and Ben Napier

Erin: I had roots there, my family, and Ben had been part of that family pretty much since the week we met so it felt like for him, too, even though his family is scattered across the state. It felt right to build a life we wanted in the place where we had so much to come back to.

Ben: Yeah, I’ve always said I fell in love with Erin and fell in love with Laurel at the same time. They seemed one in the same to me. And we both were offered jobs there, so it felt like a stable, adult decision.

How did you come to see the potential for a much brighter future for this small town?

Erin: I saw that our group of friends who all had come back home to Laurel after college–the Framily, we call it–had very specific gifts and talents that worked so nicely together. Ben and I were like the mascot and the art department, and I now see the way we shared our town on social media and my blog a form of producing. We were being creative directors of the image of our town, and I think that’s the job of any creative–to tell the world at large what is cool. To give people permission to believe in something that may have been considered lame or boring before.

Ben: And when we all stay in our own lanes, magic happens. If we let the finance people find the grants and financial support, and we let the folks with connections build the volunteer base, and we let the churches create family-centered events, and let the musicians plan the music festivals, it all comes together, and a town comes back to life. It takes all of us doing what we do best in one concerted effort.

Erin, tell me about the blog you started, and how it came to bring about such a turning point in your lives.

Erin: When I left my day job and started my own company, I was paralyzed with fear and worried I would fail. writing each day was a way to focus on the blessings, on the good in the aftermath of the difficult. It became so important to me, I began to cling to the good and it shifted the way I thought about everything. I would make something good happen if it looked like I would have little to say at the end of the day. It was an exercise in editing out the messiness of life and focusing instead on gratitude. For eight years, 2010-2017, I did not miss a single day.

Tell me about obstacles you’ve had to navigate as you worked so hard to realize your dreams.

Ben: There’s always uncertainty when changing careers, which we’ve been through several times, and there is always going to be the challenge of changing hearts and minds of those who have always lived here and decided to obstinately refuse to believe that Laurel can improve and be a special place again.

And, there’s a handful of soreheads who feel Erin and I get too much credit for all this, and they are probably right. We’re just having fun and hoping to inspire folks around us as we go. It’s like a game, to see how far we can take this thing. This movement, of sorts.

How has your faith played a role in bringing you to where you are now, and sustaining you through hard times?

Ben: Faith has been part of my life for as long as I have been alive, and it’s the guiding hand in every decision we make together as a family.

Erin: When I wonder why in the world this is happening to us of all people in the world, I know that it’s God authoring the story, and that gives me comfort in it. To know that we’re being used for something he has ordained, for however brief or long-term this whole thing may be, makes me feel like we can do this. Otherwise, i would feel too small and too unimportant to have this kind of spotlight.

In your wildest dreams, I doubt either of you planned to be national TV stars, but you both seem to embrace it naturally! How has that changed you? What has it taught you?

Erin: Ben was made to be the center of attention. He’s very comfortable with it. Not in a showy way, just in a way that he can shoulder attention and make it look effortless. I’m introverted, so having this very public career is a little uncomfortable for me. But as long as I only think about our crew that we work with every day, whom we’re so close to, it feels like we’re just messing around, making a little short film for local viewing only. I can’t think about what it really is too much. It’s like looking at the sun, and it’s too much!

It’s taught me to guard things in our life, to keep them sacred and close, like the friends we had before all this happened, and Helen. I want to keep her protected and unaware of the public-ness of our job as much as we can.

You both have entrepreneurial spirits. Tell me about the businesses you’ve built individually and together.

Ben: Erin began her letterpress wedding stationary company in 2008, and a few years later we started an online shop called ErinAndBen.co of antiques, my furniture, and American-made goods to give us a boost during the holiday season when wedding traffic would die down.

When the show started, we realized we couldn’t do them by ourselves anymore, and our four best friends–Jim, Mallorie, Josh, and Emily–came on as partners, and ErinAndBen.co became Laurel Mercantile Co., and my hobby woodworking outfit, Scotsman Co., became the flagship brand of LMCo.

Josh bought a building downtown and renovated it to become our first brick and mortar shop for the Mercantile; and this year, another building, which became the Scotsman General Store and Woodshop.

We only sell American-made goods because if we’re going to be serious about revitalizing small-town America, then we have to be serious about making things in America to keep our hometowns strong. There are challenges to sourcing and manufacturing everything in the USA, but we believe it’s worth it.

There’s pride in the things we make. The true cost of a bargain is in the loss of jobs and thriving communities in small town America. In January, our collaboration with Vaughan-Bassett will be in stores everywhere, a line of furniture made by 600 American craftspeople in Virginia, made from Appalachian hardwoods.

You both seem to possess a wisdom beyond your years, and you’ve even written your story as a memoir. What is your biggest message of this book, and what do you think the future holds for you and for the city of Laurel?

Erin: It’s a love story, and it’s a bout blooming where you’re planted. It’s about how we s tarted looking at what was right were we were standing instead of what was wrong. Southerners, I think, are especially good at taking what we have, however modest it might be, and making something delicious or beautiful from it. There is no secret to how it’s done. It’s just about changing our way of seeing.

I don’t know what the future holds for Laurel, but I hope it doesn’t rely too much on a TV show. I hope the seeds we’ve been planting in this town for the last 10 years will bear fruit for generations to come. I hope the pride we see in this town takes root and holds steady, for good.

Erin and Ben Napier will be at Lemuria on Saturday, October 27, at 2:00 p.m. to sign Make Something Good Today, and will read from it starting at 4:00 p.m.

Kiese Laymon’s new book has some ‘Heavy’ truths

By Jamie

On October 16, 2018

In African-American, Culture

One reason we read is to escape from ourselves and see others, particularly others who aren’t like us. And simultaneously, one reason we read is to find ourselves, to be seen by someone else. For me, Kiese Laymon’s Heavy: An American Memoir occupies both of these spaces effortlessly.

Although, effortless is a bit misleading. In interviews, conversations, and in the very content of the book, Laymon admits that Heavy was difficult to write. It was necessary. This duality persists throughout the layers of the memoir. The relationship Laymon describes with his mother is at times toxic, but is also nurturing, sincere, and life-giving. The relationship Laymon has with his own body and food moves between destructive and healthy. Growing up as a brilliant black child in Mississippi is both “burden and blessing,” to borrow Laymon’s own words. In the face of one-dimensional, monolithic, unimaginative stereotypes, Laymon spits nuance and grace and honesty—honesty that is gritty and soothing, that captures the “contrary states of the human soul,” as William Blake says.

Personally, my relationship with Heavy is equally divergent. I’ve never been on the harsh end of a culture that devalues the lives of black Americans. Yeah, one of the only fistfights I’ve been in was defending a black friend from a racist prick in 8th grade, but I’ve never been part of a group systematically and culturally denied access by a majority. Laymon’s book shows me what it’s like. My family has had its share of trauma, but not the type of trauma Laymon’s has. His book helps me understand a type resilience I’ve never needed.

But I’m a big fella. I’ve done my share of emotional eating. I’ve had horrible conversations with myself about how to make my body smaller and, at times, questioned whether taking care of my body was worth the effort. Yes, men do have vastly lower and fewer expectations for how we should look, but we aren’t without some pressure to fit into molds. How to fit into a mold when I barely fit into some t-shirts? Laymon’s book reminds me that I’m not alone in this. I am seen and valid and broken and beautiful. Heavy can mean “excessive,” or “burdensome,” but it can also be “important.” I’m glad to have the weight of this memoir, where it touches me and where it leaves me.

Kiese Laymon will be at Millsaps at the Gertrude C. Ford Academic Center on Wednesday, October 17, at 5:00 to sign and read from Heavy.

Author Q & A with Elizabeth Heiskell

By Guest Author

On October 15, 2018

In Southern Cooking

Interview by Jana Hoops. Special to the Clarion-Ledger Sunday print edition (October 14)

Creating the first revamp of a classic American cookbook in nearly 50 years would be a challenge for the best of culinary experts, but it’s probably no surprise that Oxford’s Elizabeth Heiskell was able to pull of a fresh new rendition of The Southern Living Party Cookbook with impeccable taste.

The TV personality, caterer, cooking teacher, and author beautifully presents her 2018 version of the 1972 classic with a book that not only satisfies would-be hosts and hostesses who are new to party-giving, but provides more seasoned home entertainers with a handful of new tricks, as well.

The original version become the bestselling Southern Living cookbook of all time, a proud status Heiskell hopes to continue.

While this “modern day reinterpretation” of the classic book has retained many favorite recipes from the original, it is filled with popular choices from recent editions of Southern Living magazine, and many of Heiskell’s own favorites. Menus include appetizers, main dishes, drinks, and desserts for a Bridal Tea, Garden Club Luncheon, Summer Nights, Cocktails and Canapés, Tailgate, Picnic on the Lawn, Fall Dinner, and 24 more occasions.

The party guide essentially provides templates for a multitude of party ideas–with more than just recipes. Heiskell also includes time-saving tips along with thoughtful touches to put any host or hostess at ease.

As may be expected from any Southern Living publication, the photography and design of the book offer stunning visual encouragement for readers looking for creative ideas.

Elizabeth Heiskell

Born and raised in the Mississippi Delta town of Rosedale, Heiskell’s career in food-related pursuits springs from a generations-long affinity for cooking and entertaining. She completed courses at the Culinary Institute of America in New York, and later served as lead instructor for the Viking Cooking School in Greenwood for nearly a decade. Heiskell and her family moved to Oxford in 2011, where she and her husband run Woodson Ridge Farms, providing fresh produce for member families and restaurants. She has also operated her own busy catering business for 20 years.

Along the way, Heiskell has become a food contributor for NBC’s Today Show and has appeared on Food Network’s The Kitchen, Hallmark Channel’s Home & Family, as well as Pickler & Ben, Fox & Friends, and Chopped.

Her previous cookbooks include What Can I Bring? Southern Food for Any Occasion Life Serves Up and Somebody Stole the Cornbread from My Dressing, which she co-authored with Susanne Young Reed.

The original Southern Living Party Cookbook, published in 1972, was the brand’s all-time bestselling cookbook. Did taking on the job of updating this “classic” among cookbooks place a big responsibility on your shoulders for a new generation?

I cannot even tell you! I had ladies sending me stories about how much the original cookbook had meant to them, asking me to preserve recipes they have used for decades.

Yes, I felt the pressure, but I had the advantage of being a caterer for 20 years, and cooking and giving parties in my own home. I wanted to celebrate the “mandatory” gatherings like Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve, plus fun occasions like the “Joy to the Girls” party. I hope my ideas will inspire others to not be afraid to plan and enjoy entertaining their friends.

Ultimately, we held onto about a third of the original recipes because we felt like they were too fantastic to let go. There are several in each category in the book.

The book includes 31 party-themed menus for all occasions, including teas, receptions, brunches and luncheons, tailgating, cocktails hours, cookouts and celebration dinners for holidays and family celebrations. How did you choose these categories, and what elements were important to you to include in each of these types of meals?

I really wanted to make sure that I included parties that most everyone would feel like they were up to the challenge for and could do. For instance, the “Cookouts” category is great for young couples who may not have given many parties and/or may not be confident cooks. “The Tailgate” is one for pretty much everyone. At a more elevated level is the “Impress the Boss” dinner.

With every category, I wanted to emphasize that there are things you can make ahead, things you can substitute, and ways to have everything under control ahead of time so that the host or hostess can enjoy the party, too.

You also add some party planning tips in each chapter, for everything from etiquette and invitations to hostess gifts, tables settings, and thank you notes. Why was it important to you to include these extra hints?

The bottom line is that anyone coming to your home is excited to be invited and thought of. You don’t need to work yourself into a frenzy–these are your friends and they will be happy if you just put out some wine and maybe one dip. The whole point is to have friends over.

The book itself is beautiful, inside and out. Please tell me about the stunning photography and how you planned the design of the book.

Southern Living put this book together. All the photography was done in-house in (their corporate offices) in Birmingham. We worked very closely together to make sure each photo was representative of what the finished recipes should look like.

How did you get your “big break” to become a regular on NBC’s “Today Show”

(Years ago) I would see Martha Stewart on the Today Show, and I decided my grandmother’s Pillowcase Thanksgiving Turkey needed to be on the show right then. I thought about it and prayed about it. When I was working for Viking, I just knew I would someday get the chance.

When (NBC News Chairman) Andy Lack (founder of Mississippi Today digital news service and who has family ties to Mississippi) came to Oxford for a dinner party at Rowan Oak in Oxford (in 2015), he told me at the end of the dinner, “You need to understand that you are wildly talented.”

I told him I had been waiting to be on the Today Show for 17 years. . . . I wound up making my grandmother’s Pillowcase Turkey on the show before Thanksgiving. Today I am a Today Show contributor, an employee of NBC.

What plans do you have in mind for your future at this time?

My time at this point is a big balancing act with my catering company in Oxford, being a contributor for the Today Show, and my family!

Elizabeth Heiskell will be at Lemuria on Thursday, October 25, at 5:00 to sign and discuss the Southern Living Party Cookbook.

Wayétu Moore’s ‘She Would Be King’ myths and magic for early African nationhood

By Former Lemurians

On October 8, 2018

In Fiction

by Trianne Harabedian

A sweeping tale of curses, slavery, and revolution (with a touch of magic), She Would Be King by Wayétu Moore is a debut novel of mythical proportions. The story moves from Africa to Virginia to Jamaica to Monrovia in a re-imagining of the founding of Liberia, centered around three characters whose supernatural abilities assist the fledgling country. History and magical realism combine to create a beautifully heartbreaking myth, where love and survival struggle to coexist.

The story begins with the Vai tribe and a girl, Gbessa, who is born the same day a wicked woman dies. Pronounced as cursed, Gbessa is shut inside her mother’s home until she comes of age and is forced out of the village. Alone in the woods, Gbessa faces starvation, isolation, and a deadly snake bite. When she finally returns to the village, the villagers are afraid of her because they believed she had died a long time ago. Reeling from this idea, Gbessa realizes they are right. She should have died, several times over. This is how she discovers her gift–she cannot die.

Far away, on a plantation in Virginia, June Dey is a slave raised by a woman who is not his biological mother. He knows nothing of his true parents, or his strange beginning, and loves Darlene fully. She patiently endures the wrath of the plantation owner’s wife, who is jealous of her beauty, for years. When the plantation owner dies and his wife decides to sell Darlene and send June Dey to the fields, Darlene finally snaps. In an effort to protect her, June Dey incurs the wrath of the overseer and is forced to run for his life. This is when he discovers his own gift–weapons cannot hurt him.

The story then moves to Jamaica, where a white scientist discovers that his female slave, Nanni, has the ability to disappear into the earth. He keeps her captive for observation, and when they have a child together, he subjects the boy to countless tests and experiments. Norman Aragon grows up dreaming of the day his father will send him and his mother to Africa to be free, as he promised to do years earlier. But when his father finally purchases tickets for an overseas journey, Nanni realizes at the last minute that he plans to take them to America. She tries to escape up the mountain with Norman Aragon, and in a violent struggle he discovers his gift–he can disappear into the earth, just like his mother before him.

As Gbessa, June Dey, and Norman Aragon continue their journeys, they learn more about their gifts and the currently shifting world. They travel through places where slavery is still rampant, through free towns, and through lands where the slave trade continues, illegally, to bring violence to peaceful villages. And in true mythical form, their paths tend to cross. Eventually, they all arrive in a newly-born country, Liberia, where they use their gifts and unique experiences to help protect this new place of freedom. Perfect for anyone who loves old-world fairy tales and mythical stories of courage, this novel takes darkness and introduces a magical light.

Wayétu Moore will be at Lemuria on Tuesday, October 9, at 5:00 to sign and read from She Would Be King.

Page 17 of 257

Author Q & A with Bob Drury

John M. Floyd’s ‘The Barrens’ is full of surprises

Star-cross Singularity in ‘Original Syn’ by Beth Kander

Author Q & A with Rachel Cobb

Elliot Ackerman’s ‘Waiting for Eden’ is a tragic love and war story

John Grisham gives a Faulknerian flavor to ‘The Reckoning’

Author Q & A with Erin and Ben Napier

Kiese Laymon’s new book has some ‘Heavy’ truths

Author Q & A with Elizabeth Heiskell

Wayétu Moore’s ‘She Would Be King’ myths and magic for early African nationhood

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