Planning to gift books this holiday season? Books by six eastern North Carolina authors, members of the Franklin County Arts Council (FCAC) Writers Guild, are available for holiday purchase. #ShopLocal and support NC authors by purchasing works of poetry and prose.
The books listed below cover ghosts, more ghosts, life’s beauty, mules (nonfiction), a Virgin Mary, time travel, and there’s even one fantasy tale with a Santa! While not all of these books are set in North Carolina, all were written here and the authors inspired by their surroundings.
To see other works available from Kim Beall, Kathryn Ewers Bundy, Jackie Dove-Miller, Donna Campbell Smith, Pat Tiffin, and KF Whatley, use the links provided below.
For more information about the Writers’ Guild at FCAC, visit www.fcacarts.org.
To gift an e-book: Go to the Amazon Kindle store and search for the book you want to buy. On the right-hand side of the page, underneath the “Buy Now” button, click on the “Give as a Gift” button. Next, select how you want the book delivered — the gift email can be sent right to the recipient, or to yourself, then follow instructions to complete your purchase.
A Midnight Clear
This is the Christmas episode in the Woodley, USA series! Rest assured, it isn’t necessary to have read the rest of the series to be able to enjoy this short, gothic tale of Christmas at Vale House, a haunted B&B on the edge of a mysterious meadow. Everyone keeps telling Callaghan McCarthy she needs to have a wish prepared when Santa arrives on Christmas Eve. She doesn’t believe in Santa or in wishes anymore, but she is beginning to suspect she knows the identity of the body that was found under the ice in the pond two days ago.
Review: “It is a terrific tale of fantasy with a touch of reality – or maybe reality with a touch of fantasy.”
Kim Beall lives and writes in a small NC town that may or may not remind you of Woodley, USA. She has never yet met a ghost in person, though her cats do frequently manage to walk through closed doors. When not writing she gardens, hunts mushrooms, and raises chickens. She sincerely believes every adult still yearns, not so deep inside, to find real magic in everyday life.
Dead Man’s Curve: Thirteen Tales
Enjoy this set of short stories about a community of ghosts who live on, at the spot where their Earthly lives ended. You’ll want to meet these folks!
Review: “This is a real feel-good book! The stories can be read individually or all at once like a novel.”
Author Kathryn Ewers Bundy combines love of history and a fascination with the stories of women’s lives in her novels. After years of teaching, working in museums and historic sites, and running her own business, Ms. Bundy has settled into a happy retirement of writing and publishing. No fan of the simple romance, she tells these tales with an eye for authenticity and an ear for dialogue. There is no shortage of love, but it is often couched in unusual settings and characters, everything from Nineteenth Century lesbians to contemporary foundlings. There may even be a ghost or two.
Beauty and Truth: A Buffet of Poetry
This book of poetry covers a variety of themes: The beauty of nature, the beauty of dreams, the truth about life and the truth about God. The poems discuss the beauty and power of all creation and our personal relationship with God.
Review: “I started reading, couldn’t put it down.”
Poet and Author Jackie Dove-Miller lives in Franklin County and is a retired high school English teacher. She has several other books of poetry and one mixed-genre collection.
The Book of Mules: An Introduction to the Original Hybrid
This new edition, written and photographed by Donna Campbell Smith, is a celebration of mules, those long-eared hybrids that helped carry pioneers west, tilled the tobacco and cotton fields of the South, and served in the military throughout America history. Today, they are still working hard in fields, working as pack animals, as favorite mounts for trail riders and are still used in the military. The Book of Mules is a new edition that includes history and origin of the mule, care, selecting, breeding, showing, and owning mules for fun. It also has a chapter of first-person stories submitted by folks who once worked their farms with mules. Written with a sense of recapturing the past The Book of Mules is an essential introduction for anyone who owns, rides, plans to buy, or is otherwise fond of mules. (Available as paperback only.)
Review: “This is a wonderful resource for everything mule related but more than just a reference book- it’s easy and fun to read. A must have for any mule-lover’s library!”
Donna Campbell Smith has authored three other nonfiction books: The Book of Miniature Horses, The Book of Draft Horses, and The Book of Donkeys, published by The Lyons Press. In addition she is a freelance journalist and photographer whose work has appeared in many print and online publications.
Our Lady of Variety
This new novel is a funny, irreverent and thought-provoking story of an appearance by the Virgin Mary in the fictional town of Variety, North Carolina.
Pat Tiffin lives in Fayetteville, NC and is author of three novels, including No New Messages, which told the story of a 9/11 widow coming apart at the seams who ends up in a small town near Wendell, NC.
Triad of Time: A Time Travel Novel
Follow the adventures of a time traveler and his companions as he attempts to make the world a better place, one person at a time… and come up with a plan to correct an elusive killer’s murders.
KF Whatley lives on the edge of Franklin and Nash Counties. She has published two books in her time travel series, and has a short story collection coming in 2021.
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Ed. Note: To find more NC authors, check out the North Carolina Literary Map and find authors who’ve called the state home. Search the map by county and genre.
Originally published December 10, 2020. Updated December 13 w/ author details.