Booklist and Notes

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Booklist and Notes George Brosi Burchill, James V., Linda Crider, and Peggy Kendrick. The Cold, Cold Hand: StoriesofGhostsandHauntsfrom the Appalachian Foothills. Nashville: Rudedge Hill Press, 1997. 191 pages. Trade paperback. $9.95. This book is a sequel to Ghosts and Haunts from the Appalachian Foothills published in 1994. Both books present very short stories of the inexplicable and provides no context for either the authors or the tales they have collected. Davis, Adda Leah. Here I am Again, Lord: Landon Colley, An Old Time Primitive Baptist Universalist Preacher. No publisher or place of publication listed. 1997. 115 pages with index. Trade paperback. $13.95. This is an amateurish but fascinating account ofthe life and times of a "No-Heller" preacher from Southwest Virginia. It begins with the death ofhis parents from typhoid when he was an infant, and tells ofhis upbringing in the 1920s in Dickinson County, Virginia. Colley was called to preach when he heard a sermon preached by a black Primitive Baptist Universalist preacher from neighboring Buchanan County, Virginia. Colley's activities as a church leader since the war are recounted in the rest of the book, offering insights into a unique denomination centered almost completely in the Southern Appalachian region. Garvey, Edward B. The New Appalachian Trail. Birmingham, Alabama: Menasha Ridge Press, 1997. 306 pages with photos and illustrations by Sharon H. Garvey. Trade paperback. $14.95. Edward Garvey became active in work on behalf of the Appalachian Trail while working for the federal government in Virginia. In 1970, when he first attempted to hike the 3,000 miles of trail from Georgia to Maine he found that he had met about half of the forty hikers who had preceded him. His book, Appalachian Hiker: Adventure ofa Life-time, became a classic in the field and helped popularize the through hike. The current book consists mostiy of a journal of Garvey's 1990 attempt at a final through hike at the age of seventy-five. Although he didn't complete the entire trail, his effort was impressive, and few bring stronger background knowledge to the task. 74 Gifford, Jim, Owen B. Nance, and Patricia A. Hall, editors and compilers . Appalachian Christmas Stories. Ashland, Kentucky: The Jesse Stuart Foundation, 1997. 112 pages. Trade paperback. $9.95. This contribution to niche publishing is actually much better than could easily be expected thanks to the caliber ofmost ofthe authors. It includes three short stories, one from the well-known regional writer whose legacy the publisher honors, Jesse Stuart, one from James B. Goode, director Emeritus of the Southeast Community College Appalachian Center, and one from Loyal Jones, Director Emeritus ofthe Berea College Appalachian Center. The three essays are from Billy C. Clark, another prolific northeast Kentucky author; Thomas D. Clark, Kentucky's Historian Laureate, and Harry M. Caudill, the Whitesburg, Kentucky, lawyer whose best-seller, Night Comes to the Cumberlands, focused national attention on Appalachian poverty in the 1960s. The poetry section includes Stuart, Goode, the late Jim Wayne Miller, and Marlin W Blaine. The editors and compilers of this collection all work for its publisher. Morris, Gilbert, and Aaron McCarver. Over the Misty Mountains. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1997. Trade paperback. $9.95. This is the story ofJosh Spencer who leads a disastrous wagon train of settlers into East Tennessee in the 1750s, losing everything, even his wife, in the process. He is captured by an Indian named Sequatchie who converts him to Christianity and renames him Hawk. The authors note, "It is our prayer that you will benefit from the spiritual lessons found in the pages . . . As we learn to put God first in our lives, just as Hawk had to learn, we see that a vital dependence on Him is the only way we can find the peace and steadiness to make it through the struggles ..." Gilbert Morris has written over seventy novels and lives in Colorado. Aaron McCarver teaches Christian literature in Mississippi and served Morris as an editorial consultant before becoming a co-author. McCaig, Donald. Jacob's Ladder: A Story of Virginia During the War. New York: Norton, 1998. 525 pages. Hardback in dust jacket. $25.95. The plot of this Civil War novel centers...