James D. McCallister

author of the Edgewater County series

MoHG Rising

The news dropped today that my long-in-gestation literary novel MANSION OF HIGH GHOSTS, now out on submission, has made it through the initial reading at Pat Conroy’s new fiction imprint Story River Press, though not selected for the first round of releases coming in 2014. When is a rejection not a rejection? When you’ve made the […]

DIXIANA Research and Writing Continues

Seven hundred pages; one-hundred eighty six thousand words. DIXIANA rolls on. As we enter the last week of the third month of writing this massive Southern literary novel (and with my personal deadline looming in another month’s time), over the last few days I’ve suffered something of a crisis of confidence. Not so much over […]

Review (Live Music): PHISH in Alpharetta, GA (Part 2)

Here’s part two of my review of the recent Phish shows in Georgia. Click here for part one. PHISH Wednesday, 07/17/2013  Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre at Encore Park, Alpharetta, GA Soundcheck: Energy -> Gimme Some Lovin’ Jam -> Energy Set 1: Runaway Jim > The Moma Dance, Funky Bitch, Divided Sky, Gumbo > Nellie Kane > Frost[1], Alaska, Guyute, Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan > Suzy Greenberg Set 2: Punch You […]

Review (Live Music): PHISH in Alpharetta, GA

After a one year hiatus from Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre at Encore Park, an acoustically pleasing, smallish shed (~12k) set amidst a pine forest in northern Georgia, Vermont’s prog-rock favorite sons returned this week to the American South to present a pair of shows that fairly crackled with energy, engagement, thoughtful song selection, and yes, rain […]

DIXIANA Update: Research Phase Underway

DIXIANA, otherwise known around these parts as Novel 2013, is still chugging along, and now stands at 166,000 words; hitting 170 today or tomorrow. What’s next? Three major ‘books’ within the overall structure of eight sub-books and an epilogue (already done and in place) remain to be written. What this means, I think, is that […]

Review (Live Music): PHISH in Bangor, ME

Travel to Phish shows. Whether hitchhiking, driving across country, or choosing more upmarket conveyances, it’s always a thrill, more so when it’s show day and you have planes and rental cars and rigmarole and miles to go, and the potential for delays and misadventure hanging over your head. And all that’s also why in getting […]

The Day FELLOW TRAVELER Was Born

The day and night of July 2, 1995 at the Deer Creek Music Center outside Indianapolis might have been eighteen years ago, but as with any intense experience, the memories of what a dedicated Deadhead expereiloom large and fresh and terrible. ‘Suffer’ is a matter of degree, I know. But to have your final Grateful […]