About

James D. McCallister is the author of nine novels—KING’S HIGHWAY (2007), FELLOW TRAVELER (2012), LET THE GLORY PASS AWAY (2017), DOGS OF PARSONS HOLLOW (2018), DIXIANA, DOWN IN DIXIANA, DIXIANA DARLING (2019), MANSION OF HIGH GHOSTS (2021) and RECONSTRUCTION OF THE FABLES (2021)—as well as two short story collections, THE YEAR THEY CANCELED CHRISTMAS (2017) and THE NIGHT I PRAYED TO ELVIS (2024). His published work also includes a poetry collection, IRONICALLY UNREAL ONCE FOREVER (2023), creative nonfiction, magazine features, a newspaper column, and scholarly articles.

A past winner or finalist for awards from the South Carolina Writer’s Association, SC Fiction Project, Pearl Magazine, the Faulkner Society, the Saturday Evening Post, The Raw Art Review and The Jasper Project, in 2014 McCallister’s papers relating to FELLOW TRAVELER were requested by McHenry Library at the University of California-Santa Cruz as an adjunct collection to the academic Grateful Dead Archive.

In the academic field, McCallister led the Midlands Technical College creative writing workshop from 2009-2020, as well as guest lectured throughout his career in a variety of University of South Carolina classes including Fiction Workshop and Magazine Writing. A lifelong South Carolinian, he lives, works and loves with his wife of thirty years and their beloved brood of cats, muses all, in nearby West Columbia.

In another professional guise, the McCallisters may be found in the downtown college neighborhood called Five Points at their long-running boutique Loose Lucy’s, which in 2022 also celebrates its 30th anniversary.