As documented on this blog and elsewhere, in November 2014 I was fortunate and honored to present Fellow Traveler at the national Grateful Dead academic conference called So Many Roads: The World in the Grateful Dead. It happened that my panel included Rolling Stone and Men’s Journal contributing editor David Browne, who had a new biography of the […]
To explain: on both a professional and personal level, 2015 represented a year of culmination for this Southern author. Not only did a tumultuous, inspiration-ridden multiyear cycle of primary compositional work on my novel series DIXIANA draw to a conclusion in May, but the same month my mother’s long battle with illness came to a grim […]
Here’s a quick report about my two events yesterday at Columbia, SC’s inaugural Deckle Edge Literary Festival!
For the last month or two I realize that it has been quiet around good old Edgewater County Confidential . . . apologies. But behind the scenes, rest assured that much has been stewing and brewing and coming together: First, a glimpse of the future—the first piece of key art for LET THE GLORY PASS […]
Terribly sad this morning about the death of San Francisco musician Paul Kantner. A number of easter-egg tributes to Jefferson Airplane and the post JA work may be found in my novel Fellow Traveler, most especially this particular song. RIP Paul. “Riders of the rainbow, let it grow!” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWucwTZ2oIc
We’re still a long, long way from seeing the DIXIANA novel series in print. In fact, the world will read LET THE GLORY PASS AWAY and RECONSTRUCTION OF THE FABLES (formerly KUNK) first. But for now, how about a lovely teaser image? It’s too soon to know whether this will end up as cover artwork, or used in […]
That’s right—not only was my novel Fellow Traveler inspired by the Grateful Dead experience, but its official release in 2012 came on November 1, the Day of the Dead. That I had first seen the band on Halloween night in 1985—a night like forever, as it turns out—only made the decision to have the book […]
With my sabbatical-slash-recovery from the writing of the 2015 Faulkner-Wisdom Finalist and hot-topic literary epic DIXIANA scheduled for this past summer, conveniently and grimly enough, alongside what became the omega point of my mother’s terminal illness, the plan for September had been to dive back into a quote-unquote normal writing cycle. For all sorts of reasons, […]
Andria Kennington McCallister June 4, 1946 — September 7, 2015 James D. McCallister In the last couple of years I’ve found myself tasked on occasion with giving eulogies. Gracious, it must be that time of life for me—middle age. This summer I had a 25th wedding anniversary, and only two weeks ago turned 50. Wow, […]
Regular readers of the blog know of my status not only as a novelist, but that I present myself specifically as a South Carolina novelist, one writing about his time and place. Hell, my original author headshot includes a glimpse of the State House building, a shot taken only steps away from the Confederate monument now […]
