James D. McCallister

author of the Edgewater County series

Dear DIXIANA

Two years ago, DIXIANA, you were but a gleam in my eye. Out of reach for so long, yet here now I find that you exist. You are one of the great loves of my life. In the room with me. Corporeal. I can touch you. How we began seems like only yesterday. Now, my […]

State of the Projects: Spring 2015

The last couple of years here in Edgewater County have made for quite the novelistic ride. From seeing the publication of Fellow Traveler to getting an agent for DOGS OF PARSONS HOLLOW (no sale) and then losing said agent over trying to cut a deal with Story River Books on MANSION OF HIGH GHOSTS (no sale, […]

Speech to My Dad’s Retirement Luncheon

This year, my family and I are thrilled that my dad’s retiring from his long career in the heating and air business. Later today we’ll be celebrating his long and productive work life with a special luncheon in his honor. Here are a few thoughts I plan to make.

Manuscript Evaluations Now Open

Now that I’m into the revision phase of my work on DIXIANA, and a light revision phase at that, I thought I’d once again promote the availability of my editorial service, which is explained below. By this point in my life I’ve enjoyed quite the varied writing career, with much accumulated knowledge and professional experience to share, including […]

Storytelling Workshop Returns this Summer!

While we’re all making plans for this summer, Columbia SC-area writers may wish to consider taking my five week class, Storytelling Workshop, that’s again offered as part of the Midlands Technical College Corporate and Continuing Education program. Students may anticipate the structure of the course as half lecture/salon on writing topics such as discipline, style, and various other elements […]

Review (Theatrical): MR. TURNER (2014)

A REVIEW OF MIKE LEIGH’S EXCELLENT BIOGRAPHY OF THE INFLUENTIAL LANDSCAPE PAINTER JMW TURNER.

Notes on the DIXIANA Saga (Part 3)

After two prior novelistic forays, what more could possibly occur in the Southern-fried universe of my series DIXIANA? Despite the intensity of the narrative peaks at the conclusion of DOWN IN DIXIANA, much remains unresolved for the characters caught in the personal and social dramas of my Edgewater County literary world. Here, then, is the synopsis of the third […]

Review (VOD): BLOODLINE (2015)

“There’s clearly some things going on with our family.” So says Sally, matriarch of the Rayburn clan (Sissy Spacek) in the penultimate episode of the new Netflix drama series Bloodline. Coming at the arguable peak of the dysfunctional family dynamic on display in this mostly compelling new offering from the on-demand service, this plays as quite the amusing understatement. Set […]

Notes on the DIXIANA Saga (Part 2)

With the lengthy establishing act that is DIXIANA already described, we continue the synopsis of the seriocomic Southern literary journey of Roy Earl Pettus, Button Sykes, Christy Beaudock, and all the other characters driving the narrative of DOWN IN DIXIANA, the second volume of this three-novel series for which I’ll soon begin seeking a publishing berth. While book one […]

A Taper’s Section Night to Remember…Grateful Dead in Chapel Hill 3/24/93

The Grateful Dead’s Spring Tour 1993 proved to be a time of renewal—the previous December, Jerry Garcia had returned from a canceled fall tour and a(nother) health crisis looking spry, trim (by his standards) and energetic. A happy time to be a Deadhead! March winds were gonna blow all our troubles away. On the 22nd anniversary of […]