Böcker av James D McCallister

Gather here with us before the flickering screen, the grainy flash-frames whizzing by in the mind of [REDACTED], a protagonist and narrator as reliable as they come. He has to be reliable-not only is he a journalist, but this time it''s his own story he''s telling, for once, instead of someone else''s.Make that former journalist. Now that our humble narrator has been downsized from his career perch at the biggest birdcage liner in town-and far too young for retirement-he is frozen in his tracks. To where will his words turn now?Where else but the past, which as Faulkner said isn''t even past, especially for a man whose youthful dreams still reside right around the corner from the newspaper office in the university media arts classrooms where he learned narrative filmmaking, not reporting the news?If only he could consult with his old college friend Kunk, long dead of suicide, his old mentor might have insight. Or perhaps Camille, a forever-friend for whom the protagonist still pines after thirty years, a different breed of pain.Alas, [REDACTED] must rely only upon his own memories as he reconstructs the truth about Kunk, Camille for whom our melancholy narrator remains unrequited, and most of all himself, their time together in the mid-1980s growing so hazy that his college days have begun to seem, almost, like some sort of long-ago, twice-told fable....

Oh, happy day! It''s awesome here in the doldrums of the post-9/11, pre-smart phone naughty-aughties in crappy Edgewater County, South Carolina as a trio of aging Gen-X malcontents-Devin Rucker, his sister Creedence and their rich friend Billy Steeple-all descend further into fiery dissolution courtesy a crucible of unresolved guilt, neuroses and deception:Movie-obsessed Billy''s written the screenplay of his dreams all the way to the ceiling, has a faithful girlfriend, lives well, and, Oh, for kicks also harbors a deadly secret. He''s no Ted Bundy, however-all the murders were imaginary. Or were they...?Creedence, hoping for rescue, grapples with a conundrum: someone''s knocked her up, either her doofus husband or else her doofus lover. Solution? Seduce rich Billy, with whom she missed her chance years ago... and tell him the baby''s his! What''s the harm in a little fib about paternity to make her dream of escape come true? No problem-o.And then tragic Devin: an end-stage alcoholic grappling with confabulated memories of a dark past involving his lost love Libby Meade, their beloved cat or possibly both, he''s also still pissed over Billy''s betrayal, in the worst way a best friend could. One of these days ''Ruck'' will return wielding biblical-scale retribution. Sure. But only after he has his fill; only after he drinks one more for the road.Reader be warned: enter ye the MANSION OF HIGH GHOSTS praying these Edgewater County folk at last grow out of their stunted adolescent selves. For now it''s enough to say, let''s hope it isn''t too late; here''s hoping no one else ends up dead like Libby.A prequel to award-winning South Carolina author James D. McCallister''s DIXIANA saga, join us one final time in Edgewater County as we draw the literary curtain on this fifteen-year series of Neo-Southern gothic novels and stories.