January 2018

A beachcomber’s love letter Story & Photograph by Virginia Holman Fourteen years ago, my son and I found ourselves on the shores of Carolina Beach. We’d driven down from our home in Durham [...]

On a cold winter’s night, wrap your hands around a bowl and you will begin to understand why these hearty one-pot meals have sustained people in the South for centuries By Jane Lear A stew, with [...]

Stillman Wightman traveled 1,200 miles from New York to Fort Fisher to bring his son home By Kevin Maurer The wind cut into Stillman Wightman as he worked his way along the berm searching for [...]

An iconic insider on the art of writing well By Stephen E. Smith In his latest book, Draft No. 4: On the Writing Process, John McPhee deconstructs the process he’s spent a lifetime perfecting: [...]

Along a historic American highway, the heart and soul of a nation is revealed By Jim Dodson Over the past few months I’ve been traveling the Great Wagon Road, researching a book about the [...]

153rd Anniversary of the Battle of Fort Fisher January marks the 153rd anniversary of the Second Battle of Fort Fisher, when Union forces captured the strategic Confederate stronghold. The fall [...]

Patience, planning and a sense of serenity By Wiley Cash I have been fortunate to publish three novels in the past five years, and I have been even more fortunate that my publisher has sponsored [...]

About Magic A quantum taste of joy hidden in a top hat The wisdom of love up your sleeve Tell me your story as you rise wingless above the stage Let me make you believe in the vast unbelievable [...]

Begin Again Perhaps it’s true that the best narratives are cyclical, taking the reader on a figurative journey that ultimately leads them back where they started, yet, through some alchemical [...]

Technically speaking, it’s a different world up there By Clyde Edgerton My parents were born in 1902 and 1904 into homes without electricity. That kind of describes a starting point regarding my [...]