Southeastern Literary Tourism Initiative

Fitzgerald Becomes First Classic Author To Have Interactive Tourism Novel

2012-01-24T19:11:00.000-08:00

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s first novel has just made literaryhistory again by becoming the first classic novel in the world to be published withan interactive tourism guide. This Side of Paradise:Interactive Tourism Edition, published by SELTI, guides readers to the real locations that inspiredthe fictional story. All royalties from this special tourism edition are beingdonated to the F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum,the only museum in the world dedicated to the famous couple. The tourismedition also includes a link to the SELTI article “What Would Fitzgerald Think ofthe Kindle?”

Readers can purchase this special edition right now fortheir Kindles or, with a Kindle app, for their desktop or laptop computers,iPads, iPhones, or any smart phone or tablet computer. Remember: anyone canKindle! Check out the new novel on Amazon and click on the free sample here: This Side of Paradise: Interactive Tourism Edition

Moundville contest deadline extended

2012-01-22T20:04:00.000-08:00

The University of Alabama Museums has requested that the deadline for entering the Inaugural SELTI Writing Contest be extended to April 15, 2012. This will better fit the academic calendar of the students. The deadline has been added to the official rules, which can be found by clicking here

As a writer, I have never been to a place that emanated such a powerful aura of mystical energy before, which makes Moundville the perfect setting for a tourism short story competition. One has to truly visit there to feel the magic of the place surround your soul. Even if you don't participate in the contest, please visit their website to learn about an exciting visit by clicking here.

Cloverdale Charms Readers and Tourists

2011-12-07T19:58:00.001-08:00

Daphne Simpkins holds up her novel Cloverdale
in front of Capitol Book & News, which is
in the real neighborhood of Cloverdale.

Excerpt From: Cloverdale by Daphne Simpkins
Tourism Attraction: Old Cloverdale historic district
Location: Montgomery, Alabama
Photos: Click to enlarge!

When it comes to neighborhood charm, Old Cloverdale in Montgomery, Alabama is hard to compete against. One of the historic neighborhood’s many unique charms is its independent bookstore, Capitol Book & News, where I recently met with Daphne Simpkins, the author of a new novel titled Cloverdale. The novel features the escapades of Miss Mildred Budge, a retired school teacher who finds that retirement can be as hectic and rewarding as her full time job ever was—not to mention more dangerous.

The best parts of this novel, set in the real Cloverdale, are the constant moments of subtle beauty from everyday life, like the image of a mother’s hand when giving directions. Moments like these separate this novel from a mere tour guide description and propel the reader into the spirit of the real place. Learn how to visit the real Cloverdale in the Tourism Guide and Links after these short excerpts provided from the publisher to SELTI:

From Cloverdale . . .

“I know you are new to the neighborhood. It is actually referred to as Cloverdale — to some, Old Cloverdale,” the retired school teacher explained patiently. When Kenny blinked as if he didn’t speak English, she explained, “Cloverdale is considered to be the heart of historic Montgomery.”
Kenny blinked some more, as if he didn’t recognize the name of the city where they lived. Miss Budge smiled encouragingly, and continued politely.

“I wonder if you have visited the Fitzgerald museum yet? It is to your left, about two miles that way,” Miss Budge directed, pointing, and one more time, saw her mother’s hand. She did not mind the vision of her mother’s hand extending from her arm at all. Though no one expected a woman of Miss Budge’s age to miss a parent, Mildred Budge still did miss her mother and was glad for the company of even the image of her mother’s hand.

Students read from Fitzgerald's classic works outside
the F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum in Cloverdale

Kenny eyed the older woman as if she were speaking a foreign language. His eyes morphed to a weak shade of green. Miss Budge wondered if Kenneth was weak or just young. She had taught many young people and had learned that looking into their eyes and making assessments about intelligence or character based on an expression or shade of eye color had very little to do with who they really were—no more than how people once used to feel the bumps on a person’s cranium to determine intelligence.

Knowing that (and it had taken her a surprisingly long time to learn it) Miss Budge often fought the impulse anyway to a know person’s head shape with her fingertips, like a blind person might. Kenny had a rectangular-shaped head. Her fingers began to strum the air gently. If she could know the contours of his head with her hands, what would the arcs and bumps tell her about what was going on inside?

She clasped her hands determinedly in her lap and held them there while surreptitiously checking the closure of her robe. Her mother would have liked this robe, too, she thought—and smiled.

“The museum is the old house of a famous Montgomery family. F. Scott Fitzgerald is a famous author. He married a Montgomery girl,” she explained patiently. “You may recall from your high school days that Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby.”

Cloverdale home. Photo by Old Cloverdale Association

Kenny stared at Miss Budge blankly, and the color of his eyes deepened to the color of an ocean just before it rained. Troubled, Kenny tried to figure out what to say next. When he didn’t immediately speak, Miss Budge continued.

“His wife Zelda Sayre was not only a famous southern belle here but a talented writer as well.” Kenny’s fingertips scratched the tops of his thighs as if he were getting ready to explain the purpose of his visit. Miss Budge nodded encouragingly, but Kenny did not respond to her cue. “Or, there’s Martin Luther King, Jr.’s church downtown or The First White House of the Confederacy,” she added, sounding like one of those volunteer tour guides that some senior citizens become to fill their days after they retired. Though she was retired—prematurely, according to some—she was still too busy to volunteer in that capacity.

(Later in the story . . .)

A tour bus stops in one of several scenic parks in Cloverdale

Before more conversation could ensue, Mildred waved good-bye, and headed off down the homey street in her neighborhood. She was glad to walk off by herself. Glad of the evening. Glad of the hum of activity at the houses along the way where people were milling around the flowerbeds close to their homes or sitting on their porches watching people like Mildred walk by and waving.

She was glad of the memories that rose up in her. Glad of the fragrance of new grass and cool mint and tea olive. Glad that the day had grown warmer and that the next day promised to be warmer still. Soon, there would be honeysuckle and gardenias, and better, the smell of tomatoes growing luxuriously on vines in the yards. People plucked them like apples and sometimes ate them the same way. Juicy. Dripping. Tasting like sunshine.

“God be praised,” Mildred moaned in gratitude for the hope of tomatoes and the presence of the unexpected gift of solitude.

Lampost. Photo by Old Cloverdale Association

The solar street lights began to pulse toward beaming, lighting her path through Cloverdale, and she felt as if some part of her interior self was waking up in the same way. Each step seemed to give rise to a refreshed wakefulness. The neighborhood houses, built in a time when people wanted big yards, were mostly set back deeply on wide lots where old gardens and ancient trees had taken over.

There was an occasional cottage that had previously been a carriage house—a place where once, long ago, in a different South the servants had lived. These smaller homes were like her own bungalow, intimate and warm and inviting with their well tended coziness. Mildred loved the variety of houses and old southern yards in Cloverdale as much as she recoiled from the cookie-cutter designs of planned communities that had been developed by real estate people around the heart of the city. On the periphery of Cloverdale were other neighborhoods with assigned names meant to establish atmosphere but did not achieve the other purpose of creating the character of the neighborhood.

Cloverdale hedges. Photo by Old Cloverdale Association

Miss Budge preferred unsculptured bushes and casually kept hedges to mark loose boundaries. They fit the landscape of her mind better.

---Excerpted with permission from CLOVERDALE, Copyright © 2011 by Diane Simpkins.

TOURISM GUIDE

Cloverdale is a special place that I’ve covered many times on SELTI. For starters, the campus of Huntingdon College and the Fitzgerald House were settings in my novel Blind Fate. The Fitzgerald House and the El Rey Restaurant, along with the neighborhood itself, were settings in Kirk Curnutt’s tourism novel Dixie Noir. We did a fun photo shoot for Dixie Noir at the Fitzgerald House with one of the El Rey’s waitresses as the model.

Photo by Old Cloverdale Association

Blind Fate and Dixie Noir were recently featured in USA Today for their innovation of interactive tourism guides inside the Kindle novels. The USA Today feature article included one of our photos from inside the Fitzgerald Museum. I first discovered author Bart Barton and his novel The Cross Garden while reading an article about his book signing at Capitol Book & News. I met with Bart at the real El Rey to prepare for his tourism profile. Finally, the Fitzgerald House was the setting for the SELTI article What Would Fitzgerald Think of the Kindle? So naturally, when a novel titled Cloverdale came out, I had to connect with the author.

There are so many connections to this neighborhood now that I am officially establishing Cloverdale as the epicenter of the new wave of national tourism fiction. There is something very special about this area. Aside from the beautiful homes and parks, there are many wonderful shops and restaurants that invite the tourist to stay a while and experience a quality of life not found anywhere else in the city. Browse the links below to learn more about this area and the surrounding tourism attractions of Montgomery. If you enjoy Cloverdale, you might also want to read the anthology of short stories that introduce the main character, Miss Budge in Love, available in paperback and also on Kindle for 99¢.

TOURISM LINKS

Click on links above in the text to visit the websites of the real places. In addition, click on the links below related to the novel and the surrounding area.

Daphne Simpkins' website/ order the book
Old Cloverdale Association: wonderful tourist guide to Old Cloverdale
Capitol Book & News
Comfort Publishing: publisher of Cloverdale
El Rey Lounge: great place to eat!
F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum

Montgomery attractions outside of Cloverdale
Hank Williams Museum
City of Montgomery tourism website
Alabama Tourism Department
Rosa Parks Museum
First White House of the Confederacy
Alabama Shakespeare Festival
Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts

DECEMBER CONNECTIONS

If you enjoy Cloverdale, then you will enjoy the previous December SELTI features from 2010 and 2009.

The short story "Ohme," featuring a grandmother in a real South Carolina town on Christmas day.

Pendleton, SC, the setting of "Ohme"

Murder in Dollywood Country!
Read an excerpt from Fifty-Seven Traveling, a novel about a grandmother sleuth
on vacation in Pigeon Forge, TN

Moundville named as setting for Inaugural SELTI Writing Contest

2011-11-09T18:51:00.000-08:00

Interior of Moundville Museum

Moundville, Ala. has been named the target promotional site for the Inaugural SELTI Writing Contest. The contest is co-sponsored by the Southeastern Literary Tourism Initiative (SELTI) and the University of Alabama Museums. Contestants will compete to write the short story that best promotes tourism to the historic Native American archaeological site. Moundville includes impressive mounds that served as the center of one of the largest Native American cities in North America 800 years ago. The site is also now home to a museum and park that recently completed a $5 million renovation, including an expansion of the indoor museum.

“I look forward to the increased exposure that the tourism fiction contest will bring to the Moundville site,” said Bill Bomar, Director of Moundville Archaeological Park. “Moundville is one of the nation’s premier archaeological sites, yet many outside of Alabama have never heard of it. This is such a creative way to make people aware of such an important part of our heritage.”

The winning short story will be published online at the Southeastern Literary Tourism Initiative and will include photos of Moundville and a link to the museum’s website. The winner will likely get national publicity since this will be the first tourism fiction contest ever conducted. The global economic downturn has put increasing pressure on tourism attractions and cultural parks everywhere, many of which rely on shrinking government funding and private donations to stay afloat. Although Moundville has done well over the past few years, the tourism fiction contest could be a model for how many other cultural parks could gain exposure and extra funding.

“Tourism fiction is an innovative tool that can be used by any city or attraction in the world to engage potential tourists in an entirely new way,” said SELTI founder Patrick Miller, who also published the first interactive tourism novel on Kindle, “Blind Fate.”

Miller’s novel was set in real tourism attractions of Montgomery, Alabama, such as the Rosa Parks Museum. The groundbreaking novel includes a tourism guide at the end where readers can click on links from inside the book and instantly browse the many related tourism websites. By downloading a Kindle app, readers can also purchase Kindle novels on a variety of other e-reading devices such as iPads, smart phones, tablet computers, and regular desktop and laptop computers. The new Kindle Fire will also allow readers to browse the tourism websites from the novel with touchscreen color.

The Inaugural SELTI Writing Contest is meant to showcase how public institutions can partner with private writers and publishers for mutual benefit, Miller said. The SELTI project was first introduced to the University of Alabama Museums through a statewide e-newsletter from the Alabama Tourism Department. The newsletter detailed a USA Today feature story on Miller’s work with interactive tourism novels.

Interested contestants can view the official rules of the contest below.

Contestants can also start researching for a visit to Moundville by clicking on their website here.

Inaugural SELTI Writing Contest

The first national short story contest designed to promote tourism

Sponsored by the Southeastern Literary Tourism Initiative

Co-sponsored by the University of Alabama Museums

Official Rules

The famous carved stone Duck Bowl found at Moundville.
Could the maker of this legendary artifact come alive in a short story?

• story must be set in Moundville, Alabama
• story must use creative angle to encourage readers to visit Moundville
• maximum word count: 3,500
• no entry fee
• entry deadline: April 15, 2012
• projected announcement of winner: May 30, 2012
• Five finalists will be judged by a panel including:
three English professors from the University of Alabama
three Marketing professors from the University of Alabama
editor of the Southeastern Literary Tourism Initiative
• Winning story will be published online at SELTI and include photos and a link to the Moundville museum. Museum will provide the photos
• Winner will receive international publicity from SELTI publication but no cash prize. This contest is meant to showcase how writers and government institutions can work together for mutual publicity
• All entries must be emailed to literarytourism@aol.com and include the title of the story followed by “Tourism Fiction Contest” in the subject line. Also email any questions about the contest to this email address.
• Stories should be pasted into entry email. No emails with attachments or other unrequested content will be opened
• Include your name, phone number, physical mailing address, and email address at the top of the story
• After winner is selected, a short bio and profile photo will be requested for online publication with the short story on SELTI
• Writers are encouraged to visit Moundville for inspiration and research, but understand that the museum staff will not participate in the judging process

The winged serpent played a pivotal role in Moundville mythology and art.
Could it reappear in a short story?

Tips for entrants

• Do your research. Browse the many novel and book excerpts on SELTI using the Stories By Month archive in the top left. These offer excellent free examples of published tourism fiction focused on a variety of unique attractions from all over the South. These examples are written in different genre styles from young adult to adult suspense/mystery to creative nonfiction.
• There are several tourism short stories on SELTI in the archives:
“The Last Confession” June 2009 (scary twist on real archaeological state park)
“Moccasin Gap” November 2009 (funny twists and turns on a kayaking trip)
“Ohme” December 2009 (sentimental twist with a Christmas theme)
• The above examples are just for learning purposes and research. Write in your own style.
• Around 1350 A.D., Native Americans started to abandon the city of Moundville. No one knows why.
• As with any writing competition, many good submissions will not ultimately win. Keep in mind that no matter which story wins, all the entrants will have gained applied early experience in a writing field that is about to explode on the international scene.

Updates

(check back for weekly updates)

Deadline Update: A request from the University of Alabama Museums to extend the contest deadline has extended the deadline to April 15, 2012.

Alabama Tourism Department announces Moundville contest in newsletter.

Tuscaloosa Convention and Visitors Bureau announces Moundville contest.

Planet Weekly announces Moundville contest.

National Novel Writing Month announces Moundville contest.
Auburn University at Montgomery announces University of Alabama Museum contest.

Moundville contest goes international!

Literarytourist.com announces Moundville contest.
Literarytourist.com is the biggest international
literary tourism site out there. One of the many fun features
of their site: highlighting fan photos of favorite independent bookstores.

Literarytourist.com announces Moundville contest. Have you ever wondered where to find the nearest independent bookstore when traveling somewhere new? Literarytourist.com is the place to go for great directories and reviews of everything involving literary tourism, from literary landmarks to the best bookstores and literary festivals. This is the most comprehensive site for literary tourism that I've found.

Scenic Getaway in The Cross Garden

2011-10-20T20:43:00.000-07:00

The Tombigbee River at sunset, one of the real locations in The Cross Garden.
Called the Tennahpush River in the novel. Photo by Rhonda Goff Barton.

Excerpt from: The Cross Garden by Marlin Barton, published by Frederic C. Beil Publisher, Inc.
Attractions: Demopolis and Rice Cross Garden
Locations: Demopolis/Prattville Alabama
Photos: Click to enlarge!

There were three elements of style that reminded me of Faulkner in Marlin Barton's novel The Cross Garden, set in the scenic river town town of Demopolis, Alabama. The first was the incredible tension between the charatcers, something Faulkner wrote so well. The second was an accuracy of rendering the dialogue and mannerisms of the local characters almost to a point of devotion. Faulkner could do this whether he was writing from the point of view of a mentally handicapped character or Harvard undergraduate.

Finally, Barton writes in an unhurried pace that allows the reader to savour his literary style even in scenes about intense physical conflict such as a fist fight. Having said that, Barton does not delve into complicated sentences and structures that take a doctorate in English to comprehend, much less appreciate. The average reader can enjoy his work as well as the sophisticated professor. This is a standard that Fitzgerald spoke about as the the goal of every great writer.

The feel of Barton is very Faulkner, including the richly rural settings. However, these are not fictional places that only exist in Barton's imagination; they are the lush and humid river world of western Alabama. Click on the websites in the Tourism Links at the end to learn how to visit these settings in real life for a scenic getaway.

FROM THE CROSS GARDEN . . .

Nathan stood still for a moment, as if he were waiting on something to drive him on.

“Can I ask you a question?” James said.

“You’ll find out when we get there,” said Nathan.

“No, not that. Why do you think he didn’t go ahead and kill Arthur, shoot him in the head or something?”

“I don’t know. Maybe he thought he was dead. Or maybe he was scared to shoot him again, afraid of how it might look. It might be that he just plain got scared. Killing someone is a complicated thing to do, especially if you’ve had time to think about it for a while before you do it.”

The novel at the real Cross Garden in Alabama.

James studied him intently, the same way he’d seen him studying the river’s surface at times.

“Sounds like you’ve thought on it some.”

“I only wondered the same thing you did,” Nathan said. He walked to his dock and motioned for James to follow and didn’t look back or wait. The nylon rope was soaked through and it took him a minute to untie the boat. Once he did, he pulled it close to the dock. “You ride up front,” he said.

James stepped into the boat and sat down. Nathan took his seat in back. He was afraid James might start asking questions again, and he didn’t want it that way. He wasn’t sure how he would tell it, or even how much he would tell. He had too many questions himself still to be able to answer the boy’s. He wanted to wait until they got there and let the words come as they would.

Black Warrior River, called the Black Fork in the novel. Photo by Rhonda Goff Barton

After three pulls the engine caught, and the sound of it drowned any chance for more talk. He steered in the middle of the Black Fork, and the sight of the bridges loomed over them like monuments. The trestle was drawn and the ironwork above it and that of the bridge beyond made two great arches so large that the boat they sat in seemed dangerously small in comparison. He’d navigated the river beneath them many times, but at this moment the bridges seemed more grand in their proportions, as if they marked some unknown passage.

They picked up speed as he turned the throttle and passed under. A light spray of river water pelted their faces and the smell of it reminded him of being out with his father all those years ago. He couldn’t hold that memory, though, the way he wanted. It seemed to slip past with the boat’s forward motion, but that same motion only carried him into another memory—the night on the river with Walter and Puckett.

The water had felt so warm as he’d pushed Walter’s head beneath its dark surface, the same way the spray felt warm now. The river had always seemed to wind through his life, and he felt once again as though the water itself was his past and his memory made tangible, and that he had fought against those two currents for too long.

He breathed in the rush of air coming toward him. He let it fill him and opened the throttle as far as it would go without turning the boat over. The wind against his face felt clean, but the warm spray came harder.

They rounded the first bend, then the second. James hadn’t looked back, but as he edged toward the bank, the boy turned and looked at him as if to say, Where can you be taking me?

Nathan slowed, cut the engine, and let the boat drift to the bank.

A statue in the historic square of Demopolis, Alabama.
Photo provided by city of Demopolis

“Tie us,” he said.

“You got some kind of camphouse here or something?”

“No,” he said.

James stepped off the boat. Nathan followed and then walked ahead. He wondered what James would think when they made their way up the bank and he first caught sight of the crosses. Maybe he’d understand immediately that this was the place he had always sought, if not on a conscious level then on some deeper one, perhaps in the very pull of his blood.

Nathan made the climb to the top and turned to watch James. He could see the river below, its surface marked again by rain. James took his last steps up. Then he saw the cross garden spread out among the trunks of the trees, the crosses white and perfect in their random design. Some animal ran through the leaves just out of their sight.

Author Marlin Barton stands with a copy of his novel
in the real Rice Cross Garden in Prattville, Alabama.

“Is this some kind of old graveyard?” James said. His voice was raised just above a whisper, as if a burial were taking place and the preacher was in mid-prayer.

“I suppose it is, but it’s not all that old,” he said. He walked into the center of the crosses. James started to follow but stopped outside their circumference.

“You’re right,” he said. “It’s all just crosses. There aren’t any headstones. And wooden crosses don’t last. Besides, they all look new, mostly.” He paused as if trying to understand what he saw before him, as though he divined that the garden held some meaning. “Did you put them here?” he asked.

Nathan nodded his head.

“I made them, then planted them.”

“What for?”

Can’t you figure it out? he wanted to say. Don’t you know? But he didn’t. He would simply have to tell it now. He reached down and took a small handful of dirt from beneath the leaves. He tightened his fingers and felt the wet grains press into his skin and mold themselves into the hard shape of his fist.

“There’s only one grave here,” he said. “I can’t remember where it is exactly.”

James’ face paled with a sudden understanding.

---Excerpted with permission from The Cross Garden, Copyright © 2011 by Marlin Barton. All rights reserved.

Demopolis Banner, provided by city of Demopolis

TOURISM GUIDE

Like many settings in novels, the landscapes of Marlin Barton’s novel The Cross Garden have their real counterparts in the physical world. The Black Fork River named in the excerpt is the Black Warrior River in historic Demopolis, Alabama (a town called Demarville in the novel). The railroad trestle is quite real; in fact, Marlin used to dive off of it as a teenager for the incredible rush of adrenaline. The rivers and lakes of the Demopolis area offer wonderful outdoor recreation for families and literary enthusiasts looking for a scenic getaway from the stresses of city life.

The cross garden also has a real inspiration in Rice’s Cross Garden near Prattville, Alabama. Unlike the fictional garden in the novel, Rice’s Cross Garden is easily accessible from the road and even offers parking for the casual tourist seeking a very unique attraction. Just click on the text in the Tourism Links below to learn more.

Historic Demopolis Square, a setting in the novel.
Photo provided by city of Demopolis.

Demopolis and Rice’s Cross Garden are two hours drive away from each other, but both have something to offer the literary tourist. Just for an idea of Demopolis’ charm, consider the fact that its town square was laid out in 1819, making it one of the oldest town squares in Alabama. The best time to visit Demopolis is during one of its many public festivals, such as Sax in the City. Visit the websites in the Tourism Links below to learn more about visiting both Demopolis and Rice’s Cross Garden in Prattville.

When I first opened up my media review copy of The Cross Garden, I immediately noticed the book's quality of physical production. That is not something I usually notice (I've never mentioned it before). Bart (Marlin Barton) later told me on the photoshoot that Frederic C. Beil, his publisher, is one of the few small presses that still use the old methods of producing high-quality books. That is quite a shock for someone like me so engrossed in the digital publishing revolution.

Then I discovered that Beil is located in Savannah, Georgia, a southern city well-known both for its charming hospitality and complete disregard for changing its ways to keep up with the modern world. Savannah’s culture became famous after John Berendt’s non-fiction book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil became an international bestseller. Tourism skyrocketed after that, and the city continues to embrace the book with related tours even after a decade. A Hollywood movie version set in Savannah didn’t hurt tourism either.

Lyon Hall in Demopolis, Alabama. Photo provided
by the city of Demopolis.

One only wonders why city and state tourism departments didn’t attempt to attract novelists to repeat the performance through publicity incentives rather than just waiting for a novelist to become randomly inspired enough to write about their city's attractions. Maybe this project, the Southeastern Literary Tourism Initiative, will help inspire some ideas for that in the near future. After the USA Today article on the nation's first two tourism novels with interactive guides, things are likely to move fast in that direction.

Nowadays, the new Kindle Fire and iPad tablet computers can take readers straight to a tourism website from inside a Kindle novel, if the writer adds an interactive tourism guide at the end.

Blind Fate, the first Kindle tourism
novel with an interactive travel guide.

So far, the only two American Kindle tourism novels with travel guides are Blind Fate and Dixie Noir. However, I have to wonder if Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil might include one in its Kindle edition. That way, today’s readers could instantly see some of the great book-related tours available in Savannah without having to do Google searches. They could just click on links from inside the Kindle book and jump right to the color tourism websites.

TOURISM LINKS

The Cross Garden on Amazon

Recent titles from Frederic C. Beil Publisher, Inc.

Visit the city of Demopolis

William C. Rice's Cross Garden

Marlin Barton also teaches creative writing for the Writing Our Stories Program run by the Alabama Writers Forum.

Game-changer: Will the Kindle Fire Ignite Tourism?

2011-10-07T21:44:00.000-07:00

Blind Fate is the first Kindle tourism novel
with an interactive travel guide inside the book.

As Amazon's first color touch-screen model, the $199 Kindle Fire is sure to shake up the publishing world—but many have not discovered its most important feature: as a gateway to tourism through e-novels.

Imagine Kindle novels that are set in real tourism attractions. Then imagine readers clicking on links from inside the novel and instantly browsing the color websites of the real places in the story. Only ereaders like the Kindle Fire can let readers do that. The concept is called tourism fiction: fiction that is written to directly promote tourism to specific attractions.

Haven’t heard of it? That’s because there are only a few novels in the world that are taking advantage of the technology. Right now there is only one novel on the American Kindle market that has a tourism guide inside the book: Blind Fate by Patrick Miller.

Read an excerpt of Blind Fate by clicking here.

In the past, Kindles only offered web browsing in black and white, so the tourism guide in Blind Fate could only show the websites in black and white. The Kindle Fire will change all that in a month, making the tourism appeal of Kindle tourism novels much stronger.

What will happen when tourism novels hit the market in large numbers? They will turn the entire national economy around by getting millions of new tourists traveling the country to new places. Imagine how much fun it will be for readers to visit the places they just read about in their favorite stories. Aren’t they the perfect potential tourists to market to? A tourism novel captures potential tourists' full attention for two hours and lets them engage emotionally with the characters—and the places.

What will be the economic impact of millions of new tourists spending their consumer dollars in places all over the nation? You guessed it: finally, a light at the end of this dark economic tunnel that the nation has been driving down for too long. Tourism fiction is the game-changer that will let our nation turn the economic corner at last.

The tourism fiction market won't take long to heat up in America; I have already teamed up with southern writer Kirk Curnutt to produce an online tourism guide for his steamy novel Dixie Noir. The Kindle edition of Dixie Noir also has a live link to Curnutt's website, which has links to the websites of settings in his novel. Curnutt has already said he will include a full tourism guide inside his next Kindle novel.

One more thing: the iPad and iPhone already have a Kindle app, meaning you can experience the nation’s first Kindle tourism novel in color right now on an Apple device. There is even a Kindle for PC app and for just about any smart phone out there. So try out the future by ordering a copy of Blind Fate here. The tourism guide for Blind Fate is at the end of the novel, so jump to the end to see how it works. Then, jump back to the beginning and enjoy a fast-paced suspense story from the “unique” perspective of a blind violinist.

What is USA Today saying about Kindle tourism novels? Find out by clickng here.
Check out all the SELTI novels on Facebook

Netflix Now Streaming Alabama Moon Tourism Movie

2011-09-26T20:00:00.000-07:00

Netflix is now streaming the movie Alabama Moon, based on the popular young adult novel by Alabama author Watt Key. The only online tourism guide to the book and movie can be found here on SELTI: Today's Tom Sawyer: Camping Under an Alabama Moon. I saw Alabama Moon in the theaters, but now any fan of the novel can watch the movie about the Talladega National Forest on their TV or computer through their Netflix account. Unlike many movies that screw up the original story, this one was well-adapted to the novel. No surprise there, since Watt co-wrote the screenplay.

What are some movies that turned out to be better or worse than the novels they were based on? I thought The Count of Monte Cristo movie was far superior as a whole story to the novel, even though Alexandre Dumas is an incredible scene writer. I'm currently reading The Last of the Mohicans on my Kindle to compare it to the film. One of the great things about Kindle is all the free classsic literature available for download in seconds.

Kindle novels are also available on the iPad by downloading the Kindle for iPad app. A tourism novel with an interactive travel guide inside the book, like Blind Fate, allows readers to browse the related tourism websites in color. That presents some wonderful opportunities for tourism novels in the near future.

Dixie Noir: An Interactive Tourism Novel

2011-08-15T20:52:00.000-07:00

Red, a fictional character from Dixie Noir, reads the novel in one of the real settings of the book:
the Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum

Excerpt from: Dixie Noir by Kirk Curnutt

Tourism attractions: Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum, El Rey Lounge

Location: Montgomery, Alabama

Photos: Diane Prothro. Click to enlarge any photo.

Model: Audria Carr

One of the most fun aspects of working with tourism fiction is experiencing my favorite books coming to life—not just in my imagination but literally right before my eyes. So far, it’s just been the places and the unique spirit that surrounds each one. But profiling Kirk Curnutt’s novel Dixie Noir was the first time that a character from a novel has come to life.

The character’s name is "Red," a spunky fictional waitress from the real El Rey Burrito Lounge in Montgomery, Alabama. Red has an apartment in the real Fitzgerald Museum in Montgomery, which does have both private apartments and a museum dedicated to the famous couple. As part of the photo shoot for this profile, we had a real waitress from El Rey, Audria Carr, pose as Red inside the museum, one of the main settings in the novel.

As soon as she came through the door, it was like seeing Red walk right out from the pages of the novel and into the real world. Red was certainly one of the characters that made Dixie Noir a memorable read, so please enjoy this short excerpt that captures her spirit below.

Dixie Noir is the only other interactive tourism novel I've profiled on SELTI. The first was Blind Fate. Both novels have interactive tourism guides inside the Kindle editions. These embedded tourism links take readers directly to the websites of the real settings in the books--all with one click from inside the novel. After the excerpt, learn how to visit the real places in this novel through SELTI's companion online Tourism Guide. This guide will show you how to visit real places in the novel, including the El Rey Lounge and Fitzgerald Museum—and of course how order the book!

From Dixie Noir . . .

Red reads Dixie Noir from the lawn of the Fitzgerald House in Montgomery

I managed to keep it clean until my shift ended at eleven. It had been a twelve-hour workday, but there was no way I was going to be too tired to walk Red to the Fitzgerald house. As I clocked out, I took two shots of Jägermeister. Bubba agreed to deduct them from my paycheck since I was light on cash. Then I reminded Wookie to bring his scrapbooks the next day.

As Red and I walked up Boultier, I enjoyed the night smell of jasmine and crepe myrtle. Every few paces she brushed into me, and I would revel in a whiff of something even more powerful—her. I wanted like hell to put my arm around her and pull her close, but I was afraid to.

Twice while we worked I had caught her on her cell phone looking flustered. Even with the phone’s ringer turned off, Eric the ex wasn’t going away anytime soon. The first thing I noticed when we walked into her apartment was a sheet thrown over the mirror.

“I didn’t want you worrying about seeing your own kisser,” she said with a grin. “You’re not quite the Elephant Man, but I understand. Honestly, it’s kind of a relief. Eric couldn’t take two steps without stopping to admire his own reflection.”

Red reads from the roof of her apartment at the Fitzgerald House

On her roof she spread out a down comforter and we stretched across the shingles, a few inches of safety between us. The shingles were still hot, but I didn’t care. Especially not when Red cracked her copy of Save Me the Waltz open and started reading from another tipped-in half-sheet of stationary.

“Along the staircases of dark streets, men wandered in search of girls, searching with nothing to navigate them but tenuous wisps of jasmine that taunted them with their ephemeral tracings . . . The men peeked for them behind boxwoods and while tiptoeing through unbroken and untrammeled beds of corydalis and cowslip, never thinking that these sad, playful sprites of femininity know that a man’s craving is incommensurate with his nurturing and that therefore a woman’s best option is to remain a corona of his desire . . .

“So the men were doomed to shadow the future of their own failure, wanting but incapable of truly having because truly having is truly giving, never realizing that the susurrations that said to them ‘If you can only find you are free to take’ mocked them with the lure of appetence . . . .”

That did it for me. I rolled over onto Red and kissed her, hard. I don’t think she was expecting it. At first she wedged the book against my shoulder and started to push me away. Only it didn’t seem like she really wanted me to stop, so I didn’t.

Inside the Fitzgerald Museum, Dixie Noir author Kirk Curnutt meets
"Red,"a fictional character from his novel who steps into the real world.

Then a crazy thing happened. She tucked an arm around the back of my neck and instead of pushing she pulled my mouth to hers. I felt my tongue in her mouth and hers in mine. Then she did this wild thing with her teeth. She sunk them lightly into the thick part of my tongue, the back part, and slid them down the length of it. Over and over again. Her mouth closed tightly around my tongue, and she just kept going back and forth until I thought the electric tickle the move gave off would blow out my whole circuitry.

Goddamn she tasted good.

Just as suddenly she stopped. She put her hand over my mouth and whispered, her voice a feather in the heat.

“You understand I can’t go any farther than this tonight, don’t you? You understand why, too, right?”

Sure, I understood. Why wouldn’t I? I was an ex-con. She had an ex-boyfriend. One more X in the equation and this game of ours was over. I rolled onto my back, staring at the sequined stars.

“I just broke my cardinal rule,” I confessed. “I waited ten years to practice it: ‘Do No Bad.’ I’m sorry I pressured you, Red. St. Dominic needs to get on the case to make me a better choirboy.”

Red stands on the porch of the Fitzgerald House

She propped herself on her side, above me, so her hair hung down onto my throat.

“Don’t be too good of a choirboy, Hardboil. Just remember: you’ve got to sin to get saved.”

“You smell so damn good. You know what you smell like? You smell like freedom.”

“Dominic and that other saint of yours—Jude—they’re looking out for our best interests, aren’t they?”

“If they’re not, they’re out of a job. Bubba isn’t the only one who can fire someo—”

I didn’t finish because she had pressed the curve of her neck into my face just as she had at El Rey the day before. If I didn’t have a single more minute to live, I wouldn’t have cared. I would have died a happy bastard.

---Excerpted from DIXIE NOIR, Copyright © 2009 by Kirk Curnutt, All Rights Reserved

Tourism Guide

Pull up the menu of the real El Rey from inside
the Kindle tourism edition of Dixie Noir.

Dixie Noir is the first novel profiled on SELTI other than Blind Fate with an interactive tourism link in the Kindle edition. This means that readers can, from the Kindle edition, click on links from inside the novel and visit the websites of the real places. One could, for example, pull up the menu of the real El Rey Lounge from the Kindle book or find out hours of operation directly from the Fitzgerald Museum website. It’s much easier to get this information instantly from the novel than having to go do web searches later on.

Keep in mind that Kindle novels can be downloaded to regular laptop or desktop computers, smart phones, iPads, and other devices besides the Kindle reader itself. Just go to Amazon to download the necessary software and start reading in a couple of minutes.

Some of the most intriguing places to set a novel happen to be operated by nonprofits with very limited marketing budgets, so interactive tourism novels are a great way for writers to promote the places they love and want to share with their readers. Kirk is on the board of the real Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum and often frequents the real El Rey lounge.

The Fitzgerald Museum offers rare collections of books, letters, and paintings from the famous couple. For example, there is a letter from Fitzgerald to Hemingway, letters he wrote to his daughter Scottie, and letters from Zelda to Fitzgerald.

The following is from an article Kirk wrote and provided to me about Dixie Noir and its inspirations:

“The essence of Montgomery, Alabama—my home since 1993—is dialectical. Downtown, the house where Jefferson Davis oversaw Southern secession in February 1861 stands only paces from the church where Martin Luther King, Jr. directed the bus boycott ninety-five years later. The two attractions form the heart of our tourism, yet they exist in uneasy alliance, one preserving the very legacy of the Civil War that the Civil Rights Movement vowed to overcome. For every Rosa Parks we revere here, we’re urged to acknowledge (if not celebrate) Confederate valor, to appreciate states rights as intently as civic disobedience. The schism even cleaves our popular culture: Nat King Cole is our native son, Zelda Fitzgerald our wild child.”

Another hot interactive tourism novel
set in Montgomery: read an excerpt
of Blind Fate by clicking the link in
the Tourism Guide below.

Kirk and I both wrote novels inspired by modern Montgomery. My novel, Blind Fate, is told from the perspective of a blind person and covers many of the same settings as Dixie Noir, which made Kirk’s novel an especially intriguing read for me. A southern city is not a usual place for setting a noir novel, which caught my attention when first reading about Dixie Noir. Kirk did a wonderful job at every level, from places to characterization.

Kirk Curnutt and the real "Bubba"
from the El Rey Lounge at a
Dixie Noir booksigning.

A special thanks to Audria for bringing Red to life in the Fitzgerald Museum and to Diane, Kirk’s fiance, for her artistic and daring eye in taking the shots (some of which were on the roof!). Stay on the lookout for a sequel to Dixie Noir as the story switches over to Bubba’s storied life as a bartender and bouncer.

Tourism Links

Start reading the rest of Dixie Noir right now on your Kindle, iPad, iPhone, smart phone, or computer (also available in hardback): http://www.amazon.com/Dixie-Noir-ebook/dp/B003RWSASW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1306505107&sr=8-2

Learn about all of Kirk Curnutt’s books at his official website: http://www.kirkcurnutt.com/

Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum http://www.fitzgeraldmuseum.net/

Stop by for drinks and food at the real El Rey Burrito Lounge in Old Cloverdale, Montgomery’s boho district http://burritolounge.com/

Another interactive tourism novel about Montgomery, told from the voice of a young blind woman who turns out to be far more resourceful than her captor ever imagined: Blind Fate, a suspense/thriller mystery: http://southeasternliterarytourisminitiative.blogspot.com/2010/09/tourism-mystery-kindles-romance-in.html

Learn about all that Montgomery has to offer: http://visitingmontgomery.com/

Mentone: Musical Mountain Spring

2011-06-06T09:47:00.000-07:00

Little River Canyon: All Photos Courtesy of Dekalb County Tourist Association. Click some photos to enlarge!

Excerpt from: Alabama Troubadour by Karren Pell

Tourism Attraction: Lookout Mountain

Location: Dekalb County, Alabama
Photos: Courtesy of Dekalb County Tourist Association

Writers always lend their unique perspective of the places they cover. Rarely have I appreciated a writer’s perspective more than Karren Pell’s in her book of essays, Alabama Troubadour. Her book covers eleven unique places to visit in Alabama. I had already visited over half of these places, but Karren’s particular perspective of them offered something new, beautiful, and deep (even the Coon Dog Cemetery!). I want to share a bit of her writing from the book below about one of my favorite places to visit: the mountains.

From Alabama Troubadour . . .

I have always loved the mountains. Up there my lungs fill with crisp air and my body breathes easy. My feet enjoy putting on hiking boots and tromping along trails—especially ones that lead to overlooks where my eyes follow hills that roll like a misty sea until they merge with the horizon. My shoulders feel like a load is lifted and my mind rests.

I like to stand on the edge of an overlook (but not too close to the edge) and pretend that I am the girl on the mountaintop in that famous Maxfield Parrish painting. You know the one: cobalt sky with alabaster pillow clouds that frame those azure peaks specked with tangerine—the girl’s hair and garments flow out from her body with ease and grace. She is healthy, free, and connected to the peace of nature.

So one morning, I left the “To Do” list on my desk, let two deadlines slip past, put a message on my answering machine that I was taking a break, and headed for the mountain village of Mentone . . .

The Desoto Falls and over five thousand interior acres of Lookout Mountain became Desoto State Park. The Civilian Conservation Corps developed the park and built a lodge. The creation of Desoto State Park, along with Little River Canyon National Park, has doubtless been a major factor in the preservation of the wild and beautiful land of Lookout Mountain, as well as the preservation of Mentone.

Desoto Falls

The view of Old Hotel Square is a romantic, rustic, and welcome sight in comparison to the strip malls and chain motels common in the modern era. One corner of the Square is occupied by The Hitching Post, a rustic, wooden building whose beginning dates from 1900. The Hitching Post was so named by its owners because in the forties an early breakfast was served for fox hunters staying at the hotel.

Today, it beckons visitors to browse among an eclectic collection of shops that offer crafts, antiques, and original pottery. Across the street and up a few wooden steps, a series of weathered buildings stands on higher ground and comprises the next corner of Old Hotel Square. The collection includes the Moonlight Bistro and another assortment of shops.

Up on the ridge, the renovated Mentone Springs Hotel remains the focal point of the Square. The inn’s Victorian architecture combined with modern accommodations is reminiscent of an earlier, elegant time and continues to attract guests. The grand, beautiful, and romantic Mentone Springs Hotel contrasts congenially with the homey arts and craft-style Mentone Inn across the street.

Mentone Springs Hotel

The Mentone Inn sits back from the road, framed by a low rock ledge. A wide, wraparound porch, complete with rocking chairs, sends an irresistible invitation to “set a spell.”

I followed the land that sloped gently and ended at the rock ledge. I looked out upon the sky that stretched beyond where human eyesight can peer; there was no need to look farther. The trees murmured as a mountain breeze whispered in their leaves; there was no need to hear more. Deadlines and due dates faded as my attention was drawn to a hawk circling overhead; there was nothing more important.

Below, the landscape was painted in seasonal colors, and one part blended and contributed to the whole. For—regardless of the reality I had left below—from that vantage point it became obvious there was peace in the valley.

---Excerpted with permission from ALABAMA TROUBADOUR by Karren Pell. ©2003 Karren Pell. All rights reserved.

Tourism Guide

Mentone and Lookout Mountain are definitely places geared towards a retreat, not just physical but spiritual. The lodgings range from rustic to elegant, depending on your choice. Rustic is always my favorite. The views are stunning, and the air is filled with the scent of peace. Mentone was once a high-end resort for those who sought healing from the mineral springs that made the area famous, but fortunately the tourism industry there never got overly-commercial. Follow the links below to learn more about visiting the area.

Tourism Links

Visit Lookout Mountain: take a virtual tour and request a visitor’s guide
Discover Lookout Mountain

Mentone
Mentone Springs Hotel
Order Alabama Troubadour
Learn more about Karren Pell
Lookout Mountain on Facebook: Lots of photos and videos

Southern Literary Trail: A National Road to Recovery?

2011-05-17T20:00:00.000-07:00

High school students read from Fitzgerald's classic
works outside the Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald
Museum in Montgomery, Alabama.
Photo by Patrick Miller

Tourism Attractions: multiple literary sites from classic authors
Locations: Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia
Photos: provided by the Southern Literary Trail, unless otherwise credited

“THE SOUTHERN LITERARY TRAIL connects southern places in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi that inspired great American writers to create classic fiction and plays. The inspiration continues. Every two years, the Trail's organizers host Trailfest, the only tri-state literary festival in the United States with free events, theatrical performances and heritage tours.”
---From the Southern Literary Trail website

The Southern Literary Trail uses a central website to connect all these places and events, providing a convenient gateway for readers to browse through all the tourism opportunities. The website includes links to individual museums and attractions along with updated schedules for events. The following is my dialogue with the Trail’s founder, William Gantt. Visit the Southern Literary Trail by clicking this link: Southern Literary Trail.

Interview with William Gantt, Founder of the Trail

Rowan Oak, the home of Faulkner
in Mississippi, one of the
attractions on the Southern Literary Trail.

Patrick Miller: One of the most interesting aspects of the Southern Literary Trail is its multi-state organization. Instead of each tourism attraction working independently to promote itself, all the attractions benefit from a central website. For example, I started looking at the trail when researching Monroeville’s tourism connection to Harper Lee, but suddenly I was clicking on links and reading about the Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum in Montgomery, Faulkner’s house in Mississippi, and other literary tourism attractions in Georgia. I wouldn’t have known about those other places without a central website connecting them all with easy links, for example this link to the Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum.

Did the partner attractions experience a marked increase in tourism after joining the Southern Literary Trail? If so, has that increase accelerated over time? For example, a Monroeville resident told me that the Monroe County Courthouse and Museum used to be visited by individual carloads of tourists, but now long lines of buses are arriving every year for the events.

William Gantt: Yes. Our partner sites have reported increases in both visitation numbers and general exposure by their participation in the Southern Literary Trail. For example, the Carson McCullers Center was contacted by a McCullers fan in Japan who discovered the Center on our website. This fan has attended two events in Columbus, Georgia, dedicated to Carson McCullers since her discovery of the Trail. Many of our sites report visits by guests who are using the Trail map as their guide for literary tourism through the three member states. Some of these visitors have been from Europe.

Miller: Whenever literary tourists visit attractions on the Southern Literary Trail like Monroeville or the Fitzgerald Museum, they are likely to be staying in local hotels, eating in local restaurants, and shopping in local stores during their visit. All of this economic activity is great in good times, but now that the economy is on the verge of collapse, are such tourism attractions becoming vital rather than just beneficial to local economies?

Food for thought: Literary tourists
also spend money in local restaurants!

For example, the Congress is currently debating raising the nation’s debt ceiling because the country can no longer afford to pay its debts due to lackluster economic activity. What would be the impact if the federal government launched a national literary trail based on your model? Would such a national trail help boost tax revenues and create jobs across the nation? Based on your experience with the operating costs of the Southern Literary Trail, would establishing a federal trail be cost prohibitive right now or a wise investment involving minimal taxpayer dollars with a much higher return in tax revenues?

Gantt: Trail attractions and programs definitely bring tourists into their towns. It goes without saying that tourists want lodging and good local food. I think any collaboration is beneficial, and it certainly maximizes the expenditures of public funds when multi-state partnerships are created for investments in collective promotion and mutual programs.

Miller: If the federal government did establish a national literary trail, how important would it be to use the Southern Literary Trail as a model? Are there any mistakes or pitfalls that you would warn them to avoid based on your experience? Would you want to merge into such a national trail, remain completely independent of it, or establish a regional autonomy within a national publicity platform (i.e., each national region would run its own trail, but all would be highlighted and publicized on the national trail).

Andalusia Farm in Georgia.

Gantt: I think our Trail serves as a model for anyone who seeks to cross state lines for creative or artistic purposes. You must realize that individual partners do not want to surrender or give up their own personalities in the process. So, you must avoid the mistake of seeking collaboration at the cost of individuality. Every literary museum takes on the personality of its particular writer. Naturally a house museum such as the Welty House, the Fitzgerald House Museum, Rowan Oak or Andalusia Farm will reflect the personality of its occupant. That’s what you want. Visitors go to Rowan Oak to see how Faulkner lived. Consequently, a partnership must seek to celebrate the differences and individuality of each partner. It is a common mistake for collaborative projects to seek “common ground.” The Trail merges some amazing and unique writers through the “common ground” of great 20th Century American fiction and a theme of place as influential on writing. Beyond those shared traits, we seek to celebrate the differences and diversity of our writers.

Miller: The Europeans have a well-organized, lucrative literary tourism industry, but America seems to lag far behind in this market, except for the Southern Literary Trail. Is there something unique about the South that produced our nation’s first multi-state organized literary trail? Why do you think the rest of the country hasn’t caught on to the idea yet?

Gantt: I am pleased to say the Southern Literary Trail is the nation’s only tri-state literary trail. In the South, we are storytellers, and we appreciate great stories. Perhaps Europeans have a similar storytelling culture. I hope that our success indicates the rest of the nation is ready for this concept that we have pioneered.

Can Kindle links inside classic and contemporary novels
significantly boost tourism during this
national economic crisis?

Miller: New technologies like the Kindle are creating vast yet largely untapped opportunities for promoting tourism. For example, Kindle novels can include live, clickable links inside the text that allow readers to jump instantly to related websites like the Southern Literary Trail. As more readers convert to reading books on Kindles and iPads (which also support Kindle novels), what are the possibilities of putting a direct link to the Southern Literary Trail in all of the trail’s books?

Would such links dramatically increase tourism to the trail’s attractions? For example, what if every Kindle edition of The Great Gatsby included a direct link to the Fitzgerald Museum’s page on the Southern Literary Trail in Montgomery? Or perhaps every Kindle edition of To Kill A Mockingbird included a Southern Literary Trail link to Monroeville? Millions of people will continue to read these classic novels for generations, but many don’t know about the literary tourism sites or events related to the books. Would you consider partnering with the publishers to advise them in producing Tourism Editions of these classic books?

Gantt: Of course. We are looking for any partnership that will promote reading of classic Southern fiction, which is also the best American writing in my opinion. I still buy books that consist of paper and bound covers, but we certainly have organizers and participants in the Trail who could assist in connecting and linking with newer technologies.

Miller: Have you ever considered including contemporary authors on the Southern Literary Trail? I know that such an inclusion would require a high standard of literary merit, not just high sales numbers. However, how would one identify modern novels that will one day become literary classics?

For example, take Alabama author Watt Key’s debut novel Alabama Moon from 2006:

A classic novel for the 21st century?

• Sold over 100,000 copies
• Published by a major New York house
• Made into a movie starring John Goodman
• Translated into several languages
• Already being taught in schools
• Has a classic theme on the importance of human relationships
• Set in the real Talladega National Forest of Alabama
• Today's Tom Sawyer: Camping Under An Alabama Moon

Gantt: The Trail’s bylaws require our honored writers to be authors of classic 20th Century fiction that can be readily identified with particular places. Contemporary writers are not candidates for the Trail in the foreseeable future. But, we do honor current writers in our programs and celebrations, notably current writers who are clearly influenced by a sense of place. The Trail structure does provide us with a great tentpole to celebrate contemporary fiction writers within these themes. Our bylaws do not include writers of non-fiction.

Can contemporary tourism novels use mystery,
suspense, and romance to boost
tourism across the nation? Blind Fate
is the first tourism novel to use links
inside the story to allow readers to
visit the websites of the real settings.

Miller: If the goal of a national literary tourism trail would be to spur economic activity and get this nation back to prosperity, would it be wise to include genre novels in separate categories such as romance, mystery, and suspense? I know that such novels would not (and should not) be included on the Southern Literary Trail. However, consider all of the women in the nation who are addicted to romance novels. Who has ever invited them all to visit one place, the real setting of a novel? These types of novels might not rise to the level of Fitzgerald in literary merit, but millions of readers do consume them with a voracious appetite. What would happen if those novels were geared towards tourism like the books on the Southern Literary Trail? Could the tourism organizational tools of the Southern Literary Trail be used as a model for non-classic but popular works of contemporary fiction? Could tourism fiction become a hot new genre?
Blind Fate: a modern tourism suspense novel.

Gantt: I think any collaborative effort to support the literary arts and literary tourism is a good idea! I do not foresee the Trail as a project that will ever attempt to create genre categories for the writing we celebrate.

The reading room in the Fitzgerald Museum offers
scholars, students, and literary tourists a wealth
of material to connect with the classic author
on a much deeper level.

Miller: Speaking of Fitzgerald and romance, how many modern readers do you think are aware of just how romantic he was? Is there some way of reintroducing him to modern readers as the ultimate standard in romance? What can modern authors learn from his concepts of romance, of those precious moments that bloom in the early part of a courtship? Do you think modern romance readers would not respond to his work or have they simply never been exposed to his elevated sense of love, where every motion and inflection of a beautiful woman can conquer a man’s heart?

Gantt: All a modern reader needs for an introduction to Fitzgerald’s complex views of romance and love is “The Ice Palace,” a short story about his romance with Zelda and inspired by Montgomery. The Alabama Readers Theatre just performed it in several of our Trailfest 2011 programs and it mesmerized our audiences. Any reader will get hooked on Fitzgerald and his notions of romance with “The Ice Palace.” Hopefully one story or novel leads to another after the initial introduction has been made.

Editor's Note: For a great excerpt from an article written by Fitzgerald on the inspiration of “The Ice Palace,” visit this link: "The Ice Palace" Fitzgerald's southern inspiration.

Miller: In today’s society, most of us are extremely distracted by a variety of entertainments, from Facebook, to smart phone apps, to hundreds of satellite and cable channels. I enjoy reading classic works because they were written before such distractions seemed to take over our national attention span. Reading a classic novel is almost a relaxing step into a time that was more focused and meaningful. Is it more difficult to market something like the Southern Literary Trail in such a fragmented society or have you found that modern tools like the Internet help?

Gantt: The internet absolutely made the Trail possible. This project would not have existed without the internet. Most of our communications between Trail partners and organizers are conducted electronically or via social networks.

Miller: What are the plans for the Southern Literary Trail to expand into other Southern states? For example, there is Hemingway’s home in Key West: http://www.hemingwayhome.com/.

Gantt: At the moment, we are building our project within the three original member states. Our Trail board voted not to add any more states for the next two years, at least.

Large crowds of tourists at the Monroe
County Courthouse and Museum in
Monroeville, AL, hometown and
inspiration for Harper Lee's classic
novel To Kill A Mockingbird.
Photo by Peggy Collins,
Alabama Department of Tourism

Miller: The Southern Literary Trail is an emerging economic engine in the states hardest hit by the recent tornadoes and the after-effects of the Gulf Oil Spill. What role could the federal government play in helping to boost our tourism as a way of paving our road to recovery?

For example, what would be the impact if President Obama gave a national speech highlighting the Southern Literary Trail from the beautiful grounds of the Fitzgerald House (which served as the first meeting place of the Southern Literary Trail’s organizers)? Such a speech might include an invitation for other states and regions of the country to adopt the same model of literary tourism to be promoted on a national website. Alabama was already hard-pressed to meet its budgetary goals before these tragic events, but increased state tourism revenues can help the overall recovery effort in areas that need it the most right now. How critical are tourism revenues to the state budget and would such national publicity be worth even more (in potential tourism revenues and jobs) than FEMA grants?

Gantt: We would welcome a speech by the President or any national leader that highlights the Trail and encourages visitors to discover us! I must remind you that we are not just a tourism project. Many of our partner sites actually are dedicated to scholarship efforts, such as providing homes to writers and artists in residence. While we encourage literary tourism, I would hope that some national recognition might be paid our sites for their promotion of literary scholarship. For example, the Lillian Smith Center in Clayton, Georgia, has an artist in residence program every summer. It is not generally opened for tourism, but it still does very important work for the promotion of both classic and contemporary Southern Literature. The McCullers Center can be toured by appointment, but its daily mission is research and scholarship.

The interior of the Monroe County Courthouse
during a reenactment of the trial in
To Kill A Mockingbird. Photo by Peggy
Collins, Alabama Department of Tourism.

Miller: Generations of readers have not only been entertained but enriched as human beings by classic novels. Many of the travelers on the Southern Literary Trail have read the books long before, but what is their experience when stepping into the many attractions on the trail? How does visiting the physical places add to the experience of reading the book? For example, what is it like for fans of Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird to step into the real courtroom that inspired her famous trial with Atticus Finch?

For pictures of Monroeville and the courthouse, click here: Hollywood Visits Monroeville.

Gantt: As I stated, the influence of place upon Southern fiction is one of the themes of the Trail. For a reader to step into the settings that influenced one of his or her favorite novels can be as life-affecting as reading the book itself. We make these experiences possible along our Trail. I am grateful to this blog and so many others for helping us to create and promote this journey for readers.

What Would Fitzgerald Think of the Kindle?

2011-04-10T21:26:00.000-07:00

A girl at the F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum holds
an early 20th century original first edition of The Great Gatsby
beside an early 21st century Kindle edition of the same famous work.

Excerpt From: Before Gatsby: The First Twenty-Six Stories
Tourism Attraction: F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum
Location: Montgomery, Alabama
Photos: Gala photos by Walter "Huck" Carroll. Other photos by Patrick Miller. Click any photo to enlarge!

Young people are always discovering classic writers for the first time. These days, odds are that they might first discover writers like Fitzgerald on a device like the Kindle or Nook. Just today I was taking my son to the doctor and saw a seven year-old boy in the waiting room reading The Cat in the Hat on an iPad! His mother told me that he was better at using the device than anyone in the family. Welcome to the future of reading.

As I read some of Fitzgerald’s novels for the first time on my Kindle, I began wondering how the famous author himself would have reacted to the device, had it come out in the 1920s. Any answer to that question would be pure speculation, but I have developed some interesting theories about this intriguing writer who still captures our imagination even seventy years later. Follow this theme in the Tourism Guide at the end of the excerpt, and feel free to post your thoughts in the Comments.

This young fellow sits on a bench at the F. Scott and Zelda
Fitzgerald Museum holding a Kindle copy of The Great Gatsby.
Will he be one of the first members of Generation K: The Kindle Generation?

Fortunately, one does not always have to rely on speculation when wondering about Fitzgerald’s views. I began my study of him with a wonderful book published by the University of South Carolina Press (and edited by famed Fitzgerald scholar Matthew Bruccoli) called Before Gatsby: The First Twenty-Six Stories. This book (not available on Kindle) offers both a collection of his first published stories and also many intriguing insights into his mind.

One such insight is an article he wrote describing his inspiration for “The Ice Palace,” a short story published in the Saturday Evening Post back in 1919. “The Ice Palace” has a strong connection to my hometown of Montgomery, Alabama, and also served as the basis for a dramatic presentation recently at a lecture given at the F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum in Montgomery. Learn more about this beautiful museum and the surrounding historic Old Cloverdale district in the Tourism Guide and Links at the end. The museum is housed in the only surviving family residence of the Fitzgeralds and offers a rare collection of books, paintings, and letters from their colorful life together.

The F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum is also on the Southern Literary Trail, a cooperative organization including many famous houses and sites from literary figures in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi of national prominence. Find their link in the Tourism Guide. One of the Fitzgerald museum's most entertaining events of the year is an annual Flapper gala and auction, which you will see photos of throughout this feature.

From Before Gatsby: The First Twenty-Six Stories

The idea of the “The Ice Palace” (Saturday Evening Post, May 22), grew out of a conversation with a girl out in St. Paul, Minnesota, my home. We were riding home from a moving picture show late one November night. “Here comes winter,” she said, as a scattering of confetti-like snow blew along the street. I thought immediately of the winters I had known there, their bleakness and dreariness and seemingly infinite length, and then we began talking about life in Sweden.

“I wonder,” I said casually, “if the Swedes aren’t melancholy on account of the cold—if this climate doesn’t make people rather hard and chill—” and then I stopped, for I had scented a story.

I played with the idea for two weeks without writing a line. I felt I could work out a tale about some person or group of persons of Anglo-Saxon birth living for generations in a cold climate. I already had one atmosphere detail—the first wisps of snow weaving like advance-guard ghosts up the street.

Confederate graves in modern Montgomery

At the end of two weeks in Montgomery, Alabama, and while out walking with a girl I wandered into a graveyard. She told me I could never understand how she felt about Confederate graves, and I told her I understood so well that I could put it on paper.

Next day on my way back to St. Paul it came to me that it was all one story—the contrast between Alabama and Minnesota. When I reached home I had

(1) The idea of this contrast.

(2) The natural sequence of the girl visiting the north.

(3) The idea that some phase of the cold should prey upon her mind.

(4) That this phase should be an ice palace—I had the idea of using an ice palace in a story since several months before when my mother told me about one they had in St. Paul in the eighties.

A guest at the museum's annual Flapper gala and auction.

(5) A detail about the snow in the vestibule of a railway train.

When I reached St. Paul I intrigued my family into telling me all they remembered about the ice palace. At the public library I found a rough sketch of it that had appeared in a newspaper of the period. Then I went carefully though my notebook for any incident or character that might do—I always do this when I am ready to start a story—but I don’t believe that in this case I found anything except a conversation I had once with a girl as to whether or not people were feline or canine.

Then I began. I did an atmospheric sketch of the girl’s life in Alabama. This was part one. I did the graveyard scene and also used it to begin the love interest and hint at her dislike of the cold. This was part two. Then I began part three which was to be her arrival in the northern city, but in the middle I grew bored with it and skipped to the beginning of the ice palace scene, a part I was wild to do. I did the scene where the couple were approaching the palace in a sleigh, and of a sudden I began to get the picture of an ice labyrinth so I left the description of the ice palace and turned at once to the girl lost in the labyrinth.

Parts one and two had taken two days. The ice palace and labyrinth (part five) and the last scene (part six) which brought back the Alabama motif were finished the third day.

This guest at the gala has certainly caught the Flapper spirit!

So there I had my beginning and end which are the easiest and most enjoyable for me to write and the climax, which is the most exciting and stimulating to work out. It took me three days to write parts three and four, the least satisfactory parts of the story, and while doing them I was bored and uncertain, constantly re-writing, adding and cutting and revising—and in the end didn’t care particularly for them.

That’s the whole story. It unintentionally illustrates my theory that, except in a certain sort of naturalistic realism, what you enjoy writing is liable to be much better reading than what you labor over.

--Excerpted from Before Gatsby: The First Twenty-Six Stories, published by the University of South Carolina Press. This particular excerpt was also an excerpt in the book and turned out to be in public domain, as determined by the Fitzgerald estate.

Tourism Guide

The party goes on at the annual Fitzgerald Gala.

The F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum was once the home of the famous couple in the early thirties. Saved from destruction in the 1980s, it now serves as a beautifully restored museum with many enchanting items from their turbulent and romantic past. After reading about the infamous parties in both Fitzgerald’s fictional world and real life, walking into a room where many of those parties were actually held is quite an amazing experience. And yes, some of those parties got so loud that the neighbors complained! Fitzgerald in real life was far from what many young people today would consider dry or boring.

A streetcar-styled tour bus stops at one of
several scenic parks in historic Old Cloverdale.

The museum is also in the scenic Old Cloverdale historic district of Montgomery, which boasts many beautiful houses, walkways, parks, churches, and even the gorgeous campus of Huntingdon College. If Fitzgerald were living there today, one would probably often find him down at Sinclair’s restaurant and bar, a favorite haunt of the modern fun-loving crowd. Or he might be attending a play with Zelda at the new Cloverdale Playhouse, soon to open for its first production in a lovingly restored church.

One great attraction at the museum is an insightful twenty minute video about people who knew the Fitzgeralds. Admission to the museum is free, but it does accept donations (suggested minimum for adults: $5). During these tough economic times, museums like this struggle more than average due to government cuts in cultural programs, so donating more than $5 would certainly be appreciated.

Outside the Fitzgerald museum, students from BTW
Magnet High School in Montgomery
read from Fitzgerald's greatest works.
The student on the left reads from a Kindle;
the other two read actual first editions from the 1920s.

If enough people find out about the museum, it could easily become an anchor for drawing more tourism dollars to the area. With the beautiful surrounding attractions in the Montgomery area, a trip would be a culturally enriching experience with all the luxury trimmings of a relaxing vacation. Just visit the city’s main tourism website in the Tourism Links to find out about other area attractions to add to your list.

As to how Fitzgerald would have reacted to the Kindle, that is a difficult question, but there are some elements that can be looked to for an answer. Let’s get something out of the way first. Most people’s initial hesitation at reading a Kindle is the thought of the eye strain one often encounters when reading many pages on a computer screen. Believe me when I say that the innovative electronic ink used on this device offers (incredibly) the same physical contrast to the human eye as ink on paper. This technology is revolutionary, and one has to literally see it to believe it.

A student from Montgomery Catholic Preparatory School
holds up one of the many resources
available in the museum's impressive reading room.

Secondly, one has to ask whether Fitzgerald knew his markets or just sat back and wrote brilliant works knowing that others would become enchanted. Before Gatsby makes clear that Fitzgerald had definite notions about marketability. For example, he knew which stories would be perfect for which magazines and even particular editors, and he was willing to adapt his stories to meet those expectations. One has to be careful here to note that Fitzgerald wouldn’t have considered these changes “selling out” because his powers of writing could combine both art and marketability with amazing lyrical symmetry. Fitzgerald certainly had no problem with making lots of money and took pride in his abilities.

Now, if the Kindle came out on the market in the twenties, Fitzgerald would have certainly been aware of this new trend. Would he have held back or jumped in? One has only to look at present day 2011 and note that virtually every bestselling book has a Kindle edition and that the Kindle market is growing exponentially every year. Once Fitzgerald saw that emerging market, he would have had no qualms about jumping on board.

A young couple at the Fitzgerald Gala.
The great author's flamboyant Flapper lifestyle
continues to resonate with younger generations today.

Fitzgerald wrote about the young, beautiful, and rich. As soon as he saw the first magazine ad showing a young, classy, beautiful woman reclining on a yacht reading a Kindle, he would have been sold. Just compare such an advertisement to one of the recent television ads for the Kindle. Naturally, like the present, his books would have been sold both in hardback and Kindle at the same time, making money from both.

However, let’s go deeper into the Kindle reading experience. Why is it that so many people feel threatened by these technological advances in the publishing world? They often say something like, “I just prefer the feel of turning the pages.” Would Fitzgerald have also felt that nostalgic yearning, despite any concerns of marketability? People attach a sentimental value to physical paper books and associate the act of turning the pages with the power the words have on their soul. When they look at that hardback on their bookshelf, they remember the pleasurable experience of reading those words. Somehow, an electronic replacement seems cold and lifeless when contrasted against the warm memory of a bound book made from living things, not plastics and circuits.

Here is the key question: what if the first time someone feels that power of those words, they experience it while reading on a Kindle? Is the power of words really altered by the physical format of presentation or can that feeling stand alone? For a much broader perspective, contrast early medieval books against 20th century books. Those from long ago in more romantic times might have had a hard time putting aside their hand-crafted books, each one a work of art, for books mass-produced on cold mechanical presses. Their treasured memories of reading would have been very threatened by such books.

Younger generations always adapt much faster to new technology,
but all generations can experience the enduring beauty of classic tales.

Yet the printing press increased world literacy rates by incredible bounds because books were no longer so expensive that only wealthy nobles or highly-placed church scholars could afford to buy them. As the price of ereaders inevitably continues to fall, who is to say that young readers in rural counties and developing nations might not benefit from having access to the world’s library of greatest works—never before available to them in more expensive paper books? This is not so unrealistic if one considers that many libraries are starting to use ebooks and most classic works of literature are available for free in ebook forms, allowing a single library to hold a much larger collection than ever imaginable before.

Here is one more intriguing point: if one feels the power of words on a Kindle, that sentimental memory can be enhanced by many treasured experiences on one physical device. For example, when I see my Kindle on the bedside table, I think of the great hours spent reading This Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and Damned, and The Great Gatsby for the first time all at once. Does this mean that a Kindle can actually have more nostalgic value for readers than a single hardback? I say yes, but each to his own!

Another guest at the gala joins the spirit of the party.

Fitzgerald did have the capability of seeing the emerging power of new trends. For example, he saw the “moving pictures” industry as a powerful new art form and ending up writing for the movies. Many of his works were adapted to the big screen, even in the days of silent movies. Some of the pictures in Before Gatsby show these original posters, along with original magazine covers from the Saturday Evening Post. If he could see the potential of movies in the twenties, then he might have seen the potential for ebooks as well (not exactly an art form, but simply a new advance with incredible potential).

The Kindle can hold up to 3,500 books in a device that weighs less than a paperback. Books can be downloaded wirelessly in less than sixty seconds. Those would be attractive features for a famous author who read a great deal and moved around the globe and from coast to coast quite often. Fitzgerald loved to read; that is for sure. He might have thoroughly enjoyed having his favorite authors available at the click of a button. The Kindle also has features perfect for scholars and students, such as highlighting passages for quick reference, note taking, and automatic last page read finder for any book downloaded.

One last exciting point. The new web-browsing feature of Kindles allows for tourism links to be embedded directly into a Kindle book. For example, what if a new tourism Kindle edition of The Great Gatsby were to have a clickable link at the end that led readers directly to the website of the F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum? And perhaps a live link to the Southern Literary Trail?

Some of the items on display at the museum.

Such links would allow readers of all types of classic novels to instantly browse important educational and tourism websites about the works without having to type into a search engine and sift through the thousands of results. Publishers could guide readers straight to the best websites to learn more. Many readers would love to know about places like the F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum, and what better place to offer them a link than inside the book itself?

A plus to publishers: such a tourism guide would allow for a small, reasonable fee for downloading special tourism Kindle editions, meaning that even books in the public domain could still earn money. Most readers wouldn't mind paying a few dollars for a book that promised to show them how to visit the real places that inspired the story. Also, such interactive travel guides inside web-browsing digital books would reach millions of potential tourists worldwide from future generations who will read these classic novels. What sort of positive economic impact might that have on tourism revenues in the South? How many jobs would it create? Those are two very interesting questions!

Michael Briddell and his wife Kay enjoy the gala.
Kay is a board member of the museum, and
Michael is the Director of Public Information
for the city of Montgomery.

The Fitzgerald museum already attracts international visitors, along with many regional and national tourists. Why not increase that rate by a thousand percent by putting a link to it and the Southern Literary Trail into every related classic novel sold? This could be done in paper and digital books, but digital web-browsing books allow the reader to go instantly to the tourism websites with a simple click from inside the book. That is the future of reading, so why not adapt it to support classic novels in a whole new way?

A link to the Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum in
my Kindle novel, Blind Fate, which is set in Montgomery.
Readers can click on the link inside the book and go
straight to the museum's website via the
Southern Literary Trail.

Wouldn’t it be ironic (and just) if literature turned out to be a major component of bringing our nation out of an economic slump? After all, there are many wonderful places to visit around the nation and many talented authors near those places. Why not connect them all together through modern tools like interactive tourism guides? We’ve all heard the saying “Our greatest resource has always been our people.” And only from people come the unique talents inherent in literature and art. Few people have been, or ever will be, as uniquely talented as F. Scott Fitzgerald. So if classic novels were to start having interactive tourism guides, isn’t he the perfect person to start with? Fitzgerald himself might have thought this idea quite “jazzy.”

If you disagree with any of these points (as I’m sure some people will), feel free to post your thoughts on the subject. Please do be constructive, but if you just absolutely hate the Kindle, tell us why. Feel free to share some love for the Kindle as well. And if you want to really feel a stronger connection to Fitzgerald—beyond reading his great works—try stepping into his actual house and absorbing the moment. Take a walk through Old Cloverdale and experience the charm that was once a part of his and Zelda’s romantic life. Visit the links below to learn how to step into the story.

Regardless of what happens with ebooks, first print editions of Fitzgerald’s works will always be sacred treasures that can never be replaced. Some in the literary world might even place their value above “a diamond as big as the Ritz.” If Fitzgerald had known just how popular and iconic his works and personality would become, he would have been extremely proud.

Students take a moment to read the quotes
from Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda on the historical marker.

Special Note: the first edition Fitzgerald novels seen in the photographs of this feature are normally in a locked glass display case. I wanted to offer area high school students interested in literature a rare chance to touch a piece of literary history. The owners of the Fitzgerald home, Julian and Leslie McPhillips, generously allowed these first editions to be taken out and read from by the students for the photo shoot.

As it turns out, the McPhillips live in a historic home two doors down that formerly belonged to Helen Keller’s sister, and Helen often stayed there on visits. After checking out the Fitzgerald museum, take a short walk east down the sidewalk to the historic marker for the Keller home, a beautifully restored Tudor style house. What a charming neighborhood Old Cloverdale is with such a rich history! Harper Lee spent time in the neighborhood while attending the gorgeous Huntingdon College, also pretty for its Gothic style campus buildings and just a few short blocks from the Fitzgerald museum.

Update!
First Fitzgerald Novel Published With Interactive Tourism Guide: This Side Of Paradise: Interactive Tourism Edition now available in Kindle store by clicking here!
All royalties are being donated to the Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum.

Tourism Links

F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum
Before Gatsby: The First Twenty-Six-Stories
Sinclair's Restaurant

Cloverdale Playhouse
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=289783765813#!/pages/Cloverdale-Playhouse/313314693627

Huntingdon College
Renaissance Montgomery Hotel & Spa
City of Montgomery Tourism
The F. Scott Fitzgerald Society

A reverse of “The Ice Palace” –a northern girl moves to Montgomery in 2009 "The Heights"

Join the SELTI project by clicking on the Follow button in the top left. Get email updates on new features by joining the SELTI Facebook group below. Invite friends who might be interested. SELTI on Facebook

When I told novelist Sibella Giorello, formerly profiled on SELTI, about my visit to the Fitzgerald museum, she asked me to write a feature about the experience. Check out the SELTI feature based on her crime novel The Clouds Roll Away, set in modern Richmond and the charming James River Plantation estates. Sibella also just came out with a new novel in the series, The Mountains Bow Down, which is set on an Alaskan cruise ship. Now there's a literary tourism novel for the present day!
Mystery Meets Charm in Richmond

Another stop on the Southern Literary Trail: Monroeville, of Harper Lee fame
Hollywood Visits Monroeville
Check out all the stops on the Southern Literary Trail

Alabama Moon Hits Theaters!

2011-03-05T17:13:00.000-08:00

The movie version of Watt Key's best-selling novel Alabama Moon is coming to theaters this month. For the online tourism guide to Alabama Moon, click here:Today's Tom Sawyer: Camping Under an Alabama Moon. Below is a schedule of theater releases in Alabama.

Alabama Moon Release Schedule

3/18
Birmingham
Rave Patton Creek
Rave Lee Branch
Premiere Tannehill

Gadsden
Premiere 16

Tuscaloosa
Cobb Hollywood 16

4/1
Mobile
Crescent
Hollywood 18

Daphne

Rave Jubilee

Orange Beach

Rave Wharf 15

Pensacola

Rave 18

Watch the trailer and learn more here:Alabama Moon the Movie

Blind Fate: Tourism Fiction Hits the Airwaves!

2011-02-16T15:33:00.000-08:00

Have you heard a commercial on the radio asking you to Google "Blind Fate Patrick Miller"? You have found the right place. Blind Fate is a steamy suspense/thriller novel set against the lush backdrop of the real River Region in Montgomery, Alabama. This novel is the first of its kind to offer readers an interactive tourism guide inside the book. Readers can click on tourism websites in the story to see pictures of the real settings and learn how to visit the actual places.

Blind Fate is told through the unique “perspective” of blind violinist Melody Harper, a young woman who finds herself in a very dangerous situation. Dare to enter her world without sight and solve a mystery using only her senses to guide you. Don’t let Melody have all the fun and excitement; after reading the novel, come live out your own adventure in this real tourism hotspot. Step into the story and write your own chapter through a fun vacation. Remember: with tourism fiction, the story never has to end with the last page.

Discover the cultural side of this sensual capital city in the deep South. Catch a play at a famous theatre, walk the galleries of an impressive art museum, listen to a symphony orchestra under the stars, enjoy fine dining and explore beautiful gardens. Send your husband to play a round of golf at a world-renown course, while you spend the afternoon relaxing in a luxury spa. These are just a few of the things you can do in Montgomery.

To read an excerpt of Blind Fate right now, click here:Blind Fate.

And feel free to browse through the rest of this site for other real getaways in the South based on novels and books. Join this blog by clicking on the "Follow" button to the left. This will help readers stay updated on future tourism novels. Join the SELTI Facebook page for a quick summary of all the features and for email updates on any new features. The SELTI Facebook page link is in the Blind Fate excerpt above. The Facebook page also allows readers to interact with the authors and each other. Authors love to hear from you, and most of the SELTI authors are on the SELTI Facebook page.

Murder in Dollywood Country!

2010-12-21T21:50:00.000-08:00

Excerpt From: Fifty-Seven Traveling by Lonnie Cruse
Tourism Attraction: Cades Cove/Pigeon Forge
Location: Pigeon Forge, Tennessee
Photos: Click to enlarge any photo! Photos from MyPigeonForge.com (visit their site through the Pigeon Forge link in the Toursim Links below to plan a vacation)

Kitty Bloodworth was looking forward to a nice, relaxing vacation in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. She and her husband Jack were entering their prize classic car Sadie into an antique car show. When Kitty sets her eyes on a classic car for sale, her enthusiasm lands her in the middle of a murder mystery that perplexes even her keen senses. This novel is set in the beautiful tourism destination of Pigeon Forge. Learn more about how to visit the real places in the novel by clicking on the tourism links at the end of this excerpt.

From Fifty-Seven Traveling . . .

“Look at that,” Deb said, pointing out her car window at the mountain stream rushing over the large rocks alongside the highway leading to Cades Cove. I fished in my tote bag for my camera.

It seemed as though there were rushing mountain streams everywhere we looked. Jack stopped several times so I could take pictures. The sound of the water over the rocks very nearly lulled me to the point of needing a nap. And the wind sighing through the trees had me turning in slow circles, trying to capture the colors on my camera so I could enjoy them at home.

Back on the road after another quick stop, Leo said, “Are you speeding, Jack?” He pointed to the passenger side mirror.
I turned around in time to see an official car, lights flashing and siren blaring as it whizzed around us. Jack pulled to the edge of the road as best he could, and traffic in front of us parted like a pond wave as an ambulance slid by. The sirens were deafening. I counted a fire truck, another ambulance, a police car, and several other official vehicles as they flew by and said a silent prayer for whomever those vehicles were racing to rescue.

“Wow, must be something big going on,” Deb said. She’d roused herself from a brief backseat nap long enough to see what all the ruckus was about. Jack inched his way nearly into the intersection that split off toward Cades Cove, and for a few seconds I feared we’d be flattened in the crush of cars scuttling out of the way. Fortunately, the emergency vehicles zipped by us and continued on.

Jack turned onto the loop that meandered through the historic Cades Cove area, and the next few hours were spent admiring the amazing fall colors or hiking up the short walks to some of the older cabins, like the old Oliver place where we saw a momma deer and her twins snacking on a low tree limb. She sniffed at us as we sniffed at her.

“Even though deer pass through the pasture behind our old farm house nearly every day, I never get over the thrill of watching them up close,” I whispered to Deb.

We left the deer family to their meal and hiked the rest of the way to the old Oliver family log cabin, settling in for our own picnic under a nearby tree.

“I always try to imagine the people who once lived in these old cabins and what their lives might have been like,” I said, carefully gathering up the leftovers and cartons. I certainly didn’t want to leave any litter behind in this lovely place.

“The view form the porch is so beautiful it takes my breath away,” Deb said.

I nodded and glanced around inside, marveling at the small size of the rooms and lack of privacy for family members. Many of the old cabins had one central room where the family did household chores, ate, sat by the fire, and sometimes even slept.

“I’m thankful the locals somehow managed to preserve this historic area. It’s something future generations need to see, how people lived in pioneer days,” I said.

I’d nearly filled an entire memory stick on my camera with pictures of the homes and the woods and fields surrounding them. At this rate, I’d need to buy another memory stick before we left the area, even if they cost the earth. And I’d have to replace my little printer without letting my daughters know what happened to the one they gave me.

“Let’s take a different route home,” Jack suggested as we passed through the exit gate. “See what we can see.” Words which always made me cringe.

“Can you read that sign?” Jack asked, after we’d ridden in silence for several miles. Thankfully, I could still see distance better than he could, even from the back seat.

“Yes, it says ‘Weddings in the Woods. Get married among the beautiful trees of the Smoky Mountains.’ Hmmm, I wonder if Sunny and Craig would consider having their wedding here. It certainly would be far less expensive than the extravaganza she’s planning, and the area here is beautiful.”

I snapped a couple of quick pictures, in case Sunny showed some interest. Never mind that we didn’t know exactly where “here” was. I’d keep my eyes open and see how we got back to where we were supposed to be, assuming Jack didn’t get us permanently lost.

We were haggling over whether or not to have a quick snack of ice cream to tide us over until we met the car club for dinner as Jack fiddled with the radio knob.

“I bet they got a great oldies station around here,” he said.

“Yep,” Leo said, “they don’t make songs like that nowadays.”

“Like what,” Deb asked. “‘Purple People Eater?’”

“Actually, I was thinking about the one where the momma doesn’t rock and roll,” Leo said.

“You’ve got it backwards,” Deb argued, “the momma don’t dance and—”

“Hey, listen!” I pointed towards the radio. “They’ve found a dead body in a ditch. Just up the road from the Cades Cove entrance.”

--Excerpted from FIFTY-SEVEN TRAVELING, Copyright © 2010 by Lonnie Cruse, All Rights Reserved

Tourism Guide

The goal of SELTI is to introduce readers from around the nation to unique tours based on the real settings of popular novels. What better way to do this than a novel about a vacation to a beautiful Southern town? The new novel Fifty-Seven Traveling by Lonnie Cruse is just such a story, set in the picturesque Pigeon Forge tourism district of Tennessee. For fun getaways, the Smoky Mountains are hard to beat, but adding the spice of a murder mystery only makes the trip that much more intriguing.

In such a beautiful area, it would be very easy for a traveler to spend the weekend shopping, eating, and relaxing without ever stepping outside of the tourist bubble. When my review copy of the novel arrived, I was expecting a light, fun mystery, and that's an accuracte description of the novel. However, Fifty-Seven Traveling also surprises the reader by connecting with the place on a deeper level by highlighting the culture of the local residents. The Beadle family’s old-fashioned values and traditions are refreshing, especially within the context of our modern society. The novel also includes mainstream attractions such as Dollywood, which the story proves is as much fun for adults as it is for kids.

The antique automobiles themselves become very sympathetic characters, and one has to contrast these solid, quality-crafted vehicles against today’s hastily-fabricated fiberglass constructions that often start falling apart within a few years. The classic cars were made to be durable for decades, and so were the moral values of the generation that produced them. For example, many couples today divorce within the same time they trade in their cars for new ones. There’s something to be said for things—and values—that last.

This talk of values and cars does play out at the end of the novel, which is not only creative but very touching. The main character, Kitty Bloodworth, is a grandmother that many people can relate to and might know in their local community. Placing ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances is often a great device to writing an interesting story.

The real area of Pigeon Forge and Sevier County is indeed beautiful almost to the point of being a wonderland, especially at Christmas time. The towns are as picturesque as a postcard, but it sure is fun to step inside that postcard and breathe in the fresh mountain air—maybe with some white fudge mixed in. Good eating plays a prominent part in this novel, and the same is true of a real vacation there. Be sure and bring your camera and some extra memory sticks because the real sights will be something you will always cherish.

Tourism Links
Pigeon Forge
http://www.mypigeonforge.com/

Cades Cove Auto Tour
http://www.cadescove.net/auto_tour.html

Learn more about author Lonnie Cruse
http://www.lonniecruse.com/

Order Fifty-Seven Traveling

http://www.amazon.com/Fifty-Seven-Traveling-Five-Star-Mystery/dp/1594148805/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1292812309&sr=1-1

The Official Tennessee Vacation Guide
http://www.tnvacation.com/

Follow SELTI on Facebook for updates on new articles and an easy list of all the others around the South:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=289783765813

Walking the Moonlit Road . . .

2010-11-13T08:23:00.000-08:00

Photo by Peggy Blackburn/The Wetumpka Herald

Cold weather is the perfect time to sit down with a chilling tale. "The Last Confession" was just published on The Moonlit Road, a site with scary tales from around the South. The Moonlit Road is an innovative project started by students at the Art Institute of Atlanta and has been running since 1997. Many of the stories there include dramatic audio presentations by professional storytellers, some of which have been featured on National Public Radio and their affiliates. "The Last Confession" was the original scary tale that inspired SELTI and comes with a tourism guide to Cahaba, the abandoned first state capital of Alabama. The historic Coosa River district in Wetumpka, Alabama, (seen above) is also featured as an inspiration of the story. Check it all out here: http://themoonlitroad.com/the-last-confession/. Please browse the many tales at The Moonlit Road if you dare. Many Southern states are included.

If you enjoy "The Last Confession," then check out Blind Fate, another scary tale, here: http://southeasternliterarytourisminitiative.blogspot.com/2010/09/tourism-mystery-kindles-romance-in.html

Find Comfort in Warm Springs, Georgia

2010-10-17T12:38:00.000-07:00

Dowdell's Knob in Franklin D. Roosevelt State Park. This was FDR's favorite picnic spot in Georgia.
Photo by Georgia Department of Natural Resources (GDNR).

Excerpt From: Comfort by Joyce Moyer Hostetter, published by Calkins Creek
Tourism Attractions: Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation,
Franklin D. Roosevelt State Park
Location: Warm Springs, Georgia
Photos: Click to enlarge

Long before he became the iconic president that we read about in history today, Franklin D. Roosevelt was a New York senator who had just been crippled with a devastating disease: polio. The disease was so debilitating that he knew his dreams of becoming president someday might never be realized. Would anyone vote for a candidate with a disability? Then this New Yorker heard about a peaceful place down South called Warm Springs, Georgia, where the therapeutic natural springs there had made a dramatic difference in a polio victim’s recuperation.

The fictional Ann Fay Honeycutt in Comfort is one such young victim, who is struggling to recover from a polio outbreak in mid-1940s North Carolina. Although her hero, President Roosevelt, has recently passed away when she arrives at Warm Springs, Roosevelt’s presence is still strong. She is about to enter a place that she would have never dreamed possible and will change her life forever. Ironically, the place (now known as the Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation) would become a forerunner for innovations and laws that would change many lives for decades to come from all over the nation . . .

From Comfort . . .

When we arrived, Papaw took us right into the grounds of the Georgia Warm Springs Foundation. It seemed like it was open to just anyone. He drove real slow by a huge white building with tall columns and lots of windows. A girl in a wheelchair was going toward the building, and when she got to it, I couldn’t believe my eyes. The door opened for her and she hadn’t even done a thing!

“Well, if that don’t beat all,” said Daddy.

FRD's statue at Dowdell's Knob,
Franklin D. Roosevelt State Park
Photo by GDNR

I thought how I had to struggle to get doors open while I was propped on my crutches. Was every door in this place so easy to get through? What would it be like to live in a place designed especially for crippled people?

FDR's statue gazes out over his favorite
picnic spot in Georgia, Dowdell's Knob.

While we sat there and stared, the door opened again and a man came through in a wheelchair. Not a big wooden one like all the ones I’d ever seen, but a shiny metal one. He must’ve thought we looked a little lost because he wheeled his chair over to the car. Papaw told him we just wanted a glimpse of Warm Springs. “We saw a picture in the paper,” he said. “And it made us want to visit Franklin Roosevelt’s favorite place.”

Mr. Shoes poked his head out the window, and the minute the man saw him he got a big grin on his face. He let Mr. Shoes sniff his hand. “You sure do bring up some good memories,” he said. “The president had a dog like this, you know."

A party at Warm Springs for polio patients.
Photo by Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute
for Rehabilitation (RWSIR)

Then Papaw told him about me having polio. And right then and there, the man invited us to park the car and join him for a tour! None of us ever expected that. He waited for us to get out and then he introduced himself.

“Fred Botts,” he said, shaking hands with every single one of us. “I’m the registrar here at the foundation."

Mr. Botts turned his chair toward the building with the tall pillars. “This building is called Georgia Hall.” He looked up at Ida and Ellie and asked, “Which one of you wants to open the magic door?" Of course they both wanted to. So he said, “Whoever steps first in the front of the all-seeing eye.” He pointed to the door, and Ida and Ellie about knocked each other down to get there first. Just like that, the door opened and Mr. Botts took us inside.

Georgia Hall today.

The lobby had tall windows that let in lots of light. It was a grand entryway that stretched way out from side to side but wasn’t very deep. There was sofas and chairs and potted plants and pictures in fancy frames hanging on the walls. Mr. Botts led us to a big dining room off to the right. He showed us just where the president would’ve have sat if he’d been there for Thanksgiving dinner. “We always looked forward to our Thanksgiving meal with the president,” he said. “This year we left an empty space at the table to honor him.”

I asked him what it was like to actually talk to President Roosevelt.

“Meeting Franklin Roosevelt was like meeting your next-door neighbor. That’s what he called us. ‘Hi ya, neighbor,’ he would say when he drove up to people’s houses or saw folks in town. He loved to talk about farming and trees and horses and fishing.”

After we toured Georgia Hall, Mr. Botts wanted to show us the rest of Warm Springs. So he talked to a man in a bow tie at the desk in the lobby of Georgia Hall. “Ed, could you call for the trailer?”

The historic quad at the campus of the Roosevelt
Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation

The man picked up the telephone right away.

“We’ll just wait here for a few minutes. Someone will come get us,” said Mr. Botts.

And sure enough, before long a bus pulled up out front. The driver opened some doors in the back and pulled out a ramp. With his help, Mr. Botts rolled his wheelchair right into the back of that bus. And we followed.

We sat on seats that were lined up against the walls facing each other like sofas in a living room. While we rode, Mr. Botts showed how the bus had places to store crutches and even room for people on stretchers to ride along.

Polio patients receive warm water therapy at the
Georgia Warm Springs Foundation. Photo by RWSIR

We stopped next to a big building with huge glass windows. “This is our new pool that we use for therapy,” said Mr. Botts. “We won’t go inside, though, because I want to show you the original pools.”

The bus took us to some other swimming pools and we got out and walked around. A man was crawling to the pool. “See that gentleman?” asked Mr. Botts. “Before he was president, when he had more time to spend here, that could have been Franklin Roosevelt. At Warm Springs he was a polio like everyone else. If he needed to get somewhere and crawling was the easiest way, then that’s what he’d do.”

That really surprised me. In every picture I’d seen of the president he was standing or sitting at a table. I just couldn’t imagine him on his hands and knees.

Mr. Botts told us to put our hands into the water. “Feel how warm it is? Almost ninety degrees.”

I could see why the place was called Warm Springs—on account of the water, of course. But everything about this place seemed warm. There was a breeze, but even though it was late November it wasn’t the kind of wind to make you shiver.

Camp Dream at the Roosevelt Warm Springs
Institute for Rehabilitation.

On top of that, everybody was real friendly. A couple of patients came up to me and asked when I had the polio and if I was coming there to stay. Mr. Botts said, “Oh we’re working on that.” He looked at me. “You really should come.”

All the way back to Papaw and Mamaw’s house I kept hearing him say that line. You really should come. Even the tires on Papaw’s car were singing those words. You really should come . . .

--Excerpted from COMFORT Copyright © 2009 by Joyce Moyer Hostetter. All rights reserved.

Tourism Guide

A view from Dowdell's Knob

This novel had a strong personal appeal for me because I was born with a severely clubbed right foot. After multiple surgeries and casting, I started kindergarten wearing corrective braces. Naturally, this drew some teasing—that is, until my best friend explained to everyone that the braces were “action boots.” That sounded pretty neat to a bunch of five year-olds.

Sometimes the support of friends is the only thing that makes life bearable. My short time as a cripple was nothing compared with the hardships that so many young children, men, and women endured for the rest of their lives in the days before the polio vaccine was developed. The novel Comfort is a story about how the joy of friendship can overcome even the emotional devastation of a crippling disease like polio. Although a fictional character, Ann Fay represents the real experiences of thousands of young children in the first half of the 20th century.

FDR and Eleanor at the McCarthy Cottage, his home in
Warm Springs before building the Little White House.
Photo by RWSIR

Ann Fay’s cruel nickname at school was “Click,” but at Warm Springs, she found comfort in the companionship of a new family, one made up of children who shared her condition. For many who attended the Georgia Warm Springs Foundation, meaningful life began again. None of this would have been possible without the fierce dedication and leadership of Franklin Roosevelt. In his war against the dreaded disease, he demanded the same terms that he offered the Nazis: unconditional surrender.

The McCarthy Cottage today, also where the movie
Warm Springs was filmed in 2005.
Photo by RWSIR

A wonderful companion to the novel Comfort is the HBO movie Warm Springs, starring Kenneth Branagh as a younger Roosevelt. The magic of Joseph Sargent‘s artful direction shows how Roosevelt found his soul again at Warm Springs. Cynthia Nixon puts in an outstanding performance as a younger Eleanor Roosevelt taking her first steps towards becoming an inspiring public speaker in her own right. The movie also tells the tale of Roosevelt’s inspiration and building of the Georgia Warm Springs Foundation, the world’s first rehabilitation center for polio victims. In this film, viewers will see a very intimate, rare look at Roosevelt the man, including all his faults and weaknesses, both physical and otherwise. However, they will also see the powerful spirit that would make him iconic in the near future. In a very direct sense, Roosevelt’s experiences with polio and Warm Springs prepared him better than any other president to lead the nation through the great trials that lay ahead.

There are many connections between the novel Comfort and the movie Warm Springs, although both were independent projects. The real life historical character of Fred Botts in the novel is portrayed as a younger man in the movie. The movie, set in the twenties, was partially filmed in the McCarthy Cottage, where Roosevelt lived before building the Little White House. The historic pools that first drew Roosevelt to Warm Springs became a central part of the rehabilitation institute.

The movie shows how Roosevelt traveled from a place of cold darkness to a place of warm light. This was not just a physical journey but a journey within his soul to a place many still call the Spirit of Warm Springs. He didn't want his work with the Georgia Warm Springs Foundation to just benefit the people he knew in life; he wanted the foundation to have a positive impact on many generations to come. The novel Comfort is the fulfillment of that dream after his passing, told through the spiritual journey of Ann Fay. The Spirit of Warm Springs continues to live on in places like Camp Dream, a beautiful outdoor recreation program for children with disabilities.

Today, the institute is a living memorial by serving as a rehabilitation hospital and an innovative vocational center for those with severe disabilities. Readers of the novel can tour the historic quad and buildings where Ann Fay found her place in life again and learned to walk. Georgia Hall, where she and her friends played games and sang songs, is now a beautiful exhibit with many period photographs from the storied institution’s incredible history. The public can go on guided tours of the historic area, which was designed to feel more like a pretty college campus than a cold medical facility.

FDR's Ford on display at the Little White House.
FDR converted this car with hands-only controls.
Photo by GDNR

The original pools that Roosevelt swam in are a separate museum right next to the institute. Around the corner is the spectacular museum of the Little White House, which includes a large exhibition building with items such as Roosevelt’s automobile that he converted to hands-only controls. The Little White House offers a 13-minute movie about Roosevelt, which is a must-see for its powerful presentation.

These three tours take up about half a day, but the Warm Springs area offers many more attractions. The little town itself has a wonderful block of antique and gift shops, ice cream parlors, restaurants, and even a historic hotel right next to the visitor center. Roosevelt often visited the ice cream parlor in the hotel.

Family-friendly attractions very close by include the beautiful Callaway Gardens, Wild Animal Safari at Pine Mountain, Butts Mill Farm, and the Franklin D. Roosevelt State Park. Learn about these attractions in the Tourism Links at the end of this article. One of Roosevelt’s favorite picnic spots on Pine Mountain was Dowdell’s Knob, which offers a spectacular view of the valley. He often drove there in his converted car, and now his life-size statue sits atop the mountain resting quietly on the spot that gave him so much peace. Dowdell’s Knob is a must-see attraction.

A rental cabin in the beautiful Franklin D. Roosevelt State Park.
Photo by GDNR

Franklin D. Roosevelt State Park today also offers many hiking trails, rustic lodges and cabin rentals, and scenic restaurants to eat in. Driving through the park is all it takes for one to realize what drew Roosevelt to return to this gorgeous area so many times in his troubled life.

The Georgia Warm Springs Foundation helped not only to change the way our nation heals the disabled but also how we view those with disabilities in general. I was reminded of this fact on the tour when the guide pointed out the brick exercise platforms where children like Ann Fay learned to raise their wheelchairs over curbs. Back then, the children had to return to a society that was not handicap accessible. Many of the graduates from the institute went on to play profound roles in transforming our nation to allow access for handicap citizens. Readers can learn more about these remarkable men and women at the end of Comfort in the resources section. Joyce did a great deal of research for her novel, which is a sequel to the award-winning novel Blue.

One testament to Joyce’s powerful writing is the way the tour guide kept referring to Ann Fay as a real person during my research trip to Warm Springs. At one point, the guide had to stop and assure me that she did know that Ann Fay was not a real person. However, I completely understood her passion because I felt the strong connection myself. When I first entered Georgia Hall and the door automatically swished open, the story leaped to life. Indeed, the novel holds a prominent place in the Little White House gift shop because it tells the story of Warm Springs so well.

Fortunately for me, my foot was rehabilitated by the time I entered first grade. Comfort made me wonder what my life would have been like if I had been born in a different era not so long ago when those with defects and disabilities were looked down upon and ignored by society rather than being welcomed and encouraged to achieve, as they are today. In a very real sense, I am one of the many beneficiaries of the Spirit of Warm Springs, which sought to redefine how our society deals with the challenges of all disabilities.

An adult polio patient receiving therapy in the
same pools that Ann Fay used.
Photo by RWSIR

Another major theme of Comfort is how Ann Fay’s family deals with her father’s Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome after he returns home from war in Europe. Much like polio at the time, there was no formal or effective treatment for this disorder. Today offers a sad connection as the families of many soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are still facing the largely misunderstood affliction. I’ve been hearing the radio commercials about families trying to deal with this disorder in a loving way, and perhaps Comfort could help them cope with the isolation that normally develops. Many fathers from these wars never returned home at all, but others returned as different men, souls that were torn in half by the horrors they faced on the battlefield. Comfort offers a beautiful explanation for this syndrome and also a sobering challenge to the family on dealing with its effects.

Comfort is the fourth young adult book featured on SELTI. The others are the Maggie Valley series by Kerry Madden, Upclose: Harper Lee (a biography, also by Kerry), and Alabama Moon by Watt Key. Alabama Moon was made into a movie starring John Goodman. Please check out these prior features at the links below.

Hollywood Visits Monroeville: Up Close with Harper Lee

http://southeasternliterarytourisminitiative.blogspot.com/2010/03/hollywood-visits-monroeville-alabama.html

Today’s Tom Sawyer: Camping Under an Alabama Moon:

http://southeasternliterarytourisminitiative.blogspot.com/2010/06/todays-tom-sawyer-camping-under-alabama.html

Vampires Vs. Pancakes: Maggie Valley

http://southeasternliterarytourisminitiative.blogspot.com/2010/04/vampires-vs-pancakes-literary-tourism.html

Join SELTI on Facebook for an introduction to all posts and email alerts whenever new posts get published.
http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=289783765813

Tourism Links

Joyce Moyer Hostetter (Order the books, learn about the author)

http://joycemoyerhostetter.com/

http://www.amazon.com/Joyce-Moyer-Hostetter/e/B000APM03A/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation (Home to Georgia Hall)

http://www.rooseveltrehab.org/ab.org/

Roosevelt's Little White House Historic Site and Historic Pools

http://www.georgiastateparks.org/LittleWhiteHouse

Franklin D. Roosevelt State Park (I could spend a week here!)

http://www.georgiastateparks.org/FDRoosevelt

http://www.exploresouthernhistory.com/dowdellsknob.html

Town of Warm Springs

http://www.warmspringsga.ws/

Callaway Gardens (includes a man-made beach!)

http://www.callawaygardens.com/resort/things-to-do/georgia-fun.aspx

Butts Mill Farm (includes pony rides for kids and much more)

http://www.buttsmillfarm.com/

Explore all that the beautiful state of Georgia has to offer

http://www.exploregeorgia.org/

Calkins Creek (publisher of Comfort and other great books)

http://www.calkinscreekbooks.com/

Author Links

Joyce was already on the same page with me (even before we met) when she wrote Comfort. She included a great resources section at the end of the novel for readers who wanted to learn more about the real story of polio, Warm Springs, and Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome. The links she provided in the novel are below, but the book also offers more recommendations for other books and related videos.

http://www.americanhistory.si.edu/polio/- Whatever Happened to Polio? – A Smithsonian Institution online exhibit about polio, the epidemics, and vaccines.

http://www.disabilityisnatural.com/ - The Disability is Natural website provides insight and resources for understanding how alike we all are and how disabilities do not define the individual.

www.kidstogether.org/kidstogether.htm - Site of Kids Together, Inc., an organization formed to provide resources for people with disabilities.

http://www.ncptsd.va.gov/ncmain/information/- This Veterans Administration site provides information about Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. This page contains links to Frequently Asked Questions, a fact sheet about PTSD, and a video.

www.rooseveltrehab.org/ - The official website of the Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation (formerly known as the Georgia Warm Springs Foundation).

Tourism Mystery "Kindles" Romance in Montgomery

2010-09-09T21:28:00.000-07:00

Excerpt From: Blind Fate by Patrick Brian Miller

Tourism Attraction: River Region

Location: Montgomery, Alabama

Photos: click any photo to enlarge

Blind Fate is a suspense novel that dares the reader to experience a world without sight through the unique “perspective” of Melody Harper, a blind violinist who finds herself in a very dangerous situation. The novel is also groundbreaking for being the first interactive tourism novel on Kindle, meaning it includes a guide with links inside the book that allow readers to browse the related tourism websites of the real places in the story.

Blind Fate was recently featured in USA Today for its innovation in tourism technology. Read the USA Today story by clicking here.

The settings of Blind Fate include some of the finest attractions in the River Region of Montgomery, Alabama, including the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts (both pictured below), Jasmine Hill Gardens and Outdoor Museum in Wetumpka, the Legends golf course in Prattville, and the riverfront entertainment district in downtown Montgomery, to name a few. However, the story begins at an isolated cabin on the shores of nearby Lake Jordan . . .

FROM CHAPTER 1 OF BLIND FATE:

Melody Harper inwardly sighed in relief when she felt Roger’s patrol car slide to a halt over the familiar sound of her gravel driveway. He had been quiet during most of the drive, and she could sense his frustration as he got out and shut the door a little louder than usual. Melody knew his moods intimately through their years of friendship, even though she had never seen Roger’s face. She listened to his thumping steps as he made his way angrily around the car and pulled her door open.

The fragrant smell of blooming gardenias greeted her back home as she stepped out and lightly grasped the back of Roger’s arm. His brooding silence barely distracted her from the wonderful sensation of being home after a long week away in Montgomery. He led her forward until the rough gravel underneath her feet gave way to smooth, wooden planks. Melody stopped and raised her hand to touch his warm face.

“Don’t worry, Roger,” she said. “I’ll be fine.”

“I worry enough about you,” he said. “But what about your parents? How can you put them through this?”

Although Melody could hear the genuine concern in his voice, a hot rush of anger raced through her body and into her voice.

“You shouldn’t try to make me feel guilty, Roger. This is my home. My life will not come to a crashing halt just because other people worry about me. If that’s how I lived, then I wouldn’t really be living. You know how much my independence means to me.”

Roger gripped her shoulders with a sense of urgency that she had never felt from him before.

“Damn it, Melody, this is different, and you know it. This is not the time to be making an issue out of your independence. We can get this guy in a couple of days. It’s not like I’m asking you to change your life forever. This guy is a murderer, and he’s on the loose in this area. If you will just stay over at your parents for a week or so.”

“No, Roger,” she interrupted. “I’ve already had this conversation with my parents, and I’m not about to continue it with you. Thank you for the ride, but you need to leave now.”

“At least let me check the house first,” he pleaded.

“Fine,” she said, grabbing the rail and marching up to the door. She fished out her keys and unlocked the deadbolt. She crossed her arms defiantly as he entered.

But beneath her defiance, she felt twinges of guilt over insisting on coming back home. Was she really being inconsiderate or was she protecting her hard-won independence? Where should she draw the line?

She grasped the railing again and made her way to the back deck of the house. A light breeze brushed against her as she rounded the corner. The gentle sound of waves lapping against the rocky shoreline of Lake Jordan eased her fretful thoughts. The scent of the lake reminded her of how relaxing it was to be back at her own place, where no one could nag her. The familiar chirps of the birds and the distant whine of speedboats assured her that soon no one would be around to feel overly responsible for her.

Melody recalled how difficult it was to convince her parents to let her move out from their house. And indeed, she had never been so scared in her life as when she moved here all alone. But then the feeling of independence had slowly built up until she had never felt better in her life. Melody couldn’t fathom ever moving back in with someone after experiencing the freedom of living on her own.

And that was probably why she could never marry Roger. He would never be able to let go of that need to protect her, even when she didn’t need him to. Being a sheriff’s deputy only made Roger’s sense of responsibility worse, especially in a situation like this.

“Melody?” he called out in a concerned tone.

“I’m back here, Roger,” she said.

She listened to his anxious footsteps as he stepped outside on the deck.

“The house is clear,” he said. “You should probably go in now.”

Alabama Shakespeare Festival

“Alright.”

“Do you have any food in here?”

“Yes, Tony stocked up yesterday for me, and he’s been feeding my cat.”

“Good. You’ll call me if you hear anything suspicious?”

“Of course,” she said. “And I’ll deadbolt the door, and I won’t even open it for strangers,” she teased.

“I’m serious.”

“I know,” she sighed. “I’ll be careful, Roger.”

“Well, then I guess I’ll be going.”

“Thank you, Roger,” she said, touching his face again. “I know that you mean well.”

“I’ll be here if you need me,” he said, touching his hand to hers.

“I know,” she said. “Bye, Roger.”

“Bye,” he said, still sounding worried.

Melody listened in relief as his footsteps moved away. She waved when she heard his engine start, and then she walked inside.

A soft, furry body began rubbing itself against her legs as soon as she shut the door.

“Romeo!” she cooed, replying to his lonesome meows. She bent down and cradled him up in her arms. His loud purrs sent warm waves through her skin, and she nuzzled her cheek against the top of his head. “I’ve missed you so much!”

Melody set him down and fished through her bag for a treat. He gobbled it up quickly, lapping his sandy, wet tongue across her palm. She stroked him again and then went over to her stereo. She didn’t even bother to trace the Braille labels on her disks because she knew exactly where her favorite was. The stereo hummed to life as she turned on the power and slipped in the disk. In a few moments, the harmonious sounds of Bach filled the air.

Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts

Melody went to the bathroom and sat down on the ledge. She turned on the faucet and waited for the stream of water to run hot. Then she poured in her favorite blend of lavender bath salts before stripping off her clothes in anticipation. As she stepped in, the warm waves of water soothed her skin and relaxed her muscles. The fragrance melted away the frustrations that had been weighing her down.

After finishing in the bath, Melody toweled off her body and walked back into the kitchen to make some cappuccino. Damn, she forgot to lock the door, she realized. Melody stepped over to the door and reached for the deadbolt handle. She twisted it only to find that it was already locked. Melody frowned in confusion. She didn’t remember locking the door.

A frightening thought burst through her mind: What if I’m not alone?

To read the rest of this chapter right now, visit the Amazon Kindle page for Blind Fate here:

http://www.amazon.com/Blind-Fate-ebook/dp/B00427YP8K/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1283999580&sr=8-6

Book Review From Olivia Wright

Columnist for Wright Reviews in the Red Bay News

What do you have when there is dancing in a tower, chases among temple ruins and a symphony under the stars? Perhaps an impromptu response would be, a European adventure. Nothing could be further from the truth as Patrick Miller’s novel Blind Fate finds genesis in of all places, Montgomery, Alabama. Mystery, political intrigue, and yes, love, spring forth among some of the state’s most beautiful cultural landmarks.

Former lobbyist Alex Dawson, convicted of slaying the next would-be governor Michael Fenimore, has escaped from prison. As residents of Montgomery panic and law enforcement tightens their net, 25 year-old Melody Harper, blind musician and violin instructor, steps into a trap of her own. Hiding in her home is the assailant whom the police are trying to snare. Fiercely independent, Melody finds herself in a situation worse than her hovering parents and friends could ever have cautioned her about.

Pleading his innocence, Alex eventually convinces his hostage to help him take back his life by helping him find the person or persons responsible for the crime. As Melody finds herself falling for her captor, and he his victim, all her sensibilities come into question. What if Alex isn’t as innocent as he claims? Are her parents warranted in treating her like a helpless child? As Melody sorts though a myriad of self doubt and misgivings about the integrity of the man she has quickly grown to love, a tangled web of destruction threatens to destroy the faith they have in each other. At stake too is the fate that awaits them both, made salient and more enervating to Melody when her sixth sense receives warning by Huntingdon College’s legendary specters.

Rosa Parks Museum
These were cast from leaders in the Civil Rights Movement.
Photo by: Peggy Collins, Alabama Department of Tourism

Follow Alex and Melody from the lushness of The Alabama Shakespeare Festival, sixth largest in the world, to the honor bestowed the Olympians at Jasmine Hill Gardens, Alabama’s “Little Corner of Greece”, as this hapless couple seek much needed answers. Is it possible, here among the ruins of Hera, to find the truth they so desperately need? Take a leap of faith, blind if you will, by reading this intriguing and fast paced novel from the South’s brightest new voice. After all, who doesn’t dream of dancing under the stars, particularly those falling on Alabama, and coming face to face with heroes?

Olivia Wright King

Hearts of Dixie Book Club

A tourism link in Blind Fate leading to
to the Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum
on the Southern Literary Trail.

Note: Blind Fate is an exclusive Kindle edition that allows readers to visit the tourism sites that inspired the settings through web links embedded directly into the novel. This feature makes the Kindle uniquely suited for tourism fiction. If you don’t have a Kindle, you can download Kindle for PC in minutes for free to your computer (or to devices like the iPad, iPhone, or smart phones) and then have access to the massive Kindle library. Every Kindle book allows potential readers to preview a portion of the novel before purchasing. The Kindle for PC program sizes to fit your computer screen and offers one-click page turning rather than scrolling.

The Kindle uses cutting-edge technology that allows readers to download up to 3,500 books into a lightweight, user-friendly device—all without ever plugging into a computer. Books are downloaded within sixty seconds and have great features like automatic last-page finder and large print options with the click of a button. Try Kindle for PC and check out the extended sample of Blind Fate; you will be amazed at how easy the reading experience is. The Kindle makes a great traveling companion, especially for the modern literary tourist.

Tourism Guide

There are far too many places to visit in the Montgomery area to fit into a single weekend. However, the following is a list of websites where readers can learn more about the tourism attractions in the novel. I highly recommend a visit to the Montgomery area, as it offers such a variety of tourism. Browse through this list to find what suits your interests most and feel free to return to this guide after reading the novel. Most of these links are available in the novel as well, but some extra ones are available in this feature. Note: these tourism attractions are not sponsors of the novel; they are simply fun places that I think readers might enjoy visiting. For an overview of all the SELTI features across the South, please join the SELTI Facebook page and share with your friends: http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=289783765813

Jasmine Hill Gardens and Outdoor Museum

http://www.jasminehill.org/

Alabama Shakespeare Festival

http://www.asf.net/index.aspx

Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts

http://www.mmfa.org/

Montgomery Symphony Orchestra
http://www.montgomerysymphony.org/index.aspx

Rosa Parks Museum

http://montgomery.troy.edu/rosaparks/museum/

Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail: The Legends

http://www.rtjgolf.com/capitolhill/

Renaissance Montgomery Hotel and Spa at the Convention Center

http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/mgmbr-renaissance-montgomery-hotel-and-spa-at-the-convention-center/

Huntingdon College

http://www.huntingdon.edu/

F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum

http://www.fitzgeraldmuseum.net/

Montgomery Convention and Visitors Bureau
http://visitingmontgomery.com/

The Shoppes at East Chase/Bone Fish Grille
http://www.bonefishgrill.com/locator/details/montgomery-alabama

Alabama State Capitol (includes virtual tour)
http://www.preserveala.org/capitol.aspx?sm=g_b%20website

Alabama Tourism Department

http://www.alabama.travel/

Mystery Meets Charm In Richmond!

2010-07-16T17:46:00.000-07:00

Excerpt from: The Clouds Roll Away by Sibella Giorello, published by Thomas Nelson
Attraction: James River Plantations Location: Richmond, Virginia
Photos: Unless otherwise credited in caption, all photos by Dean Hoffmeyer of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, except these first two shots provided by Shirley Plantation (built 1723), seen right and below.

In real life, when an agent accidently drives over a cliff into the ocean, there is no Q who happened to conveniently provide the agent beforehand with a car that converts into a submarine. Real agents don’t always have snappy comebacks and an absolute confidence that would border on arrogance if the results didn’t always back up their egos.

Real agents have to improvise. FBI agent Raleigh Harmon is no exception. She is the main character in the third installment of the popular mystery series by Sibella Giorello.

The novel is set in the modern Richmond area, a city Sibella knows well from her days there as a reporter for the Richmond Dispatch-Times (where her reporting earned two Pulitzer nominations, among other awards). Much of the novel takes place in the nearby James River plantations.

Many of these charming estates still operate as beautiful bed-and-breakfast getaways and museums that allow literary tourists to step back in time to an era when art permeated almost every aspect of life, from architecture to furnishings to gardens. Shirley Plantation (seen above) served as a specific inspiration for Sibella when creating her fictional James River estates for the novel. Other shots come from estates close by. An excellent guide to the James River plantation area and all the attractions of Richmond can be found at the end of this article in the Tourism Guide.

In the following excerpt from The Clouds Roll Away, Raleigh has to piece together the scattered clues of a case that might has well have exploded like a bomb. A mega-star rap producer has moved into the normally genteel and civilized culture of modern Richmond, Virginia, and the neighbors have hardly thrown out the welcome mat. A burning cross is only the opening shot in a deadly contest that continues to escalate with violence and retribution. But things are not always what they seem . . .

FROM THE CLOUDS ROLL AWAY:

Westover: Photo by Charles City County (built 1750)

Winter rode into Richmond on the chattering breath of the Atlantic. Each year the season blew itself into existence. The ancient elms crystallized and frost crocheted the birches into lace dollies. On this particular December morning, with a bright sun overhead, I drove out New Market Road past fields that glistened like crushed diamonds.

For this moment, my hometown looked cryogenically frozen, preserved for future generations to discover Richmond’s wide river, verdant soils, and the plantation lifestyle forged through generations—gone tragically, humanly awry.

But the reverie was shattered by two elephants. Carved from white granite, they stood on either side of a black asphalt driveway with a steel sign naming the property: Rapland.

The scene of the crime.

I turned down the asphalt driveway. It was a long drive, rolling over fenced fields where satiny horses were grazing, their breath quick clouds that evaporated in the sun. At the other end, an old plantation house faced the James River. The historic clapboards were painted polo white, the copper cupola green from exposure . . . Photo by Sherwood Forest Plantation (built 1790, former home of President John Tyler)

I headed west from Rapland and just before Battlefield Park, turned down an oyster-shell drive. The fractured calciferous layers glowed like broken pearls and led to a plantation dating back to a 1662 land grant from King Charles II. The plantation prospered until its slaves were freed, until carpetbaggers and federal soldiers carried away everything that wasn’t nailed down. When the Depression hit, snakes slithered through the rotting pine floors and the French wallpaper hung like discarded bandages from the walls. Photo by Berkeley Plantation (built 1726)

It took a Yankee to save the place. James Flynn drove south from New Jersey in 1948, bearing a self-made fortune in the commodities of necessity—sugar, corn, bootleg—and the curse of so many Irishmen, falling for underdogs. Flynn spent years restoring the grand house and eventually Bell Grove returned to the small coterie of historic plantations along the James River.

His granddaughter ran the place these days, and when I walked around to the back of the main house, Flynn Wellington was in the glass conservatory, scooping soil into gilded pots. The air was moist and tasted of trapped chlorophyll. To either side, wooden pallets displayed poinsettias with burgundy leaves lush as crushed velvet.

“Why, Raleigh, how nice to see you.” Flynn lifted both hands, her cotton gloves smothered with black soil. “I’d give you a hug but you’d be picking dirt off your clothes the rest of the day.”

Flynn and I had been classmates at St. Catherine’s School and were acquainted through her mother’s penultimate husband. There were five husbands in all. Number four was an attorney my father liked—there weren’t many—and on sweltering August afternoons, we would drive out to Bell Grove so the adults could sit on the wraparound porch drinking iced beverages while Flynn and I swam in the river. Photo by North Bend Plantation (built 1801)

“I heard y’all moved to Oregon,” she said.

“Washington. It was only temporary.”

“I can’t imagine leaving Virginia.” She picked up the spade, folding the soil again. Her blonde hair bounced with the motion. “How is your mother?”

She pronounced it the Old Dominion way, muh-thah.

“Fine, thanks. Yours?”

“She moved to Florida with what’s-his-name. What can I do for you, Raleigh?”

“Last night somebody burned a cross at Rapland.”

“Please. ‘Rapland’ sounds like a theme park. You know very well the name of the plantation is Laurel.”

Yes, I knew. I knew all kinds of things. By junior high I could recite long passages of internecine gossip about families who traced their heritage to the House of Burgesses, but I only had one foot in that world. David Harmon married my mother when I was five years old. To this day, I couldn’t trace my paternal heritage back one generation to my birth father. Not that I needed to: David Harmon was every girl’s dream dad.

“The gentleman who owns Rapland thinks you’re trying to run him off his property. Is that true?”

“Are you implying something?”

“I’m not implying, Flynn. I’m asking flat out.”

“He’s ruining the place,” she said. “I don’t want him there. I’ve never said otherwise. I’ve been saying it since he moved in four years ago.”

The fine bones in her neck looked as brittle as glass rods. The pretty girl I once knew was lost to hard work. Several years ago, to keep up with expenses, Flynn and her husband had turned Belle Grove into a bed-and-breakfast.

“Flynn, there were people in the house. Children. The flames were burning ten feet from the door.”

She dropped the gardening tool, wiping the back of her wrists across her forehead. “It’s been awhile since you’ve been out this way, Raleigh, so let me explain it to you. My guests pay good money to stay here. They want a romantic retreat. They expect a visit with the historic past. We were doing fine until that rapper took over Laurel. Ever since, it’s been rap music blaring down-river, party boats up and down the water. How do you think that’s affected my business? Is this something I can call the FBI about?”

“That place could have burned down.”

“Good.”

“Excuse me?”

“Good,” she repeated. “Then maybe he’ll leave and somebody could rebuild Laurel. Somebody who will treat that beautiful property with the dignity it deserves.”

I leveled my gaze. “Flynn, I want you to answer truthfully. Did you have anything to do with burning that cross?”

--Excerpted from THE CLOUDS ROLL AWAY, Copyright © 2010 by Sibella Giorello. All rights reserved.

TOURISM GUIDE
Great mysteries always allow the reader to participate in solving the case. In The Clouds Roll Away, I kept discovering pieces of evidence that just didn’t add up—to me or Raleigh. Mystery writers often fall prey to easy clichés of the genre, but this case continued to be an intriguing challenge.

Another strategy of mystery writers is to simply hide the relevant facts until the very end, making the case impossible to solve by the reader. Sibella (what a pretty name—and with such a beautiful face to match!) was talented enough to write a case where the evidence offered leads that took the reader through a process of solving the mystery.

One thing I always look for in a novel is strong minor characters, the kind that only show up briefly but threaten to steal the show with their entertaining appearances in the story. This novel was filled with great minor characters like Raleigh’s demanding supervisor, Agent Phaup, and Annette, a feisty FBI lab technician. How’s this for a memorable introduction:

At the far end of the lab a young woman waited for me. She wore a white lab coat with faded jeans and wool socks with Birkenstock sandals.

“You must be Annette.” I extended my hand.

“No, I’m Nettie,” she said. “Don’t ever call me Annette.”

These types of characters keep the storyline fresh and entertaining. Aside from the great humor and strong mystery elements, be prepared for some gripping suspense and graphic crime scenes. Faint of heart beware.

The novel unfolds in the beautiful city and surrounding countryside of Richmond, a city steeped in the charm and elegance that has since faded from many older cities but continues to live vibrantly in this Southern abode. Many of the fictional plantations are based on real ones that continue to offer year-round tours today, such as Shirley Plantation and others nearby (there are many more to visit besides the ones photographed in this feature; just visit the links below to read about all of them and for more pictures). Richmond landmarks, such as Monument Avenue and St. John’s Church (where Patrick Henry delivered his famous “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” speech) also offer real settings for the fictional action in the city.

However, The Clouds Roll Away offers only a taste of what Richmond and Virginia have to offer tourists. To learn more, please visit the links in the Tourism Guide below. Whether you’re looking for a romantic bed-and-breakfast getaway or a family-fun trip with the kids, you will not be disappointed by Virginia. My first literary tourism trip was on a family vacation when I was twelve. I read a historic novel about Williamsburg while visiting the actual town, and it was an experience I will always treasure.

One thing is for certain, however: you don’t have to be a history buff like me to enjoy a trip to Virginia. When the state motto is “Virginia Is For Lovers,” how can you go wrong? If you don’t believe me, just check out their state tourism website and the wide range of attractions. The web links below provide all the necessary travel information, so buy the book and then book your trip! And if you go, let us know here how you enjoyed the novel and the trip.

Special Note: The Clouds Roll Away is the third installment in the Raleigh Harmon series. Although it’s not necessary to read the series in order, I highly recommend that you start with the first breakout novel, The Stones Cry Out, also set in Richmond. If you’re like me, you’ll get very curious about all the references to the first two books in The Clouds Roll Away. I was just anxious to check out Richmond in literature as fast as possible, but now I wish I had started at the beginning.

Ironically, when my review copy of The Clouds Roll Away first arrived, a passing storm had just knocked out my power. Normally, this would have been a frustrating situation, but as I started to read the book by candlelight, I immediately fell in love with the historic estates, which had all been built in an era long before power lines lit these elegant homes. That connection enriched the experience of reading this novel, which Sibella described as her "Love letter to Richmond."

A Special Thanks
I was very excited when Sibella arranged for her friend Dean Hoffmeyer from the Richmond Times-Dispatch to send over some of his beautiful photographs of the Richmond area for this feature. They are quite dazzling, aren't they? I knew he might say no to me, but he couldn't say no to Sibella! Dean, like Sibella, has also been nominated for a Pulitzer. This was a special treat for me, and I am very greatful, Dean. And thank you to Charles City County for sending over the wonderful shots of the historic James River Plantations!

Upcoming/Current press for this feature:
Richmond Times-Dispatch
The Richmond Times-Dispatch announced this feature in their book notes section in August.
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/entertainment/2010/aug/15/bvirg15-ar-422309/

Virginia Public Radio
Public radio fans are the perfect group for literary tourism. Radio IQ in Virgina interviewed me about this feature recently. I will post the interview below when it airs.

Montgomery Advertiser
The Montgomery Advertiser is the metro newspaper for the Montgomery region. Teri Greene did a great feature on literary tourism and the SELTI project with several articles.

My interview with Sibella: http://sibellagiorello.blogspot.com/2010/08/oh-readers-places-you-will-go.html

Tourism Links

Sibello Giorello (learn about the author, order the books)
http://www.sibellagiorello.com/

Shirley Plantation (from the novel)
http://www.shirleyplantation.com/

Charles City County Attractions (the James River Estates, includes main visitor center)
http://www.charlescity.org/attractions.shtml

National Park Service: James River Plantation Itinerary
http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/jamesriver/

Agecroft Hall (built 500 years ago in Tudor England and physically moved to Richmond)
http://www.agecrofthall.com/index.htm

Richmond Visitors Bureau
http://www.richmondva.org/Plan/Visitor-Center

Official Virginia tourism website (includes downloadable travel guide)
http://www.virginia.org/

Thomas Nelson (publisher since 1798; how appropriate!)
http://www.thomasnelson.com/consumer/

Join the Southeastern Literary Tourism Initiative on Facebook for email updates
http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=289783765813
Please also take a moment to register as a Follower of this blog to get easy updates in the future. Click the Follow button in the top left.

** In case you’re wondering what “penultimate” means: second to last (in this case, a reference to husbands). If you’re like me, you had to learn that one in context.

For a fun mystery-related blog, visit Kaye Barley's Meanderings and Muses, where she interviews popular novelists, including Pat Conroy!
http://meanderingsandmuses.blogspot.com/

Today's Tom Sawyer: Camping Under an Alabama Moon

2010-06-17T19:30:00.000-07:00

Excerpt From: Alabama Moon by Watt Key, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Tourism Attraction: Talladega National Forest
Location: West Alabama
Photos: Courtesy of U.S. Forest Service

(Special Note on Photos: All of the photos in this feature, except the one from Nantahala, are from the National Forests of Alabama. The photos show the wide diversity of real attractions and activities for outdoor tourists in Alabama's National Forests. Click on any photo to enlarge.)

One of my fondest memories of reading as a boy is of a rainy day at my grandmother's house when I opened up The Adventures of Tom Sawyer for the first time. There wasn’t much to do that day, but she did have a small shelf of some literary classics.

Not all of them made a strong impression. Let’s face it: Little Women, and even Little Men, didn’t necessarily inspire my imagination as an eight year-old boy. But finding my way through a cave while being chased by a dangerous bad guy? Or riding down the mighty Mississippi River on a raft with no parents to cut off my playtime by announcing bedtime? Now that was inspiring!

Imagine my surprise in discovering that many new classic children’s characters in literature are still being born into books of the twenty-first century. The fictional Moon Blake is just such a character in Watt Key’s debut novel Alabama Moon. Moon is just ten years old, but he has already learned to easily survive alone in the wilderness of Alabama's Talladega National Forest.

However, when his radical isolationist father dies, Moon has a great deal more trouble finding his way through civilization when he walks out of the wilderness for the first time. It doesn’t take long before Moon is captured and sent to a state boys’ home. (Movie producers also didn't take long to snap the story up and adapt it to film; watch the movie trailer by following the link in the Tourism Guide below).

Moon makes a daring escape, and his new friends are eager to escape their prison with him, although one friend is not so convinced of Moon’s self-described survival skills . . .

FROM ALABAMA MOON:

Towards late afternoon we had traveled a few miles across hills and down several valleys and through their creeks. I came to the top of a ridge and knelt to examine a track. I’d only seen one such track ever before, but there was no mistaking it. Kit and Hal caught up to me and stood over my shoulder.

“What is it?” Kit asked.

“It’s a puma track,” I said. “Pap told me that a puma needs thirty square miles of territory with no sign of people.”

“That means we’re far away from civilization?” Kit asked.

“That’s right,” I said.

“Great,” Hal said. “In the middle of nowhere with a mountain lion.”

“It won’t hurt us. Pap said I was too big.”

“That boy in Old Yeller was about your size,” Hal said.

“That’s just a made-up story. Pap knew about animals.”

“All right, you fight it then,” Hal said. “With that knife of yours.”

Kit and I smiled at each other and started down the other side of the ridge. Just before the sun fell below the forest canopy, we stopped and sat on a log to rest. I looked around and studied the trees.

“This is a good place,” I said. “We’ll camp here.”

“Finally!” Hal said. “What’s for supper?”

“Snake and dressin’.”

Hal looked at me. “Snake!”

“Snakes are good,” I said. “There may be some out since it was so warm today. I’ll make some pine-needle tea to go with it.”

Hal spit at the ground. “I ain’t eatin’ any damn snake. It was bad enough eatin’ fish out of your old sock.”

“I’ll eat some,” Kit said.

“Come on,” I said to Kit. “You can help me. Hal, there’s a white oak tree over there. You collect some acorns from under it while we’re gone.”

“More acorns . . . What about real meat?” Hal asked.

“We’re gonna get some soon,” I said. “We’ll have all the good food we need once I rig some weapons.”

Hal rolled his eyes and sighed. He got up and dragged his feet in the direction of the oak tree with the dogs following. Kit and I set out through an open stand of old pine trees. After a while, I found what I was looking for. I showed Kit a longleaf pine filled with holes starting about fifty feet from the ground. From each one of the holes sap ran down the tree, making it look like a giant candlestick.

“Those holes were made by a red-cockaded woodpecker,” I said, pointing at the top of the tree. “Sometimes, there’ll be a snake climbin’ up to get the woodpeckers. He’ll get to those sap runs, and they’ll make him dizzy. He’ll fall to the ground. If you catch him after he falls, he’ll usually be stunned. You can just pick him up by the tail and knock him against a tree.”

“I don’t see any snakes,” Kit said.

“Poke around in the grass and we might find one. Be a corn snake or a rat snake prob’ly.”

After some kicking around, I found a black rat snake. I grabbed it by the tail and knocked it against a tree. Kit wanted to carry it, so I gave it to him, and he dragged it back with us.

Hal was sleeping against a log when we returned. He opened his eyes and winced at the snake. Kit swung it towards him, and Hal rolled over and shouted, “Hey!”

Kit and I began to laugh. “It’s just a black rat snake,” Kit said confidently.

Hal held up his fist and shook it at us with wide eyes. “I’ll trade a black eye for a black snake! You keep that thing away from me.”

I showed Kit how to make a slit down the belly and around the neck and peel the skin back like a sock. Afterwards, we removed the head and intestine and stuffed the stomach cavity with a paste made from white oak acorns, cattail roots, and thistle.

I found a piece of dead wood nearby and dropped it in front of Kit. “You remember how I started that fire?”

Kit nodded and took the bow drill from me.

“I need a bath,” Hal complained.

“Sweat cleans as good as swimmin’,” I said.

He looked at me and didn’t say anything.

The sun set and the birds became quiet as the forest grew dark. I left Kit and Hal and the dogs and walked downhill to look for a creek. I hadn’t gone far when I found one of the giant loblolly pines leaning over so I could walk up its trunk and stand high above the ground, which sloped away beneath me. I could hear water down below and the tops of the trees swishing to the breeze. I imagined that I would be able to see a long way with daylight.

When I returned, Kit was still drilling on the wood and faint curls of smoke drifted up from the bowl. I had brought some juniper bark back with me, and I shredded it and laid it in the bowl. I blew on it gently, and a tiny flame appeared.

“I found a creek down there,” I said. “We’ll call it Kit Creek. Got to have names for things.”

Kit smiled and I could tell that he liked having a creek named after him. We cooked the snake and dressing on a spit and ate it like sausage. Kit claimed that his was better than anything he’d ever had at Pinson. Hal didn’t eat his share. He put his back to us and chewed on some of the leftover cattails.

After supper, I suggested we go drink from Kit Creek. Hal said he would go later, so Kit and I set out alone. I showed him the tree I found and we walked up into it.

“This is where we’ll live for a while,” I told him.

“Up here?”

I nodded. “And underneath. We’ll make a lookout up here and build our sleepin’ room down below. We’ll start tomorrow. We’ve got water below and plenty of forest to the east. Hardwood down below and pine forests up top. That’ll give us all kinds of plants to eat.”

Kit looked around like he was imagining us there. “I’ll bet you can see a long ways from here with daylight,” he said.

I nodded. “That’s what I was thinkin’. We’ll be able to tell better tomorrow mornin’.”

“And you can whip up on anybody who climbs this tree trunk.”

“You’re right,” I said. “Somebody comin’ up here’s gonna get a butt-whippin’.”

Kit became excited and laughed.

“Come on,” I said. “Let’s go get some water.”

--Excerpted from ALABAMA MOON, Copyright © 2006 by Albert Watkins Key, Jr. All Rights Reserved

TOURISM GUIDE:

After reading Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn as a boy, I was just dying to go explore caves and raft down rivers to experience the adventures for real. I can easily imagine a boy today reading Alabama Moon and wanting to go camping in the Talladega National Forest. In fact, the Talladega National Forest offers camping venues from primitive to lodge-style comfort. Alabama's National Forests offer a huge range of outdoor activities and sports. Please visit the web links below to learn more about how your son or daughter can go have a real adventure in the beautiful National Forests of Alabama.

I wouldn’t suggest that you let them and their friends try it alone. A great place to start is Payne Lake, where the fictional characters started their trek into the forest.

For those who love to read, there is no better place to connect with literature than in the peace and quiet of a National Forest, where civilization is literally miles away. Also, as cool as it is that new technological innovations like the Wii actually get kids to move their arms and legs as well as their thumbs, no game system can compare to the rich, healthy experience of camping in the great outdoors. If your kids would rather sit in front of a Nintendo or Playstation than go outside, try this novel out on them. Chances are, they might beg you to take them camping afterwards.

I first started exploring literary tourism for young adults with a profile and excerpt of Kerry Madden’s Maggie Valley series based in North Carolina. Just as Kerry’s fictional character of Livy Two could easily have been friends with Scout Finch, Moon Blake would have gotten along great with Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. However, I want to emphasize that these new characters are not merely remakes of classic literary characters; they both have unique personalities, new challenges to face, and timely stories to tell. Check out Kerry’s feature, “Vampires vs. Pancakes,” below:
http://southeasternliterarytourisminitiative.blogspot.com/2010_04_01_archive.html

Classic literature for young adults should never be dry. Alabama Moon offers mud riding, deer hunting, fishing, living in the wilderness—and escaping from a prison. Watt's amazing storytelling skills wrap all these up within classic themes, which is quite a literary feat.

Another thing that impressed me in Alabama Moon was the way that Watt did not idealize the wilderness way of life. Neither did he cast civilization into an evil thing. Despite the constant humor in the story, all of the real-life dangers and discomforts of the wild were presented in a balanced way against the pros and cons of civilized life. Moon experiences powerful, life-changing struggles when he steps out into the real world for the first time.

You might expect that a novel like this would teach readers not to take modern conveniences in our life for granted. However, you might be surprised that the real focus of this novel is to teach us not to take the people in our lives for granted.

Watt Key’s next novel, Dirt Road Home, will be released this July. I am eager to follow Hal’s life when he is recaptured and sent to a juvenile boys’ home. I can only imagine where Hal is going next—after escaping, perhaps?

FROM THE AUTHOR, WATT KEY:
“In order to write a book like Alabama Moon, I had to locate a large area of contiguous wilderness. These days it’s hard to find this type of place outside of a National Forest. I chose the Talladega National Forest mostly because it was closest to my home. The first time I drove into it, I was not expecting to do more than a little research. However, I should have known that the moment I drove onto park lands I would feel that refreshing lung full of air that I’ve breathed in at Yellowstone, Yosemite, Custer, Badlands, Wind Rivers, and all the other National Parks that I’ve vacationed to.”

Watt is not the only novelist inspired by the majestic beauty of our National Forests. The first feature I published on a national forest was Sallie Bissell’s suspense series set in the Nantahala National Forest of North Carolina. The beautiful shots of the mountains there are incredible. Check out the Nantahala feature here: http://southeasternliterarytourisminitiative.blogspot.com/2010/03/hiking-nantahala-mountain-trail.html

Nantahala National Forest, North Carolina: Photo by Kevin Childress

Go to the U.S. Forest Service link below to learn more, such as the brochure “100 Places to Visit in the National Forests of Alabama.” Alabama’s National Forests provide a wide range of activities all across the state, including everything from fishing, hiking, horseback riding, swimming, boating, camping, mountain biking, and hunting, to name just a few. The U.S. Forest Service also has maps of each of Alabama’s National Forests available for order to better plan your trip. Each National Forest has a District Ranger Office for more local information, available at the U.S. Forest Service website below.

TOURISM LINKS:

Watt Key’s website (order the books) and read his great inspiration for Alabama Moon
http://www.wattkey.com/

Talladega National Forest (Oakmulgee Division) U.S. Forest Service
http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/alabama/recreation/rec_opportunities.shtml#Oakmulgee
Note: the division based in the book is in the western part of Alabama

U.S. Forest Service: Alabama
http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/alabama/

U.S. National Forest Campground Guide
This couple has researched all the National Forest camping sites in the country and offer ebooks for order on their website. Just go the Bookstore when you log on. The Talladega National Forest is included in the Southern book.
http://www.forestcamping.com/dow/southern/tall.htm

Learn about everything Alabama has to offer tourists at the state’s official tourism site
http://www.800alabama.com/

Let's Move Outside: learn more about how to find nearby forests and parks in your area
http://www.letsmove.gov/letsmoveoutside.php

Farrar, Straus and Giroux (learn about other great books by the publisher of Alabama Moon)
http://us.macmillan.com/FSG.aspx

Join SELTI on Facebook and invite others to join:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=289783765813

Check out more of Kevin Childress' photography at his website:
http://www.panoramio.com/user/kevinchildress

I’ve often been reading a novel and thought to myself: this would make a great movie! Fortunately, this time I was vindicated; check out Alabama Moon the movie:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Alabama-Moon/189785646899

And watch the trailer with John Goodman here: http://www.alabamamoonthemovie.net/en/home.php

From Tiaras to Tourists: "Book" Your Adventure!

2010-05-29T18:37:00.000-07:00

Photos: The Pulpwood Queens Book Club
Attraction: Beauty and the Book Hair Salon
Location: Jefferson, Texas

Connections can lead to very interesting places. Recently, one of the writers I profiled on SELTI, Patricia Neely-Dorsey, sent me a message about a local chapter of a large book club that was coming to see her in Tupelo, Mississippi. The club is called the Pulpwood Queens, and one of the local chapters from Alabama is called Heart of Dixie. The “Queen” of the Heart of Dixie chapter, Olivia Wright, loved Patricia’s book Reflections of a Mississippi Magnolia ( http://patricianeelydorsey.webs.com/ ). In fact, Olivia loved the book so much that she wanted to come meet Patricia in person—in Tupelo—to set up a tour of Tupelo with Patricia for the whole chapter.

Patricia sent me the links to the larger book club also, run by Kathy L. Patrick (http://www.pulpwoodqueen.com// ). Kathy started the club about ten years ago as the only book club/hair salon, and it caught on fast. Really fast. The national media covered the grand opening, and Kathy has since been on Oprah, to name just one of the many media venues covering the amazing growth of the Pulpwood Queens. Each chapter wears tiaras at official meetings, and Kathy puts out a list of good books to read every month and discuss. There are now 306 chapters (ironic for a book club) nationwide. There are also members and chapters in ten foreign countries.

The actual hair salon, which often has famous writers as clients, is aptly named Beauty and the Book. Check it out here: http://www.beautyandthebook.com/dthebook.com/. Kathy also launched her salon with a book that covers not only how she selects books for her monthly list but also how reading has impacted her entire life in such a positive way. Learn more about her book The Pulpwood Queens’ Tiara-Wearing, Book-Sharing Guide to Life at: http://www.beautyandthebook.com/kathybook.html.

The first thing I read when visiting the Pulpwood Queens blog were several wonderful articles by Kathy about her family trip to Monroeville, Alabama, to visit the place that inspired Harper Lee’s fictional town of Maycomb in the classic novel To Kill A Mockingbird. These articles were especially interesting to me because I recently profiled a biography titled Up Close: Harper Lee by Kerry Madden. http://southeasternliterarytourisminitiative.blogspot.com/2010/03/hollywood-visits-monroeville-alabama.html The article centered on the tourism aspect of Monroeville through the excerpt, links, and photos. Kathy’s articles did the same in a wonderfully fun way. By the way, that's the actress who played Scout in the classic film signing a book above! And she's sitting in the courthouse that Hollywood movie producers replicated for the film. She's just one of the many interesting people Kathy met on her tour of Monroeville.

Kathy’s Pulpwood Queens hold many author events throughout the year. Now, the phrase “author events” is an understatement. A Pulpwood Queens event is more like a large party, complete with bands, entertainment, and great food. Her annual Girlfriend Weekend gathering in Jefferson, Texas, has drawn 1,000 visitors and 35 renowned authors, including Fannie Flagg, Pat Conroy, and Rick Bragg. Kathy also does a Christian and Inspirational book festival called Books Alive the second weekend in November. This year’s keynote speaker there will be Sam Bracken. http://www.myorangeduffelbag.com/

One thousand is a magic number. Why? Because that’s the size of a large convention—the kind that cities and states around the country are eager to attract these days. Most cities and states spend millions of dollars a year together in advertising targeted at tourism. Those television commercials, although beautiful, only last for thirty seconds and usually interrupt someone’s favorite show. Some people even tape over such commercials on their DVRs. However, tourism books are the show, and people devote their entire attention to them for hours at a time. How much is that worth in advertising, I wonder?

If I were a tourism official, I would hire literary agents to encourage their clients to write tourism novels. Novelists already write entertaining stories that are often based on real places. Suppose a novel included the real tourism information at the end, so that curious readers could learn more? And suppose that the novel were on a monthly book club list read by thousands of people at the same time? Then suppose that same book club held a large event where the thousands of fans could tour the real settings together and meet the author. Not only could books be signed, but hotel rooms could be booked at group rates, local restaurants could be filled with patrons, and local retail stores could be packed with new customers.

And it wouldn’t have to all be based on a classic novel; the book could be a contemporary novel set in any state in any tourism attraction. The South is filled with incredible settings that could inspire many authors. I’ve profiled a few such books on this site, although they did not include the tourism information in the actual books. Maybe someday soon, “booking a tour” will have a whole new meaning.

Don’t miss the upcoming feature from the Pulitzer Prize-nominated team of novelist Sibella Giorello and photojournalist Dean Hoffmeyer. The feature will offer an excerpt from Sibella’s novel the clouds roll away, set in modern Richmond, Virginia. Dean will provide photographs of some of the charming tourism attractions in the novel. Until then, why not pull out an old classic like To Kill A Mockingbird? Then, go see the real settings for yourself with other literary tourists. Please visit the archives in Kathy's blog to learn more about what Monroeville has to offer. Step into the story!

Saturday Evening Blog Post

2010-05-02T11:53:00.001-07:00

A friend (Heather VanHoose Truett--featured on this blog in December) introduced me to this great concept of blog sharing by Elizabeth Ester. I was able to publish a link there to my most recent post, Vampires V. Pancakes: Literary Tourism For Kids (found below this post). I read a couple of the host writer's articles and laughed really hard. I see in the comments that there are also some very serious articles by her that I have yet to read but plan to. Isn't it great to discover a really good writer? I look forward to reading more of Elizabeth's work and the other blogs. Here is a link to The Saturday Evening Blog Post: (and by the way, love the cover!):
http://www.elizabethesther.com/threes_a_crowd/2010/04/the-saturday-evening-blog-post-vol-2-issue-4.html

Vampires vs. Pancakes: Literary Tourism For Kids

2010-04-22T16:41:00.001-07:00

Excert From: Louisiana’s Song by Kerry Madden, published by Viking
Tourism Attraction: Joey’s Pancake House (yummy food and so much fun after!)
Location: Maggie Valley, North Carolina
Photos: See Special Note On Photos at end

If your kids are reading all those vampire novels out there, I’d like to suggest a clean, fun alternative based in reality: the Maggie Valley young adult series by Kerry Madden. This three-book series is told from the perspective of young Olivia Weems, known affectionately to her family as Livy Two (named for Livy One, her stillborn sister). Kerry also teaches creative writing at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Livy Two is growing up in a large family in the beautiful mountain area of Maggie Valley, North Carolina, in the 1960’s. Even though she still tells fairytales to her younger siblings, Livy Two’s own spirited dreams are often besieged by the harsher realities of real life. She used to be the apple of her Daddy’s eye, but after a bad car accident, her Daddy can hardly remember his former life of a loving family and banjo playing. Indeed, he’s been out of work for some time, and the family is struggling to make ends meet while he slowly recovers. The sudden loss of a job is a timely theme that many families can relate to today, unfortunately.

On a brighter note, the Pancake House (which started in the sixties) is still in business today as Joey’s Pancake House in Maggie Valley. Some of the friendly staff are seen right. Joey’s is only a starting point for a wonderful family vacation that promises lots of kid-friendly things to do. Please check out some of the links in the Tourism Guide after the excerpt to learn more. All of the photos in this feature are of the real Maggie Valley of today. Consider buying these books for your kids, and then make a magical wish come true: tell them that Maggie Valley is real and they can still visit this beautiful town. In the following scene, Livy Two’s disoriented father has gone missing, sending the family into a tailspin of fear. In the photo below, Kerry is giving a public reading from her novel in Joey's Pancake House.

FROM LOUISIANA’S SONG:

When the big black telephone blasts its jarring r-r-r-r-r-r-r-ring, we’re already gathered around it, waiting, but Grandma Horace says, “Nobody touch it. I am the one answering the telephone today.”

She picks it up and says in her most dignified voice, “Hello. This is Zilpah Horace. I am the mother of Jessie Weems.”

Zilpah. What a funny name, and I realize I've never before known Grandma Horace's first name. Zilpah. Howdy, Zilpah. Zilpah. . . . I don’t dare call her that to her face. She’s always been Grandma Horace, not Granny or Meemaw or Nana.

The person on the phone turns out to be the lady from the Pancake House, who asks to speak to Mama. Grandma Horace holds the receiver close and says, “She is not here at present, may I take a message? Where? He ordered what? In his pajamas and bathrobe? All right, we’ll fetch him as soon as my daughter returns with my station wagon. Thank you very much.”

She hangs up the phone, turns to us, and says, “Your daddy is down at the Pancake House eating blackberry pancakes and he’s wearing that brown bathrobe, probably looking like one of Jesus’ Apostles himself.”

“How’s he gonna pay for it?” Becksie asks.

“Yeah, how?” Jitters demands. “Cause I think we’re flat broke.”

“That is the sixty-four-million-dollar question.” Granma Horace’s lips purse together in a knot.

Not a minute later, Mama peels the station wagon into the holler, spitting gravel, and yells, a sob in her voice, “Any word? Or sighting? I’ve looked everywhere.”

Grandma Horace calls, “He’s fine, Jessie. Catch your breath, daughter. Apparently, he walked out to the road and hitched a ride. Mercy me.”

Becksie yells, “Mama, I won the Queen of Maggie School. I won queen!”

But Mama’s already got the car in reverse, backing down the road. I race up to the car and say, “Let me go too, please?” Before she can answer, I jump into the front seat and she hits the gas to the Pancake House, burning rubber all the way. Daddy isn’t the only one who likes to drive fast in the family.

When we walk inside the cool air-conditioned Pancake House, Daddy is about halfway through a second order of mountain blackberry pancakes. He smiles when he sees us and says, “Well, hello there!”

The waitress wears a nametag, VAL, and smiles at Mama. “Your husband sure likes his pancakes.”

Mama puts on her polite, company face and says in a tight voice, “Thank you.” She turns to me and says, “Livy Two, sit with Daddy. I need to speak to the manager.”

I suspect she’s going to apologize and see about a rain check for Daddy’s breakfast. But as she finds the manager over by the counter, I watch her take out one of her knitted baby blankets from her handbag to show to her, and I overhear the manager say, “This isn’t necessary, Mrs. Weems. We’re just glad your husband is feeling well enough to come down here to the Pancake House and have his breakfast. He did a real nice job at Settlers Days last year, volunteering to select the talent, playing that claw hammer banjo.”

The face of that manager glows with kindness, and I’m so glad she wasn’t mean to Mama, what with Daddy ordering up the moon without a penny in his brown bathrobe. The relief on Mama’s face is evident, and I look over to Daddy, who says to me, “Hungry?”

He pushes his plate toward me, and I take a bite of his mountain blackberry pancakes swimming in maple syrup. Pure heaven on earth. When I take a second bite, he says, “Give it back now.”

“Okay, daddy.” I push the plate back toward him, and he keeps eating like a house on fire. Mama leaves Val a fifty-cent tip for her trouble. I know she’d leave more if she could.

When me and Mama arrive home with Daddy, all the kids race out to the car to greet us. Daddy says, “They were some all-right pancakes swimming in blackberries.”

Caroline is getting more comfortable around Daddy, mostly because it seems like Daddy enjoys being around the little ones best. Us big kids seem to bewilder him, but the little ones play and don’t want anything from him other than that he’s nearby.

Before Grandma Horace can put in her two cents about “the entire fiasco,” Mama turns to Becksie and says, “I’m proud of you winning queen. And right before we left the Pancake House, the manager asked me if you still wanted to have that summer job you were asking her about the day you dropped off the penny jar. You’ll work the Saturday and Sunday morning shift as a waitress. The lady who runs the place is as sweet as she can be. You’ll wash dishes on the other days if you want. I said you did.”

Becksie says, “Do I get to wear a uniform with an apron?”

“You sure do. It’s in the car. And your first shift will pay for Daddy’s breakfast. We don’t take handouts.”

Becksie says, “I’m going to be a real, true working girl. I won queen and got a job all on the same day! I’ll keep my wages in the Everything Box, just like Daddy did.”

“Heck, I wish I could get me a job at the Pancake House too!” says Jitters, kicking at the dirt.

A kind and benevolent expression spreads across Becksie’s face. “When you’re all grown up like me, Jitters, I’ll put in a good word.” It’s almost too much to stomach. But what can we say? The queen has spoken, and maybe we’ll get some free pancakes out of the deal.

--From LOUISIANA’S SONG, by Kerry Madden. Copyright © 2007 by Kerry Madden. All rights reserved.

Special Note On Photos
Sometimes I have to pull photos from a variety of sources for these articles. The two beautiful Maggie Valley shots above and below were used with permission from Michael Meissner (http://www.imountain.net/). Check out his site for more info. I also used photos from the website of Joey's, some from Kerry's local book signings and public readings, some from the Inn at Irish Meadows, and one from the Maggie Valley Opry House (all found in the Tourism Links). These photos and graphics make the story come alive, and I am very appreciative of all the help I get from local sources.

TOURISM GUIDE

The first thing that caught my attention in the Maggie Valley series was the artful way that Kerry weaved in so many high-quality literary plugs into the story. Livy Two is a character that your kids can relate to, and when she talks in the book about famous writers and poets like Emily Dickinson, then your kids are likely to delve further into those authors’ works, too. There could easily be an index of all the literary references in the novel for parents to use.

An endorsement from this fictional twelve-year-old character will probably have more of an impact on our kids than any reading recommendations we might push on them. After all, we don’t “understand,” do we? And we certainly don’t know what’s hip! A good strategy: don’t mention any of this to your kids or “how much they’ll learn.” Just buy them the first book, Gentle’s Holler, and then see where it goes. If they like the first book, buy the second. By the time they are done with the last book, Jesse’s Mountain, they will be in love with Maggie Valley.

The second element I admired in this series was the theme of fairytale dreams facing off against the realities of life. This is a family that faces some big crises, and they all have to grow up faster in order to meet those challenges. Even so, they still don’t lose their natural optimism and drive to reach for their dreams. Livy Two at the end of the series is much more seasoned than Livy Two at the beginning of the series. I like stories where the characters are not static but change, as we all must do when facing the realities of life. This makes a universal theme that will endear the Maggie Valley series as a classic read.

Individual creativity is also a major theme in the series. Many chapters end with a song written by Livy Two. Her sister Louisiana paints incredible pictures, and their blind sister Gentle performs inspiring songs. Livy Two also plays the guitar; music is a major element both in the books and in the real Maggie Valley of today.

As for tourism, the modern Maggie Valley is loaded with family fun and the spectacular beauty of the mountains, all within a small town atmosphere. Vacationing in Maggie Valley will give you time to breath in the fresh air and enjoy your family rather than rushing from one crowded attraction to another. Your children will always remember not only the time they spent in Maggie Valley but the time they spent with you in Maggie Valley. It’s not often that kids get to actually visit the settings of novels they read, and that’s part of what makes literary tourism so fun for everyone. Imagine how visiting the actual settings of novels they read will help your kids engage with reading like never before.

There are many strong connections between Kerry’s novels and the real Maggie Valley. Brenda O’Keefe, the manager of Joey’s Pancakes, has helped many teen girls and women not only with employment at Joey’s but also with encouragement for high aspirations and following through with their education. Brenda’s dear friends Ernestine Upchurch and Shirley Pinto are local anchors of the small Maggie Valley community who help with education and health. Shirley Fairchild runs the Maggie Valley Opry House with her husband, Raymond Fairchild, a world class banjo picker. The Opry House is the inspiration for the fictional Jessie's Smoky Mountain Music Notes in the novel. Mr. Fairchild is pictured above with his banjo.

Kerry says, “I have been so fortunate to have been welcomed into Maggie Valley by these strong and passionate believers in education and hard work and dreams.”

If you’re still not convinced, check out all the links below to learn more, especially the main Maggie Valley website. Of course, there are always plenty of books about blood-sucking vampires and demons to fill up your children’s impressionable imaginations as an alternative. I prefer pancakes every time.

Kerry also wrote a wonderful biography of Harper Lee, the famous author of To Kill A Mockingbird. That profile is found just below this feature, so please give it a look as well. Harper Lee created her fictional town of Maycomb from her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama, which still offers an amazing literary tourism destination.

There are lots of other interesting places to visit through literature in the SELTI archives. Two recent features in the archives happen to be very nearby to Maggie Valley: “Hiking the Nantahala Mountain Trail” and “Blazing A Trail of Literary Tourism In The 21st Century” (based on Sylva, NC). The incredible mountain hiking getaway in the Nantahala National Forest features Sallie Bissell’s suspense novels. Visit the birthplace of Elvis in Tupelo, Mississippi, through the poems of Patricia Neely-Dorsey and Heather VanHoose Truett. Meet a moonshiner who speaks the gospel truth in an excerpt from Conecuh People by Wade Hall.

Take a chance on a stranger in historic Pendleton, South Carolina, in the short story “Ohme.” Go kayaking on the Coosa River in “Moccasin Gap” or dare to tread into a town abandoned over a hundred years ago in “The Last Confession.” The SELTI trail will continue next in Richmond, Virginia, with an excerpt and feature based on the mystery novel the clouds roll away by Sibella Giorello. The South is filled with literary tourism getaways for readers who don’t want the story to end with the last page.

Please feel free to post your comments underneath the Tourism Links. What sort of literary tourism would you like to see profiled? Is there a place or attraction that you would like to see written about? Or perhaps a novel about a real place that really made you want to “step into the story” for yourself with a visit? Share your thoughts and help to guide others to the best literary tourism hotspots in the South. If there’s a link to a book or place, feel free to post that as well. SELTI is also supported by a Facebook site at the link below, and that is a great way to share literary tourism with others. Browse the links below to learn more about Maggie Valley—and those delicious pancakes at Joey’s.

TOURISM LINKS

For a beautiful introduction to Maggie Valley complete with videos and music, visit the official Maggie Valley Visitor’s Bureau and Chamber of Commerce
http://www.maggievalley.org/

Joey’s Pancake House
http://www.joeyspancake.com/

Learn about all of Kerry Madden’s books,
including the Maggie Valley Series
http://www.kerrymadden.com/

Stay at Jonathan Creek Inn
(across from Joey's--includes video)
http://www.jonathancreekinn.com/

Maggie Valley Opry House
http://www.raymondfairchild.com/

A Great Bed & Breakfast: The Inn at Irish Meadows
(seen in porch photos with mountain views)
http://www.irismeadows.com/

Take your kids on a beautiful hike to the top of Watterrock Knob, just like Livy Two did with her brothers and sisters in the novel!
http://www.brptrails.com/brp4512.htm

Official North Carolina Travel and Tourism Site: Learn about so many opportunities!
http://www.visitnc.com/

Join SELTI on Facebook and invite your friends to participate in the literary tourism discussion.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/group.php?gid=289783765813

Join Maggie Valley on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Maggie-Valley/114922205203141

Viking Children’s Books
http://us.penguingroup.com/static/pages/publishers/yr/viking.html

For another great young adult story involving a brand new classic literary character, check out Watt Key's highly-acclaimed novel Alabama Moon at the feature "Today's Tom Sawyer: Camping Under An Alabama Moon." That novel was made into a movie starring John Goodman and is set in the Talladega National Forest of Alabama. Visit the feature here:

http://southeasternliterarytourisminitiative.blogspot.com/2010/06/todays-tom-sawyer-camping-under-alabama.htmlAlabama National Forest: Photo by U.S. Forest Service

Hollywood Visits Monroeville, Alabama

2010-03-26T21:26:00.000-07:00

All Photos by Peggy Collins, Alabama Department of Tourism. Click any photo to enlarge

Excerpts From: UPclose: Harper Lee by Kerry Madden, published by Viking
Tourism Attraction: Monroe County Heritage Museum
Location: Monroeville, Alabama
Photos: Peggy Collins, Photo Editor, Alabama Tourism Department

Nelle Harper Lee certainly lives a fortunate life, but not because of the incredible commercial and literary success of her classic novel To Kill A Mockingbird. Rather, she is fortunate because her biggest hero in life was her father, A.C. Lee. She didn’t have to look to famous movie stars, big-time sports celebrities, or even brilliant but distant writers for her role models in life; she grew up with a hero who lived right in her home and happened to be her father.

Fortunately for us, a part of her father came alive not just in the novel but on the big screen in the character of Atticus Finch, thanks to her incredible writing and Gregory Peck’s amazing acting skills. When her father passed away, Harper Lee gave Gregory Peck her father’s pocket watch as a thank you. No other gesture could have been more profound or heartfelt.

Indeed, the story of To Kill A Mockingbird was so special that Hollywood took great care in its production, unlike many other rushed adaptations of popular novels. As many may know, the fictional town of Maycomb was inspired by Ms. Lee’s hometown of Monroeville, Alabama. The following excerpts from Kerry Madden’s biography UPclose: Harper Lee show just how deep the connection was between Monroeville and the novel.

That connection is far from lost today, as Monroeville holds an annual literary festival and play in honor of the novel and movie. The play is performed in the actual courthouse and outdoor settings that inspired the classic novel. Many of the photos that you see in this feature come from that performance and the real courthouse. Please learn more about this amazing literary tourism opportunity following the excerpts.

From UPclose: Harper Lee

The film’s art director, Henry Bumstead, decided that he needed to make a trip to Monroeville to study the town in order to create the right tone for the film. Nelle met him there to show him the sights, and afterward, he wrote a letter to Pakula describing his visit. Bumstead won an Oscar for his set designs of the film. He donated the following letter, written in November 1961, and all his film storyboards to the Old County Courthouse Museum in Monroeville before his death in 2006.

Dear Alan,
I arrived here in Monroeville this afternoon after a very interesting and beautiful drive from Montgomery. Although this is my first visit to Alabama, I have worked in the South a number a times. During my drive I was very much impressed by the lack of traffic, the beautiful countryside, and the character of the negro shacks that dot the terrain.

Harper Lee was there to meet me, and she is a most charming person. She insisted I call her Nelle—feel like I’ve known her for years. Little wonder she was able to write such a successful novel.

Monroeville is a beautiful little town of about 2500 inhabitants. It’s small in size, but large in Southern character. I’m so happy that you made it possible for me to visit the area before designing To Kill A Mockingbird. Most of the houses are of wood, one story, and set up on brick piles. Almost every house has a porch and a swing hanging from the rafters. Believe me, it’s a much more relaxed life than we live in Hollywood.

So far I have seen all the types of buildings that we need for our residential street, but they are scattered throughout the town, so it would have been impossible for us to shoot the picture here in Monroeville. Therefore, I feel that the freeway houses we purchased for our southern street, with sufficient remodeling, will better suit our purposes. I have also photographed a wonderful Boo Radley home, which we can duplicate on our street.

I have also visited the old courthouse square and the interior of the courtroom Nelle wrote about. I can’t tell you how thrilled I am by the architecture and the little touches that will add to our set. Old potbellied stoves still heat the courtroom and beside each one stands a tub filled with coal. Nelle says we should have a block of ice on the exterior of the courthouse steps when we shoot this sequence. It seems people chip off a piece of the ice to take into the courtroom with them to munch on and try to keep cool. It reminded me of my “youth” when I used to follow the wagon to get ice chips.

Nelle is really amused at my picture taking, and also my taking measurements so that I can duplicate the things I see. She says she didn’t know we worked so hard. This morning she greeted me with, “I lost five pounds yesterday following you around taking pictures of door knobs, houses, wagons, collards etc. Can we take time for lunch today?”

The way people look at me around town they must think I’m a Hollywood producer rather than an art director. Nelle warned me about this—that they knew someone from Hollywood was in town, but they didn’t know who I was or what I did.

Yesterday afternoon the news was around town that that man from Hollywood was taking pictures in Mrs. Skinner’s collard patch. They couldn’t understand it because the opinion is that there are much better collard patches around town than Mrs. Skinner’s. It seems that after giving me permission to photograph her collards she rushed to the phone to give out the news. I must admit that when I confessed that I had never seen a collard, both Mrs. Skinner and her colored help looked at me with raised eyebrows.

Nelle says the exterior of Mrs. Dubose’s house should have paint that is peeling. Also, the interior should have dark woodwork, Victorian furniture, and be grim. Her house would be wired for electricity but she would still be using oil lamps—to save money, so Nelle says. Boo Radley’s house should look like it had never been painted—almost haunted.

Other items will be useful—the streets should be dirt, and there are no lamp posts as we know them today. The lamps hung from telephone poles. Also, in 1932 they were still using wooden stoves for their cooking and heating.

The almond trees that line some of the streets are beautiful, but I felt we could get the same character by using white oaks. There are no mailboxes on the houses—seems people go to town to the main post office to pick up their mail.

We photographed some negro shacks, which will be of great help when we come to do the exterior of Tom Robinson’s shack. Many of the shacks are located in areas covered with pine trees so we could do this sequence on the upper Lake section of the lot where we have pine trees.
We also photographed some back porches that will come in handy when we do the back of Boo Radley’s. All in all, certainly feel this trip will be of tremendous help in the designing of the picture. Again, my thanks to you. Warmest regards,
Sincerely,
Henry Bumstead

. . . In January 1962, Peck visited Monroeville to soak up local color and see the town. He also wanted to do some research and meet with Nelle and A.C. While Bumstead’s visit had sparked curiosity, Peck’s threw the town into a tailspin. The famous actor was spotted all over Monroeville, from the Wee Diner on Pineville Road to the La Salle Hotel to a local bank where a clerk refused to cash Peck’s check because he had no identification on him. A manager intervened on his behalf.

It was just fine for a hometown girl to write a pretty good novel, but for Gregory Peck to visit? Now, that was big news! High school girls went out driving to try to find where the handsome movie star was staying. One girl, Martha Louise Jones Moorer, got lucky and met him:

We checked the local hotel and found out that they had left, so since there was only one other we tried it. We recognized cars I suppose . . . anyway we decided which room they had to be in so one of the gals dared me to knock on the door and get Mr. Peck’s autograph. I did and Nelle answered the door, not even hello, but “Martha Louise, what are you doing here?”

I timidly said I just wanted his autograph. Nelle was just about to slam the door in my face, but he was sitting just inside the door and said he would be happy to give me his autograph. I still have it!

--Excerpted from UP Close: Harper Lee Cporyright 2009 by Kerry Madden

For a new classic novel about another incredible place to visit, please read the SELTI feature "Find Comfort in Warm Springs, Georgia" here: http://southeasternliterarytourisminitiative.blogspot.com/2010/10/find-comfort-in-warm-springs-georgia.html. Comfort is a great educational novel for teachers interested in discussing anti-bullying, disability awareness, and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Tourism Guide

All great biographies answer questions, and this one answered several burning questions of mine. Number One: how could an author refuse to discuss—since 1964—her one and only novel that also became one of the greatest novels of American literature? Number Two (maybe Number One): How could anyone, however famous, turn down an interview with Oprah? In a publishing world where marketing and media hype are so important to success, turning down Oprah is practically an unforgivable sacrilege. It’s almost a slap in the face to all aspiring authors and even some bestselling ones, I’m sure.

Who is this lady? Is she selfish? Reclusive? No social charms perhaps, so better off staying away from media interviews? As I read this biography, all of these potential explanations fell through. Ms. Lee is still active in too many charitable and community efforts to be described as selfish. Without her social charms, her good friend Truman Capote would never have gained the access he needed to write his classic book In Cold Blood. She has made successful public appearances since but simply not discussed her novel during those appearances.

She lives a common life, visiting local diners and the local Wal-Mart. Too many people admire her personally for her to be standoffish. The citizens of Monroeville are certainly protective of her privacy, even though many would surely make financial gain for doing otherwise. But you don’t do that to a friend. So what could be the reason for her reluctance to discuss her novel?

A picture slowly began to emerge. We live in an age when what celebrities wear, who they are currently dating, and what exclusive celebrity parties they have recently attended all often distract from their artistic work. Harper Lee has a love of writing deeper than most of us would imagine. In fact, her love of literature led her to make a firm decision decades ago: that the best way for us to get the full impact of her writing is to read her book. She refused, almost presciently considering what was soon to come in levels of media hype everywhere, to allow a personality cult image of herself to ever develop and overshadow her beloved work. She has succeeded. While other celebrities strive hard to build the all-important personality cult image deemed necessary for success, Harper Lee seems to disdain such efforts out of principle. (Sometimes I wonder if celebrities agree to get divorced simply to get their names in the tabloids again, don’t you? The messier the divorce, the more coverage they get—maybe even enough for an inane reality show.)

Rather than a slap in the face, this decision is actually one of the most beautiful lessons aspiring writers could ever learn: that the craft of writing should be so loved and respected that personal fame and attention, even for the most deserving work, should never eclipse the universal giving nature of literature. Those who write do so not to gain personal fame or fortune but to share their soul with the world through their words. By refusing to discuss her novel, Ms. Lee has guaranteed that our attention—even after all these years—has never shifted from the original inspiring message of her novel. That message is as universal today as it was in the early 1960’s: that fighting for what is right, not only when it’s not popular but also when you know that you probably won’t win, is still worth fighting for. That is what Atticus taught us. That is why he was a hero.

Can I not learn that on my own just as well—or even better—by reading the novel than by having Harper Lee tell me in an interview? Isn’t the experience of reading the novel more profoundly pure than seeing it discussed?

As you can imagine, writing a biography of a famous person who has refused to discuss her most important work for over forty years was quite a difficult task. At first, I felt for Kerry as I read the biography. How was she going to do this? In a sense, the biography also had a pureness to it because Kerry had to approach the whole thing without the benefit of interviewing the main subject. She had to go to the town, interview friends and locals, pour over the research. She had to think hard and write even better.

For those literary fans who got the message of To Kill A Mockingbird, this biography is a fascinating read that brings you into the making of the novel, movie, and person. There are so many amazing parts of this biography that I would like to share with you, but I’ll follow Harper’s lead: read the book!

I can say that Monroeville is still very much alive with the spirit of the classic story. Just visit some of the links below to learn more about the town that inspired Maycomb and the novel that captured all of our hearts. Imagine stepping into the actual courtroom that inspired Harper Lee; you can only do this in Monroeville at the Old Courthouse Museum, a spectacular attraction that makes the novel come alive before your eyes. Hollywood replicated this courtroom for the classic movie, and stepping into the real thing is quite an overwhelming experience.

Monroeville has also recently joined the Southern Literary Trail, a partnership between Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi that has connected many classic literary tourism attractions together through a central website with links. I strongly recommend a visit to the Southern Literary Trail. One example of their listed attractions is in my hometown of Montgomery, Alabama: the former home of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald in beautiful Old Cloverdale. I also took a virtual tour of Faulkner’s home in Oxford, Mississippi, through that site (I’m planning a real trip, but this is one of the many valuable features that allows a literary tourist to learn about a site before visiting). Even Shelby Foote, a favorite writer of mine when I was a boy, is represented in the project. There are many more literary tourism destinations involved with the Southern Literary Trail, so please check it out at: http://www.southernliterarytrail.org/. You will be excited at what you find there. Alabama is well represented, along with Monroeville, the official Literary Capital of Alabama. Indeed, so many high-profile writers have connections to this small Alabama town that many have said: "It must be the water," a phrase that inspired the fountain, seen right, at the Alabama Center for the Literary Arts.

After declining an interview request from Oprah in 2006, Ms. Lee did send an open, gracious letter to her. Oprah published the short letter in her magazine. Of course, Ms. Lee did not discuss the novel. Even so, the letter still created lots of media hype—but hardly any of it was about the novel itself; rather, the coverage mostly focused on the reclusive nature of Ms. Lee’s life and what a scoop Oprah had achieved. If anyone deserved such a scoop, it was Oprah. Even as the Queen of Daytime TV, Oprah shares an incredible passion with Ms. Lee for reading, and she has done as much or more as anyone to promote reading.

What remarkably opposite paths these two women have taken in sharing their inspiring genius and passion with the world! I would have been very intrigued to see these two women talk based just on that. With Oprah’s incredible life story starting in Mississippi and Ms. Lee’s story starting in Alabama, there would be plenty for them to discuss without ever touching the novel.

Here’s an idea, Oprah: why not do one of your shows in the Monroe County courtroom? There’s plenty of room for an audience, and it would be one of the most inspiring venues for literature that your show has ever broadcast from. Ms. Lee might not show up for an interview, but I’m sure that Kerry would be glad to fill in; the two of you could swap stories about how insanely difficult it is to get an interview with the elusive Harper Lee. Kerry’s biography of Lee is part of Penguin’s Up Close series and is aimed at young adults, so invite some teenagers along as guests. Kerry also does workshops to help young adults with creative writing and teaches at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. It would be an experience that the teenagers would never forget and spotlight the value of reading classic literature for young adults everywhere. I’ll bet you would enjoy doing a show in the same room that inspired the novel that gave us Atticus Finch.

Kerry, seen left, has also written a wonderful young adult fictional series based on the real Maggie Valley in North Carolina (I’m still reading Lousiana’s Song for the next feature, Kerry). Find out more about the Maggie Valley series on Kerry’s website at the link below, and stay tuned for an upcoming excerpt here. I’ve already picked out the excerpt, but I want to finish the whole series before writing the article.

A special thanks to Peggy Collins, Photo Editor for the Alabama Tourism Department, for providing all of the photos for this feature (except for Kerry's profile photo). Photography is a major element of this project, and since I am not a professional photographer, the aid of many talented tourism officials, media staff, and even local professional photographers have been invaluable to each feature. My thanks to all of you who have helped. I am often amazed at how these photos end up fitting perfectly with the stories and excerpts, and I cannot imagine any of the features without them. A special thanks to my partner, Patricia Neely-Dorsey, for encouraging me to make photography such an important part of the features. Patricia is the author of Reflections of a Mississippi Magnolia-A Life in Poems, one of the most heartwarming books I've read in a long time. Learn more about her and the Tupelo connection in the December Stories By Month in the top left.

Tourism Links

Monroe County Heritage Museum (learn more about the annual play in the Monroe County Courthouse) Note: Tickets to the play sell fast, and although the museum is open year-round, the play is only performed in the spring.
http://www.tokillamockingbird.com/

Kerry Madden’s homepage (learn more about UPclose: Harper Lee and the Maggie Valley series)
http://www.kerrymadden.com/

Monroe County Chamber of Commerce (learn about motels, restaurants, and shopping)
http://www.monroecountyal.com/

UPCLOSE HARPER LEE
Pub. Date: March 2009
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
Format: Hardcover, 224pp
Age Range: Young Adult
Series: Up Close Series
ISBN-13: 9780670010950
ISBN: 0670010952

Buy a copy of UPclose: Harper Lee at Capitol Book & News in Montgomery, AL
http://www.capitolbook.com/

Viking (publisher of UPclose: Harper Lee)
http://us.penguingroup.com/static/pages/publishers/yr/viking.html

Official State of Alabama Tourism Web Site (learn about all of Alabama’s attractions)
http://www.alabama.travel/

Alabama Center for the Literary Arts (located in Monroeville)
http://www.ascc.edu/?DivisionID=2332&DepartmentID=2245&ToggleSideNav=ShowAll

See Scout Finch all grown up!
http://southeasternliterarytourisminitiative.blogspot.com/2010/05/from-tiaras-to-tourists-book-your.html

Patricia Neely-Dorsey found me from Mississippi through a link put up by the Alabama Writers Forum, the state-wide literary arts organization. They are a great resource site and community for writers and literary fans, regardless of your state.
http://www.writersforum.org/

SELTI is an interactive community, so feel free to join the blog by clicking “Follow” in the top left. You might have to register for a free Google account, but that only requires a simple username and password. Plus, once you have a Google username, you can follow many fascinating blogs from one place, as I do, and post comments on the features that you like best. There is also a Facebook version of SELTI that allows email notifications whenever a new feature is published and provides a quick summary and link to all of the features. Please post your comments on the features and tourism locations to help guide other literary fans out there. And feel free to recommend any of your favorite literary tourism experiences as a way of sharing with others. Here is the Facebook link to SELTI: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=289783765813&ref=mf. Facebook is a great way to share this site with your friends by using the Invite People To Join feature. Just don't bother trying to "friend" Harper Lee, but there is a Facebook fan page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nelle-Harper-Lee/263327109175?ref=mf

Hiking the Nantahala Mountain Trail

2010-03-08T04:14:00.000-08:00

Photos By Dr. William Yelverton

Excerpt from: In The Forest Of Harm by Sallie Bissell, published by Bantam
Attraction: Nantahala National Forest
Location: North Carolina

The following excerpt comes from the debut novel of a four-book series by Sallie Bissell featuring the fictional Mary Crow, a beautiful and compelling half-Cherokee prosecutor. This incredible series offers an enticing look into the mesmerizing landscape of the mountains of western North Carolina. In this excerpt, Mary is leading her two best friends on a hike deep into the Nantahala National Forest to a spiritual location first introduced to Mary by her Cherokee mother. Check out the links in the Tourism Guide at the end of this excerpt to learn about the real locations that inspired the story.

From In The Forest of Harm:

Alex turned left onto a gravel path that led to a small unpaved overlook, where she braked beside a tangle of wild honeysuckle. Thirty feet to the right, a tiny footpath seemed to plummet off the edge of the world.

The three women got out of the car and walked to a crumbling stone wall that skirted the overlook. Alex hopped up on the wall, putting her hands on her hips as she surveyed the expanse below.

For miles, a sea of trees undulated away from them. Still green at the lowest elevations, it swelled to red and gold and brown until distance tinted it mauve, then lilac. Finally it disappeared, miles away, into a hazy blue nothingness. As they watched two faraway hawks glide on a high thermal, the only sound they heard was the breath that rose from the forest itself. Cool and unwavering, it carried the fecund smells of growth and decay and made the fine hairs on their arms stand erect.

“Jeez,” murmured Joan, standing beside Alex. “And I thought Central Park was something.” She fumbled for her disposable camera that she had stashed in her purse. “I gotta get a picture of this.”

Mary watched as Joan snapped away. She knew from experience that her pictures would come out disappointing—the colors would be flat, the scope less majestic. Photography was frustrating that way. Only the images etched in your memory remained crisp, with colors undiluted.

“Can you imagine how the pioneers must have felt the first time they saw all this?” Alex spread her arms, as if all the acres below were a wild empire that belonged only to her.

Mary smiled. Alex’s imagination had always been able to soar at the slightest provocation, thrusting her back into history or forward into some crazy future. Though it made for interesting conversations, sometimes when she stood next to Alex she felt as dull as a stump.

“If we got lost could we follow those electrical wires out?” Alex pointed to a phalanx of power lines that stretched over the trees like strands of some giant spider web.

Mary squinted at the TVA cables linking the Cheoa and Calderwood dams. “I suppose, if we could climb a high enough tree to get a fix on one. It’s probably a day’s hike from pole to pole, though.”

Joan stared at the vastness before her and frowned. “Mary, are you sure you can find one little Cherokee hot spring in the middle of all those trees?”

“If this were New York, could you get us to Coney Island?”

“Absolutely.”

“Okay,” said Mary. “Then just think of this as my Manhattan.”

“Well, okay,” Joan sighed. “But just remember I’m supposed to have dinner with Hugh Chandler next Saturday. I don’t want to have a broken leg or poison ivy or anything.”

“All you’ll have is thrilling tales of hiking through Appalachia,” Mary assured her. “Hugh will think he’s eating with Superwoman.” . . .

“Hey, Mary,” Alex asked, “when can we hike on to the spring?”

“Soon as the mist burns off.” Mary looked out across the huge cauldron of thick white mist that roiled just beyond the lip of the fissure. Only the tops of the mountains pierced through the swirling clouds. The view reminded her again of San Francisco, only here the mountains were the whales, dark forms breeching in a wispy white sea.

Joan flopped down between them. “Is all this fog why they call these the Smoky Mountains?”

“Shaconage,” Mary said without thinking.

“Excuse me?”

“That’s Cherokee. It means ‘land of blue smoke.’ Although actually,” Mary continued as she warmed her fingers around her coffee cup, “we’re in the Unicoi mountains, which comes from the Cherokee word Unaka.”

“Which means?”

“White mountains.”

Joan laughed. “You’re a regular thesaurus, Mary.”

“Don’t get excited. Ten more words and we’ll be at the end of my Cherokee vocabulary.”

Alex fixed them oatmeal with raisins for breakfast, then they waited for the fog to lift. By the time they struck their tent and repacked their gear, rust-colored mountains began to reappear as the thick white mist drained away. Overhead the sky turned from white to dazzling blue, and the breeze carried the aroma of apples and damp earth. It promised to be one of the singularly gorgeous fall days for which the Appalachian Mountains were famed.

Mary grinned at her friends, suddenly exhilarated. “Are we ready for the final assault on Atagahi?”

“I’m ready for any kind of hot tub,” replied Joan. “Electric, solar, or thermonuclear. These old bones need to soak in some nice warm water.”

Alex laughed. “Joan, you’re only thirty.”

“That’s in Atlanta years. Up here I feel three hundred.”
They doused the fire, buckled on their backpacks and followed Mary as she began to pick her way down from the cave . . .

They walked on, no longer stopping at creeks or listening to birds, just doggedly planting one foot ahead of the other, determined to make their destination. They crested the mountain, then Mary led them around the jutting roots of a massive overturned maple.

“There.” She grinned triumphantly and pointed below them. “Atagahi.”

A hundred yards away, ringed by huge boulders, a clear green pool glistened iridescent as a hummingbird in the sunlight. The calm waters glittered like an extravagant emerald on the finger of a czar.

Alex gasped. “Good grief! That looks more like Acapulco than Appalachia.”

“It even smells different.” Joan sniffed the air. “More like flowers instead of forest. And there aren’t any of those awful bugs!”

But Mary couldn’t speak. Atagahi was even more beautiful than she remembered. She could almost hear her mother’s laughter tinkling up over the water as they had lain floating on their backs, watching white clouds sail across blue sky.

Hurrying now, the three women picked their way among the rocks to the spring, ditching their backpacks under a drooping willow tree, their aches and complaints forgotten in the excitement of reaching their destination. At the lowest rim of the rock, they knelt and dipped their hands into the water.

“Hey, it is warm.” Joan looked up at Mary in surprise. “You weren’t kidding.”

“How deep is it?” Alex was peering into the fluorescent green depths.

“I’ve never known anyone who’s touched the bottom.” Mary sat down and began to unlace her boots. “But in a minute I’m going to try.”

She undressed. Her clothes made a small pile on the rock. She stood naked in the warm sun for a moment, then she poised on the edge of the pool and dived, her skin flashing pale bronze as she arced over the water. Seconds later, she surfaced ten feet away, her black hair slicked back and shining.

“This is incredible!” she cried exultantly. She arched her back and exhaled, floating, letting her weary arms and legs relax in the warm green water.

“Did you touch the bottom?” Alex called, fumbling with the buttons on her shirt.

“Nope, I saved that just for you.”

“Are you sure nobody will see us naked?” Joan, who felt uncomfortable in the dressing rooms of Bloomingdale’s, peered around anxiously.

“Only that gun-toting red wolf we heard last night,” Alex replied. “And of course the ghost who slept outside our tent.”

“Oh, shut up, Alex!”

Mary closed her eyes and smiled as her friend’s voices danced in the air. They could swim or not, as they pleased. She would be content to float here for the rest of her life. In a few moments, though, she heard a western Yee-hiii! and felt a splash. Alex swam beside her; a moment later Joan did, too.

Her mother’s body is sleek as an otter’s. Martha smiles in the sun and dives headfirst into the spring as if she might find diamonds hidden in the deep green water. Her head breaks the surface and she calls to Mary. “Come on in, baby. Don’t be afraid. I won’t let anything hurt you!” Mary strips down to her bathing suit and leaps into the water with far less grace than her mother. Down, down she goes, bubbles nibbling at her toes like tiny fish. She looks back up above her and sees the sun shining gold through the water and she gives one strong kick and surfaces in the honeyed air.

--Excerpted from IN THE FOREST OF HARM, Copyright 2001 by Sallie Bissell, published by Bantam.

Tourism Guide

I first discovered Sallie Bissell, seen right, when reading an excerpt in Literary Trails of the North Carolina Mountains-A Guidebook by Georgann Eubanks, published by UNC Press (see previous feature). Sallie’s writing immediately jumped out at me, and I wanted to read more. I quickly read all four novels and loved every minute.

Although the suspense element is riveting, the humor and wry observations on character that lace the storyline throughout are the real gems to me, along with the breathtaking introduction to the rural North Carolina mountain landscape. The mountains call to Mary Crow, and she cannot resist the pull of their ancient spirits, nor can the reader. There is an artistic craft of style in Bissell’s writing that seems to constantly accompany the normal commercial thrill element that drives book sales.

I don’t normally read suspense/thrillers; I’m quite happy with Faulkner, Fitzgerald and Hemingway, but this style really made a literary impression on me. All great writers observe, and Sallie Bissell’s observations on the common characters that make up our real society are keen, inspiring, and often hilarious.

Mary Crow’s practical sensibilities make her a very solid, engaging character. When a fellow Cherokee political activist pushes a brochure on her about getting Native Americans into Congress, her reaction is priceless:

Mary looked up at Ruth Moon, wanting to laugh and cry at the same time. Did these Indians not know how their government worked? Rich people sent other rich people to Congress to protect their interests, and everybody else—black, white, yellow or red—could go to hell. (from A DARKER JUSTICE, Copyright 2002 by Sallie Bissell).

Mary is caught between two worlds, but not the ones you would expect: her love of a lifetime, Jonathan Walkingstick, against the predatory thrill of being a prosecutor. The latter world consumes her passions to the point of threatening her personal—and often physical—life with extinction.

After experiencing this series, readers will want to step into the story themselves to discover the rich landscape so far away from urban life. Even with the humor, there are some very gritty scenes throughout the novels, as you would expect from a prosecutor’s life. However, the sweeping majesty of the mountains will tempt you with a vacation and peace of mind that you won’t find in the crowded, expensive and over-commercialized hotspots that most of us think of as a “getaway.” This will be a real getaway, and one that you won’t ever forget. Please check out the informational links below to learn more.

The beautiful photos provided are from a wonderful travel blog by Dr. William Yelverton, who often hikes deep into the mountains himself. These few photos are only a slice of the incredible shots you will find from his travels around the world, and I highly recommend a visit to his blog. Among other things, Dr. Yelverton is a competitive marathon runner, experienced deep mountain hiker, college professor, concert guitarist, environmentalist—oh, did I mention he knows how to handle wild bears? I told Sallie that he should be a character in one of her books. Suave villain or charming protagonist? You decide. In either case, I am most grateful for his permission to use these photos because they fit pefectly with the excerpt. Here is a link to his blog:http://tnparadise.blogspot.com/.

For another great story set in a national forest, please visit "Today's Tom Sawyer: Camping Under An Alabama Moon." That feature offers an excerpt and guide on Watt Key's highly-acclaimed novel Alabama Moon, set in the Talladega National Forest of Alabama. Watt's novel is a great story to encourage young adults to get closer to nature and literature. Alabama Moon was also made into a movie (starring John Goodman). Find that feature here:
http://southeasternliterarytourisminitiative.blogspot.com/2010/06/todays-tom-sawyer-camping-under-alabama.html
Alabama National Forest: Photo by U.S. Forest Service
Tourism Links

Sallie Bissell’s website
http://www.salliebissell.com/Sallie_Bissell/Home.html

Nantahala National Forest
http://www.westernncattractions.com/NNF.htm

Learn about all of North Carolina's National Forests at the official site:
http://www.cs.unca.edu/nfsnc/

Fontana Village Resort
http://www.fontanavillage.com/

Learn about all that North Carolina has to offer tourists
http://www.visitnc.com/

Bantam Dell Publishing Group
http://www.randomhouse.com/bantamdell/

Post comments and get e-mail notifications through Facebook whenever a new SELTI feature is published
http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=289783765813&ref=mf

Or post comments here by clicking on "Follow" at the top left of this site

Learn about the publishing industry from insider professionals. This is one of the best blogs I've run across in a long time. I am working on two features about one of its team members, author Kerry Madden, but all the articles are engaging and often humorous.
http://southernauthors.blogspot.com/

Blazing A Trail of Literary Tourism in the 21st Century

2010-02-03T18:55:00.000-08:00

Excerpt from: Literary Trails of the North Carolina
Mountains-A Guidebook by Georgann Eubanks, published by UNC Press, a project of the North Carolina Arts Council
Attraction: Jackson County Courthouse
(seen right, Photo by Donna Campbell)
Location: Sylva, North Carolina
Other Photos: see credits in Tourism Guide below.

The following is one of the many excerpts of literature from a fascinating new book featuring North Carolina writers. Literary Trails of the North Carolina Mountains-A Guidebook also offers short guides, links, and photos accompanying the excerpts to enhance the reading experience. Please learn more about this exciting project in the Tourism Guide following the excerpt.

From Literary Trails of the North Carolina Mountains:

In her fourth novel, Legacy of Masks (2005), Asheville-based writer Sallie Bissell has her protagonist Mary Crow come to Hartsville, North Carolina, in pursuit of a new job with the Pisgah County district attorney. In this passage, astute readers will recognize that Bissell's setting is strikingly similar to the Jackson County Courthouse in Sylva. Bissell says she's blended aspects of Haywood, Jackson, and Swain Counties to create her fictional Pisgah County:

The Confederate soldier stood on the forty-sixth of the one hundred and five concrete steps that led from Main Street to the Pisgah County Courthouse. Rifle at his side, he'd kept a weather-beaten watch for any encroaching Yankees for as long as Mary Crow could remember. Passing him on her fourth grade Civics field trip, she'd found him impressively fierce. Six years later, as she'd rushed past to apply for her driver's license, she thought him quaintly embarrassing. Today, nearly twenty-five years after their first acquaintance, the old boy seemed comforting and familiar. Not much else about Pisgah County did.

"Hey Johnny Reb." She paused for a moment in the puddle of shade cast by the towering bronze figure. Already she was breathing heavily from her climb, and she still had fifty-nine steps to go. She'd forgotten how hot the early June sun could be in the Carolina mountains, and she had foolishly worn her prosecutorial black suit. Deathwrap. Comfortable in the relentlessly air-conditioned courtroom of Atlanta, on these steps, Deathwrap felt like a portable sauna, buttoned in the front and zipped tight at the waist.

"Shoot," she hissed, leaning against the base of the statue. Already she'd torn her hose and sweated through her underwear. Pretty soon, she'd have big damp circles under her arms. In her business it was never good to be visibly nervous; to be both nervous and sweating did not bode well at all.

Nonetheless, she had an appointment with D.A. George Turpin in four minutes, and she could not be late. Squaring her shoulders, she resumed her ascent to the courthouse. As her high heels clicked on the steps, she gave a rueful smile at the irony of her undertaking. When she was eighteen she'd wanted to leave Pisgah County forever. Today, at thirty-five, she couldn't wait to come back home . . .

She finally reached the hundred and fifth step, and without pausing, strode into the vaulted lobby of the old courthouse. She passed a gaggle of secretaries clad in frothy print dresses, hurrying to begin the day's work. Suddenly she felt even more out of place in Deathwrap. Swathed in black among women clad in the colors of melting sherbet, she must look like the Grim Reaper, working her next victim.

When she glanced over her shoulder and caught one of the secretaries casting a curious eye back at her, she knew without a doubt that she would be the gossip tidbit du jour. Did y'all see that girl dressed in black? Who was she? You just don't see clothes like that around here. She must be some fancy pants over from Raleigh. Don't kid yourself, honey. Didn't you see that hair? She was pure Cherokee. --From Legacy of Masks, by Sallie Bissell (New York: Bantam, 2005), 1-2.

Sallie Bissell has written four mystery novels featuring Mary Crow, the feisty criminal justice attorney from the Eastern Band of the Cherokee. In The Forest of Harm (2001) and A Darker Justice (2002) feature sites around Asheville. In Call the Devil by His Oldest Name (2004), Mary Crow follows the historic Cherokee Trail of Tears across Tennessee as she seeks to recover her kidnapped godchild.

In Sylva, you can follow in the footsteps of Mary Crow and hike the hundred-plus steps leading up to the Jackson County Courthouse, as do many local folks for exercise. This 1913 neoclassical revival building perches high above the revitalized town of Sylva and is a great place to stop and let kids blow off a little steam. Have them count the steps as they climb and enjoy the eye-popping view at the top. Then come down carefully and stand in the mist of the fountain at the foot of the hill. Often claimed to be the most photographed courthouse in the state, you can also see it rising boldly above town if you're driving by on US 23/74.

--From LITERARY TRAILS OF THE NORTH CAROLINA MOUNTAINS: A GUIDEBOOK by Georgann Eubanks. Copyright © 2007 by the North Carolina Arts Council. Used by permission of the publisher. http://www.uncpress.unc.edu/ Literary Trails of the North Carolina Mountains Tourism Guide:
Literary Trails of the North Carolina Mountains is not just a guide or a book but an experience. Suppose that books were like buildings. A novel might be a peaceful lakeside cabin where you go to escape the everyday pressures of life. A poetry chapbook might be a cozy coffee house where you went after work or classes to share in the communion of kindred spirits.

If books were buildings, then Literary Trails of the North Carolina Mountains would be the Biltmore Estate, a majestic mansion with many halls and rooms, each leading to a new and unique literary experience. Some doors in this estate would lead to grand ballrooms; others might lead to impressive libraries; still others to private gardens where you could breath in the rapture of the written word without distraction while surrounded by the beauty of the natural world.

Of course, the real Biltmore Estate, seen right, is included in the book. To learn more about Biltmore outside of the book, visit their website (which provided the photo here) in the Tourism Links below. As the largest and perhaps most elegant private residence in the United States, Biltmore is the crown jewel in North Carolina's tourism industry.

Literary Trails of the North Carolina Mountains is the first in a literary tourism series directed by the North Carolina Arts Council and published by UNC Press. The series could be a blueprint for what other states could accomplish, and that by itself is reason enough to study this book. Georgann Eubanks uses excerpts from a range of North Carolina writers, like the one above from Legacy of Masks by Sallie Bissell. These excerpts are blended with Ms. Eubanks’ short and helpful guides that offer links to the real and often beautiful settings of these literary works.

The Sylva courthouse is just one of many stops along the fascinating literary trails in this book. The small town of Sylva offers other attractions, including Pinnacle Park, a pristine hiking preserve. The picture of the waterfall is from Pinnacle Park. Please learn more about everything Sylva has to offer in the Tourism Links below. The town of Sylva generously provided the second picture of the courthouse above showing the fountain, the waterfall picture, and the panoramic mountain view at the end of the excerpt.

When reading Literary Trails, Ms. Bissell’s excerpt immediately attracted my attention for its quality style, sense of place, and sense of humor, not to mention the gorgeous opening picture of the courthouse by Donna Campbell. Like many of the excerpts, this one made me want to step into the story myself. Sallie Bissell, seen left, has written four books featuring Mary Crow and recommends starting the series from the beginning. To learn more about the mystery series, visit the Tourism Links.

One of the best features of Literary Trails is that Ms. Eubanks has broken down the mountain guide into 1-2 day trips, allowing for anyone to plan a visit based on their own schedule. The beautiful natural landscapes are a constant and endearing character in this book. I cannot emphasize enough that Ms. Eubanks' style is not just well-researched and informational but also heartfelt. She will wrap your soul around these places and works of literature in a way that will make you ache to enjoy the experience firsthand. You will know exactly what I mean when you begin reading the book.

The Southeastern Literary Tourism Initiative is an interactive online trail that connects readers with each other and introduces them to unique literary tourism experiences. Based on that goal, Literary Trails of the North Carolina Mountains is an absolute perfect fit for SELTI and literary fans across the South. Ms. Eubanks is the long-time Director of the Duke University Writers Workshop, and the book itself is published by the award-winning academic UNC Press. The expectations of these two impressive qualifications are not disappointed; they are surpassed.

If you enjoyed this feature and would like to be introduced to more literary tourism destinations, please join SELTI by becoming a Follower at the link in the top left. I encourage all Followers not just to travel the trail but to contribute by posting comments and suggesting other literary experiences to share with others. SELTI will offer monthly features, so check back often and feel free to read any features at your convenience. Unlike a magazine, these features will remain online for whenever your schedule allows.

Literary Trails of the North Carolina Mountains Tourism Links:

Literary Trails of the North Carolina Mountains-A Guidebook
http://www.ncliterarytrails.org/

Georgann Eubanks
http://www.georganneubanks.net/

Sallie Bissell and her wonderful mystery series
http://www.salliebissell.com/Sallie_Bissell/Home.html

UNC Press
http://uncpress.unc.edu/

North Carolina Arts Council
http://ncarts.wordpress.com/

Town of Sylva
http://www.townofsylva.org/

Biltmore Estate
http://www.biltmore.com/

North Carolina Division of Tourism
http://www.visitnc.com/

University of North Carolina
http://www.unca.edu/

Duke University Writers Workshop on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Duke-University-Writers-Workshop/95703746836?v=info

Join SELTI on Facebook for email updates on new features.
http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=289783765813&ref=mf

COMING SOON: An excerpt from Gentle's Holler by Kerry Madden, published by Viking. Gentle's Holler is the first in a series of novels based on the real-life Maggie Valley in North Carolina. Mrs. Madden, aside from being a successful and award-winning novelist, also teaches creative writing as a member of the Enlgish faculty at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.