Bearskin to Holly Fork -- Stories from Appalachia [Paperback]

Bob Sloan (Author), Lee Smith (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2003

Public Radio commentator Bob Sloan's debut collection of short stories. With an introduction by novelist Lee Smith.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

The whole Appalachian community of Midland, Kentucky, comes to life in this fine debut collection of tough, true stories, each one hard and dark as a lump of coal. Bob Sloan's straight, plain prose style is perfectly suited for his characters and their lives. . . . Whether things work out for his characters or not, realist Bob Sloan makes us care about them all, writing in plain honest prose without a trace of sentimentality. --Lee Smith

Bob Sloan is a downright fine storyteller and his collection "Bearskin to Holly Fork: Stories from Appalachia" finds him at his best. Resplendent with the smell and taste and sight and sound of Appalachia, the book is also brimming with humanity. This is kick-ass good work. --Robert Olen Butler

We write about what we know. Bob Sloan knows as much about his characters as anyone writing today. These are wistful, comical, straight-ahead stories that fall from the pen the way leaves fall from trees; some cosmic force helping them find their place. --Tom T. Hall

Product Details

• Paperback: 148 pages
• Publisher: Wind Publications (June 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1893239217
• ISBN-13: 978-1893239210
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,393,786 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Bob Sloan is a working writer who doesn't have, and isn't pursuing an MFA. He and his wife Julie live on thirty hillside acres east of Morehead, Kentucky, with a dog and an embarrassing number of cats. Their house once belonged to Bob's grandfather, and Bob's father. His Appalachian commentaries have been heard on NPR's "Morning Edition," and seen on the Herald-Leader's editorial page and Kentucky Educational Television and in the Christian Science Monitor.

Wind Publications has released three books from Bob: the short story collection Bearskin to Holly Fork: Stories From Appalachia and more recently, Home Call: A Novel of Kentucky. Nobody Knows, Nobody Sees: A Novel of Appalachia, a sequel to Home Call, was published in the spring of 2006.

Bob has won a Gold Medal from the Faulkner Society of New Orleans, and a PRNDI from the professional association of public radio news directors.

He says his goal as a writer is "to write honest stories that reflect the hard lot and the intelligence of the Appalachian working class and working poor."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bob Sloan gets it right, April 13, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Bearskin to Holly Fork -- Stories from Appalachia (Paperback)

Anyone who loves both literature and Appalachia knows this for a fact: it's a hard place to write about well. Only a few writers these days are able to pull it off, but Bob Sloan is high on the list.

The stories that make up "Bearskin to Holly Fork" show a real understanding and appreciation of the landscape, the cultural and historical and economic forces, the language, and most of all the people of this corner of the world. Most of all, they do what the best stories do--they tell a little piece of our human experience in a way that both conveys and transcends a particular time and place.

His gifts are our gain. It's a wonderful book.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bob Sloan "Rocks" !, March 28, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Bearskin to Holly Fork -- Stories from Appalachia (Paperback)

First let me say, I personally met the author at East Tennessee State University during an author's event. Mr. Sloan and I chatted for many long minutes, his story's in this book came to life,and his storytelling is a true work of art, a talent not often seen.
"Bearskin to Holly Fork: Stories from the Appalachia" is a book no camper, no nature lover, in fact, no one can allow to slip by, it's a true delight. Bob Sloan is a mans, man, straight forward, honest and a refreshing author you'll enjoy.
Good Luck with your book Mr. Sloan; from Jerry D. Coleman author of "Strange Highways".

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Real Kentucky hill stories, June 6, 2003

By 

BA (Lexington KY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bearskin to Holly Fork -- Stories from Appalachia (Paperback)

I thoroughly enjoyed and recommend Bob Sloan's new collection of short
stories _Bearskin to Holly Fork_. They are all very short, but very
tightly-packed. He doesn't waste a single word. It took me 2 afternoons to devour them all, and I'm afraid I pigged out on the horse-doovers again. But that's OK. Brain food doesn't make you sick; I'll just read them again.

One story that grabs me starts with a bunch of locals sentenced by a
judge to "anger management class," which the locals already call "mad class" (and which Lexingtonians already call "happy class."). The court-appointed out-of-state pshrink decides to have everybody role-play, as in a guy asking a girl to dance and getting turned down. Turns out the guy is a Fundie Christian who believes dancing is a sin. That particluar story doesn't continue in that vein, but it's not hard to imagine another that might.Could end up seriously anti-Beverly Hillbillies, but more likely hilarious.

Most, if not all Sloan's stories affected me that way: He got me thinking one way, then things turned out another way, and isn't that what often happens? It's not like he's making this stuff up. And if he is, then he'd be anticipating history, instead of only reprorting it. "Only reporting" my arse.

Bruce Williams
Lexington KY