Customer Reviews

Bearskin to Holly Fork -- Stories from Appalachia

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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.

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".

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

"Bearskin to Holly Fork: Stories from Appalachia" is a collection of gritty stories populated by tough people, and author Bob Sloan exposes their faults and failures as well as sharing with us their merits and accomplishments. Murderers, bootleggers, pot-growers, crippled war veterans, ex-cons and drunks rub elbows with sheriffs, waitresses, clerks, farmers, carpenters and the like. Sometimes it is difficult to tell who is who, as they are quite often one and the same.

This meticulously edited medley is not only an enjoyable read but should be considered a textbook for writers. Throughout, the author has sprinkled his wonderful imagery in carefully worded and structured sentences and paragraphs. Bob Sloan paints with his words.

My favorite story in this anthology of fifteen tales is "A Ride Across Open Water" in which a man and a woman who have suffered a grave loss attempt to put their empty lives back together. In this seemingly simple paragraph, the author reveals volumes:

"Twice in the week before she left, he came home to find his wife sleeping on the sofa, an empty glass that smelled of bourbon on the floor. Both times a pink and blue baby book, purchased the afternoon a doctor confirmed Bea's pregnancy, was on her lap. Paul's memory still held whole paragraphs from pamphlets and articles about Sudden Infant Death Syndrome."

In the author's own words about his writing: "My wife gave me the phrase `blue collar fiction.' It suits me better than any other label. I write stories about Appalachian working class people, the `working poor,' because they're the people who raised me, the people I live with, the people who matter to me."

Don't be fooled by the author's modesty. This is some of the most sophisticated and carefully crafted fiction you will ever read.

Bob Sloan is in his true element when spinning a good yarn on the interpersonal dynamics of mountain Appalachia, either on paper or in person at the Blue Gator. He is a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, and has published numerous short stories in literary magazines.

Bob and his wife, Julie, live on the family farm near Morehead.

The book is Bearskin to Holly Fork, Stories from Appalachia (Wind Publications, 2003), comprises of 15 true stories about individuals, usually a wash in alcohol, coping with predicaments often of their own making - - coming to bad or good ends as things work out. The stories are poignant, wistful, yet tough, hard as nails.

Sloan spins his stories in efficient honest prose, crafted to say just enough. As one reviewer wrote, these stores "fall from the pen the way leaves fall from trees; some cosmic force helping them find their place." Their being rich with humor, irony, Sloan's yarns are fun to read. They are laced with the colorful vocabulary of the Appalachian culture - "hesitant, like a fat man descending a ladder." But they also have a serious dimension and are also very well crafted to illustrate humanity and dignity in characters we might think as losers in situations bordering on the criminal - assisted suicide, getting even, getting away with murder - sort of...

Being a product of Appalachia himself, Sloan knows these people well; his writing is not overdone or contrived. The reader will care about these people, warts and all.

Ted Foster, Newsletter Editor

Good short stories are hard to write. Those that resonate are coordinated combinations of authenticity, good dialogue that moves stories along, and an almost gifted ability to trust readers enough not to tell them everything -- only what they need to know. Bob Sloan, who is also a frequent contributor to National Public radio and lives near Morehead, is a master at the craft.

Sloan doles out 15 previously published stories over 135 pages and gives us a clinic in what good short stories are. One can get all senses activated -- can hear the sound of tires rolling on gravel, see Harlan Carter wheel himself up a redwood ramp built for elderly or disabled tourists, taste the freely flowing bourbon, touch Don Reynolds' partner "Troop" (whom others see as a ghost), and figuratively smell a rat when Bide goes for his commodities during the Great Depression.

The stories, often depressing and mostly laced with potent alcohol, nevertheless are told straight and with little contrived sentiment.
- Steve Flairty

Appalachian people know how to tell a good story, and Bob Sloan is a wonderful storyteller. This slim volume packs a very large emotional punch with its honest prose and wistful and comical glimpses of an area Bob knows well. My favorite story (one that he read at the Harriet Simpson Arnow Conference at Somerset Community College in 2006) is "Finding the Gate," written from the perspective of an old woman. It's amazing to me how Bob can write so well in that voice. In his acknowledgments, he thanks a very special librarian who opened up the world of books to him and encouraged him to read anything that caught his interest, to question what he read, to write, and to think. Her name was Jeanne Burr. A thank you from me too, Jeanne, as Bob's stories are a wonderful addition to literature.

Bob Sloan is a master of the writing craft and a true voice of his roots. His stories are rooted firmly in the soil of working class Appalachia. The land and the people are brought vividly to life without one wasted or false word. It would be easy to get caught up in how technically proficient the author is in this very difficult art form, except the stories and characters are too engrossing to allow you to be analytical. No BS - just darn good yarns! Great stuff!!

I figured if Lee Smith wrote an introduction to this book I couldn't go wrong. Boy, was I ever right. Sloan can tell a tale with the best of them. I particularly liked the story of the mother who went to the bootlegger to ask him not to sell any more moonshine to her son. Also the quirky story "Troops" about veterans being haunted by the ghosts of those they'd killed in combat. I read the book last week and various stories continue to pop into my mind several times a day-- I'll have to go back and enjoy reading several of these stories again.

Tired of the usual Appalachian stereotypes and prejudices?

Hankerin' for a book that'll whisk you away to the cool mountain air and down-home fun of Appalachia? Son, does Bob Sloan ever have a book for you! A "gen-you-wine", bona-fide paperback vacation that won't insult your intelligence or fail to satisfy your love of simple living and authentic humanity. And it's easy on the wallet, too!

Honest to god (totally secular and non-denominational)! Bob takes you around to a few of his choicest friends and includes you in on all the fun! You get so close to the action that when one of the characters tells a joke you'll almost smell the coffee breath right where you're sitting. ...and, when another character "passes on", you'll get that inward pinch and feel the swell of tears rising in your eyes.

BOTTOM LINE: If you don't love this book, you probably wouldn't like Appalachia or country livin', either. But if mountain mists and tree-carpeted hills bring a smile to your face...if the smell of coal smoke hangin' low in the valleys on a crisp fall evening is among your fondest aromas...if -- given a choice -- you'd just as soon take a "pass" on Heaven and spend eternity in Appalachia...then 'Bearskin to Holly Fork' will be among your most treasured possessions.

Don't let my name fool ya... This is one Malarkey that is tellin' it darn straight!