Storytelling World/Storytelling Magazine Award Winner "I love a book that gives me what it promises, and this one does: fifty real ghost stories, drawn from a variety of sources and told in as many voices, written so as to simulate the language and delivery of a face-to-face performance, and artfully, delightfully done."—Review of Texas Books "Scarcely a page will you turn in this collection of ghost stories in Texas without encountering a disembodied hand or a fang baby—creatures guaranteed to shock the shell of an armadillo. . . . Whether you read the tales out loud or spin them around a campfire, you—and your audience—will be spooked. And you'll never again saunter along a dark, deserted riverbank late at night."—Patti Ross, San Antonio Express-News Some humorous, some haunting, and some just late-night terrifying, these stories, gathered by two favorite Texas tellers, span a rich cultural heritage from the earliest Spanish explorers to the present, from La Llorona (the Weeping Woman) to the vanishing hitchhiker. Introduced by John O. West and John L. Davis, two of Texas’ most respected folklorists, the stories include tales adapted by European settlers to their new southwestern settings, more historically rooted legends about such early pioneers as Britt Bailey of the Gulf Coast prairie and Josiah Wilbarger of Austin, and those notorious contemporary cautionary tales known as urban legends. With two appendixes addressing selection, learning, and telling of stories as well as sources and scholarship, Texas Ghost Stories is a full-service compendium for tellers, teachers, readers, and collectors. Celebrating both the blending and the diversity of Texan cultures through the timeless stories we love to be scared by, it is a treasury for all Texans and for those who really want to know us.
New books in 2010! With four new books in 2010, two solo titles and two short stories in anthologies, Tim is enjoying a busy year of book signings and festivals, beginning with the May release of SALTYPIE from Cinco Puntos Press
(see Debbie Reese's review in americanindiansinchildrensliterature.com), and the summer blockbuster, TRICKSTER, a graphic novel-style collection which sold out the first printing in six weeks!
MORE SPOOKY TEXAS TALES, the second in this series from Texas Tech Press (September release), includes scary stories for the 4-7th grade reader, set in modern times: Goth big sisters, runaways, Chupacabra prowlings, La Llorona at a San Antonio wedding, and suburban nightfrights.
For the adult reader, Tingle's short story, "Six Dead Cabbies," appears in the long-awaited anthology, LONE STAR NOIRE, set for a November release at the Texas Book Festival, on the grounds of the state capitol.
And....for fans of CROSSING BOK CHITTO, Tingle has completed a three-book series for the Young Adult reader, describing the adventures of Martha Tom and Lil Mo AFTER the miracle crossing. Expect a dose of kid-friendly American Indian history and Choctaw lore, including witchery, good and bad, evil death owls, snake people, and little men of the swamps and forests. No release date has been set for this exciting series.
For Tingle newcomers, Tim is an enrolled member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. His great-great grandfather, John Carnes, walked the Trail of Tears in 1835. From 2002 to the present, Tingle has performed a traditional Choctaw story before Chief Gregory Pyle's Annual State of the Nation Address at the tribal gathering in Tushkahoma, Oklahoma, a Choctaw reunion that attracts over 90 thousand people!
Tim completed his B.A. degree in English Literature from the University of Texas in 1975, and in 2003 received his M.A. in Native American Studies from the University of Oklahoma (football Saturdays are very interesting!). His stories are inspired by his own childhood and life experiences, and interviews he has conducted with Choctaws in Mississippi, Oklahoma, Texas, and Alabama over the last twenty years. Since the publication of his first book in 2003, the multiple award-winning WALKING THE CHOCTAW ROAD, Tingle has enjoyed a prolific and busy career. When not performing stories and speaking at festivals, universities, and many, many schools of all grade levels, Tingle divides his time between collecting Choctaw lore in Oklahoma and relaxing and writing on the shores of Canyon Lake, Texas. For a complete listing of books, reviews, and awards, visit his website:
timtingle.com
