Undaunted by thousands of scholars and fortune seekers having looked unsuccessfully for the treasure for a hundred years, the three twelve-year-old friends search diligently for themselves. What they find is an adventure that leads them on a spiraling path of discovery.
They discover newness in themselves, their families, and the closeness of a small southern community in the process. Luke wrestles with his morality, ethics, and his slowly emerging awareness of the difference between boys and girls. He also discovers that his late father left him an incredibly large legacy of duty, fidelity and caring for those around him.
The telling of the story takes place in imaginary New Caledonia County, NC in 1966. The deep rural traditions, vernacular, and ways of life of the region and community are portrayed in great detail as the story unfolds.
This is an adventure story, but it is also a story about making good decisions whether you want to or not... It is also a story of relationships. Family and community are underscored, but there is an underlying theme of male/female relationships. It's really okay for boys and girls to be buddies without always having to be boyfriends and girlfriends. It is also a story about innocence. NOT innocence lost, but innocence maintained.
Purchase at:
Writing Writers Write Right
Mike Thomas
As I glanced through
the local newspaper the other day, I stumbled onto a clever classified ad
soliciting new writers. The ad read:
WRITE FOR US???
We need a writer with creativity in all media.
Our ideal candidate will have great
ideas and client contact abilities…
I have news for these folks…Everyone is a writer.
It seems that everywhere I go these days everyone is working
on the G.A.N. (For the six or seven of you that aren't privy to this exciting,
rewarding, career this means Great American Novel.) There are novelists, short
story writers, and though you don't see them as much as you did in the '60's,
there is still a smattering of poets. In fact, there are so many writers in this
area of the country, I don't even tell people what I do anymore. It used to be
that conversation at cocktail parties went something like this:
Candidate for AA: …and what do you do for a living?
ME: I'm a writer.
CFAA: Oh yeah? What do you
write?
Me: (somewhat humbly) A
newspaper column, a few commercials, a book or two…you know.
CFAA: You write books too???!!!
I'll be a son of a gun! It's a small world isn't it? My book is about…
Three hours later this conversation has been joined by thirteen
people swapping story lines and rejection slip tales with mirthful abandon. Of
course, if you took a poll of the thirteen people involved, and totaled all of
the writer's fees they had amassed over the years, you might have enough cash
to make a down payment on a flashlight.
To avoid these types of traps, my conversations now go more
like this:
CFAA: What do you do for a living?
ME: I'm a typist.
CFAA: Oh. (Long pause with assorted
stricken looks) Nice-weather-we're -having -isn't- it -excuse -me
-my-wife/girlfriend/concubine-is-calling-me.
Of course I'm not as popular on the cocktail circuit as I
used to be, but we all make our sacrifices.
To perform a public service for those of you that would like
to avoid these conversational pitfalls, I have compiled a glossary of twelve
terms to help you identify real writers on the cocktail circuit.
STATEMENT DEFINITION
1. I am a writer. I barely made it through school, but I have a
dream.
2. I am an aspiring writer. I didn't make it through school, but I
have a dream.
3. I am a freelance writer. I write, but not good enough to sell.
4. I write short stories. I don’t have enough in me to
finish that novel.
5. I'm a poet. I
get so damned depressed that I just want to die.
6. I write free verse. I
can't get anything to rhyme.
7. I
write children's books. I have
the vocabulary of a 3-year-old.
8. I'm working on a novel. By the way, when does hell freeze
over?
9. I
self-published a novel. I have so
much income that I have to get rid of it somehow.
10. I published an
article. 9 out of 10 times you're talking to a fiction
writer, because this statement is fiction.
11. I published a
novel. 9.9 out
of 10 times you're talking to a fiction writer, because this statement is fiction.
12. I keep the kid's
while THIS IS A WRITER!
my spouse
supports us.
Now that you are prepared to sally forth and do verbal
battle with the budding Stienbecks, Twains, and Fitzgeralds of the world, I'll
give you one last tip.
The same classified
ad finished by saying:
If you can write right:
Write
P. O. Box xxx
Cleveland OH
This is known in the
writing field as being cute…and insipid… and well, just a mite goofy.
You may want to stay
away from them too.
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