Neva Bryan

Writing and Publishing Tips Newsletter #2

2010-06-18T11:45:00.000-04:00

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Welcome to Issue #2
Hi! This is Neva Bryan, author of Sawmill Boys and St. Peter's Monsters. Thanks for your support!

In this issue you'll discover when to use began and when to use begun. We'll also learn the secret of successful query letters.
If you enjoy this newsletter, I hope you'll pass it along to a friend. There's a button at the bottom to help you do that.

I am available for readings. I lead workshops (memoir, poetry, short fiction) and review manuscripts.

Happy reading and writing.

Neva

The Secret of Successful Query Letters

The writer sends a query to an editor or an agent to determine his or her interest in reading a completed manuscript. The query letter is designed to attract attention. When it is done well, the reader will ask you to send the entire manuscript and supporting documentation.

Often editors and agents will list specific guidelines for query letters on the company’s website. If they do, read the rules carefully and abide by them.
The query letter should be succinct and gimmick-free. This single-page letter has three components.
Component 1 -- A first paragraph that hooks the reader. This one worked for me: “Wren Johnson is a young artist on the run. Orphaned when her father dies in a coal-mining accident, then tormented by her adoptive father, she flees the Appalachian hills she loves for the eastern shore of Virginia.”
Component 2 -- A second paragraph that provides main plot points and notes the length, title, and genre of the work. “When the man she fears finds her, she escapes to the Blue Ridge Mountains, crossing paths with Peter Sullivan. A homesick architecture student teetering on the edge of alcoholism, Peter grew up in the same hills that Wren fled. As he unearths her buried past, they are linked together in a chain of love, tragedy, and murder . . . a chain that binds them when they find themselves back in the coalfields. St. Peter's Monsters is a 91,000-word novel of romantic suspense.”
Component 3 -- A third paragraph that offers a short blurb about your writing credentials. For example, you might say “My poems and short stories appear in Whatever Magazine and Whichever Journal. Such and such contests have recognized my work, including blah, blah, blah. I have studied with novelists Famous Author 1 and Famous Author 2.”
End the letter with a call to action: “May I send you a copy of the manuscript?” Don't forget to thank the reader.
Writing a strong query letter is the best way to get your foot in the publishing door. Good luck!
Have You Begun the Beguine?

“We suddenly know what heaven we're in when they begin the beguine.”
I can't resist sharing an excerpt from Cole Porter’s famous song “Begin the Beguine.” A reader of this newsletter asked me to address the proper use of begin, began, and begun. That alliteration brought to mind Porter’s lyrics.
Begin is present tense. I begin writing at dawn each day. That’s simple enough.
It’s the next two pesky words that give us trouble.
Began is simple past tense of begin. You can use it by itself. It doesn’t need a helping (auxiliary) verb. I began my first novel in 2005.
Begun is a participle, which means it needs a helping verb in front of it. Has, have, and had are great little helpers. I have begun this newsletter to help other writers. She has begun to improve her grammar. He had begun to write with more confidence.
If you use had or have or another helping verb, you MUST use begun, not began.
INCORRECT - Have you began reading Sawmill Boys?
CORRECT - Have you begun reading Sawmill Boys?
INCORRECT - My workshop had began at noon.
CORRECT - My workshop had begun at noon.
INCORRECT - The book signing has not began yet.
CORRECT - The book signing has not begun yet.
Appearances
Appalachian Heritage Writers Conference, Southwest Virginia Community College, Richlands, VA, June 19.

Arts & Crafts Show, Breaks Interstate Park, Breaks, VA, June 25-26.

Virginia Highlands Festival, Abingdon, VA, July 24, July 31, August 7.

Malaprop's Bookstore, Asheville, NC, September 5.
Books
http://nevabryan.com/buy_books.html
St. Peter's Monsters and Sawmill Boys are available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, and Powell's. You'll find my books at many fine booksellers and retailers such as Clinch Mountain Arts and Crafts, Appalachian Arts Center, Crab Orchard Museum, Books Etc, Floyd Country Store, Family Drug Store, Coffee Buy the Book, Coffee Depot, Binding Time Cafe, Tales of the Lonesome Pine Bookstore, Malaprop's, Sundial Books, Diana's Bookstore, Capo's Music Store, and Joseph Beth. If your local store doesn't carry one of my books, ask the bookseller to order them.

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Writing and publishing tips

2010-06-07T09:54:00.000-04:00

Writing Tips and Book News from Neva Bryan - http://eepurl.com/A723

Sign up. It's free!

Blue Ridge Bookfest

2010-06-04T09:38:00.001-04:00

Blue Ridge Bookfest, BRCC, NC, 06/05. Books will be sold thru Malaprops. 50+ authors incl. yours truly. East Flat Rock near Hendersonville. Drop by and visit us. www.blueridgebookfest.org

IPAD, Kindle, Nook, Sony versions on sale for $2.99

2010-05-12T10:11:00.001-04:00

IPAD, Kindle, Nook, Sony versions on sale for $2.99

St. Peter’s Monsters is the story of Peter Sullivan, a homesick college student teetering on the edge of alcoholism. He discovers bigger monsters than the bottle when a mysterious young woman enters his life. Wren has fled Peter’s beloved Appalachian hills and now he must find out why she is keeping secrets about her past.

As they turn to each other for comfort, they are linked together in a chain of love, tragedy, and murder . . . a chain that binds them when they find themselves back in the haunted shadows of the Virginia coalfields.

Mountaintop removal mining - get the word out

2010-05-07T10:52:00.000-04:00

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1768769269/sawmill-boys-getting-the-word-out-about-mountainto-0

National Poetry Month's Last Day - here's one of mine

2010-04-30T10:48:00.000-04:00

Reprinted in Sawmill Boys: Poetry & Short Fiction:

From Explorations (2009) --

Anoint Me

Do you find it peculiar,
the art of our conversation?
It’s a regular feast,
peppered with silence and similes:
that boy’s as rough as a cob,
but cute as a speckled pup.
Let’s get beyond this talking.
I need the tender touch of bone-thin men
with hard hands and aching eyes.
Serenade me with the
stutter of Jake brakes on coal trucks
traveling down mountains.
Anoint me with the
pickled tang that hangs heavy
around the red bubby bush.
Lay me down in horsemint
and hemlock shadows,
shallow valleys, hallowed hills.
Let us love beneath the gaze
of mourning doves and silly larks,
in crow-specked, deer-flecked fields of green.
Help me forget these towns
stitched tight with thick black thread
and dread for madmen in mines.

New website

2010-04-23T13:33:00.000-04:00

My website has been revamped completely.

Check it out!

www.nevabryan.com

Kindle version of St. Peter's Monsters now only 5 bucks

2010-04-19T09:24:00.000-04:00

Kindle version of St. Peter's Monsters now only 5 bucks:

http://www.amazon.com/St-Peters-Monsters-ebook/dp/B0038BQIWC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=digital-text&qid

=1271681499&sr=8-2

Other e-versions of St. Peter's Monsters now only $4.99! (Apple I-Pad, Kobo, B&N Nook, epub, PDF) $4.99:

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/9508

Sawmill Boys hard copy now available at Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Sawmill-Boys-Poetry-Short-Fiction/dp/0615358756/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid

=1271681544&sr=8-1-catcorr

Sawmill Boys hard copy now available at Barnes & Noble:

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Sawmill-Boys/Neva-Bryan/e/9780615358758/?itm=1&USRI=sawmill+boys

Sawmill Boys hard copy now available at Books A Million:

http://www.booksamillion.com/product/9780615358758?id=4716818710566

Sawmill Boys hard copy now available at Powell's Books: http://www.powells.com/biblio/61-9780615358758-0

Brighid Editions has released my second book, Sawmill Boys: Poetry & Short Fiction

2010-03-29T15:24:00.000-04:00

I’m so pleased to tell you that Brighid Editions has released my second book, Sawmill Boys: Poetry & Short Fiction.

Sawmill Boys is a collection of 26 poems and two short stories that offers an earthy and sensuous glimpse of Appalachia: the place and its people. It honors the region’s landscape, explores its history, and reveals its culture. Sawmill Boys tackles love and lust, childhood and aging, heartache and joy, religion and spirituality, and issues of geography and environment. Imbued with a distinct regional personality, it addresses universal themes that can be appreciated by readers anywhere.

I invite you to check out more about my book at www.nevabryan.com.

Like my first book (St. Peter’s Monsters), Sawmill Boys will be available through Amazon, Books-A-Million, Barnes and Noble, and select independent book stores.

For information on how to purchase a signed copy, please contact me at this email address.

ISBN: 978-0-615-35875-8

Title: Sawmill Boys: Poetry & Short Fiction

Author: Neva Bryan

Publisher: Brighid Editions

Format: Trade Paperback, 6 X 9

Price: $11.99 (plus tax if in VA)

Publication Date: March 26, 2010

Best wishes,

--
Neva Jean Bryan

Poem to be read on radio on March 16

2010-03-15T11:49:00.000-04:00

WEHC (Emory & Henry Radio 90.7) will have a reading of 1 of my poems Tues at 130 PM on the radio or wehc.org & punch "listen now" to stream.

Cover image from latest book

2010-03-09T12:49:00.001-05:00

Low-res image of cover of my latest book, Sawmill Boys: Poetry & Short Fiction, to be published in April.

Radio show to feature my poem

2010-02-25T15:21:00.000-05:00

Emory and Henry College's radio station program Poets and Writers will feature one of my poems on the show around the middle of March. Will keep you posted!

Contest winner announced

2010-02-19T13:49:00.001-05:00

The winner of the Name the Heroine contest is Barbie Merlette of Dante, Va.

Barbie suggested the following name:

Frankie

Thanks to everyone who submitted a name and I look forward to sharing more with you about the forthcoming book, Kudzu Palace.

1. Ivy
2. Emeline
3. Hettie
4. Wren
5. Zoe
6. Shayde
7. Savannah
8. Mariah
9. Daphne
10. Maude
11. Melinda
12. Tyne
13. Sharyn
14. Callie
15. Fancie
16. Clover
17. Frankie
18. Flannery
19. Clementine
20. Alexia
21. Rhiannon
22. Charlotte
23. Amelia
24. Winifred
25. Jade
26. Talmadge
27. Syntralia
28. Jacklyn
29. Connie
30. Matilda
31. Joie
32. Shauna
33. Devina
34. Lorelei
35. Irena
36. Coaline
37. Erin
38. Chancie
39. Jocelyn
40. Heather
41. Constance
42. Echoe
43. Jessie
44. Cecelia
45. Caroline
46. Sassafras
47. Tori
48. Desire
49. Dacy
50. Aubrey
51. Raven
52. Reven
53. Willow
54. Sarahlove
55. Juliette
56. Layla
57. Hadley
58. Feralise
59. Cecily
60. Mela
61. Acadia

St. Peter's Monsters now available for Kindle

2010-02-15T08:24:00.001-05:00

St. Peter's Monsters, my first book, is now available in a Kindle edition. Go to Amazon to purchase it. Also available in other e-editions (including for Sony and Nook) at Smashwords.com.

Read the first 10% of my ebook for free!

2010-02-08T13:40:00.000-05:00

For your preferred format, go to:

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/9508

Available formats:

LRF (for Sony Reader)

Epub (open industry format, good for Stanza reader, others)

Palm Doc (PDB) (for Palm reading devices)

Amazon Kindle: forthcoming. Stay tuned.

Online Reading (JavaScript)

Online Reading (HTML)

PDF (good for highly formatted books, or for home printing) No sample available

RTF (readable on most word processors) No sample available

Plain Text (download) (flexible, but lacks much formatting) No sample available

Plain Text (view) (viewable as web page) No sample available

Thank you!!

A writing career becomes harder to scale - latimes.com

2010-02-08T12:43:00.001-05:00

A writing career becomes harder to scale - latimes.com

Posted using ShareThis

CONTEST: Name the heroine in my second novel

2010-01-14T13:20:00.000-05:00

I need your help! I don’t like the first name I chose for the heroine of my second book, Kudzu Palace.

Send me your suggestion for her new name.

If you win, you’ll receive an acknowledgement in the book and an autographed copy.

You're allowed to enter ONE first name.

I’ll choose entries that I like and will draw one name from those entries selected. The contest is subject to cancellation if I do not like any of the entries.

Go to www.nevabryan.com and click on the news tab. That will take you to the contest form.

Please include your name, telephone number, e-mail address, and mailing address. Entries without these four items are invalid.

This contest runs today through February 14, 2010 at Noon.

Why I haven't gone digital with my novel

2010-01-14T11:24:00.001-05:00

http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6714772.html?nid=2286&rid=##CustomerId##&source=title

Tales of the Lonesome Pine Bookstore Offers Free Memoir Writing Class

2010-01-11T14:39:00.000-05:00

The Tales of the Lonesome Pine Bookstore will host a free workshop on the basics of memoir writing. The class takes place January 22, 7:00 PM at the bookstore, 404 Clinton Avenue East in Big Stone Gap.

To register for the class, please contact the bookstore at 276-523-5097. The deadline to register is January 20.

Neva Bryan is the workshop instructor. She has taught memoir writing at the J. Fred Matthews Memorial Library, Appalachian Heritage Writers Symposium (Southwest Virginia Community College) and Appalachian Agency for Senior Citizens. She has taught fiction writing at Morehead State University during the Appalachian Writers Association annual conference.

Bryan, a prize-winning writer, is the author of St. Peter’s Monsters, a novel of romantic suspense set in and around Wise County. Her work appears in several journals, including A! Magazine for the Arts, Appalachian Heritage, Appalachian Journal, Bluestone Review, Clinch Mountain Review, The Distillery, Floyd County Moonshine and Jimson Weed. She is published in the book anthology We All Live Downstream.

A winner of the Appalachian Writers Association James Still Award for Poetry, she has received prizes for more than 15 of her works.

###

Reading Tall Tales to Children at the Coeburn Community Library

2009-12-23T15:33:00.000-05:00

http://www.flickr.com/photos/coeburn_community_library/4098605763/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/coeburn_community_library/4098605325/in/photostream/

The Coeburn Community Library celebrated We the People with a reading of a tall tale by me.

This free event was open to children in grades 4 through 6, as well as their families. Library staff led a tall tale writing and craft workshop after the reading.

The event took place November 10.

We the People is a National Endowment for the Humanities program designed to encourage and enhance the teaching, study, and understanding of American history, culture, and democratic principles. The Coeburn Community Library received funding to participate in We the People.

The Coeburn Community Library is part of the Lonesome Pine Regional Library system.

Our Blizzard

2009-12-22T11:55:00.001-05:00

A terrible snow storm ravaged Southwest Virginia Friday, December 18. As a result, Saturday's book signing was cancelled.

On a personal note, we lost power and phone Friday night and, as of today, Tuesday, still do not have it. I am a snowstorm refugee, staying with relatives. I washed my hair at work this morning. We may not have power until Christmas or later.

Ah, a story must come of this.

Neva's new web site

2009-12-14T12:27:00.001-05:00

I have a brand new web site. There you’ll find pictures of my family, pets, and book signings. You’ll also learn more about my secod book.

Check it out: www.nevabryan.com.

Excerpt from St. Peter's Monsters

2009-12-02T12:55:00.000-05:00

Wren remembered the way the water had felt the night she fell in the flooding creek. It had carried her away and covered her until the world grew dim and distant. That seemed a good thing to her now, to be far away from the world. She climbed up on the bridge and pivoted so that her legs hung over the side.

She let her purse dangle between her legs a moment, then dropped it and watched it disappear beneath the current. That was easy, she thought. She looked up at the sky, at the stars. They’re not really angels.

St. Peter's Monsters recognized for creativity and originality

2009-10-21T12:43:00.000-04:00

Independent Publisher Online has made St. Peter's Monsters a highlighted title.

This means IPO recognizes it as one of the best of the books received and reviewed by its editorial staff.

These books are honored each month for exhibiting superior levels of creativity, originality, and high standards of design and production quality.

Now I'm on Twitter

2009-10-21T10:26:00.000-04:00

Check out my tweets here.

http://twitter.com/nevabryan

Martinsville TV interview about my book

2009-09-22T15:00:00.000-04:00

Hal Hubener is an excellent interviewer. He actually read the book and asked in-depth questions. I was pleasantly surprised.

Cover to Cover 108:Neva Bryan
episode_url
Here’s the link: <http://www.channels.com/episodes/show/6345442/Cover-to-Cover-108-Neva-Bryan>

Visit Channels.com <http://www.channels.com> to subscribe to video feeds from all over the Web.

Enter my contest and win a basket of my favorite things:

2009-09-11T13:27:00.000-04:00

Enter my contest and win a basket of my favorite things:

A necklace hand-beaded and donated by Leah Lawson: natural stone, quartz, swaro crystals, and sterling clasp.

A Clinch River Farmers Market T-Shirt donated by Lou Wallace.

A music CD donated and signed by the artist, Charlie Engle: Out of the Groove.

A book of poetry donated and signed by the author, Rita Quillen: Her Secret Dream.

Scented soap, hand made by Chastity Jenkins, Scents & Virtues.

A book donated by Frank Kilgore and Stacy Fowler Horton called The Clinch River: A World-Class Treasure.

A Lord of the Rings movie glass goblet.

A $5 gift certificate for cupcakes donated by Babycakes Cupcakery in Abingdon, VA.

A sunflower and bee address book.

A gingerbread-scented candle in a tin.

A signed copy of St. Peter’s Monsters donated by yours truly.

How to Enter

I have hidden ten lines from my book on the pages of my web site (www.nevabryan.com).

2 are located on the Buy the Book page. 2 are located on the What Readers Say page. 1 is located on the Video Trailer page. 1 is located on the Author’s Bio page. 2 are located on the Appearances page. 1 is located on the Publications page. 1 is located on the Contacts page.

Copy and paste all ten lines in the body of an e-mail and send it to me at the following email address:

neva@nevabryan.com

Be sure to paste your answer in the body of the email and do not include it as an attachment. Entitle your message Neva’s Favorite Things Contest.

Include your name, working phone number, mailing address, and working e-mail address in the body of the message.

One entry per person per e-mail address, please.

One winner’s name will be drawn from correct entries.

I will accept entries through noon, September 30, 2009. Detailed contest rules are below.

Contest Guidelines

No Purchase Necessary.

The answers to Neva’s contest can be found on www.nevabryan.com.

Must be at least 18 years old to enter contest.

You must include ALL pieces of information requested, or your entry is incomplete. Winners will be chosen at random from all correct and complete entries. International entries are NOT accepted.

Only entries received through nevabryan.com will be considered eligible. Odds of winning are dependent upon number of eligible entries received. Drawing governed by laws of the state of Virginia.

Contest accepts only one entry per person and only one entry per e-mail account. Duplicate entries will be voided. In the event of a dispute over the identity of an online entrant, entry will be deemed submitted by the holder of the e-mail account.

Use of automated devices is not valid for entry.

Electronic entries must be received by deadline noted on specific contest page.

Winner[s] will be notified by e-mail within 30 days of the drawing and names may or may not get posted to this website. All winner name listings will be name and city of residence only so as to protect the privacy of the winner.

Neva Bryan will not share entrant information with any third parties, except as required by law. Entry constitutes permission (except where prohibited by law) to use the winner’s name, hometown, and any text submitted for purposes of Neva’s advertising and promotion without further compensation. Neva Bryan may contact entrants in the future with information she feels may be of interest.

Any prize or prize notification returned to the sponsor as undeliverable will result in the awarding of that prize to an alternate winner. Substitution for any prize may be necessary due to unavailability, in which case a comparable prize of equal or greater value will be awarded. Sorry, no cash equivalent.

Please note that while Neva does read all your entries, she is unable to respond personally to them.

Neva Bryan, nevabryan.com, Brighid Editions, or the web host shall NOT be held responsible for technical failures in entry transmission, or for any damage to participant’s computer occasioned by participation in this contest/promotion or downloading any information necessary to participate in the promotion.

Not eligible to enter contest: Employees and contractors of any of Neva Bryan’s/Brighid Editions’/nevabryan.com’s contracted publishers, agents, and/or hired contractors (web design, publicists, printers, distributors, etc.) and affiliated companies and members of those employees’/contractors’ immediate families; individuals and companies that donated items for the prize.

Neva Bryan reserves the right to cancel the contest/sweepstakes if it becomes technically corrupted.

Winner will be notified by mail, e-mail or telephone within 30 days of the drawing.

All prize winners will be announced on nevabryan.com within 90 days of the close of the contest. All winner name listings will be first name and last initial and city of residence only so as to protect the privacy of the winner. Winner[s] is responsible for all applicable taxes.

All entries comply with the following: in no way, straightforward or implied, does any written submission constitute or indicate any collaboration between entrant and Neva Bryan, present or future. All submissions become the sole property of Neva Bryan.

Appearances

2009-08-06T09:36:00.001-04:00

Southwest Virginia Museum, Big Stone Gap, VA, August 8, 1:00 PM

YWCA, Bristol, TN, September 17, Noon

Coffee Depot, Christiansburg, VA, September 19, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM

Java J’s Downtown, Bristol, VA, October 1, 7:00 PM

Sundial Books, Chincoteague, VA (signing only), October 10, 6:00 PM

Wise Public Library, Wise, VA, October 15, 6:30 PM

Homecraft Days, Big Stone Gap, VA, October 17-18, 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM

J. Fred Matthews Memorial Library, St. Paul, VA, November 7, 10:00 AM – Memoir Writing Workshop

Tales of the Lonesome Pine Bookstore, Big Stone Gap, VA, November 13, 7:00 PM – Memoir Writing Workshop

Hearthside Books, Bluefield, WV, December 19, Time TBA

Writing Exercise for All You Creative Types

2009-08-04T10:28:00.000-04:00

OK, writers. Here’s a stimulating exercise for you.

The next time you go on a trip, write down interesting street names and community names that you discover. Take those names and create a story or poem using them.

Below are street names I found on a recent trip. Feel free to plunder them. I think they would be good used in a child’s poem or story.

· Goose Market
· Fairystone
· Rock Castle
· Indigo Mountain
· Lemon Tree
· Cloud Break
· Goblintown
· Ironbelt

(Tolkien would have liked the proximity of those last two to each other. Very fitting.)

Ready. Set. Write!!!

Literary Readings: Does a small audience curb your enthusiasm?

2009-07-29T21:30:00.000-04:00

Recently a writer I know remarked on his deep disappointment that so few people had shown up for one of his readings. He said he felt “pathetic” and mentioned low book sales.

I advised him to treat three attendees the same as he would have treated 300 and it would still be rewarding.

He agreed that he always mustered genuine enthusiasm for the audience no matter the size, but admitted that he did not feel as gratified when there were fewer attendees.

I would argue that size doesn’t matter. (Get your mind out of the gutter.) I’ve spoken to standing-room only crowds and to an audience of one. Both were satisfying, but in different ways.

When I read to a room full of people, there’s an energy there that rouses the performer in me. It’s fun to read the different expressions on the faces in the crowd. They give me cues as to how to proceed. It’s large-scale interactivity.

On the other hand, when I’ve had only one person show up to a reading, I find myself connecting on a deeper level with that individual. It’s only happened to me twice, but both times I did the same thing. I came out from behind the podium, pulled up a chair to face the visitor, and gave the reading. Afterwards we sat and chatted: small-scale interactivity, but very meaningful.

On one of these occasions the attendee told me that I was very likeable. It tickled her to death that I sat down with her to read and talk.

While literary readings are great opportunities to sell books, I don’t look at them as serving just that purpose. To do so is to diminish the importance of the spoken word.

Yes, I want to sell books. However, I also want to enjoy the shared social literary experience.

The act of reading a book is one of isolation and interpretation. When I’m allowed to read to an audience – even an audience of one – I insert myself into someone else’s world temporarily. And, hopefully, I provide clarity to the story. I give it a voice.

Neva Bryan, author of St. Peter's Monsters - a novel.

Cover to Cover Interview

2009-07-29T11:00:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Hal Hubener, director of Blue Ridge Regional Library, for inviting me to be on Cover To Cover, the library's weekly TV program broadcast live on BTW Channel 21 (Comcast Cable), Collinsville. I had a great time and Hal was a wonderful interviewer. He really parsed the book. I was impressed!

What Readers Say about St. Peter's Monsters

2009-07-21T13:09:00.000-04:00

“I loved the flow of your book. You jumped around in time so seamlessly. Congratulations on a job well done!” — C.O.

“I absolutely loved your book and I read at least four novels a week!” — G.F.

“A great read. Peter and Wren had my heart from the beginning.” — V.H.

“I am becoming so absorbed in your book. I’m loving it!” — A.P.

“The book was very good. It read well.” — B.D.

“It was wonderful! I couldn’t put it down.” — D.C.

“Your book was great . . . waiting for the next one.” — S.B.

“You plot well. I was interested in the events of the story, and I knew, after I had read several pages, that you would keep me interested. I cared about the characters and wanted good things to happen to them.” — C.S.

“St. Peter’s Monsters is a very well written, very captivating and enjoyable book, and one of the very few books that I plan to reread. I have loaned it to three friends who all agree.” — D.B.

“The book was so well written! You are an excellent author and I hope you will continue to write and write and write some more.” — C.R.

“I thought the story was fantastic, cleverly presented, especially the way the chapters transitioned, and wonderfully written. I couldn’t put it down for more than a few minutes.” — C.M.

“It’s one of the best novels I’ve read that uses this area as the frame around the story. You captured the beauty of . . . Southwest Virginia in a love story filled with twists and turns, and an ending that, like a fine dessert, left the reader satisfied. Good work.” — M.A.

“It was a delight to read this book. The characters are well-defined. I hope [other readers] enjoy this book as much as I did.” — P.B.

“I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book and I did not want it to end. Keep up the good writing, and I can’t wait until your next book will be published. Keep writing!!” — P.L.

“It is awesome; it was hard to put down. You are a very gifted author. I love to read and I will be looking forward to your next novel.” — C.R.

“I let a few of my friends read my copy and they are all CRAZY about it!! They loved it and wanted their own copy and some even said they wanted to order one for family/friends.” — K.G.

“I enjoyed your book very much. I worked faster because I could hardly wait to get back to Peter and Wren.” — M.B.

Where to find St. Peter's Monsters, a novel by Neva Bryan

2009-07-10T16:05:00.000-04:00

St. Peter’s Monsters is available at these fine booksellers and retail stores: Joseph Beth, Lexington, KY; Family Drug, Lebanon, VA; Coffee Buy the Book, Pulaski, VA; Wise County Historical Society, Wise, VA; Zazzy’Z, Abingdon, VA; Coffee Depot, Christiansburg, VA; Binding Time Cafe, Martinsville, VA; Kraftin’ Korner, Lebanon, VA; Appalachian Arts Center, Wardell, VA; and Tales of the Lonesome Pine Bookstore, Big Stone Gap, VA.

It is available on-line at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Books-a-Million, Powell’s Books, and Target, as well as in some stores in the chains. It is available through nevabryan.com.

You may order a signed copy via snailmail. Send $14.00 (plus .70 tax if in VA) plus $3.99 for shipping and handling to: Brighid Editions, PO Box 1428, Saint Paul, VA 24283.

Books are always available during the author’s appearances. See her calendar for an event near you.

Publication Date: February 2009

Price: $14.00

Length: 294 pages

Cover Style: 6″X9″ Color Trade Paperback

ISBN: 978-0-615-26391-5

LCCN: 2008910946

St. Peter’s Monsters is the story of Peter Sullivan, a homesick college student teetering on the edge of alcoholism. He discovers bigger monsters than the bottle when a mysterious young woman enters his life. Wren has fled Peter’s beloved Appalachian hills and now he must find out why she is keeping secrets about her past.

As they turn to each other for comfort, they are linked together in a chain of love, tragedy, and murder . . . a chain that binds them when they find themselves back in the haunted shadows of the Virginia coalfields.

Blacksnake

2009-07-10T13:48:00.000-04:00

“Blacksnake.” Jimson Weed, vol. XXIV, new series vol. 8, no. 2 (Fall 2005).

Blacksnake

Coiled in my path like an ampersand.

My heart beats an ellipsis . . .
Punctuates the sentence of my original sin.

Serpent conjunction links me to my base nature.

What was beautiful about you before you came between
Adam & Eve?

The downside of technology in literary criticism

2009-07-02T16:05:00.001-04:00

When author Alice Hoffman read Roberta Silman’s review of her novel The Story Sisters, the author was not pleased. The review wasn’t stellar but certainly it wasn’t crushing. Hoffman, however, chose to respond in less than gracious fashion.

She tweeted nasty comments about Silman and the Boston Globe, and published Silman’s e-mail and phone number. Apparently that last action was meant as a call to arms: Hoffman fans of the world, unite! Tell off this critic!

Having been a Hoffman fan for many years, I do not feel a sense of unity with any other fan who might have chosen to answer that call before the author withdrew the tweets and issued a tepid apologetic statement.

I’m more inclined to be less inclined to read any future Hoffman books. Had she played the proverbial wet duck, she would be a much more sympathetic figure. Instead, she comes off as a hothouse flower.

There’s a danger in using technology as reprisal. Sometimes it backfires. Anyone who’s ever made a drunken phone call to an ex in the middle of the night knows how it works. Technology used in the heat of the moment equals regret, regret, regret.

Book Signing: Coffee Buy the Book

2009-06-30T15:27:00.000-04:00

I'll be signing copies of St. Peter's Monsters on Saturday, July 4 from 11 AM to 2 PM at Coffee Buy the Book, Pulaski, Va.

Autumn Sacrifice: a pantoum

2009-06-26T13:36:00.000-04:00

Mara mentioned villanelles at Spoken Word last weekend. Here's a form I like: the pantoum.

It is a series of quatrains; the second and fourth lines of each stanza are repeated as the first and third lines of the next. This pattern continues until the final stanza, which differs in the repeating pattern.

AUTUMN SACRIFICE

Holy ghost mist
Walks on water
In morning’s sacred hour.
Autumn hovers above,

Walks on water
In reflections of the sky.
Autumn hovers above,
Mild, then meek, in wind.

In reflections of the sky
Leaves deny death.
Mild, then meek, in wind,
Branches scratch testaments.

Leaves deny death,
But frosty breath withers.
Branches scratch testaments.
Sun draws blood,

But frosty breath withers
Holy ghost mist.
Sun draws blood
In morning’s sacred hour.

“Autumn Sacrifice.” Poetry. 2006 Explorations, MECC, Third Place.

Cinquains

2009-06-17T12:55:00.000-04:00

Cinquains are five-line poems popularized by Adelaide Crapsey. She did not invent the five-line poem, but instead re-invented it based on the simplicity of the haiku. One of the most common Crapsey cinquains follows this pattern: The first line has 1 word, the second 3, the third 5, the fourth 4, and the fifth 2.

Because it is so restrictive -- limiting the poet to few words -- the cinquain can be challenging. While the form is not a favorite in American poetry, it is lovely when mastered.

I wrote this cinquain a few years ago. It utilizes the word pattern 1, 3, 5, 4, 2 and the syllable pattern 2, 4, 6, 8, 2.

“Sumac.” Clinch Mountain Review (2006). Author: Neva Bryan. Editor: Warren Harris.

SUMAC

Sumac,
Fuzzy head bent,
Reminds me where I am:
Appalachia, backbone worn down
With grief.

We All Live Downstream: Writings about Mountaintop Removal

2009-06-11T10:33:00.000-04:00

I'm excited to have my work appear in the book anthology We All Live Downstream alongside work by:

• Earl Hamner (creator of the Waltons)
• Ashley Judd
• Robert Kennedy Jr.
• Wendell Berry
• Bobbie Ann Mason
• Ann Pancake
• Jean Ritchie
• Silas House
• Hal Crowther
• Jeff Biggers
• Denise Giardina
• Pamela Duncan
• Many other fine writers and performers.

We All Live Downstream is a multi-genre anthology of noted authors and young writers speaking out against mountaintop removal coal mining. There is the fifth-grader who vows to fight the destruction until he's "laid in the ground," the college student who recalls her shock and heartbreak at first seeing a mountaintop removal site, the best-selling novelist who believes that "to destroy mountains is to spit in the face of God." This startling collection includes writers from 17 states and features material from celebrated artists and activists such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Wendell Berry, Earl Hamner, Ashley Judd, Silas House, Denise Giardina, Erik Reece, Bobbie Ann Mason, Bob Edwards, Penny Loeb, Hal Crowther, Jean Ritchie, Terry Tempest Williams, Jeff Biggers, Ann Pancake, George Ella Lyon, Ben Sollee and many more. Edited by journalist & activist Jason Howard (coauthor of Something's Rising), this book presents a rallying chorus of dissent against a reckless industry and drives home the point that energy (particularly domestic coal) is everyone's issue … not only at the source but all the way "downstream."

(www.MotesBooks.com)

News in Print - The Editorial Department

2009-06-10T12:25:00.000-04:00

Article on The Editorial Department's website about St. Peter's Monsters.

Click here.

Excerpt:

"Neva worked with TED Managing Editor Jesse Steele to make her book ready for publication, and while editing Jesse absolutely fell in love with Neva's evocative prose and powerful characters."

"Jesse was thrilled to be working on such a gorgeous novel and found herself thinking about Wren and Peter long after the work was done. "

What Readers Say about St. Peter's Monsters

2009-06-08T12:54:00.000-04:00

“It’s one of the best novels I’ve read that uses this area as the frame around the story. You captured the beauty of . . . Southwest Virginia in a love story filled with twists and turns, and an ending that, like a fine dessert, left the reader satisfied. Good work.” — M.A.

“The book was so well written! You are an excellent author and I hope you will continue to write and write and write some more. This was the first book I have read in a long time that kept my interest so well that I did not fall asleep after reading 4 paragraphs.” — C.R.

“It was wonderful! I couldn’t put it down. I was reading it every chance I got. The story left me with a great sense of hope. I missed reading it after I had finished.” — D.C.

“It was a delight to read this book. The characters are well-defined. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did.” — P.B.

“I absolutely loved your book and I read at least four novels a week!” — G.F.

“It is awesome; it was hard to put down. You are a very gifted author. I love to read and I will be looking forward to your next novel.” — C.R.

“I am becoming so absorbed in your book. I’m loving it!” — A.P.

“I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book and I did not want it to end. Keep up the good writing, and I can’t wait until your next book will be published. Keep writing!!” — P.L.

“The book was very good. It read well. The best phrase: ‘Home is not a place, it’s people . . . people who love you.’” — B.D.

“I enjoyed your book very much. I worked faster because I could hardly wait to get back to Peter and Wren.” — M.B.

“I loved the flow of your book. You jumped around in time so seamlessly. I also loved the way you used newspaper clippings to cover a broad period of time. Again, congratulations on a job well done!” — C.O.

“I let a few of my friends read my copy and they are all CRAZY about it!! They loved it and wanted their own copy and some even said they wanted to order one for family/friends.” — K.G.

Sawmill Boys Excerpt

2009-06-04T09:46:00.000-04:00

Excerpt from “Sawmill Boys.” Appalachian Heritage, vol. 34, no. 4 (Fall 2006).

For more information about Appalachian Heritage, Berea College's literary journal, and to order back issues, visit http://community.berea.edu/appalachianheritage/

by Neva Bryan

"Where there’s loggers, there’s bound to be sawmill boys.”

A sawmill boy can take a 4X4 between the eyes that’ll lay him out flat on his ass and then get back up to finish his workday. They all wear a strange cologne of diesel fuel, hydraulic fluid, and cigarette smoke. Sawdust trails them like breadcrumbs for the lost. They’re lean, with knotty arms and hard faces, but their eyes are dreamy.

Wendell, my ex-husband, was a sawmill boy. I remember the first time I saw him, more than five years ago. He was coming out of the ABC store with a bottle of Jack Daniels tucked under his arm. He had that sawmill boy look – lean and hard – but he was dressed to party: Dark Side of the Moon t-shirt, faded jeans, black and silver biker boots.

His fair skin was ruddy from working outside all day. When I got close I saw that his knuckles were skinned, scabbed, and scarred . . . a perpetual state for sawmill boys, I learned later. At least he had all his fingers.

When he cocked his head at me and grinned, I saw a slight gap between his two front teeth. As he smiled, his eyes darkened from coffee-and-cream to pure black liquid. His hair was the color of my Granny’s apple butter; I thought how sweet it would be to free it from its tight ponytail and watch it tumble down around me. Just looking at him made me hungry.

Before I knew it, Wendell and I sat on the bank of the Clinch River sharing Jack and naming stars. By turns he was raunchy and sweet, sad and funny, goofy and sexy. I gave up to him with an immediacy – an urgency – that was quite foreign to me. It seems I had taken a 4X4 right between the eyes. Wendell Kennedy was a splinter who had worked his way straight into my heart.

Explain your book title

2009-06-03T16:10:00.000-04:00

The title came to me like phrases or entire lines of poetry sometimes come to me: it just popped into my head while I was driving. I get my best ideas at other inconvenient times, too, like when I’m in the shower, in a business meeting, or just at the edge of sleep.

I had played around with several other titles but none of them seemed to fit. I liked St. Peter’s Monsters immediately.

Peter, the title character, reminds me of the disciple we now name St. Peter. My character is a good person but all too human. He wants to do the right thing, wants to be the hero, and has good intentions, but he messes up often.

“Monsters” is fitting because Peter faces several kinds throughout the novel. He battles alcoholism and divorce. He fights homesickness for the Appalachian Mountains and the ugly stereotyping those of us from this region face. He encounters Wren’s monsters.

Some people have found the title confusing, supposing it means the book is a horror story. I guess that’s the downfall of letting my literary sense override my marketing skills.

So, writers, what’s your take on titles?

Nothing ever happens here

2009-06-01T11:53:00.000-04:00

My first book, St. Peter’s Monsters, is set in and around St. Paul and Castlewood, my home towns. When

people from the area find out, they say “nothing ever happens here.”

I say, “Something is always happening.”

Your duty is to take the time to notice it.

Think about it. At any given moment, a woman is giving birth (or a man is working on the conception). Someone else is dying. Another person is lying or stealing or – not very often – killing. Down the street, couples are worrying about the kids and the bills. Families are enjoying dinner. Boyfriends and girlfriends are fighting. Businesses are making money . . . or losing it. A mother is crying. Teenagers are gossiping, texting, sexting. Children are playing. A wife has been hit. Another has been hugged. A man is praying. A baby is laughing. A young person is studying.

The very fact that we’re breathing means something is happening!

Yes, my book is fiction. The things that happen in it are not real. That doesn’t mean real life in my town is any less dramatic than the stories I’ve created.

It seems we believe that what happens to each of us every day is not noteworthy because it happens to US . . . EVERY DAY. We find our own lives boring.

I challenge you to take the time to notice what’s happening within you and outside you. Notice life!

My Town

This is my town. At St. Paul’s edge, ducks flank the downy banks of Oxbow Lake. Poplars, maples and cedars shade its mile-long trail. On this Friday evening, the sun touches only treetops. I find a rock outcrop and soak up its heat like a lizard. In late September, the mountains hunch down around us and spread their blue shadows until the air grows cold.

Summer’s weariness is apparent here. A drought has left foliage brown. A single withered leaf floats on the lake’s current, spinning in the wake of a line of ducks. They paddle by me, their tails jacked up in the air, their feet pumping the dark water. The leader quacks orders and the sound makes me think of old men laughing at a dirty joke.

The birds waddle toward a family perched on a bench. The man removes his baseball cap and shoos them away from his child. The little girl tosses a piece of bread to the ducks, screaming with delight when they gobble the treat. When her mother tries to pull her to the car, she cries.

“I’m going to drag you if you don’t come on!” the woman threatens. The father stumps up the wooden stairs swinging his arms slow and wide. For a moment, the scent of cigarette smoke lingers in the air, before a gentle wind whisks it into the mercury sky.

In the distance, a coal truck’s Jake brakes punctuate the air with a shrill ellipsis. The driver is shifting gears as he prepares to drop his last load. That coal will go out of Wise County’s hills on a train, the one I hear sounding its horn now. The clatter of its wheels drowns the chatter of a squirrel somewhere above me.

I cruise through St. Paul. Many of my town’s thousand residents appear outside. “Better enjoy these last warm days,” a heavyset woman calls out. I shiver at the thought of coal-blackened snow.

Three teenage boys rib each other as they walk toward the high school grounds. They look like a small army: black t-shirts, cargo pants and dog tags. The football field’s loudspeakers echo across town as the announcer prepares for the game.

Some of us forgo Friday night lights for other pleasures. An old man carries his guitar into a storefront church. Across the street, a woman sells apples from her truck bed. The golden fruit blushes, looking pretty in stiff white paper sacks. An old woman worries her collar as she negotiates price with the vendor. She rests her hand on her paunch as if she is pregnant.

I pass a clump of political signs posted in an empty lot. A discarded lottery ticket flutters in the street. On a backstreet, kids congregate in muscle cars. As I pass, I hear the low, lazy laugh of a young man. It’s a sound full of desire and life and audacity.

I wonder if he’s ever known defeat or the frailty of the soul at 2 a.m.

The Magic of Writing

2009-05-28T09:30:00.001-04:00

"So tell me about your current writing project." "What's your next book about?"

Nothing breaks me out into a cold sweat faster than statements and questions like these. Why?

Superstition.

Normally I don't subscribe to the nonsense of superstitions. However, I am a bit quirky when it comes to talking about my current and future writing projects. A dreadful feeling falls across me when I discuss what I haven't finished. I'm certain that discussing works in progress jinxes them.

I heard author Silas House say that writing is a supernatural thing. I believe this. It's a lot of hard work plus a little magic.

Magic transforms the writer's words, gives them substance, imbues them with meaning. That transubstantiation is the completion of the spell. If you talk about your writing before the spell is complete, it loses its power.

So, if I seem evasive when you ask me about my next book, don't dig. I'm trying to retain the mystery and the magic of the process. Believe me, the book will be better for it!

Plumb Alley Day

2009-05-22T11:13:00.000-04:00

Visit my tent at Abingdon's Plumb Alley Day, Saturday, May 23, all day. I'll be somewhere in the vicinity of Hurt & Associates and 159 W. Main Street.

Taylor Books Meet-n-Greet the Author

2009-05-18T10:00:00.000-04:00

I’ll be at Taylor Books in Charleston, WV, on Thursday, May 21, from 10 AM to 2 PM.

Tell your friends and family in the area to come chat with the author of St. Peter’s Monsters.

Accents Radio Show - A reading of my poem

2009-05-17T17:50:00.000-04:00

Listen to the recording of Frank X. Walker's interview on Accents http://www.katerinaklemer.com/audio/accents_051509.mp3. Also listen for my poem, Anoint Me, to be read. It starts at about 1 min 26 seconds into the recording. This is WRFL Lexington.

Book Trailer Video for St. Peter's Monsters

2009-05-14T12:57:00.000-04:00

Book Trailer Video for St. Peter's Monsters.

Neva’s Poem to be read on WRFL-FM Lexington May 15

2009-05-14T12:25:00.000-04:00

Listen to Accents every Friday @ 2pm EST on WRFL 88.1 FM Lexington or stream live from wrfl.fm.

This Friday, May 15, they’ll be reading a poem of mine, “Anoint Me.”

Also, the guest that day will be poet Frank X. Walker.

Katerina Stoykova-Klemer is the host.

Let me know what you think!

2009-05-11T15:51:00.001-04:00

test

How much of your book is real? Autobiographical elements in fiction.

2009-05-11T12:43:00.000-04:00

Sometimes people who read my first novel -- St. Peter’s Monsters -- come back to me wanting to know if part of the book, or all of it, is real.

“Is the character Wren based on you?” they ask. “Who is Peter, really?” “Where is Pawpaw Ridge?”

Initially I found these inquiries hurtful. Don’t they think I have enough imagination to come up with an intriguing story and realistic characters? Now I’ve come to realize that readers don’t mean to offend me when they ask these kinds of questions. In fact, I’ve wondered the same thing about authors of my favorite fiction.

When I read a Rita Mae Brown story and recognize part of Charlottesville, it’s exciting to me. I can say, “Hey, I’ve been there or I’ve done that!” The same thing happens when I read a Lee Smith book and identify with a meal she’s described or a saying that’s unique to Southwest Virginia. All writers incorporate some of their life experiences into their work.

When we become immersed in a good book and develop a relationship with its characters, then part of us wants it to be real. To believe that the book is based on real people and events makes it more satisfying, somehow. The reader begins to take ownership of the story.

“How much of your book is real?” Now when a curious reader questions me, I smile. The question shows me that I’ve expressed in my writing some universal element. I’ve connected with another human being.

What could be better?

For more information about St. Peter’s Monsters and where to buy it, visit www.nevabryan.com.

Where to find St. Peter's Monsters, a novel by Neva Bryan

2009-04-28T10:43:00.000-04:00

St. Peter’s Monsters is available at independent booksellers, including Wise County Historical Society, Wise, VA; Zazzy’Z, Abingdon, VA; Binding Time Cafe, Martinsville, VA; Joseph Beth, Lexington, KY; Appalachian Arts Center, Wardell, VA; and Tales of the Lonesome Pine Bookstore, Big Stone Gap, VA. It will be available at Kraftin Korner, Lebanon, VA; and Cozy Corner, Whitesburg, KY soon.

It is available on-line at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Books-a-Million, and Target, as well as in some stores in these chains. It is available through nevabryan.com.

You may order a signed copy via snailmail. Send $14.00 (plus .70 tax if in VA) plus $3.99 for shipping and handling to: Brighid Editions, PO Box 1428, Saint Paul, VA 24283.

Books are always available during the author’s appearances. See her calendar for an event near you.

Publication Date: February 2009

Price: $14.00

Length: 294 pages

Cover Style: 6″X9″ Color Trade Paperback

ISBN: 978-0-615-26391-5

LCCN: 2008910946

St. Peter's Monsters now available for purchase

2009-02-11T13:20:00.000-05:00

Brighid Editions is pleased to announce the publication of St. Peter's Monsters, Neva Bryan's debut novel. Readers have praised Ms. Bryan for writing with an "evocative sense of place and a gentle style" and creating "delicately drawn" characters.

St. Peter's Monsters is the story of Peter Sullivan, a homesick college student teetering on the edge of alcoholism. He discovers bigger monsters than the bottle when a mysterious young woman enters his life. Wren has fled Peter's beloved Appalachian hills and now he must find out why she is keeping secrets about her past. As they turn to each other for comfort, they are linked together in a chain of love, tragedy, and murder . . . a chain that binds them when they find themselves back in the haunted shadows of the Virginia coalfields.

The book is available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

To be included on our e-mail list for updates on the book's publication, and for a brief excerpt, please reply to brighideditions@gmail.com.

Brighid Editions is an independent literary publisher dedicated to the promotion of strong storytelling. We publish fiction that illuminates the human condition while entertaining the reader.

Brighid Editions is named for Brighid, a Gaelic goddess of poetry, fire, and fertility. We can think of no better representation than one that acknowledges the value of words, the spark of creativity, and the power of the prolific. Our logo is based on Crosóg Brighde, St. Brigid's Cross.
For more information, please contact brighideditions@gmail.com.

Dirty Secret

2008-05-19T08:47:00.001-04:00

DIRTY SECRET

On July days, we played noon till night.
Stayed in the woods.
Climbed the hill behind Granny’s house.
Dug up treasures in the briar patch:
Decapitated dolls, deflated basketballs, rusty cans.

One day we missed Sam.
Thought he might be caught in the patch –
A bad match for Brer Rabbit –
But the thicket offered only barbed promises.

We finally found him behind the barn,
Shorts and shoes abandoned in the grass,
Naked,
Up to his neck in a mud hole.

Sweet dirt filled every pore,
Soothed his sore feet,
Cooled his hot skin.

Dismayed at his sin displayed,
He leaped from his bath
And ran home, clay caked
In every nook and cranny.

Granny never blinked an eye.

“Dirty Secret.” Poetry. 2006 Explorations, MECC, Honorable Mention.

Housecleaning

2008-05-14T10:47:00.000-04:00

HOUSECLEANING

I set my mop bucket
beneath the downspout
so grit that sits at
bucket’s bottom
returns to earth
around my house.

Carried in on work boots and bare feet:
pine needles, walnut leaves, grass,
gravel, mulch, and mud.
Pulled from outside in.

I wipe away the grime of life:
disappointment, anger, grief, and fear.
Pushed from inside out.

Now the stringy-headed mop
propped on the porch
surveys my mess,
while I polish my joy.

“Housecleaning.” Jimson Weed, vol. XXV, new series vol. 9, no. 2 (Fall 2006).

Old Logging Road

2008-05-06T11:19:00.001-04:00

OLD LOGGING ROAD

Leaving behind lawyers and you,
I go home.

An old logging road sidles
around the mountain
behind our desolate house.
I trudge through mud to the top
and eye the rapescape
of amputated limbs,
knotty torsos,
exposed hearts -- ringed to count the years.

Here scars are deep gashes
in abandoned land.
Poison ivy and wild vines
fill empty spaces.

Stumbling, I reach out to steady myself
and clutch a blackberry switch.
Thorns pierce my palm,
draw red beads to the surface.

Cursing,
I rub blood across my barren belly
and weep for this wasteland.

"Old Logging Road." Bluestone Review (Spring 2008).

Blacksnake

2008-05-05T20:13:00.000-04:00

Blacksnake

Coiled in my path like an ampersand.

My heart beats an ellipsis . . .
Punctuates the sentence of my original sin.
Serpent conjunction links me to my base nature.

What was beautiful about you before you came between
Adam & Eve?

“Blacksnake.” Jimson Weed, vol. XXIV, new series vol. 8, no. 2 (Fall 2005).

"Lonely Hollow" Excerpt

2008-05-05T08:32:00.000-04:00

Sherwood Anderson Short Story Contest, 2nd Place, 2003.

The boy followed his mother to the kitchen. She pulled a round tub from the pantry and set it in the middle of the kitchen floor. She poured two kettles of hot water into the tub while Allen ran some cold water into a large pan. He poured it into the tub. Janie handed him a towel, a wash cloth and some soap. She laid clean clothes across a kitchen chair and left the room.

Allen stripped and stepped into the tub. He sat down, Indian-style, with his legs crossed. Water dribbled back into the tub as he washed. Flick-flick: he glanced up and saw a moth hitting the naked light bulb. He could hear the creaking of the ironing board in the living room. He felt ill at ease and finished as fast as he could.

He dried and dressed, and then he emptied the tub in the yard. He turned it over and leaned it against the side of the house to dry. For a while he sat on the porch and listened to the pulsing symphony of crickets. When he went inside, his mother was still ironing. A stiff line of shirts hung on a rack.

"Why are you fixin' so many clothes?" he asked.

Janie shrugged, but she didn't look up from her work. "Might as well get'em done now while I've got the chance."

Allen rubbed the back of his neck and stared at his mother. She said nothing more, so he padded down the hall and climbed into bed. He lay a long time without sleeping, listening to his mother work. The furious creak of the ironing board sounded like a monster crawling through the house.

Seven Year Itch

2008-05-01T20:01:00.000-04:00

SEVEN YEAR ITCH

Husband, I’ve worn you for so long
you’re a little ragged around the edges,
but soft and comfortable as a T-shirt.
So Carolina’s a surprise.

You walk on the shore while I sleep.
Steeped in salty mist, skin cold,
you hold me when you return, but
I don’t know this grey-eyed selchie
who’s slipped between my sheets.
Sleek, hair slicked against your skull,
you seduce me, reduce me to blood and muscle.
You take my affection in a new direction.

I think I understand now why
seven represents perfection.

"Seven Year Itch." Jimson Weed, vol. XXV, new series vol. 9, no. 2 (Fall 2006).

Appalachia, Man: Can you dig it?

2008-05-01T13:06:00.000-04:00

APPALACHIA, MAN: CAN YOU DIG IT?

Turn a furrow and find
arrowheads, iridescent beetles,
pop bottles, decapitated dolls,
carbide lamps.

Dig deeper.

Beneath Wal-Mart’s parking lot
find the wisp of a tobacco field.
At the DQ, catch the milky ghost
of a farmer’s wife.

Look beyond Cracker Barrel,
the car dealership,
the call center,
the prison.

Find hard-faced boys
with anthracite eyes,
who were too wise too soon,
schooled in hell’s shafts,
seams and slack.

Dig deeper.

Don’t discard the shards.

Can you dig it?

"Appalachia Man: Can You Dig It?" A! Magazine for the Arts, vol. 15, no. 4. (April 2008).

http://artsmagazine.info/

Partypooper

2008-04-30T11:09:00.000-04:00

PARTYPOOPER

Cousin Steph's birthday party:
She was five; I was four.

Dark dining room, oak table crammed with kids:
My elbows, polarized points, protected me from strangers.

Bingo cards, piles of pinto beans.
I hung my head and ignored the drone:
B29 . . . N32 . . . G13 . . . .

The boy beside me placed a bean on one of my squares, O9.
Fat teardrops rolled down my face, landed on the bean, magnified its spots.

"I'll give you something to cry about," Mom said.
She dragged me to the kitchen.

Light streamed through windows.
Its yellow diagonals slashed white walls.

Resting my cheek against the cool table,
I rubbed smooth Formica and counted its golden specks.
Picked petals from my icing, ate ice cream,
And smiled at my solitary confinement.

"Partypooper." Poetry. 2005 Lonesome Pine Poetry Contest, Third Place.

Strawberry Season

2008-04-29T11:41:00.000-04:00

STRAWBERRY SEASON

I visit farms
Where you strut through fields
You’ll never own.

Your wife and kids look like you:
Jeans, plaid shirts, long black hair.
Quick-fingered, they pick strawberries.

At home, I hull fat berries,
Shock them with ice water,
Add sugar and cream
To cut the tart zing.

I gorge myself,
Run my thumb across my stained lips,
My mouth as red as your fingertips.

There is dirt on your hands,
And no matter where you stand,
Sun sears your skin.

Do you entertain bitter thoughts
As you plop sweet, red drops
Into your bucket?

Or is it this simple?

After strawberry season,
Peaches come . . .
Then tomatoes.

“Strawberry Season.” Jimson Weed, vol. XXV, new series vol. 9, no. 1 (Spring 2006).

Stings

2008-04-28T12:35:00.000-04:00

STINGS

Yellow jacket nest
Smack dab in the middle of a meadow
On Granddad’s farm.

Barbs . . . darts . . . arrows . . .
Pierced the flesh in the girl’s shorts,
The tender skin beneath her blouse.

Granny removed her clothes,
Exposed welts bigger than
The budding breasts that shamed the eleven-year-old.

The child had posed before her bedroom mirror,
Paper wadded in her shirt,
Until Mom caught her.

Later her father flung open the door,
Tossed two cups
Cut from a Styrofoam egg carton

And laughed.

His poison pricked her
Worse than a thousand
Yellow jacket stings.

“Stings.” Jimson Weed, vol. XXV, new series vol. 9, no. 1 (Spring 2006).

Where I'm From

2008-04-27T11:05:00.001-04:00

WHERE I’M FROM
For George Ella Lyon

I am from porch swings,
Hershey bars and bottles of pop.

From a house of many angles,
high ceilings and slanted floors.

Outhouse lilies, dishwater dahlias,
wanton weeds and gaudy flowers.

I am from greasy suppers and sugar diabetes,
Bryans and Rambos: Romeo and Faye.

From big eaters and bad tempers,
so pitch a hissy when nothing fits.

I’ll give you something to cry about!
and Don’t play with fire or you’ll pee in the bed!

I am from Episcopals and Free Wills,
Presbyterians and Pentecostals,
dinner on the ground and preachers who spit.

From Damascus and St. Paul,
Kentucky-born and Virginia-raised.

The fireplace where my uncle fell --
scars stretch tight now across his back --
and another uncle child who died
years before I was born.

I am from hoarded photos,
shoved in a drawer,
wrinkled young faces
folded against time.

“Where I’m From.” The Bluestone Review (Spring 2007).

Husband (now my ex.)

2008-04-23T12:10:00.000-04:00

(now my ex.)

HUSBAND

You were raw white sugar,
Sweeter than sweet.
Dissolved in my heat,
Thick and sticky,
Buttery rich and brown,
Caramel, melting down.

Now a watched pot:
Steady and slow,
Simmering steam,
Rising above the rim.
Ready to turn up the heat.

“Husband.” Poetry. 2005 Explorations, MECC, First Place.

Pushing Forty

2008-04-19T17:13:00.001-04:00

PUSHING FORTY

I’m no autumn leaf,
Just one in a withered sheaf
Piled on a forest floor.

I’m not a walnut,
Black-hearted and heavy,
A pungent plunge to rot in a heap.

I’m no October cloud,
A white clot in the sky,
Terrible and tenuous as a sigh.

I’ll not turn mealy-mouthed nor sour,
A dour apple, contorted
From hanging too long in shadows.

I’m no doe, frozen in fear,
Stealth in each dear breath
So I’ll hear death creep up on me.

I’ll not dread silver threads
Cast across my head:
Life’s knotted net cannot trap me.

When I shed this skin I’m in,
I’ll leave a husk like a cicada.
Not a perfect replica:

No knobby knees and hollow eyes for me.
I’ll be filled with the
Airy, amber light of possibility.

The rebirth of my worth.
My belief in my ability.
Wisdom of failures and follies.

I’ll not crack when I turn forty,
For when forty pushes me,
I’ll push back.

“Pushing Forty.” Jimson Weed, vol. XXIV, new series vol. 8, no. 2 (Fall 2005).

Autumn Sacrifice - a pantoum

2008-04-15T12:53:00.000-04:00

AUTUMN SACRIFICE

Holy ghost mist
Walks on water
In morning’s sacred hour.
Autumn hovers above,

Walks on water
In reflections of the sky.
Autumn hovers above,
Mild, then meek, in wind.

In reflections of the sky
Leaves deny death.
Mild, then meek, in wind,
Branches scratch testaments.

Leaves deny death,
But frosty breath withers.
Branches scratch testaments.
Sun draws blood,

But frosty breath withers
Holy ghost mist.
Sun draws blood
In morning’s sacred hour.

“Autumn Sacrifice.” Poetry. 2006 Explorations, MECC, Third Place.

"Puttin' Up for Hard Times" Excerpt

2008-04-14T12:59:00.000-04:00

In the summer of 1954, Bull Mountain’s winding road was a well-traveled track of dirt and dark dust. Coal trucks smudged everything in their wake. Every time I took in clothes, I had to exorcise the black demon from them.

One miserable August afternoon, I unclipped laundry from the line and smacked the heavy air with worn towels and sheets. I muttered -- under my breath, of course. It wouldn’t do for a child of the UMWA to be caught cursing coal. My father was worming his way through the earth’s black intestines at that very moment.

“Puttin’ Up for Hard Times.” Jimson Weed, vol. XXIV, new series vol. 8, no. 1 (Spring 2005).

Vast Mysteries

2008-04-11T10:58:00.000-04:00

VAST MYSTERIES:

shells rattle on shore
like discarded bones
of ocean,
gulls track haikus across the sand,
limpid jellyfish parachute below the surf,
but always I turn
away.

Flimsy shores crumble beneath the touch
of sea’s salty fingers
but my mountains stand.

Black-seamed
folds of earth wear
down under steel
and fire and time.

I’d rather waltz
between locust thorns
than tread across dunes.

Bed me down in honeysuckle,
sleep in the blue
bliss of ancient hills.

"Vast Mysteries." A! Magazine for the Arts, vol. 15, no. 4. (April 2008), on-line.

The Pawpaw Tree excerpt

2008-04-10T16:08:00.000-04:00

The family sat on the porch in silence, watching the world fall apart. Lightning raked scars across the air. Hail fell then, in ivory bits that reminded Katie of knucklebones. It seemed that the sky was sloughing off its skin to reveal its skeleton. A wail rose up around them and Jim leaped to his feet, his lips pulled back from his teeth. He pointed, though there was no need. They all saw it.

The funnel emerged from the bank of clouds like the proboscis of some terrible insect. Katie pressed herself against the wall, fearing they would be sucked up the long snout to be devoured by this black dread. Jim grabbed her and pushed her into the kitchen.

“The Pawpaw Tree.” Short Story. 2006 Explorations, MECC, Second Place.

Green Onions

2008-04-08T10:18:00.000-04:00

GREEN ONIONS

Mommy gave me green onions
While I was yet in my high chair.

I’d wrap fat fingers around green blades
And bite white until I cried.

Now, I ask you,
What’s a meal without an onion?

Soup beans and cornbread need
A quarter, a hunk, a slice.

Nice fried with potatoes, too.
Peeled, pickled, or chopped.
Dropped in batter and deep-fried,
Or just caramelized.

Infinite layers of skin,
Thin, veined, translucent as fairy wings.
Rings bring tears to my eyes,
Hot and sweet, like new love.

I go back to the garden for green onions,
Pull their dreadlocked heads from the gritty ground,
And eat them with cold biscuits until my nose runs.

“Green Onions.” Appalachian Journal: A regional studies review, vol. 33, no. 1 (Fall 2005).

Sawmill Boys Excerpt

2008-04-06T21:25:00.000-04:00

Sawmill boys. I liken them to trees because they possess two kinds of beauty. The first kind is in their natural freedom, the beauty of a tree standing tall with its brothers. But when the sawmill gets a hold on them, they develop a second kind of beauty, the kind that comes from being cut down, sawed up, and spit out. Rough cut, splintered, shaped for utility.

A sawmill boy can take a 4X4 between the eyes that’ll lay him out flat on his ass and then get back up to finish his workday. They all wear a strange cologne of diesel fuel, hydraulic fluid, and cigarette smoke. Sawdust trails them like breadcrumbs for the lost. They’re lean, with knotty arms and hard faces, but their eyes are dreamy.

“Sawmill Boys.” Appalachian Heritage, vol. 34, no. 4 (Fall 2006).

Sawmill Burning

2008-04-04T15:34:00.001-04:00

SAWMILL BURNING

Butterflies burn in the purple night.
Gossamer blisters twist,
Fall on our faces,
But it’s only luminous ash
That clings to our wet skin.

In the dark a single spark brings it all down.
Full fuel tank roars a dragon’s wrath.
Sawdust and sheet metal meld.
Flames incinerate uncut logs:
Futile death of trees.

My husband sees his life’s work
Flit and fly across the sky
In unbearable embers.

Glowing orange . . .
Then grey . . .
Now white.
Will it melt on my tongue, like snowflakes?
Or taste salty, like tears?

His sawmill burned three days.
Richard brought me its fused beauty:
A lump of metal and wood,
Silver, porous as coral, eerie.

It sits on a shelf,
Reminds us of destruction.

And resurrection.

“Sawmill Burning.” Jimson Weed, vol. XXV, new series vol. 9, no. 2 (Fall 2006). 2006
Appalachian Writers Association James Still Award for Poetry, Third Place.

Sumac

2008-04-03T15:38:00.001-04:00

SUMAC

Sumac,
Fuzzy head bent,
Reminds me where I am:
Appalachia, backbone worn down
With grief.

“Sumac.” Clinch Mountain Review (2006).

Wise County Man

2008-04-03T15:35:00.000-04:00

WISE COUNTY MAN

Sleep in Sunday sunshine
and calico shadows.

Tomorrow you’ll
bear down on bitter asphalt
and haul another load.

Have your fun Friday:
rumble in parking lots, bars, and back roads,
but come home to me.

Wash away the black fuzz
of diesel and dust,
and we’ll fumble in this dimwitted light
’til our tarnished love sparkles in the dark.

Twine yourself around me:
we are tight as the laces of a steel-toed boot.

“Wise County Man.” The Bluestone Review (Spring 2007).

Neva Bryan

Writing and Publishing Tips Newsletter #2

Writing and publishing tips

Blue Ridge Bookfest

Blue Ridge Bookfest, BRCC, NC, 06/05. Books will be sold thru Malaprops. 50+ authors incl. yours truly. East Flat Rock near Hendersonville. Drop by and visit us. www.blueridgebookfest.org

IPAD, Kindle, Nook, Sony versions on sale for $2.99

Mountaintop removal mining - get the word out

National Poetry Month's Last Day - here's one of mine

New website

Kindle version of St. Peter's Monsters now only 5 bucks

Brighid Editions has released my second book, Sawmill Boys: Poetry & Short Fiction

Poem to be read on radio on March 16

Cover image from latest book

Radio show to feature my poem

Contest winner announced

St. Peter's Monsters now available for Kindle

St. Peter's Monsters, my first book, is now available in a Kindle edition. Go to Amazon to purchase it. Also available in other e-editions (including for Sony and Nook) at Smashwords.com.

Read the first 10% of my ebook for free!

A writing career becomes harder to scale - latimes.com

CONTEST: Name the heroine in my second novel

Why I haven't gone digital with my novel

Tales of the Lonesome Pine Bookstore Offers Free Memoir Writing Class

Reading Tall Tales to Children at the Coeburn Community Library

Our Blizzard

Neva's new web site

Excerpt from St. Peter's Monsters

St. Peter's Monsters recognized for creativity and originality

Now I'm on Twitter

More Reader Reviews of St. Peter's Monsters

Martinsville TV interview about my book

Enter my contest and win a basket of my favorite things:

Appearances

Writing Exercise for All You Creative Types

Literary Readings: Does a small audience curb your enthusiasm?

Cover to Cover Interview

What Readers Say about St. Peter's Monsters

Where to find St. Peter's Monsters, a novel by Neva Bryan

Blacksnake

The downside of technology in literary criticism

Book Signing: Coffee Buy the Book

Autumn Sacrifice: a pantoum

Cinquains

We All Live Downstream: Writings about Mountaintop Removal

News in Print - The Editorial Department

What Readers Say about St. Peter's Monsters

Sawmill Boys Excerpt

Explain your book title

Nothing ever happens here

The Magic of Writing

Plumb Alley Day

Taylor Books Meet-n-Greet the Author

Accents Radio Show - A reading of my poem

Book Trailer Video for St. Peter's Monsters

Neva’s Poem to be read on WRFL-FM Lexington May 15

How much of your book is real? Autobiographical elements in fiction.

Where to find St. Peter's Monsters, a novel by Neva Bryan

St. Peter's Monsters now available for purchase

Dirty Secret

Housecleaning

Old Logging Road

Blacksnake

"Lonely Hollow" Excerpt

Seven Year Itch

Appalachia, Man: Can you dig it?

Partypooper

Strawberry Season

Stings

Where I'm From

Husband (now my ex.)

Pushing Forty

Autumn Sacrifice - a pantoum

"Puttin' Up for Hard Times" Excerpt

Vast Mysteries

The Pawpaw Tree excerpt

Green Onions

Sawmill Boys Excerpt

Sawmill Burning

Sumac

Wise County Man