Megan Abigail Chandler, Charleston Mercury, September 23, 2010

Most of us had parents who taught us to thank our Maker each night as we put our heads on our pillows and drifted off to sleep. Thank him for the sunshine, rain, family, friends and the food on our tables. But thanking him beyond the basics has been the source of blessings for N.B. Baroody and his wife Margaret. They’ve known travel via their work with medical missions, and they’ve known beauty and goodness beyond what most people know in their lifetimes. Because of such benevolence, they thought nothing would be more awesome than using their passions, for which they had gifts and talents, to share with the world. more...

Review by: Ruth Anne Burrell, www.ChristianBookPreviews.com, May 19, 2010

The Unexpected Visitor, complied by N.B. Baroody and M.H. Baroody, is a collection of black and white photos mixed with appropriate quotes, Bible verses, and narration. N.B. Baroody contributed the photography, and his wife Margaret (M.H.) wrote much of the narrative. Throughout this collection of photos, the authors reveal pieces of their own story as a couple. more...

Naseeb and Margaret Baroody found each other late in life. After losing their respective spouses in 1989, they grieved separately and together and eventually built a new life when they married in 1991. As a cardiologist, Naseeb (known to friends as N.B.) traveled around the world on medical mission trips, always with his camera and often with Margaret. After he retired, they put together a book of N.B.'s photography supplemented with text from his wife. more...

We want to shape things, mold things, have a pattern, a purpose and a plan. But life interferes.

Then it is the unexpected visitor, the unguarded moment that does the molding and shaping.

Black-and-white photographs from the Lowcountry and around the globe capture this message in a new book with a devotional narrative. more...

The title for the late N. B. Baroody and his wife Margaret Baroody's book "The Unexpected Visitor" centers around the underpinnings of a pier on a most foggy day.

N. B. sums it up by saying, "It is in God's grace that these images emerge, sometimes in very surprising patterns, people or places. This print is a marvelous example of that grace.

"This photograph was taken during a dense fog, requiring special technical attention to the positioning of the tripod, and the adjustment of the lens. Just as I tripped the shutter, the shore bird walked into the frame, creating the title, 'The Unexpected Visitor,' in my mind. more...

The Florence Regional Arts Alliance Gallery will open “Celebrating N.B. Baroody” from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday.
The 37-work exhibition features silver gelatin photography by the late Dr. Baroody and a special photograph of Baroody in his studio taken by Dewey Ervin.

In addition, the launch of the recently published “Unexpected Visitor” will continue at the opening, and Baroody’s widow, Margaret, who wrote the narrative, will be on hand to sign copies of the book.

Maybe it was the foot-stomping, hand-clapping, praise-house singing and music. Or plates brimming with the earthy foods of the Lowcountry, like field peas with smoked pig tail and sausage and shrimp perloo. Something made people feel mighty good at the Gullah Tribute Luncheon. Friday's event at the BB&T Charleston Wine + Food Festival sprung a impromptu auction for the festival's designated charities, Louie's Kids and Slow Food Charleston. more...

Humphreys.. sees to it that no moss clings to the Charleston murder story. He reveals it to be a Shakespearean love story for the accused.. And through a fictitious New York City reporter who falls in with a beautiful woman and a little hustler from the Jenkins Orphanage, the tale strays well beyond court transcripts. It's not every book that includes a torrid cemetery scene, but somehow it fits the flirtatious grande dame we still know and love as Charleston. The scenarios are as true to the Lowcountry as alligators sunning on rice dikes and the clearly defined racial boundaries that survived the Civil War. more...

Sometimes, facts are the best source of fiction. Batt Humphreys' “Dead Weight,” a new novel set in 1910 Charleston, stems from a tragic true story... Humphreys, a former CBS News senior producer who now lives Charleston, used newspaper and trial accounts to research this story... But he also adds characters. To bring an outsider's perspective, Humphreys creates New York Tribune reporter Hal Hinson, who arrives in town to cover the trial. He also gives Hal a love interest – Randy Dumas, the smart, beautiful woman who also happens to own the city's brothels. more...

More than anything else, a city is an idea. An idea powerful enough to declare itself in iron, timber, and stone, and arrogant enough to push those declarations up against the sky so that the city may cast its own light and shadow among the souls it shelters. A city absorbs the lives of its inhabitants. It outlives them. And it never forgets what it has been. more...

On Sunday, Aug. 28, the "Great Storm of 1911" hit Charleston, S.C., the worst hurricane prior to Hugo in 1989.

Seventeen people were killed. Property losses exceeded $1 million. High tides and winds of 106 miles per hour drove salt water into the low country rice fields, destroying so many dykes that the rice industry never recovered. more...

In Charleston, an author is trying to get officials to say a black man convicted of killing a white clothing store owner in 1911 was railroaded by police desperate to solve the crime.

The Evening Post newspaper proclaimed it "the most dastardly and sensational crime that has happened in Charleston in several years." Investigators questioned a half-dozen blacks and offered a $750 reward but couldn't find a suspect until two weeks later, when the shopkeeper's widow was attacked in the same store. Two white men grabbed Daniel "Nealy" Duncan, who was walking near the store as the woman staggered out. more...

Basing his novel on a true story, author Batt Humphreys jumps into the racial divide that is Charleston, S.C., in 1910.

In "Dead Weight," Humphreys tells of Daniel "Nealy" Duncan, a hard-working, forward-looking young black man who's preparing for his wedding to sweet Ida.

In a perfect case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, Nealy is accused of murdering a Jewish merchant. more...

In the summer of 1910 the Charleston police arrested Daniel Cornelius "Nealy" Duncan, a black man, for the murder of a Jewish merchant. In spite of his court-appointed attorney's Atticus Finch-like efforts, Duncan was found guilty by a kangaroo court and was hanged. By all accounts an upright citizen, Duncan was to be married five days after his alleged crime. He went to his grave calmly declaring his innocence. In Dead Weight, former CBS News producer Batt Humphreys fills the gaps in Duncan's story. By turns a romance, mystery, courtroom drama and history lesson, Dead Weight is a novel that makes the most of its exhaustive research and Humphreys' seemingly natural ability to spin a nail-biting yarn. more...

There once was a man named Daniel Cornelius Duncan. His employer, the baker Rudolph Geilfuss, called him Daniel. His father, friends, and Ida Lampkin, his bride-to-be, called him Nealy.

Police officer W.H. Stanley called him a prisoner. Prosecutor John Peurifoy called him a murderer. The city of Charleston called him condemned. Newspaper reporter Hal Hinson, of the New York Tribune, called him a black messiah. more...

Dead Weight, the true crime story by first-time novelist Batt Humphreys, made its network television debut on The Early Show on CBS the same week the author was honored at three national book awards ceremonies during Book Expo America (BEA) in New York. see video

In the past year, Humphreys is enjoying success with his novel “Dead Weight” and was recently invited to talk about the book on the CBS’s “Early Show..

“One of the anchors is a close friend, read the book and liked it,” Humphreys said. “She thought the story had merit and was worth putting on the air. Getting authors on shows doesn’t happen as much as it used to. There is a perception that people aren’t reading anymore. more...

Mary Ake Smoak on June 13, 2010 at 4:40 pm
"I am surprized that there has not been more attention given to this book. The injustice that happened to Daniel Duncan is haunting, especially when we now know that many people behind bars even today were innocent and not released until the science of DNA freed them. This injustice is easier to digest when placed in a time that seems far away and not applicable to us at this time. I picked this book up on a whim-and I am very glad I did.” more...

It’s interesting… the difference in the writing style of a novel by a long-time news-journalist and that of someone who’s always been a fiction writer. Or at least I think there is.

Both can tell a compelling story, but somehow, there’s an element of fact inherent from the beginning in the way a journalist presents his/her plot. Whether or not this would be recognizable without pre-knowing that the author is/was a news-journalist, of course, I can’t tell you. To me it was the manner, the air, if you will, in the introduction and recording of the data in Batt Humphreys’ award-winning ”Dead Weight” (2009, Joggling Board Press) that I found different and quite compelling. more...

I want to say from the start - I loved this book! The writing just grabs you and sucks you in immediately. The wording is smooth, catchy, witty, yet still with purpose in it's tone.

The story starts with elegant phrasing that could turn dull if continued for a long period of time but by the second page the dialogue starts and you realize what you are reading is a very witty reporter who thinks out loud, making the pretty phrasing of the first page. more...

No matter how serene a town can be, in the blink of an eye, it can turn hideous quick. “Dead Weight” tells the story of how turn-of-the-twentieth-century Charleston, South Carolina gets such a radical change. When murder strikes, racial prejudices flare, as the town is brought into a conflict between its black, white, and Jewish communities. Based on true events, Batt Humphreys crafts a riveting tale that is sure to intrigue and entertain, making “Dead Weight” a top pick.

The Humours of Folly is a brilliant work of photography and poetry, whose journey gives birth to smiles, laughter, revelation, and redemption. Every page is sprinkled with a magic that can rejuvenate the heart of anyone with a passion for this island. In a time where Folly Beach may seem to be stumbling in the dark for direction, Frank Melvin Braden and Ellie Maas Davis remind us with their enchanting images and prose that Folly is more than a zip code: it is a living, breathing creature whose life is chronicled in the seasons; whose charm is in her demand to color outside the lines. It is a reminder to step back, slow down and reach into the soul of Folly in order to reconnect it to our own. more...

Review by: Shutterbug, December 2009

Noted photographer Frank Melvin Braden and writer Ellie Maas Davis combined their talents to tell an entertaining tale about a beautiful yet quirky place, Folly Beach, South Carolina. Their words and images vividly paint a joyous picture of a carefree summer spent on this beloved stretch of warm sand.

The Humours of Folly is certain to bring a smile to your face and fill your heart with the desire to visit the place to create your own vacation memories.

Review by: Sandlapper, December 2009

Folly Beach – with all of its quirks and warts, its stretch marks and beauty marks and its playful goofiness, was the inspiration behind this book. I can't wait to see the boat by the side of the road when I drive to Folly for news of the latest birthday or congratulations message it holds.

Roger Pinckney's latest novel, "Reefer Moon," involves 400 pounds of marijuana, real estate schemers and some scandalous love affairs.

And it's all true -- for the most part.

The Daufuskie author is known as an advocate for the island, striving to preserve its natural environment and culture. And, as he explains, his latest work captures some of the Daufuskie sentiment, as well. more...

From his outpost on Daufuskie Island, a partially developed Lowcountry jewel, Roger Pinckney spins a tale about Sea Island tomatoes, pot smuggling, voodoo, lovemakin’ and the ancient pull of moonlight. His characters interact in a world where nature still holds the aces, but Pinckney is a not a traditional American naturalist. Pinckney’s natural world is in peril and it is up to human beings to stop other human beings from destroying it. Pinckney is a conservationist writer on many levels. It is not only the natural assets of coastal South Carolina and Georgia that Pinckney seeks to preserve, but also the wildness of man. more...

“Some doctor at the Melrose Resort was comparing it to Brothers Karamazov,” Roger Pinckney was saying about his new novel, Reefer Moon, published last month by Joggling Board Press. Then he grinned a rapscallion grin and added, “I said I thought it was more like Brothers Kutyernutzoff, myself.”

We were at the Freeport Marina on Daufuskie Island. Daufuskie is the southernmost point in South Carolina, our last sea island. If Hilton Head looks like a boot, Daufuskie is the ball it’s about to kick. more...

Call it a book-signing with a Lowcountry twist.

To Roger Pinckney of Daufuskie Island, the events where he rolls out his new novel -- "Reefer Moon" -- are "throw-downs."

That means live music on a Lowcountry dock, adult beverages and souvenir T-shirts and baseball caps are a bigger part of the gig than readings. more...

Georgia physician and author William Rawlings is the great nephew of wealthy and powerful Charles G. Rawlings, who may or may not have been guilty, but was nevertheless convicted, of murdering his cousin in a sensational 1925 trial.

Understandably, this “bad man who did bad things” was not a favorite topic of conversation for members of the Rawlings family who have been leading citizens of Sandersville, Georgia for many generations. more...

Georgia physician and author William Rawlings is the great nephew of wealthy and powerful Charles G. Rawlings, who may or may not have been guilty, but was nevertheless convicted, of murdering his cousin in a sensational 1925 trial.

Understandably, this “bad man who did bad things” was not a favorite topic of conversation for members of the Rawlings family who have been leading citizens of Sandersville, Georgia for many generations. more...

Georgia physician and author William Rawlings is the great nephew of wealthy and powerful Charles G. Rawlings, who may or may not have been guilty, but was nevertheless convicted, of murdering his cousin in a sensational 1925 trial.

Understandably, this “bad man who did bad things” was not a favorite topic of conversation for members of the Rawlings family who have been leading citizens of Sandersville, Georgia for many generations. more...

Georgia physician and author William Rawlings is the great nephew of wealthy and powerful Charles G. Rawlings, who may or may not have been guilty, but was nevertheless convicted, of murdering his cousin in a sensational 1925 trial.

Understandably, this “bad man who did bad things” was not a favorite topic of conversation for members of the Rawlings family who have been leading citizens of Sandersville, Georgia for many generations. more...

Fans of artist Clay Rice know him for the silhouettes he has cut at events locally and throughout the United States as well as at his studio. But where his previous work has been delicate detail cut in fragile paper, a new piece which graces the wall just outside the South Carolina State Museum's first-floor Lipscomb Gallery has a lot more toughness to it.

Steel toughness, that is.

The museum recently acquired "Lowcountry Sunrise," which depicts a coastal resident poling his boat through the marsh, rendered in shiny steel rather than black paper. more...

The Lonely Shadow is a children's picture book for ages 4-8. What makes this book unique are the 60 pages of illustrations that accompany the story line of a lonely shadow looking for who or what he belongs to. The illustrations are cut-work silhouettes, which are striking on both the stark white and color-wash backgrounds.

My eight-year-old enjoyed the book and said any young child would like it. The rhythmic text begs to be read aloud. Like all good storybooks, this one ends with a happy bedtime scene: the little boy and his shadow are in bed, happy to be reunited. The pictures and words are simple and sweet, perfect for young children. more...

Clay Rice follows in the steps of his grandfather, Carew Rice, as he continues the family tradition of cutting silhouettes. In a single year, Clay cuts 10,000 children's silhouettes from live sittings be they in his studio or anywhere else he might find himself. Clay has evolved the cutting of silhouettes into a fine art as exemplified by his simple but sophisticated children's picture book "The Lonely Shadow". Clay is also a singer/songwriter and that talent reveals itself in the lyrical cadence and rhythm of his text about a little shadow who just knew he had to belong to someone. In his search for where he truly belongs, children (and their parents!) will appreciate the elegance and novelty of silhouette art which so perfectly compliments this original and thoroughly 'kid friendly' tale. Entertaining and unique, "The Lonely Shadow" is very highly recommended for family, school, and community library collections.

Clay Rice will bring his furious fingers to Beaufort this week.

Gripping small scissors like the ones his famous grandfather used, Rice can snip out a keepsake silhouette portrait in mere minutes.

Sittings are lined up throughout the day Thursday, when Rice comes to the Bay Street Trading Co. in downtown Beaufort to cut portraits and sign copies of his new children's book from the Joggling Board Press, "The Lonely Shadow." more...

'The Lonely Shadow" by Clay Rice is an unusually special picture book for children ages 4-8 and the adults in their lives. The Lonely Shadow, like all the rest of us, is looking for something and someone who connects with him. He sings:

I have no you
You have no me,
you and me
we have no we,
but if I find you
and you find me,
happy we will always be. more...

A shadow searching for a friend finds a boy seeking a shadow. (4-8)

It may be argued that Dirty Secrets, Dirty War: The Exile of Editor Robert J. Cox should have been written three decades ago, most likely in 1981, when Cox was enjoying, as I do now, a Nieman fellowship.

Cox was then in his second year of exile, the bitter prize he had been awarded for making the English-language newspaper Buenos Aires Herald into one of the main advocates against state terrorism in Argentina. more...

In the 1960s and 70s, Central and South America were rife with dictatorships which used secret police, the military, right-wing death squads and tight control of the media to quash dissent and keep power. One of the most egregious of these police states was Argentina, still recovering from its anti-democratic Peronist era. In that nation, the right-wing government was explicitly anti-Communist and anti-Semetic. Thousands of people disappeared, thousands more were exiled, thousands more imprisoned and tortured. more...

The Associated Press has an article today about the book Dirty Secrets, Dirty War: The Exile of Robert J. Cox by CNN web producer David Cox. The book tells the story of Robert Cox, who was the editor of the Buenos Aires Herald during the dirty war in Argentina. The Herald was one of the early papers to report about the junta's growing repression. "They warned him and tried to keep him in bounds, but he would publish lists of those who disappeared," recalled F. Allen "Tex" Harris, a U.S. diplomat in Argentina at the time. more...

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Journalist Robert Cox risked his life chronicling the fierce first years of Argentina's "Dirty War," the 1976-83 dictatorship that left thousands missing. Yet even decades later, he couldn't bear to write his own story of confronting a deadly junta.

Now his son has told the story for him, giving readers the scoop on an editor at a small English-language daily in South America - the Buenos Aires Herald - who dared to write about kidnappings and killings at a time when most colleagues kept silent. more...

The Argentine Dirty War that took place roughly between 1976 and 1983 featured atrocities and human rights abuses difficult to believe. The conflict of this time was the result of an ineffective government and radicalism that came from both ends of the political spectrum in vain attempts to wipe one another out.

With totalitarian violence from both left and right, ordinary citizens were caught in the middle. The military rule of General Jorge Rafael Videla, his junta and the military regimes that followed during the Dirty War are estimated to have been responsible for the disappearances of up to 30,000 people. more...

The point here is not that journalists should be endangering life and limb to get a story. It is rather that mainstream journalism—the part of the business suffering so much—has not been doing an aggressive job. That could be the reason many consumers are turning away. In the past few days I have been reading Dirty Secrets, Dirty War: The Exile of Editor Robert J. Cox (Buenos Aires, Argenitna: 1976-1983). This is a book written by Cox’s son David. He writes about how his father edited an English language newspaper in Argentina during the time a junta of generals ruled. The dirty secrets were that in a supposed war with terrorists, the people of Argentina were the victims of their government. To maintain power, the generals kidnapped, tortured, murdered and caused the disappearance of thousands of Argentineans thought to be disloyal, oppositionist or insurgent. The story relates how Cox assumed the responsibility for writing about these abuses when no other paper in Argentina regularly did. He did it despite warnings that he would suffer severe consequences, and he quit and took his family out of the country only after it became obvious that he was about to “disappear.” more...

I was born and raised in Argentina, and the Buenos Aires Herald was an indelible part of my upbringing. Delivered to our home daily, my parents encouraged me to read the Herald as a way to improve my English skills.

Despite being an avid reader of the small newspaper, the story of Robert J. Cox was one I never read. more...

Former Buenos Aires Herald Editor Robert Cox and his son, David Cox, said it was their dedication to journalism and humanity that kept their family courageous enough to continue reporting the truth and helping people during Argentina’s Dirty War. The father and son, along with Robert Cox’s wife, spoke at the University of Texas at Austin Thursday to share how an English-language newspaper managed to shed light on atrocities happening in Buenos Aires that the rest of Argentine publications ignored. more...

David Cox is the son of Robert J. Cox, former editor of the Buenos Aires Herald and one of the few journalists courageous enough to report on the many “disappearances” and horrific violence that took place during Argentina’s guerra sucia. David, 13 years old when his father and the rest of the family finally fled Argentina after years of close scrapes, here presents the memoir his father, writing in the foreword, admits that he still finds too painful to author himself. more...

It was a human nightmare. And a journalist's crucible.

March 1976. Following the coup against Isabel Peron, the armed forces of Argentina formally exercised power through a right-wing junta whose leaders would rule until Dec. 10, 1983. They called their repressive governing program the National Reorganization Process. more...

The crimes of Argentina's late-1970s military dictatorship emerge through the eyes of a courageous journalist in this stirring homage, written by his son. Robert Cox was the editor of the English-language Buenos Aires Herald, the only Argentinean paper that consistently covered kidnappings and murders by government security forces during the “dirty war” against leftists and other opponents. Testimonials reprinted here attest that Robert's reporting and editorials, many reprinted here, saved the lives of many of the “disappeared” and helped break the press establishment's conspiracy of denial. more...

A massive brokerage fraud in Toledo a quarter-century ago helped to inspire a new novel, Armageddon Conspiracy, by John Thompson (Harbor House, 288 pages, $24.95). Mr. Thompson, a Toledo native, says the collapse of Toledo's Bell & Beckwith brokerage in 1983 - because of a $47 million embezzlement - helped him formulate some of the plot of his book, published this fall. His father, the late John E. Thompson, was one of seven partners of the ill-fated brokerage who were bankrupted by the fraud committed by Edward P. "Ted" Wolfram, Jr., who served 10 years of a 25-year federal prison sentence. more...

SC author John Thompson will be signing copies of his debut thriller, Armageddon Conpsiracy (Harbor House, hardcover, $24.95) on Saturday, October 25th from 2-5pm.

My mom and I have both read Armageddon Conspiracy and find it to be a very readable, fast-paced thriller with likeable characters. It involves the unlikely alliance between a fundamentalist Christian sect and a radical Muslim terrorist group who each have their own reasons for wanting to kill the President of the United States. Our hero, Brent Lucas, has been set up as the fall guy and is in a race to clear his name and stop the terrorist plot. He’s aided by his ex-girlfriend, a cop who’s just been assigned to a terrorist task force. more...

The seed of a novel can be planted in manifest ways: a casual remark, a small piece in a daily newspaper, a magazine article, a striking experience — each germinating in the imagination.

For debut novelist John Thompson, whose "Armageddon Conspiracy" recently was released by Harbor House, it was an installment of TV's "60 Minutes." more...

"My wife kept urging me to go to sleep, but I couldn't stop reading this gripping book. The all-too-plausible plot combines credibility with pins-and-needles suspense. I loved the characters, and found myself immersed in their struggles. The writing just moves you along in a tight, suspenseful way, with every twist and turn bringing surprise and tension. I can't wait to see the movie, and just wish Bruce Willis were young enough to play Brent Lucas! If you're looking for a book that will grab you, transport you to a world of fiction, but make you think of the consequences if this fiction ever turns into reality, rush to read this great work." more...

Swallow Savannah A Novel

Ken Burger, columnist for The Post and Courier in Charleston, S.C., grew up in Allendale, S.C., near the Savannah River Site.

“It’s downwind and downstream from what we called ‘the bomb plant’ growing up,” Burger says. “It was a big top-secret place everybody buzzed about.”

Now Allendale of the ’50s and ’60s is the setting of Burger’s novel “Swallow Savannah,” about political corruption, segregation and man’s inhumanity to man, all posed against the backdrop of the Cold War and the civil rights movement.

The plant had more than 30,000 workers at its peak, which made it a microcosm for the South. Blacks and whites lived in what Burger calls “parallel universes.” more...

For a first novel, "Swallow Savannah" has several pluses: It's not overly long, some passages are very well-written, and the Southern setting breathes life into the characters.It has some minuses, too: Overly detailed descriptions of some characters, some unintentionally funny dialogue, and a sudden switch to gratuitous violence at the end. more...

Last week I had lunch with Ken Burger. Big deal, right?! You’re darn tooting it’s a big deal! From 1988 until 2008, Ken was the Executive Sports Editor and wrote an award-winning sports column for The Post and Courier. He was hailed as one of the country’s best sports columnists by the Associated Press three times. Ken has also won numerous writing awards in South Carolina and was honored as South Carolina Journalist of the Year in 1996. He now writes a metro column for the Post and Courier, and he published his first novel, Swallow Savannah, in 2008. So I repeat, “Last week I had lunch with Ken Burger.” Okay, okay, now I feel the “Oooos” and “Ahhhs”! more...

Ken Burger of Charleston, author of "Swallow Savannah," autographed copies of his debut novel Saturday morning. Attendance for the book signing was brisk, with fans of the novel fictionalizing the impact of the construction of "the Bomb Plant" on the local landscape coming in to meet Burger, according to Meg Ferguson of The Book Stall.

"We had a sensational book signing," Ferguson said. "Ken was engaging, entertaining and quite personable. We had a large turnout and we anticipate his book doing quite well here." more...

"Swallow Savannah" tells a tale filled with nuclear testing, political corruption, psychological turmoil, civil rights, explosions, murder, football, intrigue, manipulation, exploitation and family secrets.

The new novel by Ken Burger, nationally acclaimed sports column writer for The Post and Courier in Charleston, takes a fictional look at the Old South during the transformational years of the Savannah River Plant and its impact on neighboring communities. more...

A sense of place is an essential element in the greatness of the Southern novel, indeed of Southern literature in all of its forms. Sometimes the place itself is the most fully realized character in the story, and so it is with Ken Burger’s first novel. He evokes the landscapes of what dons the thin disguise of “Bluff County” with love and occasional lyricism, especially the inescapable presence of the great river that forms one of the county’s borders. The first character we encounter, the mysterious black man William, is the one most completely at home in the landscape with which he identifies so totally that he can merge into “the fallen cypress, blackgum and willow oaks that formed the forbidding swamp which was his home.” The very first sentence, informing us that his is an “existence all but invisible to white people,” signals that this will be, as almost all Southern literature inevitably is, in part a study of relations between the two races. more...

Charleston readers know him as a former sports columnist for The Post and Courier. He's now the newspaper's metro columnist, but recently Ken Burger, often cited among the best writers in the country, has ventured into the world of fiction.

His new novel, "Swallow Savannah", is set at the Savannah River Site. It becomes a catalyst for racial tensions and political intrigue in a small fictional town in rural South Carolina that's not all that dissimiliar to Allendale, where he grew up. more...

Corralled so long by the constraints of a column, Ken Burger's debut novel would travel wide-open narrative spaces. After decades of daily deadlines, this one would breathe

"Swallow Savannah" may be confined to a "Southern crossroads caught in the undertow of time," but for Burger, a longtime sports writer for The Post and Courier, it meant total control at the reins, and all the hours he needed to bring it home. more...