Bearskin to Holly Fork: Stories from Appalachia

By Bob Sloan

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• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1893239217
• ISBN13: 9781893239210
• Release Date: June 2003
• Publisher: Wind Pubns
• Length: 148 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 0.5" x 6.3"

Customer Reviews

Highly sophisticated "Blue Collar" fiction

"Bearskin to Holly Fork: Stories from Appalachia" is a collection of gritty stories populated by tough people, and author Bob Sloan exposes their faults and failures as well as sharing with us their merits and accomplishments. Murderers, bootleggers, pot-growers, crippled war veterans, ex-cons and drunks rub elbows with sheriffs, waitresses, clerks, farmers, carpenters and the like. Sometimes it is difficult to tell who is who, as they are quite often one and the same. This meticulously edited medley is not only an enjoyable read but should be considered a textbook for writers. Throughout, the author has sprinkled his wonderful imagery in carefully worded and structured sentences and paragraphs. Bob Sloan paints with his words. My favorite story in this anthology of fifteen tales is "A Ride Across Open Water" in which a man and a woman who have suffered a grave loss attempt to put their empty lives back together. In this seemingly simple paragraph, the author reveals volumes: "Twice in the week before she left, he came home to find his wife sleeping on the sofa, an empty glass that smelled of bourbon on the floor. Both times a pink and blue baby book, purchased the afternoon a doctor confirmed Bea's pregnancy, was on her lap. Paul's memory still held whole paragraphs from pamphlets and articles about Sudden Infant Death Syndrome." In the author's own words about his writing: "My wife gave me the phrase `blue collar fiction.' It suits me better than any other label. I write stories about Appalachian working class people, the `working poor,' because they're the people who raised me, the people I live with, the people who matter to me." Don't be fooled by the author's modesty. This is some of the most sophisticated and carefully crafted fiction you will ever read.

editorial review: Kentucky Monthly

Good short stories are hard to write. Those that resonate are coordinated combinations of authenticity, good dialogue that moves stories along, and an almost gifted ability to trust readers enough not to tell them everything -- only what they need to know. Bob Sloan, who is also a frequent contributor to National Public radio and lives near Morehead, is a master at the craft.Sloan doles out 15 previously published stories over 135 pages and gives us a clinic in what good short stories are. One can get all senses activated -- can hear the sound of tires rolling on gravel, see Harlan Carter wheel himself up a redwood ramp built for elderly or disabled tourists, taste the freely flowing bourbon, touch Don Reynolds' partner "Troop" (whom others see as a ghost), and figuratively smell a rat when Bide goes for his commodities during the Great Depression.The stories, often depressing and mostly laced with potent alcohol, nevertheless are told straight and with little contrived sentiment. - Steve Flairty

Bob Sloan gets it right

Anyone who loves both literature and Appalachia knows this for a fact: it's a hard place to write about well. Only a few writers these days are able to pull it off, but Bob Sloan is high on the list.The stories that make up "Bearskin to Holly Fork" show a real understanding and appreciation of the landscape, the cultural and historical and economic forces, the language, and most of all the people of this corner of the world. Most of all, they do what the best stories do--they tell a little piece of our human experience in a way that both conveys and transcends a particular time and place. His gifts are our gain. It's a wonderful book.

Bob Sloan "Rocks" !

First let me say, I personally met the author at East Tennessee State University during an author's event. Mr. Sloan and I chatted for many long minutes, his story's in this book came to life,and his storytelling is a true work of art, a talent not often seen. "Bearskin to Holly Fork: Stories from the Appalachia" is a book no camper, no nature lover, in fact, no one can allow to slip by, it's a true delight. Bob Sloan is a mans, man, straight forward, honest and a refreshing author you'll enjoy.Good Luck with your book Mr. Sloan; from Jerry D. Coleman author of "Strange Highways".

Real Kentucky hill stories

I thoroughly enjoyed and recommend Bob Sloan's new collection of shortstories _Bearskin to Holly Fork_. They are all very short, but verytightly-packed. He doesn't waste a single word. It took me 2 afternoons to devour them all, and I'm afraid I pigged out on the horse-doovers again. But that's OK. Brain food doesn't make you sick; I'll just read them again.One story that grabs me starts with a bunch of locals sentenced by ajudge to "anger management class," which the locals already call "mad class" (and which Lexingtonians already call "happy class."). The court-appointed out-of-state pshrink decides to have everybody role-play, as in a guy asking a girl to dance and getting turned down. Turns out the guy is a Fundie Christian who believes dancing is a sin. That particluar story doesn't continue in that vein, but it's not hard to imagine another that might.Could end up seriously anti-Beverly Hillbillies, but more likely hilarious.Most, if not all Sloan's stories affected me that way: He got me thinking one way, then things turned out another way, and isn't that what often happens? It's not like he's making this stuff up. And if he is, then he'd be anticipating history, instead of only reprorting it. "Only reporting" my arse.Bruce WilliamsLexington KY