Town and Country: Voices from the Mid-Ohio Valley by Carl Parsons
Town and Country presents a set of ten short stories set in a generally neglected and sometimes maligned part of America—the Mid-Ohio Valley, part of Appalachia yet also part of the Midwest. The region has been home to the historic Burr-Blennerhassett Conspiracy and America’s first oil fields.
It is also the home to many wonderful people who were neither famous nor infamous, just human in the fullest sense–ordinary people struggling with a variety of problems that threaten to change their lives: an elderly widower confronting a life of regrets, precocious children forced into separation, a middle-aged couple facing the loss of their generations-old general store, and many others. I have tried to give a cross-section of their stories in their own voices—some tragic, some comic, some romantic, some nostalgic, and one or two utterly sentimental.
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Author Bio:
Carl Parsons grew up in the Mid-Ohio Valley of West Virginia, where many of his stories are set. He obtained a BA and MA in English Literature from West Virginia University and completed PhD coursework at the University of Pittsburgh. He also has a MS in Manufacturing Management from Kettering University. After a long career in the auto industry, which included management positions in labor relations and manufacturing operations, he retired to a second career of writing, teaching, and volunteer work. He taught writing and literature for Walters State Community College and worked as an associate editor for crime fiction with Fiction Magazines. Currently, he serves as a Master Gardener for the University of Tennessee Extension Office in Sevier County (TN) and leads the Classics Book Club of Sevier County.
His publication credits include eleven short stories appearing in The Broadkill Review, The Raven Review, Scars Publications, and Spillwords Press. His poetry has appeared in Plum Tree Tavern and Literary Yard. He is a member of West Virginia Writers, Inc. and the Independent Authors Network. More recently, he has published two novels with Wordwooze Publishing: a political thriller with Wordwooze Publishing entitled Trios: Death, Deceit, and Politics, and a dystopian novel entitled Shantyboat: American Dystopia. He has also published serially a family saga, Locust Hill, available on Spillwords Press.
His publishing awards include Contributor of the Year (2023) from Spillwords Press for Locust Hill and Literary Titan Gold Book Award (July 2023) for Trios, A Silver Book Award for Shantyboat, and a Gold Book Award from Literary Global for Shantyboat.
He currently resides in Kodak, TN, just outside of Knoxville, within sight of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.