Red Writer

Latest Novel From Red Letter Press

2009-10-26T20:07:00.009-04:00

Merriman’s Second Chance

Wilmot B. Irvin

John Merriman is a crusty old trial lawyer who makes a career of skating across the ethical boundaries drawn by his profession. His nemesis, the self-righteous county solicitor Malcolm T. Prescott, makes life difficult for Merriman until the tables are turned – and Prescott finds himself in the seat of the accused. Merriman’s plain-speaking wife May and their omniscient terrier Leland, tough cop Detective Lieutenant Michael O’Shea Barrow, and unexpected health problems play a role in Merriman’s redemption, but the serendipitous second chance to become a good and honest lawyer is the key to the transformation that takes place in Merriman’s life.

ISBN 9780966119954

339 pgs., $14.95

Sheila Morris's New Book Is Out!

2009-09-06T14:23:00.013-04:00

PROLOGUE (from Not Quite The Same)

Picture two cowboys riding along on their horses. Wide open spaces surround them. They move at a leisurely pace with little conversation. One of them breaks the silence, turns to his friend, and says, “No matter where you ride to, that’s where you are.”

Gosh, I love that guy.

Wait a minute. I am that guy.

I traded horses for horse power, and I left my home and family in Texas to head for the wide open spaces that called me as clearly as the Southern Baptist revival preachers of my childhood had called me to salvation. The wide open spaces were neither wide nor open, but I found my salvation.

From the rocky beaches of the Pacific Northwest to the sandy seashores of South Carolina in the southeast, I roamed. Along the way, I rode with brave cowhands who looked for answers in a land of questions. No matter where I rode to, that’s where I was.

I made mistakes. I believed that the pasture was greener on the other side of the fence. More than once. So much for fences.

I learned that laughter was a cure for much of what ails us. I never learned when it wasn’t.

I moved from the shame and fear of my early years as a lesbian growing up in small towns in Texas to the pride and confidence that became my redemption.

Take a ride with me.

* * *

That's the opening of Sheila Morris's sequel to her prize-winning memoir Deep in the Heart -- A Memoir of Love and Longing. And what a ride she takes the reader on -- from coast to coast, from girl to woman, from closet lesbian to gay rights activist.

Watch for it. It's from Red Letter Press. ISBN 9780966119947. $14.95.

Available soon on Amazon. Available always from Red Letter Press, 6148 Rutledge Hill, Columbia, S.C. 29209. Also available from the author: www.writersheilamorris.com

Email: redletterpress@gmail.com

Website: http://redletterpress.googlepages.com

2009-06-27T15:34:00.005-04:00

The writer. . .

Robert Lamb was born in Aiken, S.C., grew up in Augusta, Ga., and is a graduate of the University of Georgia.

After several years of newspaper work, last at The Atlanta Constitution, he began teaching, first at Clemson University and then at the University of South Carolina. At Carolina since 1990, he has taught writing courses in the English Department, the School of Journalism, and the South Carolina Honors College. He has published free-lance articles in various magazines and newspapers, and does free-lance reporting for The New York Times and Dow Jones.

In 1991 Lamb published his first novel, Striking Out, a coming-of-age story set in Augusta. Striking Out was nominated for the PEN/Hemingway Award, a coveted prize for first novels.

In 1998 he published a volume of fiction by his students titled The Class Menagerie - A Collection of Short Stories Out of USC. The book, co-edited by Lamb and Chris Horn, a USC editor, is used in Lamb's fiction-writing classes. A second volume, The Class Menagerie II, was published in 2006.

Lamb's latest published novel, Atlanta Blues, was launched at the Georgia Center for the Book in September 2004. A month later, it showed up on the local best-seller list in The (Columbia, S.C.) State newspaper, and at year's end another South Carolina daily newspaper (The Sumter Item) named Atlanta Blues "One of the Three Best Novels of the Year (2004) by a Southern Writer-- and maybe the best"). The novel was nominated for the Southern Book Critics Circle Award.

Set in 1981, Atlanta Blues is about the search for a missing girl by a reporter and two cops. The trail leads through the underbelly of urban Atlanta to murder and heartbreak.

Lamb has also published short stories and poetry in various magazines, including The Georgia Review and Ep;phany, A Literary Journal, and one his short stories, titled "R.I.P," was a winner in the 2009 South Carolina Fiction Project.

Lamb is a member of the Southern Book Critics Circle, and has reviewed novels for SouthernScribe.com, The State newspaper, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and the New York Journal of Books.

He lives in Columbia, S.C., with his wife Margaret and sons Tyler and Carson. He has two other sons, David and Clay, who live in Atlanta. The author may be reached at robertlamb@myway.com

* * *

A Word of Thanks:

Writing is a solitary occupation, but the fortunate writer does not go it alone. In writing both Atlanta Blues and Striking Out, as well as in editing and publishing The Class Menagerie, both I and II, and in writing since then, I've been especially fortunate to have the support and encouragement of friends like Karen Petit, Marshall Swanson, Rick Layman, Chris Horn, Bond Nickles, David Baker, Bobby and Mary Woodward and their daughter Beth Woodward, Dave Osier, Beau Cutts, Bill Starr, Rick Layman, Naomi Williams, Buster Sheahan, Dorothy Jones, Jim Koffman, Bert Goolsby, my late mother and father, my late cousin Barbara Jean Rowley, the late Lenny and Jeannie Perry, and scores of my students at the University of South Carolina who urged me to "keep going" on the story, whatever it was at the time. Not least, I thank my wife Margaret and our two sons, Tyler and Carson, all of whom bear heroically the stigma of having, respectively, a husband and father who writes. -- Robert Lamb

Children's Author Pens Memoir

2008-08-10T20:36:00.005-04:00

Karen Petit, noted author of children’s stories (see her web site at http://www.theivybooks.com/), published her first book for adults this spring (2008). Titled A Paw on My Heart, the book tells the author’s true story of how, in the aftermath of a horrendous divorce, she reluctantly acquired a dog for companionship–and discovered the amazing healing power of pets. Ms. Petit’s publisher is Red Letter Press, Columbia, S.C. The author, pictured here with her now-deceased dog Ivy, invites comments on her work.

Opening of A Paw on My Heart

Ivy rescued me. She didn’t jump into the water and pull me to safety. She didn’t find me lost on a mountain trail. She didn’t push me out of the way of an oncoming car in a pedestrian crosswalk.

Ivy saved me by being herself: a dog.

For more about this author and her books: http://redletter press.googlepages.com

The Winner!

2008-08-03T20:23:00.008-04:00

Deep in the Heart -- A Memoir of Love and Longing, by Sheila Morris, a Red Letter Press author, won First Place last night in the Fourth Annual Golden Literary Society Awards competition in Phoenix, AZ. Via redletterpress@gmail.com, Red Writer received the following email from Sheila this a.m. announcing the big news. Sheila attended the event with her Significant Other Teresa Williams.

"WE WON!!!!!! It was an unbelievable night - really - but we WON!!!!!

I thanked my publisher, Red Letter Press, just like all the other winners did, so you joined a special group of publishers tonight!! I wish you had been here to see it. Luckily, I think we can order a video!!

Teresa is as hysterically happy as I am, and we are beside ourselves...honestly, if you could have seen the book on the huge screen just like at the Academy Awards with Red Letter Press written beside the cover along with my name, you would have been so pleased. The presenter read Ed Madden's blurb, and it was great to hear!!

Just wanted to let you know - you should go take a look at the competition if you haven't yet.

Celebrate yourself tonight, you clever devil, you.

Thank you again for your belief in the book - I will always be grateful to you."

(Ed. Note: Dr. Madden, a well-known poet, teaches at the University of South Carolina. Sheila's book was entered in the Lesbian short story/essay category. Deep in the Heart, published in 2007, was her first book. She is now writing another, from which a sampling will be posted here soon.)
To visit Red Letter Press: http://RedLetterPress.googlepages.com