Granny's Place is a touching, whimsical tale of family ties and the special place a grandparent has in the heart of a child. 32pp.

A journey from, "You're mine." to "Was it a dream?" An illusion, that changed a life.

Sleep baby sleep, somewhere in the down deep, a mysterious mountain, a Dreamer's fountain and near its source a talking horse... A grandmother's lullaby guides a princess to grand adventures in the secret Valley of Singing Crystals in the fantastical tale, Granny's Baskets. When the princess of Castletown suddenly runs away from home with a horse seller, little does she know that the handsome stranger is really a prince in disguise. But instead of following his destiny, he now chooses to live in the Valley of Singing Crystals amidst a wizard, a dangerous Sharpie, and a talking horse. The princess and the horse seller try to find their way back to Castletown and they discover the path sealed by an avalanche of rocks. Forced to locate an alternative route, they must dodge danger at every turn and look for clues to help them return home. In a valley filled with magic and mystery, the princess must learn the rules that govern this strange land and in so doing, she finds a treasure lost long ago when her grandmother was a young girl. Will this treasure help lead her home, or will this enchanted world encompass her forever?

Franny O’Connell and Luke Deback come from very different backgrounds. Franny’s father is an oil tycoon, so he has never wanted for anything. Luke, on the other hand, comes from a poor family and struggled most of his childhood. Regardless of their economic status, the boys are both very intelligent and become fast friends. They never could have expected to remain friends for life, but their paths continue to intersect through college, marriage, and beyond. Life isn’t simple, though. Even when flying high, it’s easy to trip and fall. Based on a piece of art featuring stone steps and water in author Guy Kouche’s dining room, The Steps is a story of love, infidelity, overcoming adversity, and searching for happiness as boys become men but remain friends forever.

The Dictionary of Southern Appalachian English is a revised and expanded edition of the Weatherford Award–winning Dictionary of Smoky Mountain English, published in 2005 and known in Appalachian studies circles as the most comprehensive reference work dedicated to Appalachian vernacular and linguistic practice. Editors Michael B. Montgomery and Jennifer K. N. Heinmiller document the variety of English used in parts of eight states, ranging from West Virginia to Georgia—an expansion of the first edition's geography, which was limited primarily to North Carolina and Tennessee—and include over 10,000 entries drawn from over 2,200 sources. The entries include approximately 35,000 citations to provide the reader with historical context, meaning, and usage. Around 1,600 of those examples are from letters written by Civil War soldiers and their family members, and another 4,000 are taken from regional oral history recordings. Decades in the making, the Dictionary of Southern Appalachian English surpasses the original by thousands of entries. There is no work of this magnitude available that so completely illustrates the rich language of the Smoky Mountains and Southern Appalachia.

Homer Ashley Fields has only one living relative, an aging grandfather, who for thirty-two years has lived in self-imposed silence rather than to answer questions about his mysterious past. At age twelve, Homer stopped asking; the scar on his arm a reminder never to ask again. That day, his grandfather sat down with a notebook and a pencil and began to write, over the years filling notebook after notebook and locking them in an old trunk. Homer suspects the answers to all his questions are on the pages, but he will not betray his grandfathers trust. When a strangers appearance terrifies his grandfather into a near heart attack, Homer feels certain the man is linked to his grandfathers past, and contemplates breaking into the trunk. By chance, he finds two handwritten pages behind the trunk that reveal the horrible truth that took the lives of thousands and drove his grandfather from his home at age eleven to fend for himself. Now he must find his ailing grandfathers siblings, if they are still alive before it is too late.

The Ozark Trilogy (previously published in 1981, Doubleday) is a widely acclaimed fantasy/science fiction story with, as the title suggests, very strong ties to the Ozark region. Twelve Fair Kingdoms, The Grand Jubilee, And Then There’ll Be Fireworks—the books that comprise the trilogy—chronicle life on the planet Ozark and its Confederation of Continents, which are appropriately named Arkansaw, Oklahomah, Mizzurah, Tinaseeh, Kintucky, and Marktwain. However, the story told here involves much more than a mere transplant of Ozark culture and heritage onto a new planet. While this new Ozark culture maintains and even intensifies many of the “real” Ozark traditions and customs (for instance, “Grannys” hold significant, stabilizing social roles and are important sources of wisdom), the planet Ozark combines many new, fantastical elements with traditional ways. Mules on Ozark fly, and the wise “Grannys” also work magic. The protagonist of The Ozark Trilogy, Responsible of Brightwater, appears at the center of Ozark society, a society she must save from evil magic, civil war, and, ultimately, alien invasion. As Responsible travels from continent to continent in an attempt to discover and squelch the evil magic and calm the civil unrest, we are witness to many dangerous and sometimes comical adventures along the way, including a spectacular flying Mule crash and a magic duel with a Granny gone bad. Elgin has created a fantastic world infused with the folk traditions, social and familial hierarchies, and traditional dialect of the Ozarks. While parallels might be drawn between, for example, the break-up of the Confederacy of Continents on planet Ozark and the American Civil War, Elgin comments on aspects of Ozark history and tradition in a non didactic way. The trilogy, with its strong heroine and witty engagement of tradition, is a classic of Ozark literature.

In 1999, more than 40 million people stayed in bed & breakfasts and inns across the United States. They also spent more than $4 billion on - among other things - guidebooks. Each entry in this guide is based on personal visits and overnight stays by the author. Every article includes interior and exterior photographs, and accommodations can be located by map, region, city, name, or more than 1000 points of interest. The companion Internet site www.inngetaways.net has been rated by InnStar as the number-one Web site for bed & breakfasts in the USA. This site is linked to bedandbreakfast.com, which includes information from Pelican's other guides

Is it better to be born with a silver spoon in your mouth or a hunger in your belly? Is life in the city better than life in the country? Is life in the new world really better than life in old Europe? Is private education better than public? Is a university degree compulsory to success in life?. What exactly is a better life? Affluence does not guarantee happiness and poverty does not guarantee misery and regardless of inherent socio-economic standing a kind or cruel bounce at the right or wrong moment can be life-changing. Strong parental love and guidance ultimately trump actual money but the latter does make further education more readily available and that generally opens up more opportunities in the modern world. My wife and I had no post-secondary education and loved our upbringing yet we strived very hard to make sure our children did have university degrees and a shot at that better life. I hope the joyful if sometimes embarrassing memoirs of a Scottish working class boy, combined with a good deal of social history and the many quirks of the common language which my native and adopted countries allegedly share, can amuse and inform.