Here, you will find stories containing tall tales, legends, memoirs, journals, letters -- all the sorts of ways the rural folk of the Appalachian Mountains use to capture and keep the history and folklore of their culture.  Some of these stories will tug at your heart-strings; some will jerk a knot in your emotional gut.  Others will kick a dent in your giggle-box.  Some may moisten your nostalgia-eyes.  Others might even push your angry-button.

Those of us who read more than headlines, banners, and billboards know that some of the most intense and gratifying moments of our lives occur when we are engrossed in a story.  A story can take us through an action-packed adventure in the company of ruffians and heroes, or it can foster a memory stroll with friends from our past.

Through these stories you go deep into the smoke-colored mountains of Appalachia, where the water is so cold it aches your teeth.  You go where waterfalls are so high that, when the moon is full, you can see rainbows at midnight. You go to places such as Long Hungry, Needmore, High Lonesome, World's Edge, Hanging Dog -- places that consisted only of a church and a grist mill, yet were called hometowns.

These yarns and tales are of a time when entertainment meant sitting on the porch, talking, and listening to stories.  They are of a time when kids played with marbles and steel hoops, not remote controls and joy-sticks.

For whatever reasons, cities are judged by their best buildings, and urban lifestyle by the highest class of its people.  Rural places and people are judged by just the opposites.  Appalachians have been stereotyped low on the list, mainly on their manner of speech.  Ironically, in some cases, the words and phrases are closely akin to the oldest and purest form of the English language (Shakespeare would understand the talk of a rural Appalachian).

Presented in these collections of yarns are pictures in words of these people.  The stories are short (about thirty minutes of reading time), and they stick in the day-book of your mind like glue on cotton.  They are told through the voice of a young boy (Quill Vance), in the colorful and unique dialect of the Southern Highlands.

Go now, through these links, to the stories in the books,