Short Stories On My Porch

The front porch is an integral component of Appalachian homes and the culture of the people who live there. 'Come on up and sit awhile' is an invitation to friends and strangers alike to join the host on the porch where a screen door separates the privacy of the home and the public square. Porches were the antecedents to today's social media. Impersonal cell phone screens have supplanted the friendly rocking chairs and swings where people shared their stories.Women broke beans and peeled apples, men swapped idle chatter while whittling cedar sticks, children read comic books and fairy tales, and dogs basked in the sunlight. People remembered times long past, courted romantic partners, and mourned the passing of friends and family. Traditions were passed between generations on the porch where the problems of the day evaporated in the cool twilight amidst the sirenic calls of whip-poor-wills and screech owls. Stories from the Porch is a collection of narratives that a visitor might hear while enjoying a slice of apple pie and a cold glass of lemonade or a cup of coffee from a stovetop percolator.

Twelve-year-old Margie and her younger cousin forget their boredom when Margie's father entertains them with stories about people and events in their small Missouri town's past.

When I was a 6 y o kid, my Mama, Lulu Jack, would frustratingly send me & my siblings packing, down South to Alabama for Summer vacations. I would hop from my Grandmama Bonnie's Sun-baked, humid front porch, cross the red dirt road, without sidewalks, which is the official border County-line between Prichard Co.-to- Mobile County. I'd plop down, sweatin', meditating by the 100-year-old Great Live Oak Tree, that still stands today. I'd sit under the cool of the Oak's shade as it stood like some ancient Sentinel guarding over my best friend's crickety porch. I'd drink a cold glass of her iced water, as Miss Dane opened another imaginary book conjuring up inside her tiny head. I'd rest at her bosom, listening to the rosy stories my Oracle friend slowly brewed like hot Chili on a subzero January Winter's day.The deepest Oak roots, are also the branches...", My 100 year old best friend, MISS DANE, would tell me. 'Ms D' was an herbalist, and grand master voodoo priestess. She taught me how to use REAL ROSE MAGIC.

What to do if a rather insistent bear squats on your porch today? Followed in short order by a shaggy squirrel, a spraying skunk, a playful possum, and a bevy of forest critters large and small? This hilarious cumulative tale of reluctant hospitality and generous inclusivity will leave readers chanting, "OKAY. OKAY! YOU CAN STAY." But watch out! That porch is starting to sway. . . . Jane Yolen's uproarious chant-aloud story is brought to life by Rilla Alexander's dazzling retro-hip illustrations in an exuberant collaboration sure to take its place alongside such cumulative classics as This is the House that Jack Built and There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly.

“Part Mark Twain, part Garrison Keillor, Philip Gulley is a breath of fresh air in an over-sophisticated and often jaded world.” —Gloria Gaither, singer and songwriter Master storyteller Philip Gulley shares tender and hilarious real-life moments that capture the important truths of everyday life. When Philip Gulley began writing newsletter essays for the twelve members of his Quaker meeting in Indiana, he had no idea one of them would find its way to radio commentator Paul Harvey Jr. and be read on the air to twenty-four million people. Fourteen books later, with more than a million books in print, Gulley still entertains as well as inspires from his small-town front porch. “Perhaps more things were resolved on America’s front porches than in any other place, and yet so few are being used today. With this delightful collection of stories, told in a warm and easy style, Philip Gulley invites us to sit again on the front porch—a place of hearth, home, and folks we’ve known.” —Gary Smalley, bestselling author and family relationship expert “The tales Philip Gulley unveils are tender and humorous . . . filled with sudden, unexpected, lump-in-the-throat poignancy.” —Paul Harvey, Jr., American radio broadcaster

These fifty-eight stories make up the most thorough collection of Thomas Wolfe's short fiction to date, spanning the breadth of the author's career, from the uninhibited young writer who penned "The Train and the City" to his mature, sobering account of a terrible lynching in "The Child by Tiger". Thirty-five of these stories have never before been collected. Lightning Print On Demand Title

Stories From the Front Porch is a collection of short stories that cover a variety of topics from stories about women, male bonding, mysteries, second chances, and finding love in a most uncanny way. All of these stories were written with a front porch flavor. We know these characters. They are our mother's, father's, uncle's, sisters, brother's, and friends. They are as much a part of our lives as the air that we breathe. We've heard their conversations, felt their pain, and cheered when they were able to turn adversity into advantage, and when love found its way. Find your space and indulge in a heart felt collection that will take you on an inspirational journey that will reshape and redefine the true art of the short story.

New York Times best-selling author Curtis Sittenfeld selects the twenty best short stories of the year.