Jedidiah Robbins is a man on a crusade. From town to town, his Gospel train rides the rails of 1920s Appalachia, spreading the Good News with his daughter and a loyal group of roustabouts in tow. But Jedidiah's traveling revival company has a secret: in addition to offering the gifts of the Holy Spirit, it also delivers spirits of another kind. Prohibition is in full swing, but The Sword of the Lord train keeps the speakeasies in the towns it visits...

Twenty-five stories mostly set in the South. The title story is on a boy's disciplined upbringing, Gentle Reader is a meeting between an author and a fan, while Love on First Bounce is on a high-school romance.

Enduring the mistakes and tragedies that have shaped their lives in contemporary Appalachia, a sheriff on the brink of retirement and a haunted park ranger confront violent forces when an elderly local is accused of poisoning a trout stream.

"A stunning, lyrical coming-of-age novel set in the rolling foothills of the Appalachians in which a young girl, with only the compass of her father's imagination, must navigate racism, sexism, and the dark secrets that will haunt her for the rest of her life. "A girl comes of age against the knife." So begins the story of Betty Carpenter. Born in a bathtub in Arkansas in 1954 to a Cherokee father and white mother, Betty is the sixth of eight siblings....

A motley band of characters makes its way into a high mountain valley in northwestern North Carolina to tame the land or to be consumed by it. Five years of struggle to create a community ensue, in which part of the struggle is just to survive. This is the story of late 18th century life in an untamed country.

"Following her mother's motorcycle accident, Georgie Haydock returns to the mountain tourist town at the foot of Chimney Rock State Park. But the summer is full of turmoil. As Georgie tries to perform her nursing duties, her mother thrashes in her bed, insisting that the strange woman stalking her store downstairs is Georgie's missing sister. Meanwhile, Georgie aches to reunite with her childhood sweetheart, but she's too ashamed of the guilt that...