These eight stories readers journey to yesteryear with issues as fresh as tomorrow’s headlines. Written by Legacy Storyteller, Pete Peterson, and published by Pallamary Publishing.

In “An Old-fashioned Fourth” we meet Hamus Zanderhook, badly scarred by the House fire that ate Baby Sister and turned Pap into a cinder. Hamus’ passion when he picks up his banjo, “is that folks will want to dance and be happy.” We follow him through the Missouri Ozarks of late 1930’s from steamy honkytonks to a Hooverville where street urchins beg for food and forgotten families struggle to survive – a haunting vision of today’s political crisis.

“In Winner Take All,” 44-year-old, bare-knuckle champion Ryman Call, fights for something more important than money.

In “The Food Thief” neglected Jeremy Holt steals to feed a hunger that food alone won’t satisfy, while older sister Josephine returns from St. Louis, with ruby earrings and necklace and a terrifying tale to tell.

In “Summer Slave” orphan Art Carr starts what he hopes is his last year as a unpaid laborer on a Missouri farm. When he rescues beautiful Fatima from drowning, a new take on forgiveness, love, and redemption questions old values.

In ‘Rivers to Cross” San Francisco native Samantha climbs hills and wades rivers to visit her father’s remote grave – a father she’s never met, killed in Vietnam who begs her forgiveness from his lonely grave.

In “Rules for Dying” the flag go up each morning at Rosecrans National Cemetery as Mike and his uncover secrets in graves of deceased veterans and a mysterious young widow shows that loyalty and compassion open doors to a new life.

“After Midnight” the title story, provides a ring side seat at a bare-fist fight between the black champ and the indomitable Ryman Call. Defense plant workers skip meals to see this battle, drink beer, eat fried chicken and watch the blood flow. Hamus faces his greatest fear and Ryman faces death, the outcome determined by a .38 caliber pistol.

This collection of stories is gentle as a punch in the gut, as subtle as a slug of morning bourbon. Some enthrall, some educate. All entertain, revealing an America of the past that opens windows on the struggles of today.

Coming Summer 2019

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