House, Silas: Celebrating Scholarship and Creative Works

Gather at the River by David Joy (Editor); Eric Rickstad (Editor)

Walk till the Dogs Get Mean by Adrian Blevins (Editor); Karen Salyer McElmurray (Editor)

Same Sun Here by Silas House; Neela Vaswani; Hilary Schenker (Illustrator) In this extraordinary novel in letters, an Indian immigrant girl in New York City and a Kentucky coal miner's son find strength and perspective by sharing their true selves across the miles. Meena and River have a lot in common: fathers forced to work away from home to make ends meet, grandmothers who mean the world to them, and faithful dogs. But Meena is an Indian immigrant girl living in New York City’s Chinatown, while River is a Kentucky coal miner’s son. As Meena’s family studies for citizenship exams and River’s town faces devastating mountaintop removal, this unlikely pair become pen pals, sharing thoughts and, as their camaraderie deepens, discovering common ground in their disparate experiences. With honesty and humor, Meena and River bridge the miles between them, creating a friendship that inspires bravery and defeats cultural misconceptions. Narrated in two voices, each voice distinctly articulated by a separate gifted author, this chronicle of two lives powerfully conveys the great value of being and having a friend and the joys of opening our lives to others who live beneath the same sun.

Chinaberry by James Still; Silas House (Editor, Introduction by); Carol Boggess (Afterword by) The tale of a young boy who travels from Alabama to Texas in search of work on a cotton farm. He finds a ranch owned by a couple where he learns many important life lessons.

This is my heart for you : a play by Silas House

Coal Country by Shirley Stewart Burns (Editor); Mari-Lynn Evans (Editor); Silas House (Editor)

Eli the Good by Silas House In his timely YA debut, a best-selling novelist revisits a summer of tumult and truth for a young narrator and his war-torn family. Bicentennial fireworks burn the sky. Bob Seger growls from a transistor radio. And down by the river, girls line up on lawn chairs in pursuit of the perfect tan. Yet for ten-year-old Eli Book, the summer of 1976 is the one that threatened to tear his family apart. There is his distant mother; his traumatized Vietnam vet dad; his wild sister; his former warprotester aunt; and his tough yet troubled best friend, Edie, the only person with whom he can be himself. As tempers flare and his father’s nightmares rage, Eli watches from the sidelines, but soon even he cannot escape the current of conflict. From Silas House comes a tender look at the complexities of childhood and the realities of war — a quintessentially Southern novel filled with music, nostalgic detail, a deep respect for nature, and a powerful sense of place.

Something's Rising by Silas House; Jason Howard; Hal Crowther (Foreword by); Lee Smith (Foreword by) Like an old-fashioned hymn sung in rounds, Something's Rising gives a stirring voice to the lives, culture, and determination of the people fighting the destructive practice of mountaintop removal in the coalfields of central Appalachia. Each person's story, unique and unfiltered, articulates the hardship of living in these majestic mountains amid the daily desecration of the land by the coal industry because of America's insistence on cheap energy. Developed as an alternative to strip mining, mountaintop removal mining consists of blasting away the tops of mountains, dumping waste into the valleys, and retrieving the exposed coal. This process buries streams, pollutes wells and waterways, and alters fragile ecologies in the region. The people who live, work, and raise families in central Appalachia face not only the physical destruction of their land but also the loss of their culture and health in a society dominated by the consequences of mountaintop removal. Included here are oral histories from Jean Ritchie, "the mother of folk," who doesn't let her eighty-six years slow down her fighting spirit; Judy Bonds, a tough-talking coal-miner's daughter; Kathy Mattea, the beloved country singer who believes cooperation is the key to winning the battle; Jack Spadaro, the heroic whistle-blower who has risked everything to share his insider knowledge of federal mining agencies; Larry Bush, who doesn't back down even when speeding coal trucks are used to intimidate him; Denise Giardina, a celebrated writer who ran for governor to bring attention to the issue; and many more. The book features both well-known activists and people rarely in the media. Each oral history is prefaced with a biographical essay that vividly establishes the interview settings and the subjects' connections to their region. Written and edited by native sons of the mountains, this compelling book captures a fever-pitch moment in the movement against mountaintop removal. Silas House and Jason Howard are experts on the history of resistance in Appalachia, the legacy of exploitation of the region's natural resources, and area's unique culture and landscape. This lyrical and informative text provides a critical perspective on a powerful industry. The cumulative effect of these stories is stunning and powerful. Something's Rising will long stand as a testament to the social and ecological consequences of energy at any cost and will be especially welcomed by readers of Appalachian studies, environmental science, and by all who value the mountain's majesty -- our national heritage.

The Hurting Part by Silas House This is a book of beautiful writing that is, simultaneously, an insightful volume about the art of writing. In the various sections of THE HURTING PART: EVOLUTION OF AN AMERICAN PLAY, Silas House (author of A Parchment Of Leaves, Clay's Quilt, The Coal Tattoo, and Eli The Good) presents his three-act drama, THE HURTING PART, alongside its full literary and developmental context. The book contains not only the full-length script, but also the short story from which the play itself evolved. Also included are a thorough interview in which House desribes his writing process and an analytical essay by the author discussing how the two fictional works originated from one of his family's often-repeated stories. Personal vignettes about the author, his family, and the play's premiere are woven into the literary and cultural fabric of this book. House outlines solid advice for actors on speaking the Appalachian dialect, with which he has a lifetime of experience. He also describes some of the influences that other playwrights and novelists have injected into his own writing. THE HURTING PART: EVOLUTION OF AN AMERICAN PLAY includes photographic images of the author, members of his family, and scenes from the world premiere. This book is not to be missed by fans of Silas House's writing. Even more important, THE HURTING PART: EVOLUTION OF AN AMERICAN PLAY is extremely valuable for anyone who teaches, studies or appreciates good writing and where it comes from. -- www.MotesBooks.com