On the fifth anniversary of his wife's death, birthday balloons snag Slater Watts 15th-story office window, freed when a killer knifes a mother in an alley. Watts can't save her, and a woman dies in his arms yet again on July 2. Watts, a journalist, who's sick of Atlanta, crime, his job, and memories of his wife's death, sees the balloons as a wake-up call and decides to quit his job. But his editor gives him the most exciting assignment he's ever had, literally changing his life.

If you have already read Hunting With Beanpole, then you and Beanpole have met. If not, I'll introduce you to him. Beanpole is a curious fellow in all meanings of the word; he's different, inquisitive, and gullible. These characteristics breathe life into a story when you add ingredients such as bad weather, tall tales, and natural phenomenon. Beanpole's family contributes to his adventures. His Grandpa, Grumpy, spins yarns on his front porch while vigilant for revenuers.

The South Carolina Encyclopedia Guide to South Carolina Writers expands the range of writers included in the landmark South Carolina Encyclopedia. This guide updates the entries on writers featured in the original encyclopedia and augments that list substantially with dozens of new essays on additional authors from the late eighteenth century to the present who have contributed to the Palmetto State's distinctive literary heritage.

Greenville's Grand design relates a story of courage, vision, and change. It details how a deteriorating downtown, in a community whose principal industry had failed, was reinvented to become one of the most livable cities in North America. The themes are supported with lavish photography documenting the assets and attractions that make Greenville a place of grand design.

According to Jim Mize, nature has no mercy - just a sense of humor - and in this hilarious romp through the woods, he proves why readers praise him as an amusing combination of Marlin Perkins and Lewis Grizzard. The way Jim tells it, such overlooked creatures as fleas, flying squirrels, and chipmunks become curiosities of hilarious proportions. In the opening section, Jim waxes comic about carnivorous plants, insects that make people nervous, and birds with bad names. He points out, for instance, that all plants are edible. It's just that some of them will kill you.

More than seventy years have passed since someone has undertaken the enormous task of capturing South Carolina's literary heritage in a book about Palmetto State Writers. "Literary South Carolina" explores the contributions of more than 300 authors, from colonial times to the present. From William Gilmore Simms to Julia Peterkin, from DuBose Heyward to Benjamin Brawley, from Pat Conroy and James Dickey to Percival Everett and Josephine Humphreys, this extraordinary, illustrated volume presents three centuries of literary achievement in South Carolina.