Writer of Creative Nonfiction, Fiction, Poetry and Master Photographer
At long last, my book has arrived. Galvanized: The Odyssey of a Reluctant Carolina Confederate took years to research, interrupted by a liver transplant among other life events. But, it was a lot of fun working on it and I’m excited for you to read it. Basically, I was looking information about my ancestors for…
In my newspaper column this week in The Nashville Graphic, I offered some reading suggestions for folks who are unable to get out. [Note: the newspaper content is free until further notice.] I’m thinking for some folks, these authors might be slightly under the radar, but they shouldn’t be. Of course, high on my list…
I’ll be back to blogging soon. The new job has taken a lot of time, even though it’s been great. I have a backlog of things to write about and of course I’ll be talking about my new book and other projects. In the meantime, I’m going to start cleaning out my notebook of interesting…
Earlier in the year (March), I posted a piece about the “gold rush” in North Carolina, particularly in Nash County. You can re-read that story by clicking here. One of the places I focused on was the old Portis Gold Mine. Just recently, the owners made a remarkable discovery — a dredge that has been…
“Apparently, as a tomato farmer, I peaked in my teen years.” That’s how I start a humbling tale of farm failure. I have a piece I’ve written about growing tomatoes and how important they were in my family’s garden growing up. The story is also about my struggles in recent years to get good tomato…
At last, at last. I’ve been waiting anxiously to share the cover design for Galvanized: The Odyssey of a Reluctant Carolina Confederate since the fine folks at the University of Nebraska Press/Potomac Books sent it to me over a month ago. I’m thrilled with how they included the book’s main character, Nash County native Wright…
Orwell is one of my favorite writers. He led a short, but fascinating life, and was quite a complex character. I’d never read the story about his escape from Spain, or that the Communists there had him on a hit list. This is a good read:
My wife Kristi grew up in the mountains of Virginia, not far from Culpeper. When we go to visit, we always go by this odd place stuck in the side of a mountain. It was the place where the government at one time stashed a few billion dollars and it was set up to be…
By Michael K. Brantley There are several North Carolina Humanities Council programs coming to the area during the second half of 2019 and I’m proud to be a part of two of the sessions. On August 27 at 5:30 p.m., I’ll be presenting a program about Nothing Like It in the World: The Men Who…
By Michael K. Brantley I’ve been focused on nonfiction for the last several years — some would argue 45 — but I have a new piece of fiction up at The Broadkill Review, a fine literary online literary journal. There is kind of a catch, of course. This short story is based on a true…