James D. McCallister

author of the Edgewater County series

Another Fine FELLOW TRAVELER Review

The gratifying journey of Fellow Traveler continues this morning with another positive review, this one from jambands.com, courtesy journalist Brian Robbins. Here’s an excerpt: Some books are murder mysteries; Fellow Traveler is a life mystery. Newly-divorced-and-somewhat-adrift Ashton Tobias “Z” Zemp is trying to make some sense of the life (and recent death) of his best friend – and […]

DIXIANA Darlings

Now in the midst of Writing Retreat 2013 Redux, thanks to my benefactor we again find the Southern novelist secluded, sequestered, and in the midst of writing his most ambitious piece yet, DIXIANA. Here’s a report from the secure, undisclosed location designated as Hilltop North.

Halfway to DIXIANA

Novel #8, now underway for a month… and it’s exciting to report that June finds me sitting on a partial MS of just over 85,000 words, which is starting to feel somewhat like, well, halfway. Maybe.

‘Edgewater County’: A Guidebook

Edgewater County, SC… where is it? Only in the mind. This post presents an overview of the mythological location of most of my fiction, a handy guide for those interested in my work, or who may simply be curious about the name of this blog.

Notes on MANSION OF HIGH GHOSTS: Swinging for the Literary Fences

UPDATE: I recently heard back from a beta-reader about this manuscript. When I asked if this piece resonated with him, here’s what he had to say: Your characters, as in your other works, portray varying experiences we all go through in the maturation process. Some pass the test. Others don’t. Thinking back on them, the characters continually […]

THE APPROACH TO MAX PATCH: My 2013 Writing Retreat

The clinical: after twelve and a half years of serious writing, a decent amount of artistic success, day-job burnout, the recent death of a close friend, and a raging desire to begin Novel 8 a/k/a Novel 2013 a/k/a DIXIANA, I needed a break from the grind and obligations of my daily life. I decided the […]

A Wonderful FELLOW TRAVELER Review!

One of the most complimentary reviews yet for Fellow Traveler comes from longtime Deadhead author, musician, Grateful Dead Hour and Tales from the Golden Road radio host David Gans, posted tonight on his blog. A choice pull quote begins the review: “Fellow Traveler is as worthy a document of the latter-day Grateful Dead experience as any I’ve read, fictional […]

State of the Projects

Sort of like a state of the state/union address? Not so much, this; nothing so dramatic. No, at the beginning of a new creative season this is merely an update regarding the core of my creative output: my various completed novel manuscripts. As I’ve been on a what’s become a two week break from working […]

Wagging the DOGS

Six weeks after my agent Michelle L Johnson of Inklings Literary got an exciting flurry of new MS requests, it looks like DOGS OF PARSONS HOLLOW has pulled rejections from two of the four editors who took a peek. The upside? The other two that are still active are with the bigger publishers of the […]

LET THE GLORY PASS AWAY: Now in Submission Shape!

I’m pleased to report that a couple of days shy of my spring deadline I’ve completed a fresh revision, the fourth full draft, of LET THE GLORY PASS AWAY, a new manuscript I wrote last summer. I come to the end of this particular cycle of the creative process feeling that, for the moment, at […]