Try and Be Somebody Second Edition Cover

Drunk on Peace and Quiet cover
Hung Over with Grandma cover
Pick Your Poison cover

Take my hand and let’s go back in time to southern West Virginia’s history; we’ll walk with Henry Lake, grandson of enslaved people, as he quenches his thirst for learning and becomes “somebody.” It was my great pleasure to piece together the life of a man who lived a bit before our time (I was 4 years old when he died) just around the mountain from us on Peters Mountain near Lindside, West Virginia. Henry Lake Dickason’s life, from a rough cabin to the President’s mansion at two colleges, was one of success in spite of the obstacles placed in his path by society.  I was driven to tell his story, mostly because it was inspirational and partly because his story is not well-known even in his hometown. A reader commented recently that as she read Try and Be Somebody, she began turning each page gently, as though it was sacred. That’s the way I felt as I wrote.

Forget any notion you might have that mountain women are simple-minded, clingy, or wishy-washy. The Stella and Jonas Series prove all of these stereotypes wrong. Now the stories of Stella and her man, Jonas, have been mostly told, at least enough to fill a series of three books. (I am pretty proud of that!)

In the first book, Drunk on Peace and Quiet, Stella’s life unfolds, including her rotten brother, Timmy Lee. The old folks would surely say he is the “bane of her existence.” Jonas, then her boyfriend, also comes to life, along with the Inupiaq culture from his home in Alaska. The title sums up all Stella ever wants, that giddy feeling when everything is going along smooth-like.

The second book, Hungover with Grandma, tells about Stella and Jonas getting hitched and traveling to Alaska for a wild honeymoon where Stella and Jonas’ family get to lay eyes on one another. Eventually, Timmy Lee gets to meet Stella’s mother-in-law, too.

In Pick Your Poison, the final book (so far), Stella fights the devil pipeline company and goes on her first vacation with her husband. Timmy Lee, bad penny that he is, turns up throughout all the books and his karma is not good. But, that’s all I’m going to say about that.

I have been asked if Stella is real and I always answer, “Of course not!” She does have little bits of the personalities of people I have known and admired, people close to the land who think about things and are determined to handle their own problems head-on. They know who they are, right and wrong in their minds are black and white, and they know how to keep their mouths shut, remarkable qualities in our ever-changing world. I thought I was writing books to entertain and help readers escape but I ended up just sharing parts of real life in my mountains. Maybe that’s an escape for some of y’all. I hope so. If you have a question or a comment, holler at me in these electronic comments anytime.

And now, check out my blog for more information and updates.

RIP Big Al

RIP Big Al

I'm sad to report that our pet alpaca passed away last week.  The dreaded worm that attacks the nervous system, for which there is no cure, stuck our farm again. Meningeal worms are spread by deer.  The deer aren't harmed, they just carry the worms who leave the deer...

read more
Another basketball season ends…sigh

Another basketball season ends…sigh

For four months, we were daily companions, practicing about two hours every weekday.  The Peterstown Lady Pirates were an agreeable group of girls this season, few in number but big in heart.  When they ordered sweatshirts with "5 players, 1 heartbeat", I didn't know...

read more

Happy News!

HAPPY NEWS! This email came last week: "Dear Ms. Crabtree, We are excited to announce that the book "Hung Over with Grandma" has won the Gold/1st Place award in the 2017 Feathered Quill Book Awards Program for the Best Women's Fiction category! Congratulations! We had...

read more
Sequel to Drunk on Peace and Quiet

Sequel to Drunk on Peace and Quiet

The second book in the Stella and Jonas series, Hung Over with Grandma, is being printed!!  We expect to have it in hand next week! The book opens with a wedding: Stella says “I do” to Jonas (at the Lindside United Methodist Church) and discovers quite the surprise—a...

read more
Peterstown Heritage Festival

Peterstown Heritage Festival

The Peterstown Heritage Festival was held on a rainy day, but there was a good crowd and lots of vendors and fun. I was set up in Market Street and Co. formerly the Terry Department Store, which is in the beginning phases of renovation.  The Civil War Era Love Letter...

read more
New Book on the Way!

New Book on the Way!

Drunk on Peace and Quiet has a sequel in the works!  The working title, Hung Over with Grandma, continues the adventures of Stella and Jonas.  They are off to Alaska, visiting Barrow and Atqasuk and having a wild old time on the flight back to West Virginia.  Timmy...

read more
WV Water Festival

WV Water Festival

We had a great vendor spot at the WV Water Festival on August 5, but it was not meant to be - true to the Festival's name, it poured rain. Like they say, some you win and some you lose and some get rained out! Then we had a family emergency call when the sun came out...

read more

July 4 Excitement

CNN [Chicken News Network] July 4: Lindside, WV. On an evening when loud noises and firecrackers are the norm, a Lindside man added to the festivities by screaming and jumping across a field at twilight. Roger Crabtree, 63, intended to gather eggs from a hidden...

read more

WV Flood 6/26

Mud and loss.  Bodies strewn on the Greenbrier's golf course.  Unimaginable  horror stories of the sounds of the night it rained 9 inches.  Houses floating away. Houses burning.  West Virginians with nothing but the clothes they wear and whatever was in their pockets...

read more