Salvation sought through moonshine 

Terry Roberts will present his new novel The Holy Ghost and Speakeasy and Revival at 3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 22, at City Lights Bookstore in Sylva. 

Jedidiah Robbins is a man on a crusade. From town to town, his Gospel train rides the rails of 1920s Appalachia, spreading the Good News with his daughter and a loyal group of roustabouts in tow. But, Jedidiah’s traveling revival company has a secret: in addition to offering the gifts of the Holy Spirit, it also delivers spirits of another kind. 

Prohibition is in full swing, but The Sword of the Lord train keeps the speakeasies in the towns it visits in business by providing the best that mountain stills have to offer. While beyond the gaze of federal agents, the operation eventually runs afoul of an overzealous small-town sheriff and a corrupt judge, setting in motion a series of events that could land them all in chains. 

Roberts is also the author of A Short Time to Stay Here and That Bright Land. Born and raised near Weaverville, Roberts is the director of the National Paideia Center and lives in Asheville. To reserve copies of his books, call City Lights Bookstore at 828.586.9499.

Evolution of the ‘Baby Beat’ movement

Writer/poet Thomas Rain Crowe will present his book Starting From San Francisco at 6:30 p.m. Friday. Sept. 21, at City Lights Bookstore in Sylva. 

In his book, Crowe explores the dimensions of a flourishing literary excitement that deserves to be better known: The Baby Beat’s movement. This movement was led by a whole generation of young poets who were nourished by their Beat predecessors. Starting From San Francisco provides many illuminating surprises for those who thought they already knew everything about what Beat was.

Excerpt from the book, “From the early 1970s through the early 1980s, for about a decade, San Francisco was often compared to Paris and the urban centers in Russia at the turn of the 20th century. ‘A renaissance’ some of us say, now, looking back. And even then, that word used to slip from our lips in moments of projected epiphany or outlandish optimism. Centered around City Lights Bookstore in North Beach, a fleur-de-lis had sprouted and bloomed, whose petals would eventually spread into the ethnic neighborhoods in San Francisco and out over the whole Bay Area, with leafy creative vines reaching other literary and artistic circles, further afield, in Berkeley, Bolinas, the Russian River and up along the coast and north — all the way to Mendocino and the North San Juan Ridge community in the Sierra foothills and as far south as Santa Cruz. Young poets, artists and musicians coming from all over the country, and in fact the world, were arriving almost daily to add their voices to the chorus of a growing community of Beat-inspired bohemian brethren creating what would become a full-blown Renaissance.”

To reserve copies of Starting From San Francisco, call City Lights Bookstore at 828.586.9499.

Role of railroads in Western NC

The Friends of the Library will be presenting a special edition of “How the West Was Won...Western North Carolina that is...” with Ray Rapp at 4 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 20, in the Waynesville Library Auditorium. 

Rapp served five terms in the state legislature, where he served on committees that were charged with improving and expanding rail service in North Carolina. But, perhaps more importantly for this presentation, he lectures extensively on regional rail history and has a deep and abiding love for the role trains had in making Western North Carolina what it is today. 

His knowledge of the subject is more than matched by his love of the topic. No dry lecture, this will be a railroad lovers joy ride. No registration is required and all are welcome.