A short story titled “I Could Be the One” is my latest publication. It appears in Tales of Music, Murder, and Mayhem: Bouchercon Anthology 2024. This is the annual anthology associate with the World Mystery Convention held in honor of Anthony Boucher (1911-1968), who was a “distinguished mystery fiction critic, editor and author,” according to Bouchercon 2024.
“I Could Be the One” tells the story of Ezra MacRae’s 1983 arrival in Nashville, where he will try to establish himself as a songwriter. As such, it serves as a prequel to Streets of Nashville, which opens in 1989 with Ezra achieving the first success of his songwriting endeavors some six years after the events narrated in the short story.
I currently have hopes of writing two more Ezra MacRae novels: Jacob’s Limp set in 1996 and Antaeus set in 2001.
Madville Publishing will publish Streets of Nashville on April 15, 2025!
I’m grateful to Madville’s Kim Davis and the unnamed reviewer who have provided this chance.
Here’s the query letter I submitted in the search for publication, with thanks to author Alex Kenna.
But before that, on November 19, 2024, Madville will publish Wild Wind: Poems and Stories Inspired by the Songs of Robert Earl Keen, edited by Sandra Johnson Cooper and Ron Cooper, with a preface by Willy Braun of Reckless Kelly. The anthology includes my story “Carolina,” based on REK’s song of the same name. I had fun adapting some Charles Brockden Brown characters and situations to a this crime story of betrayal, sleepwalking, and murder near Asheville, NC.
My current Work-in-Progress is a novel with the working title of Avalon Moon. Prior to attending the 2023 Killer Nashville International Writers’ Conference (August 17-20), I submitted the first fifty pages of AM to the Southern Gothic category of the Claymore Awards. I was pleased to learn prior to the conference—in July—that those pages earned Avalon Moon the honor of Finalist for a Claymore. While I didn’t win the award, I was gratified by the confirmation of AM‘s potential.
While at Killer Nashville, I sold and signed several copies of Gabriel’s Songbook and A Twilight Reel. I also made three 50-minute solo presentations to interested attendants: “Faith, Mystery, & the Pious Detective”; “Southern / Appalachian Gothic Fiction”; and “The Native American Mystery / Crime / Suspense / Thriller.”
A Twilight Reel is Cody’s second book of fiction, set in the Appalachian Mountains of western North Carolina. It is published by Pisgah Press in Asheville, NC.
(Buy the book at Amazon.com or Bookshop.org; order a signed copy by contacting me at michaelamoscody@gmail.com)
This collection, with a story set in each of the twelve months of 1999, chronicles life in the fictional western North Carolina town of Runion, which first appeared in Cody’s 2017 novel Gabriel’s Songbook. Like Thomas Wolfe’s Altamont, Runion stands in for places Cody grew up in and knows as only a native son can.
The author’s insightful tales and deeply imagined characters present a nuanced portrait of a region learning how to understand and embrace the new—despite the frequent pain and fear of the transition. Or, in the words of renowned author Robert Morgan (Chasing the North Star), the collection is “a vivid portrait of a community in an age of rapid change” by “one of the most authentic and inspired voices in contemporary Appalachian fiction.”
Winner of 1st Place Award
Short Story / Anthology Category
Feathered Quill Book Awards 2022
What the judges had to say:
- “these short stories were great”
- “well-written”
- “each plot was mysterious, action-packed with great characters”
- “usually these collections have a story that’s a dud but not in this collection . . . well done!”
- “mystery, action, charm — each plot kept my attention throughout”
Reviews:
Tina Chambers @ Chapter 16
Chris McGinley @ Reckon Review
Martha Earl @ Tennessee Libraries
The stories all sing on their own, but it is in the harmonizing of characters and events as they appear in multiple tales that the real joy of the collection is found. . . . A delightful, richly detailed set of stories.
It’s no accident that a character in Michael Amos Cody’s A Twilight Reel is reading Dubliners, for the world of this remarkable collection—Runion, North Carolina, and the “age-rounded” Blue Ridge mountains—is pure Joycean. Recurring characters in a dozen stories stumble toward human connection, sometimes over generations. They are shadowed by Lincolnites and Rebels, the killing ground of Shelton Laurel overlaying the cemetery where families of both factions gather in “Decoration Day.” This skillful triptych of far past, reenactment of the past, and present describes the region as “a mess of allegiances.” Reverend Thorn counters, “Love is the context of our lives.” Yet twilight is coming to Runion: the Good Samaritan held at knifepoint, gay neighbors treated to a burning cross, an undelivered letter, the drive-in closing, the community church turned Islamic Center, the ruin of AIDS, so many looking for love in all the wrong places. Cody is the masterful caller of the reel, leading us into mystery, time, a little magic realism, and possibly redemption—ever mindful of the living and the dead. —Linda Parsons, author of Candescent and This Shaky Earth
* * *
In A Twilight Reel, Michael Amos Cody has produced a collection of Southern Appalachian tales woven together by geography, time and a blend of truly fascinating characters. For those who wish to understand contemporary Appalachia—with its crazy quilt blend of past, present, and future—I cannot recommend A Twilight Reel highly enough! Savor each of these stories in turn and then marvel at the world they together make. —Terry Roberts, Author of A Short Time to Stay Here & That Bright Land
* * *
What wonderful stories these are, rooted in mountains I know so well! Michael Amos Cody blends traditional and modern elements, wry humor, spooky darkness, and his intimate knowledge of the region to bring us a deftly rendered Appalachian story cycle. Each of these stories sings its own song, but when read together they are even stronger, offering a symphonic, nuanced portrayal of our contemporary Southern Highlands. Expertly crafted with memorable characters and sharp-eyed details, this is a real gem. —Leah Hampton, author of F*uckface
* * *
Reminiscent of Spenser’s Shepherd’s Calendar, these twelve linked stories follow the progress of the seasons throughout a calendar year, rendering the fullness of life to be found in one Appalachian community. With its town-gown divide and its traditional and often insular residents struggling to become more inclusive, Runion, North Carolina, feels both representative and one of a kind. . . . A Twilight Reel captures so abundantly life’s duality, the recurrence of love and loss, of hurt and healing. These stories show us how fortune can turn on a dime. When a four-year-old’s sucker punch ruins his mom’s Valentine’s Day celebration, or when a hypothermic granny strips off her clothes and unloads a double-barrel shotgun at her would-be rescuer, or when a young man confesses his plans to travel all the way to Hollywood and propose marriage to Marilyn Monroe, each unexpected action is matched by the psychological drama that unfolds in its wake. And every instant of these lives makes clear the choice between intimacy and isolation. Stories this vital make me want to stand on a street corner and shout out the good news of Michael Amos Cody’s talent! —George Hovis, author of The Skin Artist
* * *
Michael Amos Cody’s A Twilight Reel avoids the old and the new stereotypes of Appalachia to present a nuanced portrait of a region learning how to understand and embrace the new while preserving the best of its traditions and letting go of what never worked in the first place. These insightful and magnificent stories make me wish for a second edition of Writing Appalachia so that the anthology might include one of them. Two preachers clash over soul secrets; a widowed grandfather rekindles his passion for Marilyn Monroe; a Muslim congregation converts a failed fundamentalist church into a mosque; a small-town businessman subscribes to a gay men’s magazine to help him understand a son who’s come home to die of AIDS; and two flute professors, one straight and one gay, give a new look to legacy at the local state university, where in a corner of the campus once stood an ancient oak that kept secrets since the era of Daniel Boone and Bishop Asbury—all these narratives and more come to life in Cody’s stories, which are both a twilight reel and the song of a new Appalachian dawn. —Theresa Lloyd, Co-Editor, Writing Appalachia: An Anthology
And check out Gabriel’s Songbook
Moving between the landscapes of fictional Runion, North Carolina, and Nashville’s Music Row, Gabriel’s Songbook follows a songwriter and singer through his search for fame and belonging. As he juggles ambition, love, and occasional despair, he finds that his dream of success and his love of music become increasingly at odds.
A living portrait of the artist as a wayward musician
Gabriel’s Songbook is the story of a musician whose talent carries him from the hills of Appalachia to the grime and glamour of Nashville and back home again. Gritty and lyrical, rock ’n’ roll and old-time country, the book transports the reader deep into that age-old dream of making the big time, and shows us the beauty and pathos that lurks underneath.
“Gabriel’s Songbook resonates like a great ballad, a song of love and struggle that keeps chiming in the ears long after the final note is played.” ~ Jesse Graves, author of Merciful Days
“Gabriel’s Songbook is a novel full of heart and longing, and it deserves its distinguished place on the shelf with some of the best stories of the region.” ~ Charles Dodd White, author of How Fire Runs
Finalist
Best of Backlist Category
Feathered Quill Book Awards 2022
What the judges had to say:
- “the fictional town of Runion is one I could live in — it came to life in this tale”
- “interesting read, the character’s search for stardom was rarely dull, the author definitely knows his subject”
- “the read was enjoyable and it was fun to join him for a while”
- “the character of Gabe was strong and it was interesting to see his journey through Nashville and how his ambition and drive mixed with romance and heartache”
About the author
Michael Amos Cody is a professor of English in the Department of Literature and Language at East Tennessee State University.
Cody grew up in Walnut, jewel of Madison County, North Carolina, not far from the ruins of Runion, a place he has reimagined for fiction appearing in YEMASSEE, TAMPA REVIEW, STILL, and other publications, as well as in his first novel GABRIEL’S SONGBOOK (Pisgah Press 2017). He lives with his wife Leesa in Jonesborough, Tennessee, and teaches in the Department of Literature and Language at East Tennessee State University.
Buy the books
Purchase A Twilight Reel: Stories and Gabriel’s Songbook by Michael Amos Cody
Or order from you local independent bookstore
(Atlas Books of Johnson City is mine)