Books by non-native Kentuckians often seem to wallow in stereotypes, none of them good.

It surprised me to read the noir detective stories of Chris McGinley in his recently released book “Coal Black” (Shotgun Honey, December 2019). The stories, all set in unnamed Eastern Kentucky towns and places many of us can recognize are dark, bleary, often chilling and frightening—though some find a space for bits of humor as this short scene from “Coal Black Haint” helps illustrate:

“Take this,” she told Bertie, and handed her the cleaver. “I’m your witness. You was out here, about to set to cullin’ the sickly chicks. He come at you, you hear? Said something about you bein’ a whore and a no-good bitch. Then he gone to hittin’ you, sayin’ he’s gonna kill you. You grabbed the cleaver from the stump and hit him in the face. But that just riled him. So you cut him again. Then he choked you, liked to kill you if you hadn’t hit him in the neck with the cleaver. Show ’em the marks on your throat. It’s self defense and I seen the whole thing from the coop. It ain’t exactly a lie neither, the way that one was.” Bertie nodded and started to cry.

The grandma slapped her fiercely in the face, and then again and again. “You get yourself together, by God. That one needed cullin’ and you know it.” (page 46).

McGinley who grew up in Andover, Massachusetts, and attended college there,  now teaches middle school at Sayre School in Lexington. He seems an unlikely author of detective stories set in Eastern Kentucky, a place he has never lived.

Asked about this he told me, via email, “My connection is through 30 years of living in KY, staying for long portions in Hazard, and exploring generally. Really, much of it is through research and reading, too. The reports of the Appalachia Regional Commission, many books on the area, and study in classes during grad school at UK. So it’s a wild mixture. The truth is that I’m not a NATIVE (his emphasis) of the hills, however, just an explorer and adherent of change. I’ve tried not to write stereotypes, to give characters types of knowledge that doesn’t come from formal schooling, but knowledge that is dignified. In the end, though, the stories are part of genre fiction, and of course there are reprehensible types in there, but hopefully alongside of intelligent, loving folk.”

To some degree stereotypes are in the eyes of the beholder. You may well see something I didn’t. You may perceive something that McGinley did not intend. But regardless, perhaps in spite of it, you’ll find well crafted interesting stories that will hold your attention and, perhaps, send a chill down your spine, a time or two or more.

GRC Speech Team

The GRC speech team will be traveling to Louisville this Saturday to participate in the Assumption High School Speech Tournament. This will be the last tournament for the team before the state speech tournament in February.

The speech team’s student leaders are Austin Raney, president, and Marie Jackson, vice president, both of whom participate in broadcasting competitions at tournaments and frequently write and read news broadcasts on WWKY – 102.9FM / AM-990  for broadcast on most Sunday mornings at 7:30 am.

The team does these local broadcasts as a fundraiser; if you would like information about how to participate contact the speech team’s head coach, Dodd Dixon.

This columnist is the assistant coach. Funds raised underwrite the team’s tournament travel and entry fee expenses.

Bill McCann is a playwright, poet, flash fiction writer, and teacher who writes about arts events and personalities. Reach him at wmccann273@gmail.com.