The Madison Artists Guild will host a joint book signing with local authors William Charles Conner and Stephen Huggins on Saturday, November 13, from 11pm to 1pm during the Shop, Sip, & Stroll event. MAGallery is located at 125 W. Jefferson St., Madison, Georgia.
Eating Dirt is William “Chuck” Conner’s memoir of growing up with his four siblings in extreme poverty after being deserted by their father. The story takes place in rural North Georgia during a time of great strife in the Deep South and is set against the backdrop of post-Great Depression recovery, the great home-front war machine of WWII, and the drive-in craze of the 1950s.
As the boy becomes a man, a choice must be made—one that could take him far from the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
With grace, wit, and compassion, Conner offers the reader a glorious and visual record of lives sustained by tenacity, tradition, cunning, and character along with the promises of religion—sometimes realized, frequently denied—all drawn from the memories of a boy who saw too much and chose to remember it all.
The author later leveraged GI Bill benefits and went on to enroll at Emory at Oxford College. Within three years, he was accepted into Emory University School of Medicine on a full scholarship and graduated with his medical degree in 1962. Dr. Conner began his residency at Emory in the Department of Psychiatry and later served on the faculty.
Stephen Huggins holds five university degrees, including a PhD in history. He is a retired aerospace executive who has also taught history at the University of Georgia and Georgia Military College.
Huggins’ nonfiction work, America’s Use of Terror explores the history of American terrorism from colonial times to the present. From the first, America has considered itself a “shining city on a hill” - uniquely lighting the right way for the world. But it is hard to reconcile this picture, the very image of American exceptionalism, with the fact that the United States has frequently resorted to acts of terror to solve its most challenging problems. Any “war on terror,” Huggins suggests, will fail unless we take a long, hard look at ourselves - and it is this discerning, informed perspective that his book provides.
But wait, there’s more! The Murmur, Huggins’ first work of fiction, set in a town much like Madison, is addictive. Award-winning author Linda Hughes explains: "With an imagination reminiscent of Steven King and a mind for mystery like Michael Connelly, Huggins has brought us a triumph of suspense. From the moment journalist Fogger Grace becomes entangled in trying to solve the mystery of a baffling series of deaths to the astonishing ending, you will be ensnared in this mind-bending tale of the depths of human depravity and the grandeur of human virtue. You won't want to put it down until you've read the very last word.”
Please drop in, meet these great authors, and enjoy light refreshments!
MAG is a 501(c)3 nonprofit dedicated to education in and encouragement of artistic endeavor in its members and the community.