Description: In a tiny Tennessee town, a boy's vivid imagination clashes with his family's strict rules, revealing the hilarious, heartfelt secrets hidden just beyond the county line.
Brief description: Larry D. Thacker is a Kentuckian writer, artist, and educator living in Johnson City, Tennessee. His poetry, fiction, and nonfiction have appeared in more than 200 publications, including Appalachian Review, American Journal of Poetry, Poetry South, and Still: The Journal, with stories nominated for Pushcart and Best of the Net. He is the author of multiple poetry collections and short story books, including Working it Off in Labor County (West Virginia University Press) and Everyday Monsters (co-authored with CM Chapman). A U.S. Army veteran and seventh-generation native of the Cumberland Gap region, Thacker holds an MFA from West Virginia Wesleyan College and works in higher education. He also appears on Netflix's Swap Shop.
Review Quotes:
The Wicked Road to Yam Junction is Larry Thacker at his best. Fearless, breathless, and shameless, this story collection should sit on the shelves, roughhousing with Harry Crews and Larry Brown. With dialogue that pops like gravel from the back of a pair of swinging mudflats, this book is an almanac of the true dirty South.
Charles Dodd White, Author of How Fire RunsWritten in an affable style as if you're leaning against a pickup truck and listening to a friend, this collection of stories is a welcome addition to Larry Thacker's evolving work. Here is contemporary Appalachia without adornment or sentimentality.
Chris Offutt, Author of the Mick Hardin series