Ripples on the Big Pond

Washington Post Travel Section Sunday May 20 Page P02
I am grateful to Jerry Haines for bringing Slow Road Home into the view of readers in the DC area and beyond in his column, Road Reads, in the Washington Post Travel Section. The brief review is online now (you may have to register) and will be in print in the paper on Sunday, May 20, 2007; Page P02

This mention represents a disproportionately wide reach for a small book about small things from a small place. I look forward to finding out that even in the bigger burgs and busier burbs, there’s still a receptive heart for words about places that are slow. And quiet. But not ordinary!

From the unpredictable alchemy of connection between new readers and the story of Slow Road Home, this writer’s journey has taken much of its energy, enthusiasm and joy. You just never know what new friends, places and opportunities to share will open up, even from the least threads of synapse. And this is no small thread.

The summer, until late August, is open for book travel and talk. I’m hoping I’ll become plesantly “booked” and that this web of conversation with the words of the book and the photo-images will continue to grow and blossom.

Note: There’s also a link to the WaPo piece from the “What Readers Say” page on the book website.

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fred
fred

Fred First holds masters degrees in Vertebrate Zoology and physical therapy, and has been a biology teacher and physical therapist by profession. He moved to southwest Virginia in 1975 and to Floyd County in 1997. He maintains a daily photo-blog, broadcasts essays on the Roanoke NPR station, and contributes regular columns for the Floyd Press and Roanoke's Star Sentinel. His two non-fiction books, Slow Road Home and his recent What We Hold in Our Hands, celebrate the riches that we possess in our families and communities, our natural bounty, social capital and Appalachian cultures old and new. He has served on the Jacksonville Center Board of Directors and is newly active in the Sustain Floyd organization. He lives in northeastern Floyd County on the headwaters of the Roanoke River.

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  1. I am so thrilled for you Fred. I bet you never dreamed of a review in the Washington Post!! Or if you dared to dream that big, I sure didn’t. Have a delightful book tour summer. You created it with all your hard work, and you richly deserve the resuults.

  2. I’m new to Fragments from Floyd – read the book review in this morning’s Post, and I’m enjoying what I’ve found! Thank you.

    Receptive hearts abound – even here,in the the shadow of D.C.