Slill Grinding It Out
Tlic* lal<vsl on "IN’orlli Carolina's most
prolific* writer/’
By IIMVAIUI GARNER
EDITORIAL
( Continued irom
раке
2 )
of Mecklenburg County. Not only that,
but the increased dependence of ur¬
ban dwellers on public services has
made citizens more and more vulnera¬
ble to disasters peculiar to large cities
— even such services as. say. garbage
collection and police protection.
For it the public is beginning to
realize that the communities most des¬
perately beset are cities like New York
and Chicago, which may already have
become ungovernable. The residents of
these large cities already are on the
verge of a tax rebellion, and it has
become increasingly difficult to obtain
passage of bond issues for public pur¬
poses.
In North Carolina it is the larger
cities and counties which are most
desperately seeking new tax revenue,
and we believe this is the direct result
of rapid growth. Every time an urban
area gets a new industry, it finds gov¬
ernmental costs outstripping the tax
contributions of such an industry.
Yes. all of us want new businesses,
but let no one depend on them to solve
our community problems.
CAROLINA CROSSROADS $4.95
A study of Southern rural life at the end of
the horse-and*buggy era, detailing its
mores and customs. 172 pp. Illus. Dr. Ros¬
ser H. Taylor
JOHNSON PUBLISHING COMPANY
Murfreesboro. N. C. 27855
crosstiesIkL
THROUGH CAROLINA
The drama of early railbuilding in
North Carolina told in a clear and
concise text, illustrated with 99
photographs and drawings including
four maps. Early locomotives. Civil
War and NC railroads, the first
tourists, early tragedies, old ads —
all in Crossties through Carolina.
1 1 x SV* page size. 88 pages.
Available Clothbound for S7.«5
Papercover for $3.95. NC residents
please add 3% State Sales Tax.
Shipped postage paid. Order direct
Enclose check or money order.
THE HELIOS PRESS
Box 2481, Raleigh, N.C. 27602
Talmage Powell is a personable,
mild-mannered man who smokes a
pipe, plays golf and is always ready to
bend an ear to a fellow pounder of a
typewriter’s keys.
Powell is that rare person, a born
writer, lie has been writing success¬
fully since his high school days. His
mother, Mrs. Cora Powell, recalls that
on one occasion, as a teen-ager, he was
a bit under the weather and confined
to his bed. The mailman left an enve¬
lope for him which Mrs. Powell took
to him. Inside was a check for $75 for
a story that he had sold. His mother
recalls further that his recovery dated
from that moment and was complete
within the hour.
At one time his genre was the con¬
fession story and he cut a swath of
considerable size through the maga¬
zines featuring such material; but even¬
tually he disengaged himself from this
particular category, remarking that he
just couldn’t deliver another child out
of wedlock.
Powell’s score is now fifteen books
and over five hundred short stories and
novelets. He has written television ma¬
terial for the Alfred Hitchcock show.
Some of his short stories have been
printed in anthologies and some of
his books have been printed in all the
languages of western Europe. A collec¬
tion of his books is in the North Caro¬
lina writers department of the Univer¬
sity of North Carolina Library at
Chapel Hill.
His latest book, published this year,
is titled The Cage, and is published by
Avon, a division of the Hears! Cor¬
poration. It is in soft cover at 50c.
We Huy ami Sell
Old Books About
North Carolina
and the South
В
rile at your book problem
»
THE OLD BOOK CORNER
(Formerly in Tt‘e Intimate BooW»op)
137A East Roscmory Street
Chapel Hill, N. C. 27514
The scene is the frontier wilderness
of post-civil war days in the South¬
west. Avon editors say the book is one
of the most unusual novels that they
have seen of the old West. The title
Tolmogc Powell
comes from the fact that the prota¬
gonist’s wife, having undergone a trau¬
matic experience at the hands of two
degraded brutes, slips from the normal
into the shadowland of incomprehen¬
sion. Webb Cameron, the woman’s hus¬
band. sets out on the trail of the vil¬
lains. Having no one to look after his
wife during his absence, he constructs
a small cage from willows, mounts it
on a wagon, and takes her along with
him. The book contains some excellent
characterization in its 127 tightly writ¬
ten pages.
Later this year Whitman Publishing
Company is bringing out a hard-cover
novel by Powell for young people titled
Mission Impossible. The publisher and
television producers assigned him the
writing of this book in which he will
use the characters in the network tele¬
vision series. Still another of Powell’s
books will be published by Whitman
during the year, this one about a young
college man who doesn’t like the status
quo.
20
THE STATE. June 1. 1969
