Copyright © 2016-2026 Favis Literary LLC
Copyright © 2016-2026 Favis Literary LLC
AUTHOR’S NOTES FOR A PECK OF DIRT BEFORE WE DIE
Appalachia
I spent a few years living in the foothills of Appalachia, in the southwest corner of Virginia. It was during those years that I learned the accent and came to appreciate the aphorisms. (If we’d lived there another year, I’m convinced I would have started speaking with the local dialect. Having moved to the US as a four-year-old from a British English-speaking country, it was a survival skill I’d learned young.) We’d moved from Boston to Radford in the New River Valley (a region of great natural beauty), and it was an impressive change. One of the things I appreciated most about our new home was how welcoming folks were to our dog. We had Roland in those days, a 90-pound Doberman–German Shepherd cross. In Boston, people would move to the other side of the street when we walked him, and some would give us dirty looks for owning a dog who appeared to have no great love of people. In Radford, people would grin and compliment our guy.
Chapter Titles
Duty, Faith, Love Are Roots and Ever Green comes from “A Farewell to Arms,” a poem by George Peele (1558?-1597). The full stanza is: Beauty, strength, youth, are flowers but fading seen;
Duty, faith, love, are roots, and ever green.
https://englishverse.com/poems/a_farewell_to_arms
Where the Sun Never Shines, and I Shiver When the Wind Blows Cold comes from a traditional American folk song “In the Pines”, also known as “Where Did You Sleep Last Night?”
https://youtu.be/hEMm7gxBYSc
Wayfaring Stranger, according to Wikipedia, is “a well-known American folk and gospel song likely originating in the early 19th century about a plaintive soul on the journey through life.” It is a simple but haunting song. Many artists have covered it. I am particularly fond of Rhiannon Giddens version. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1Z4PAZX9Bs
Appalachian Dialect
We owe the good people of the Appalachian hills a debt of gratitude for preserving the language of Elizabethan England, i.e. Shakepeare’s English, and possibly Chaucer’s English. Isolated as their ancestors were in the rugged hills and hollers of the Appalachian Mountains, phrases and vocabulary remained pristine and resisted both time and external influences.
https://daily.jstor.org/the-legendary-language-of-the-appalachian-holler/
“When some of those students [from the Appalachian hills and hollers] later entered college where they had the opportunities to study English Literature more thoroughly, they found, to their relief, that many of the words they had been criticized for using by their high school teachers had also been used, with the same meaning, by such great writers as John Milton, Shakespeare, Chaucer and others. It was highly pleasing to those students when reputable scholars of the English language corroborated their findings and said the mountain dwellers should be proud that their ancestors had preserved their heritage so well.”
James Gay Jones (Professor Emeritus of History, Glenville State College), A Wayfaring Sin-Eater And Other Tales of Appalachia (Parsons, West Virginia: McClain Printing Company, 1983)
Regarding the use of “y’all,” I’ve had Talmudic discussions with people about this word. Singular or always plural? Regionally correct?
Here’s an article in case you ever get the urge to write using this dialect. As someone who grew up in New Jersey, I would recommend against it. https://www.mentalfloss.com/language/grammar/can-yall-be-used-refer-single-person
In western North Carolina where this story is based, native mountain people do not even use the “y’all” contraction of “you all” that everyone else in the South uses. Instead, they use “y’uns,” a contraction of “you ones.” For the sake of international readers, I decided to stick with “y’all,” since this was likely more familiar. To my ears, “y’all” may also roll off the tongue easier for the beleaguered voice artist who will some day be tasked with narrating the audiobook.
Also note that words like window and follow would be pronounced as "winder" and "foller," just like holler instead of hollow.
Sin-eater
A nice summary of the concept can be found here: https://nearlyknowledgeablehistory.blogspot.com/2020/03/the-sin-eater.html Searching for sin-eater in the source below yields the text included below and illuminates the tradition brought from the UK to the Colonies. Brand’s popular antiquities of Great Britain. Faiths and folklore; a dictionary of national beliefs, superstitions and popular customs, past and current, with their classical and foreign analogues, described and illustrated by Brand, John, 1744-1806; Ellis, Henry, Sir, 1777-1869, ed; Hazlitt, William Carew, 1834-1913, ed Published in 1905 https://archive.org/details/cu31924027937949/page/n201/mode/2up?q=sin-eater
“In North Wales, pence and half-pence (in lieu of little rolls of bread) which were heretofore, and by some still are, given on these occasions, are now distributed to the poor, who flock in great numbers to the house or the dead before the corpse is brought out. When the corpse is brought out of the house, layd upon the bier and covered, before it be taken up, the next of kin to the deceased, widow, mother, daughter, or cousin (never done by a man), gives over the corps to one of the poorest neighbours three 2d. or four 3d. white loaves of bread, or a cheese with a piece of money stuck in it, and then a new wooden cup of drink, which some will require the poor person who receives it immediately to drink a little of. When this is done, the minister, if present, says the Lord’s Prayer, and then they set forward for church. The things mentioned above as given to a poor body, are brought upon a large dish, over the corpse, and the poor body returns thanks for them, and blesses God for the happiness of his friend and neighbour deceased.”
Ramsay / Sinclair Genealogy
Lummie’s knowledge of the Sinclair line in America came from: https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/library-pubs/27/
An abbreviated history of how the Plott hound and the Plott family came to America can be found in Soul Search, the first Zackie Story. A more detailed history is available in: Plott, Bob. Strike and Stay: The Story of the Plott Hound. South Carolina: History Press, 2007.
“Henry I Sinclair, Earl of Orkney, Baron of Roslin, and Lord of Shetland (c.1345-c.1400), was a Scottish explorer nobleman.[11] In 1391, he conquered the Faroe Islands. He is also alleged to have voyaged as far as the Americas in 1398….[B]elievers in this hypothesis claim he possibly landed in both Massachusetts and Nova Scotia.” But the veracity of this voyage is disputed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clan_Sinclair
“[Henry I Sinclair] had nine sisters, the eldest the Countess of Douglas, the second married to Ramsay of Dalhousie…” https://www.jasoncolavito.com/prince-henry-sinclair.html
“In 1400 … Sir Alexander Ramsay held out in Dalhousie Castle against a siege by the English, who were forced to retreat due to Ramsay’s resolute resistance.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clan_Ramsay
The Offer for Zackie
In 1970, the backwoods hunter offered $20 and his handmade doeskin gloves lined with rabbit fur. The money translates to $162 today (2024). The gloves are probably worth about $120. This is a king’s ransom for someone who is scraping by.
US Inflation Calculator: https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/
The Dangerous Lives of Miners
While writing, another miner was lost to a collapse. At this moment as I type, this marked the ninth coal mine death in 2024. https://www.wvtm13.com/article/alabama-mine-collapse-adger/62365628
Information on miner wages in 1970 came from Wage Chronology, Bituminous Coal Mine, Operators and United Mine Workers of America, October 1933-November 1974, Bulletin 1799, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1973 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/files/docs/publications/bls/bls_1799_1973.pdf
Appalachian Burial Customs and Coffin Quilts
Much of the information for Appalachian burial customs in the story were gleened from Donna W. Stansberry’s Master’s Thesis cited below: Stansberry, Donna W. “Burial Practices in Southern Appalachia.” Master’s Thesis, East Tennessee State University, 2004. https://dc.etsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2122&context=etd
Details about coffin quilts can be found in the thesis above and the links below. Note that the second link from the Kentucky Historical Society shows the coffin quilt described in “The Dead House” chapter and has some really nice notes on its history.
https://sarahloudinthomas.com/appalachian-thursday-coffin-quilts/
https://kyhistory.pastperfectonline.com/webobject/90C9CB5A-6327-42F0-8085-383648601656
Lummie’s musings in “The Dead House” chapter were taken from the thesis, but the original quote and source are listed below.
‘Taint no use to take on so. Like the leaves on the trees, we all drop off, one by one, and when your time comes, we’ll miss you for a spell; then we’ll forget.
Moore, Warren. Mountain Voices. The Globe Pequot Press, 1988.
Spells and Cures
Any spells that Lummie utters were taken from the early American grimoire cited below.
Hohman, John George and Harms, Daniel (editor). The Long Lost Friend: A 19th Century American Grimoire. Minnesota: Llewellyn Publications, 2024.
Hypothermia and Paradoxical Undressing
Twenty to fifty percent of hypothermia deaths are associated with paradoxical undressing. As Cam explained, sudden blood vessel dilation may be responsible for feelings of being unbearably hot during severe hypothermia. In addition, it is also thought that the hypothalamus may be involved. The hypothalamus is a region of the brain involved in thermoregulation, and it may malfunction when the body experiences extreme hypothermic conditions. But neuroscience is not something Cam could have easily explained. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypothermia
Wampus Cats
Wampus cats are among the celebrated cryptids of Appalachia. Just as there was a real Zackie, there were real wampus cats in my life. Butters and Dewy were my cats for fifteen years. Born to the same litter and found living wild as kittens, both were solid black and twelve to thirteen pounds in their prime. Butters had gold eyes, while Dewy’s were green. They were given soft names because they were the quintessential Halloween cats, and I wanted to dissuade any rough treatment of creatures who could easily provoke fear in lesser humans. They lived under the same roof with Zackie-O, slinking in and out of the shadows and not putting up with any of the world’s nonsense. Both of them passed within months of each other during the writing of this story. They were dear to me, and I miss them every day. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wampus_cat
Karsk
I ran across this drink while trying to determine if it was advisable—or even possible—to chug moonshine. The answer is a resounding NO. This is a sipping drink. To find out more about moonshine and karsk, see the links below. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karskhttps://www.reddit.com/r/alcohol/comments/8bwun5/how_the_hell_are_you_suppose_to_drink_moonshine/
1970 AMC Gremlin
The story of how an airplane airsickness bag was used to sketch out the initial design of the Gremlin came from the article below. This car somehow felt like the right car for Elias. https://www.oldcarsweekly.com/features/car-of-the-week-1970-amc-gremlin