BOONE, N.C. — The third edition of As the Crow Flies, the open-access expansion of Appalachian Journal: A Regional Studies Review, went live on March 15. This spring edition of As the Crow Flies includes a selection of reviews and poetry from numerous writers and poets alike.
Griffin C. Anderson reviews Taylor Brown’s historical fiction novel Rednecks, Emily Brier reviews Allison E. Carey’s Doubly Erased: LGBTQ Literature in Appalachia, and Scott Honeycutt reviews John Turner’s Killing the Buddha on the Appalachian Trail: Walking on through Self-Doubt and Aging. Additionally, Laura Leigh Morris reviews Jacinda Townsend’s novel Trigger Warning, which investigates themes surrounding anti-Black police violence, and Kennedy Alex Sloop reviews Haint Country: Dark Folktales from the Hills and Hollers, edited by Matthew R. Sparks and Olivia Sizemore. Finally, the edition includes reviews of recent poetry: Marianne Worthington reviews Kingfisher Blues: Poems by Erik Reece, Whitney Waters reviews The Science of Things We Can Believe by Christen Noel Kauffman, and David B. Prather reviews Denton Loving’s Feller.
Selected poetry includes “Of Miners and Magicicadas: 17 Years Underground” and “Ode to a Redbud” by Morgan DePue, “May” and “to you who lost your words” by Garrett Mostowski, “Robin redbreast” by Jenny Moyer, Gene Hyde’s ekphrastic poems, “Mr. B’s Kudzu Blues” and “So Much Depends on a Stone Wall,” “Appalachian Two-Step” by Darlene O’Dell, and finally, “Spring Dance” by Kaye Savage.
This edition also features the creative non-fiction piece, “The View from The Summit” by Kelly White Arnold, Jessica Martell and Zackary’s Vernon’s discussion of what histories of Irish violence can teach us and our students about peacebuilding in the US and Appalachia in “Appalachians Abroad: Stories of Peacebuilding from Ireland and Northern Ireland,” and the scholarly article, “The Impact of Socioeconomic Factors on Achievement Motivation in First-Generation College Students from Appalachia” by Tiffany L. Hamblin, which examines first-generation student experiences in higher education.
Interweaving a diverse range of narratives, the spring issue is free to access, read, and share at as-the-crow-flies.pubpub.org.
Related: Winter 2025 edition of As the Crow Flies now available
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About As The Crow Flies
As the Crow Flies is the new open-access expansion of Appalachian Journal: A Regional Studies Review. Appalachian Journal, founded in 1972, is an interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed quarterly featuring field research, roundtable discussions, interviews, first-person essays, and scholarly studies of history, politics, economics, culture, folklore, literature, music, ecology, and a variety of other topics, as well as poetry, photography, and reviews of books, films, and recordings dealing with the region of the Appalachian mountains. The material in As the Crow Flies undergoes the same editorial and peer review processes as the print content, but is more freely available to readers and researchers. Learn more at as-the-crow-flies.pubpub.org.
About the Center for Appalachian Studies
The Center for Appalachian Studies promotes public programs, community collaboration, civic engagement and scholarship on the Appalachian region. The center is committed to building healthy communities and deepening knowledge of Appalachia’s past, present and future through community-based research and engagement. Learn more at appcenter.appstate.edu.
Written by Dr. Jessica Cory
Edited by Lauren Gibbs
March 16, 2026
BOONE, N.C.
The "As the Crow Flies" logo overlaid on an image of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
The "As the Crow Flies" logo overlaid on an image of the Blue Ridge Mountains.