BOONE, N.C. — The second edition of As the Crow Flies, the new open-access expansion of Appalachian Journal: A Regional Studies Review, goes live on Dec. 15. This winter edition of As the Crow Flies includes scholarly articles, book reviews, poetry, research-based essays, such as Rodger Cunningham’s “New Stocks for Old Apples” and Jeremy Paden’s “Four Women Waiting, A Shifting Set: On Leatha Kendrick’s Poetry,” and creative nonfiction pieces, such as Susan Long’s “Becoming Doris Day” and Susan J. Mitchell’s “Dangling My Legs at the Cemetery on the Hill.”
The issue features eight reviews of recently-published books: Mary Beth Crass reviews Emily Strasser’s Half-Life of a Secret: Reckoning with a Hidden History, W. Scott Hanna reviews A Literary Field Guide to Northern Appalachia edited by Todd Davis and Noah Davis, Thomas Alan Holmes reviews Troublesome Rising: A Thousand-Year Flood in Eastern Kentucky edited by Melissa Helton, Jeff Hardin reviews Valediction by Linda Parsons, Matthew Wimberley reviews Ray McManus’ The Last Saturday in America, Joshua Cody Ward reviews Terry Roberts’ The Fullness of Time, Catherine Carter reviews Kathryn Kirkpatrick’s Creature, and finally, Sara Moore Wagner reviews The Safety of Small Things by Jane Hicks.
Featured poetry includes Jane Hicks’ “Cyanosis” and “Owls,” Rita Quillen’s “What Hawks Say,” and Allan Scherlan’s pieces, “A Wooden Frame,” “Nesting in an Attic Vent,” and “The Fawn.”
The scholarly article “Analyzing the Spatial Characteristics of Developed Mine Lands in WV to Aid in Future Planning,” written by Pinky Thomas and Michael P. Strager, explores post-mining development opportunities for formerly mined lands.
Interweaving a wide range of themes and content, the winter issue is free to read and share at as-the-crow-flies.pubpub.org.
Related: Appalachian Journal debuts open-access expansion As the Crow Flies
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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
December 15, 2025
BOONE, N.C.
The second edition of As the Crow Flies, the new open-access expansion of Appalachian Journal: A Regional Studies Review, goes live on Dec. 15.
The second edition of As the Crow Flies, the new open-access expansion of Appalachian Journal: A Regional Studies Review, goes live on Dec. 15.