Ray McAllister's Blog

OUR GIVEAWAY OF 10 SIGNED COPIES of the newly re-released 10th Anniversary Wrightsville Beach: The Luminous Island brought more than 1,000 entries — 1,072, to be exact — according to Goodreads.

Here are the 10 WINNERS, selected by Goodreads: Lorraine Altschuler, Nancy Armisto, Julie Depre, Melanie Haynes, Teresa Lavender, Shane Montgomery, Cortney Mellas, Donna Palmer, Ronnie Pastecki, and Pamela Ward.

Congratulations to all! Your books will go out today.

Love for Wrightsville Beach, south of the Outer Banks in North Carolina, is widespread. Perhaps not surprisingly, three winners hail from North Carolina. But they also live as far north as Maine, Massachusetts (2!) and New York, as far south as Louisiana and as far into the Midwest as Ohio and Indiana.

And, not to worry. If you didn’t win, you can get your own signed copy of the new WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH: The Luminous Island — with FREE shipping — at http://RayMcAllister.com/books/wright.... Cost is just $22.95.

OUR GIVEAWAY OF 3 SIGNED COPIES of the new FLIGHTS OF FANCY: Stories, Conversations and Life Travels with a Bemused Columnist and His Whimsical Wife, by Randy and Barbara Fitzgerald, brought 583, entries, according to Goodreads.

Here are the 3 WINNERS, selected by Goodreads: Ashley Ewing, Stacy Flink and Michael Jablonski.

Congratulations to all! Your books will go out today.

Though the Fitzgeralds are best-known in the Central Virginia area of Richmond and Charlottesville, the three winners all came from the Midwest: Illinois, Michigan and Minnesota.

But not to worry. If you Virginians and other fans of great humor didn’t win, you can get your own signed copy of the new FLIGHTS OF FANCY — with FREE shipping — at http://www.beachglassbooks.com/titles.... Cost is just $14.95.

SECOND ACTS

IT’LL BE A BREEZE

It helps not to know what you don’t know

BY RAY McALLISTER

[Published in Boomer magazine, Oct-Nov 2017. http://raymcallister.com/a-breeze)

I should have told you.

But then I didn’t know.

Since I left as BOOMER’s editor 18 months ago, I’ve continued writing this column, restyling it as “Second Acts.” Each one has focused on someone who’s put a primary career behind him or her and moved on to something even more satisfying.

These people are inspiring examples. Free to do what they want, they move effortlessly into this new stage.

So it’s a breeze, right? Everybody should do this. Just chuck the old thing – and write the Great American Novel. Cure cancer. Negotiate world peace.

Here’s what I should have mentioned: The people I wrote about … I wrote about for a reason.

They were successful.

I wasn’t seeking people who bombed. I wasn’t looking for those who retired and found they weren’t suited for anything else. I wasn’t looking for the dude who decided he liked hanging out in his bathrobe all day.

Now that I’ve seen it from the inside, it turns out it takes a little adjustment. Maybe I should have listened to the people I was writing about. Some talked about time management. Some talked about learning something new, even going to school. Some talked about needing to adjust.

Oh, NOW I tell me.

OCTOBER 1: Publication of 10th Anniversary Edition of "[book:Wrightsville Beach: The Luminous Island|36343421] "Wrightsville Beach"

RAY, MEET REALITY

By some measures, I’ve had a productive year. I republished a book on the Outer Banks, Ellen Fulcher Cloud’s Portsmouth, and began editing Doctor’s Creek Journal about Portsmouth Island. October will be an exceptionally busy month: An expanded 10th anniversary edition of my Wrightsville Beach is being published. I’m publishing a wonderful collection of columns and commentaries by Randy and Barbara Fitzgerald, Flights of Fancy: Stories, Conversations and Life Travels with a Bemused Columnist and His Whimsical Wife. [Yes, we tried to get into Guinness for longest title ever] And John Witt’s sublime audio version of my Hatteras Island, is coming out, too.

In December, a paperback book of my Ocracoke is being published. An e-book of Ocracoke will follow next year. So, too, will several other books I’m publishing. And I’m hopeful that my own next book won’t be too far behind.

Seems like a breeze, doesn’t it?

Here’s what you haven’t seen.

You haven’t seen my two-steps-forward-one-step-back attempts to learn InDesign, software I saw designers at BOOMER and sister magazines use so brilliantly – and effortlessly. [I need words to figure things out. This #$% thing uses little icons … that all look exactly the same!!! #$%]

OCTOBER 10: Publication of the Fitzgeralds' "Flights of Fancy"

You haven’t seen the scurrying around after Ellen Cloud died in December while assisting in the republication of her book.

You haven’t seen the delays caused either by Randy Fitzgerald’s own serious illness (see his column, this issue) or, even after he and Barbara submitted a brilliant manuscript, by trying to bring on an artist for last-minute illustrations.

You haven’t seen the back and forth with the Hatteras audiobook, when poor John had to re-record otherwise perfect passages or chapters when I found colloquial mispronunciations. [It’s amazing how many times I used “hoi toide” and “Bodie Island” in that book]

You haven’t seen how many times I was sure I’d finally get to my own writing only to see something else come up.

AND NOW, HERE WE ARE

In other words, it’s a good thing I didn’t know what I didn’t know.

The stupider I was, the better.

OCTOBER 11: Release of "Hatteras Island: Keeper of The Outer Banks audio book

Don’t misunderstand. It’s been worth it. The results have been gratifying. But let me warn you: Nothing is quite as you think it will be when you switch to your “Second Act.”

Oh, and now something else has come up. We’re publishing another Ellen Cloud book next spring. That’s exciting. But the family says it doesn’t have her manuscript file or any of the photographs, either.

We can get the book retyped. We’ll have to find the old photos. How, I don’t know …

But I’m sure it will be a breeze.

Ray McAllister, former Richmond Times-Dispatch columnist and former Boomer editor, is the author of six books. An expanded 10th anniversary edition of Wrightsville Beach: The Luminous Island, a paperback edition of Ocracoke: The Pearl of the Outer Banks and an audiobook of Hatteras Island: Keeper of the Outer Banks are due out this year. He is also publishing this fall’s Flights of Fancy: Stories, Conversations and Life Travels with a Bemused Columnist and His Whimsical Wife, by Randy and Barbara Fitzgerald. For more: RayMcAllister.com.

"Portsmouth: The Way It Was" has just been republished (yesterday, May 20). Why is it being brought back into print? Here’s my foreword to the book by Ellen Fulcher Cloud, which tells the true story of the “ghost village of the Outer Banks.”



FOREWORD
TO THE SECOND EDITION

Welcome back, Portsmouth.

We’ve missed you.

Portsmouth Island, for those who know of it only as “the ghost village of the Outer Banks”—maintained by the National Park Service, in partnership with the Friends of Portsmouth Island—once was a thriving seaport, with fishermen, boat pilots and Life-Saving Service crew, with a hospital, store, and post office, with a school, church, and cemeteries. It saw deadly hurricanes, shipwrecks, wars, and slavery. But it rejoiced in births, dances and weddings. Children at play. A daily mailboat. The stuff of life.

Then it was gone.

Happily, its story is not. The reissuing of "Portsmouth: The Way It Was" was not, I must concede, my idea. Gee Gee Roselle, owner of the marvelous little Buxton Village Books on Hatteras Island in North Carolina’s Outer Banks, first suggested I write about Portsmouth, to follow my books on Hatteras Island and Ocracoke. I begged off, citing other writing projects, so she quickly proposed that I contact Ellen Fulcher Cloud about bringing back her little gem from two decades earlier. Maybe I could do it on the side.

I knew of Ellen Cloud in the way I knew of other local historians and genealogists, from my research. They are on the front lines of preserving local histories, and Ellen was one of the best. Luckily, when I contacted her in the fall of 2016, she was enthusiastic. She re-secured the book rights, which essentially lay dormant, from another publisher. She mailed her contract.

Then a few weeks later, Ellen passed away.

But her wishes had been made clear. With the help of her daughters, Deidra Cloud Ramsey and Simona Rae Spickett, we got her materials and got to work. My wife, Vicki, scanned photographs to supplement existing scans. Our daughter, Lindsay Zarse, retyped the manuscript. (We also used Lindsay’s growing Beach Glass Books imprint for publishing.) Deidra, along with Rosanne Penley, president of the Friends of Portsmouth Island, helped with details.

The new book rightly hews closely to Ellen’s 1996 original. There has been only minor editing, the re-titling of a chapter, and the consolidation of a short chapter into another. Some supporting documentation—letters, estate records, troop notes—have been moved to appendices.

But volume IS different. It includes more pages, 23 more images (above the original 53), more photo reproduction, and a keepsake, hardcover binding.

That’s only fitting. Ellen engaged in yeoman-like research—and in the pre-Internet age, remember. But she may have under-credited herself as a writer. Her covers even eschewed the usual stand-alone author’s name, saying the books had been “Researched and Compiled by Ellen Fulcher Cloud”—likely because she included so many documents. Go through "Portsmouth," however, and you’ll find any number of beautifully written passages: on the aftermath of the Civil War, the first day of the new lifesaving station, the severance of Portsmouth’s ties to the outside world, Ellen’s own childhood on the island.

We know Ellen would be happy that both her own work and the story of Portsmouth endure—and proud, we think, of this new edition. And we hope you enjoy returning with her to that thriving land lost to time, Portsmouth Island.

RAY McALLISTER
Richmond, Virginia
March 2017

By the time the Goodreads giveaway of 10 copies of the new enhanced edition of Wrightsville Beach: The Luminous Island ended last night, 856 had entered.

Here are the 10 WINNERS: Barbie Campbell, Betty Grow, Tammy Hornbeck, Havis Mohammad, Lisa Paradis, Becky Porter, Neola Rendell, Kristi Richardson, David T. Staud and Stacy Whitaker. Congratulations to all! Your books were mailed this morning.

Love for Wrightsville Beach and North Carolina's coast apparently knows no bounds. Winners hailed from Connecticut down to Texas and up to Oregon. They came from Oklahoma, Missouri, Virginia, Ohio, Wisconsin ... and two up in Michigan.
And, not to worry. If you didn't win, you can get get a special offer for a very limited time: TWO (2) copies of Wrightsville Beach for the price of one -- with FREE shipping -- at http://raymcallister.com/books/wright.... Cost is just $19.95, total. Hurry, though. ENDS SATURDAY, MARCH 4.


Meanwhile, keep looking for more great book giveaways.

Posted on December 14, 2016
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Our Goodreads Giveaway of the book that goes behind the scenes with the world’s most interest people, The Forum Files: The Stories Behind The Richmond Forum, brought a large number of entrants — 512 — despite being about a Richmond-based institution.

Here are the 3 WINNERS selected by Goodreads: Donna Smith, Diane L. Hamel, and Daniel Perlino.

Congratulations to all! Your signed coffee table books went out today.

The Forum may be based in Richmond, but interest — and now the story — is widespread. Winners hailed from Rhode Island, New York, and even Texas.

The Forum Files: The Stories Behind the Richmond Forum

And, not to worry. If you didn’t win, you can get your own signed copy of the new edition of The Forum Files: The Stories Behind The Richmond Forum — at just HALF PRICE with FREE shipping — at http://RayMcAllister.com/books/thefor.... Cost is just $18.99, total.

Meanwhile, keep looking for more great book giveaways. The next will be announced on New Year’s Day.

Posted on November 5, 2016
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Our 10th anniversary giveaway of the award-winning Topsail Island: Mayberry by the Sea brought an unexpectedly high number of entrants: 954, according to Goodreads.

Here are the 10 WINNERS selected by Goodreads: Diana Biela, Roxanne Davis, Chris Devine, Samyah Fadel, Donna Gibbs, Lana Hayes, Audrey Jarrett, Teresa Lavender, Tracy Lewis, and Jenny Sturtevant. (Amazingly, Diana is a dual winner, having won a Ocracoke book last week. Talk about beating the odds!)

Congratulations to all! Your signed books will go out today.

Love for little Topsail Island, North Carolina, is widespread. Winners hailed from as far west as Arizona, as far south as Texas and Florida, and as far east as Maine and New York. The middle of the country was well-represented, too, with winners in Kansas, Oklahoma, and two from West Virginia, plus there was one from … Ontario, Canada.
And, not to worry. If you didn’t win, you can get your own signed copy of the new edition of Topsail Island: Mayberry by the Sea — with FREE shipping — at http://RayMcAllister.com/books/topsail. Cost is just $19.95, total.

Meanwhile, keep looking for more great book giveaways.

Posted on November 1, 2016
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By the time the Goodreads giveaway of 10 copies of the new enhanced edition of Ocracoke: The Pearl of the Outer Banks ended last night, 722 had entered.

Here are the 10 winners: Diana Biela, Dean Bohn, Madeline Cazz, Cheri Clark, Tori Duke, Barry Kazimer, Brandi Reynolds, Margie Stetson, Emily Tran, and Cynthia Turner. Congratulations to all! Your books will go out today and tomorrow.

Love for Ocracoke and North Carolina’s Outer Banks apparently knows no bounds. Winners hailed from as far west as California and as far east as New York and Connecticut. They came from Iowa, Georgia, two in Virginia, and even up in Michigan, North Dakota and … British Columbia, Canada.

And, not to worry. If you didn’t win, you can get your own copy of the new edition of Ocracoke: The Pearl of the Outer Banks — with FREE shipping — at http://raymcallister.com/books/ocracoke. Cost is just $22.95, total.

Meanwhile, keep looking for more great book giveaways.

Posted on October 30, 2016
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My father died five years ago today, on Oct. 30, 2011.

Here’s the column I wrote for Boomer magazine.

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MISS YOU, DAD… And sorry for those fights over Nixon


Everyone liked my father.

They did. It’s not an exaggeration. They all liked him.

You would meet Bob and instantly he was an old friend. He would smile, greet you warmly, make a joke. Maybe the joke was at his expense. If he really liked you, though, the joke was aimed at you.

No one else in the family seems to have quite gotten that trait. Not my mother, my brother Craig nor I.

Robert Ray McAllister died too soon, of course. Conversely, it was time. He went into the hospital with severe breathing problems in August. Mother and I spent much of nine days with him in a hospital in Wilmington, N.C., including two as Hurricane Irene came through. The hospital was on lockdown and it was a frightening night on the seventh floor. My mother would be nowhere else, though.

Then Dad was moved to a health care facility for the final two months. He was dying of lung cancer, wearing breathing tubes 24/7 and slowly wasting away.

The nurses all adored him.

Funny thing, he never smoked until he went in the service late in World War II. The Red Cross gave servicemen free cigarettes and Dad was hooked. My mother blamed the Red Cross. I told the story to a pastor, who noted the Red Cross was passing along cigarettes for the tobacco companies. I told the story to a doctor, who said the military liked servicemen to smoke because it calmed them in battle. You could blame anyone.

My father never did. He had enjoyed smoking, he said, and realized he shortened his life. It was a good life, and now it was time to move on.

Dad never saw himself as a victim, not even when he was laid off as an insurance company vice president. This was back when a company would keep an employee forever. Turned our forever was 25 years. He caught on as a senior v.p. with another company and, a decade later, was laid off again.

Dad died Oct. 30, less than a month before his 84th birthday. He left a deep hole with my mother, especially. After 61 years of marriage, she can scarcely remember a time without him.

He left me his golf clubs, the watch my mother gave him on their 25th anniversary, and one of the silver-with-turquoise bolo ties he wore into the office we we lived in Phoenix. (That was entirely normal out there; you’ll have to trust me.) He also left me a mostly easygoing nature and — many have cursed him for this — a sense of “humor” designed primarily to confuse. Or to agitate. Or to annoy.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is comedy.

In recent years, he occasionally walked int a full elevator, faced the assembled and deadpanned: “I suppose you wonder why I’ve called this meeting.” Half the people would laugh.

The other half were probably looking for an exit.

We got along well, better, I suspect, than many fathers and sons. I’d almost forgotten we argued. But we did and often. We had truly ferocious battles at the dinner table over Richard Nixon during Watergate.

He did always want me to go into business, too. Eventually, he was OK with my writing newspaper columns and books. At least he said so.

I’m sure I was more of a disappointment because I didn’t play more golf. Dad was a 7-handicapper and hit a legitimate 300-yard drive in the days before equipment allowed everyone to do that. One of his favorite moments came after he marshaled the U.S. Open at the Merion Golf Club, the one in which Trevino beat Nicklaus in a playoff. The marshals would play the next day and Dad birdied the brutal 18th hole. Few of the pros had.

Oh, and he hated when golfers gave themselves mulligans or improved their lies or didn’t count all their strokes. Hated it.

He joined the Army Air Forces at the tail end of World War II and, while stationed on Guam, played basketball on the Far East Air Force championship team. Dad demeaned his own military experience. He said his brother (now 90 and living in California), who had flown bombing raids over Germany, was the hero. [Update: Bud died in 2015 at 94.]

Dad attended the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business. In retirement, he was a voracious reader, knocking off two or three books from the local library each week.

Our visits at the end were good. We always could kid each other and we didn’t back off now that he was dying. It was sad, though, that he lost interest in reading. He merely waited for Mother’s daily visits or the occasional ones from us or his golfing buddies, “the Divots.” And watch TV.

At his service, neighbors and the Divots filed in, the latter somberly as a group. When they started telling stories about Bob, the laughs started. I missed his voice there. Afterward, Craig and I — with our wives along to keep an eye out for law enforcement — sprinkled his ashes on the golf course. That’s what he wanted.

Don’t know how to end this, except …

You know what I’d been intending to get Dad for Christmas? An e-reader. Loaded up with books.

I think he would have liked that.