Ground Hog Dinner

by David Ball

If you want a literary classic reading with five-dollar words, stop here. If you want space age information to stimulate your thirst for knowledge, stop here. If you want a little humor, a little humility, and a little philosophy, continue to the next line. If you want to read about a wonderful author, stop here and burn the book. My writing is intended purely for entertainment and allowing you into my world as a young lad growing up in the Allegheny Mountains of West Virginia. I enjoyed a unique culture unmatched anywhere on the planet and I am blessed to have been a part of it. Everything I write about is based on fact and experience as seen by a young boy in that place known as Almost Heaven but Not Quite.

176 pages, Paperback

First published May 25, 2010

About the author

David Ball has been to 60 countries on six continents. He has lived and worked in various parts of Africa. In the course of researching his novel Empires of Sand, he crossed the Sahara desert four times, and got lost there only once. Research trips for other novels have taken him to China, Istanbul, Algeria, and Malta - a little island where so far he hasn't gotten lost at all.

A former pilot, sarcophagus maker, and businessman, David has driven a taxi in New York City and built a road in West Africa. He installed telecommunications equipment in Cameroun and explored the Andes in a Volkswagen bus. He has renovated old Victorian houses in Denver and pumped gasoline in the Grand Tetons.

He has a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University and enjoys skiing, fishing, running (some have described it as more like hobbling), baseball, and opera.

His novels include Empires of Sand, China Run, and Ironfire. A short story, The Scroll, appears in the anthology Warriors, another, Provenance in the anthology Rogues.

David lives with his wife, Melinda, and their children, Ben and Li, in a house they built in the Rocky Mountains.

Reviews

[Melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author, David Ball, is a good story teller, but not really a good writer (he rambles quite a bit). The book is a collection of stories from the author's youth interspersed with poems and is quite enjoyable. I'm familiar with the area, Moatsville and recognize some the names of the people involved. I think my favorite story is the one about the dahlia borers aka "while trying to shoot a ground hog with a shotgun, I took out my brother's dahlias and dahlia borers (worms that don't exist) got blamed not me". I read this for my 2016 Reading Challenge and it ticks the box "read a book set in your home state" (Pop Sugar).