"I have read all of these stories and there is not a bad one in the bunch. In a collection of this quality, perhaps, I should not single out one story for praise, but Padgett Powell's story nails it right to the wall. I will keep this collection by my bedside and read from it, more or less, each night. It is that good."--Harry Crews


This companion volume to the popular Florida Stories offers readers another sampling from the rich heritage of Florida short fiction. The collection ranges across a gallery of original characters and 150 years of the state's history and culture.
Selections in this volume highlight distinctively Floridian settings and experiences, from W. B. Thompson's report of the Indian assault on the Cape Florida Lighthouse during the Second Seminole War to Padgett Powell's tale of the backroads personalities and attractions of present-day Florida.
Among the early pieces are stories by Harriet Beecher Stowe on race and justice in 1870s Mandarin and by notorious dime novelist Ned Buntline, about a cruel prank played in an orange grove. Alongside these are tales of close calls at sea and the death of a young violinist enchanted by swamps.
From the early part of the 20th century come tales of panthers, wild birds in the Everglades, north Florida revival meetings, racial hatred in the '30s, and the 1928 hurricane on Lake Okeechobee. Later pieces capture life at Camp Blanding, a trip along the Ichetucknee River, an alligator attack on a primordial dark pond somewhere on the Gulf Coast.
In his introduction Kevin McCarthy discusses the role of place in Florida literature and the distinguishing characteristics of a "Florida writer." Each selection is introduced with background discussion about the author and the story and a brief explanation of historical references. A selected bibliography of each author's works is included.

CONTRIBUTORS
Wyatt Blassingame
Ned Buntline
James Trammell Cox
Lawrence Dorr
Marjory Stoneman Douglas
Rubylea Hall
Stetson Kennedy
Ernest Lyons
Kirk Munroe
Padgett Powell
Jack Rudloe
Harriet Beecher Stowe
John W. B. Thompson
Constance Fenimore Woolson

Kevin McCarthy, professor of English and Florida studies at the University of Florida, is the author or editor of thirteen books, including Florida Stories (UPF, 1989), Nine Florida Stories by Marjory Stoneman Douglas (UPF, 1990), and Florida Lighthouses (UPF, 1990).

No Sample Chapter Available

"Kevin McCarthy is a literary treasure hunter, adept at uncovering handsome noggets that are too veluable to leave entombed in time." "In More Florida Stories, the University of Florida professor of English and Florida studies offers a second anthology of stories set on our peninsula." " Now they are as revealing as a collection of old family photographs, sharpening our vision of the past and deepening our understanding of it."
--Orlando Sentinel

"If your holiday gift-giving list includes someone who enjoys reading about Florida, here's a book that's just right, just in time." "More Florida Stories is a superb collection. And as the supply of worthy material is by no means exhausted, let us hope for yet another volume (More and More Florida Stories perhaps?) a few years hence."
--Suart News

"With the 14 stories gathered in this collection, editor Kevin McCarthy makes a good case that Florida fiction is distinguished from other literature by its setting - 'the particular Florida habitat that shapes and dominates the story.' Indeed, swamps, ocean and rivers figure largely in these works, as do their flora and fauna. But while the stories in this book, a sequel to McCarthy's Florida Stories (1989), celebrate nature, they also remind us there has never been a time when our environment has not had the power to kill or inspire hatred and greed."
--Miami Herald

"If your holiday gift-giving list includes someone who enjoys reading about Florida, here's a book that's just right, just in time." "More Florida Stories is a superb collection. And as the supply of worthy material is by no means exhausted, let us hope for yet another volume (More and More Florida Stories perhaps?) a few years hence."
--Stuart News

"Kevin McCarthy's 'More Florida Stories' is a masterful collection of tales set in Florida." "If your appetite for adventure has not been whetted upon your completion of 'More Florida Stories,' I would encourage you to read 'Florida Stories,' if you haven't had the opportunity." "It is my fervent hope that Kevin McCarthy does not wait seven years to publish 'Even More Florida Stories.'"
--Florida Heritage

"a terrific collection of Florida stories well-told."
--Florida Times-Union