Six award winning authors have created a poignant, humorous collection of nostalgic tales. Here life's lessons are handed down-liberally sprinkled with hilarity-from eccentric relatives, outrageous pets and unrepentant neighbors, and served up with a generous dollop of that most valued of all Southern commodities: good old fashioned storytelling. From Mississippi to Georgia, from Florida to Tennessee, these daughters of the South will take you on a lush tour of the times and the places they know best, each voice as refreshing and inviting as a glass of cold sweet tea on a hot afternoon.

Among the collection's authors are multi-published, award-winning writers Deborah Smith, Donna Ball, and Sandra Chastain. All three are natives of Georgia with pioneer family backgrounds. Smith's 1997 nationally best-selling novel, A PLACE TO CALL HOME, (Bantam Books) received glowing reviews and was called "a page turner" by Publishers Weekly. Smith made news this year with a two-book, $1.2 million deal to write southern-based novels for Little, Brown. Donna Ball is the highly-lauded author of more than 80 novels in both genre and general-list fiction. Her novel, THE PASSION (writing as Donna Boyd, Avon Books,) was acclaimed last year as a "brilliantly erotic tale" by Midwest Book Review and "magical" by Publishers Weekly. Sandra Chastain is the popular author of over 40 novels in contemporary and historical women's fiction. Rendevous Reviews calls her stories "good for the heart." Her current title, THE RUNAWAY BRIDE (Bantam Books,) is a featured selection of the Doubleday Book Club.

About the Authors:

Deborah Smith graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in journalism and worked in the relatively tame worlds of newspapers and technical journals, but her heart kept calling her to tell wild stories. Since that isn't a good inclination to have when one is employed to tell the truth, She finally followed her instincts and began writing novels.
Now, almost thirty books later, she can honestly say that Grandma's extravagant stories have merged with her own, and when she sits down to write she forgets where Grandma's tales end and her own tales begin.

Donna Ball has written over fifty books for such publishers as Doubleday, St. Martin's Press, Warner, Dutton/Signet, Zebra, Pinnacle, Harlequin/Silhouette and Avon Books. is known for her work in women's fiction and suspense, as well as supernatural fantasy, woman-in-jeopardy and western adventure. Her books have been translated into well over a dozen languages and have appeared in virtually every country in the world.

Sandra Chastain, a native Georgian, is the author of thirty-nine books and two novellas with four more books under contract. Her last two books were Doubleday Book Club featured selections. She has been nominated as Georgia Author of the year, and one of her books has been chosen as one of the five Favorite Books of the Year by the 8000 members of Romance Writers of America.

Nancy Knight is an award-winning artist and author of twelve novels and two produced plays.
She has taught writing classes at ART Station, a community arts center near Atlanta for more than ten years. She has served on the national board of directors for Romance Writers of America and as president of her local chapter. She is a past President of Atlanta Writers Club and former director of Southeastern Writers Association. She is a member of Romance Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, Horror Writers Association, Dark River Writers, The Atlanta Writers Club, and The ART Station Playwrights Project.

Virginia Ellis is also a professional photographer who has traveled extensively throughout the U.S. and the world. With her camera she learned how to tell a visual story. Now, writing as as both Virginia and Lyn Ellis, she is translating the visual into words, creating memorable characters, vivid settings and compelling stories.

Best selling author Debra Dixon has now "semi-retired" from a successful career as a small business consultant but continues to serve on the Board of Directors for three corporations, including an international trading company. She is currently at work on her tenth book and is the recipient of a Romantic Times Career Achievement Award. Her novels have been awarded the coveted suspense "Kiss Of Death" Grand Award, Georgia Romance Writers' "Maggie," A Little Romance Magazine's ROMY, Colorado's Award of Excellence. Additionally, her published books have been consistently recognized as finalists for the Colorado Award of Excellence, the Virginia Holt Medallion, and the National Readers' Choice Award for romance fiction. Gryphon Books For Writers published Debra's first writing "how-to" book, now in its third printing, based on her popular GMC:Goal, Motivation, and Conflict workshop.