The toast of 1942 Hollywood is the newly crowned Heavyweight Champ, Lucky Lawson. He's got it all, the belt, the babe, and a baffling crime scene in a seedy hotel. When the champ's death is ruled a suicide, his widow turns to detective Frank Frost to set the record straight and find the killer, without the killer finding him first.

Melt your face off with the guitar greats of Jacksonville. In the 1960s, the electric guitar became for boys what Barbie was for girls. Legions of bands formed, composed of teens making a ruckus in the garage. But who could have guessed how many world-renowned greats would arise from the clangor? Guitar gods came forth from Los Angeles, London, Chicago, Nashville. But there is a southern city often overlooked, an unlikely incubator that produced more than a dozen greats. Legends such as Di...

Crimes happen every day, everywhere. What they have in common is typically a criminal and a victim.But what happens when the lines between the two blur? We present to you a collection of short stories where the victim can sometimes be the criminal, or vice versa. It's up to you, the reader, to decide who is truly guilty and worthy of your disdain.Included in this collection:Regrets: Poor Bob Johnson can't seem to win. First, he finds his wife of 15 years is cheating...

The enduring achievement and legacy of a rock movementFlorida Book Awards, Bronze Medal for Florida NonfictionThe Allman Brothers Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd helped usher in a new kind of southern music from Jacksonville, Florida. Together, they and fellow bands like Blackfoot, 38 Special, and Molly Hatchet would reset the course of seventies rock. Yet Jacksonville seemed an unlikely hotbed for a new musical movement.Michael FitzGerald ...

The American Indian has figured prominently in many films and television shows, portrayed variously as a villain, subservient friend, or a hapless victim of progress. Many Indian stereotypes that were derived from European colonial discourse—some hundreds of years old—still exist in the media today. Even when set in the contemporary era, novels, films, and programs tend to purvey rehashed tropes such as Pocahontas or man Friday.In Native Americans on Network TV: Stereotypes, Myths,...

“‘Kickbacks from government vendors, jobs for cronies, sweetheart deals for contractors’ were commonplace—‘It may have been the most corrupt city in America.’”What happened when greedy promoters ran radio stations and the local concert scene? They brought the Beatles to Jacksonville, but they also brought payola, greed, and corruption.This article appears in the 2011 Music issue of Southern Cultures.Southern Cultures is published quarterly (spring, summer, ...

The enduring achievement and legacy of a rock movementThe Allman Brothers Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd helped usher in a new kind of southern music from Jacksonville, Florida. Together, they and fellow bands like Blackfoot, 38 Special, and Molly Hatchet would reset the course of seventies rock. Yet Jacksonville seemed an unlikely hotbed for a new musical movement.Michael FitzGerald blends eyewitness detail with in-depth history to tell the story of how the River...

From haunting ghost stories to classic fairy tales, Going Public … In Shorts! is a collection of forty classic and lesser-known works by history's greatest writers.Among the stories included are "The Death of a Government Clerk," Anton Chekhov's defining vignette; "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," Mark Twain's comedic story that earned him national fame; "The Gift of the Magi," O. Henry's masterful Christmastime tale about love and sacrifice; and "The Stor...