Author’s new book tells stories of watermen, drummers and others

ABINGDON – If there’s a theme running through Earl Swift’s words, it must be people.

All kinds of people.

He writes about a guy who simply cannot write, despite decades of trying to become a published novelist.

And Swift tells the story of the early days of Judas Priest’s drummer, Scott Travis, who pounded his drumkit so hard that he "knocked fillings loose up and down Little Creek Road."

There is also simply Swift himself.

The award-winning journalist places himself in "To the Lighthouse," an account of life at the Assateague Island Lighthouse, as Swift spends some solitary days there, sharing the history, beauty and wonder of Virginia’s northeasternmost corner.

All that – and more – can be found in Swift’s new "The Tangierman’s Lament and Other Tales of Virginia" (University of Virginia Press, $23.95). This hardcover book collects several years’ worth of Swift’s best articles, most previously published in The Virginian-Pilot, the Norfolk-based daily newspaper.

VETERAN JOURNALIST

Born in 1958, Swift has been writing for The Virginian-Pilot for 20 years, mostly as an investigative features writer.

Hardly one to shy away from an assignment, Swift has paddled the Chesapeake Bay, canoed the James River and even gone to Vietnam to write about how America searches for its lost veterans.

Swift’s previous book titles include "Journey on the James," a definitive, first-hand look at the James River’s history and ecology, from its headwaters to its mouth at the Chesapeake Bay.

The author’s new book, "The Tangierman’s Lament," is like "Journey on the James," in that it is largely based on his journalism experiences.

Among other tales in "The Tangierman’s Lament" is "When the Rain Came," describing survival and loss amid a flood caused by a hurricane sweeping over Nelson County in 1969.

Swift’s "A Song of Sorrow," meanwhile, explores scenes of the Rye Cove tornado of 1929 and makes reference to The Carter Family of Scott County.

"It’s not meant to be a history book," Swift said. "It’s an accident of geography that they’re all Virginia stories. They’re not traditional stories by any means."

FROM THE BIBLE

In the book’s introduction, Swift calls the work "an album of snapshots" and "hardly representative, these stories, of life in Virginia on most days."

The title story, "The Tangierman’s Lament," uses Biblical-influenced phrasing to explain the hardy watermen and families of Tangier Island at the center of the Chesapeake Bay. This piece, published in a different form in The Virginian-Pilot in 2000, describes the challenges of Tangier, as the marshy, muddy island slowly shrinks away, due to erosion.

"Off and on, I spent about six weeks on the island," Swift said.

But then, on a sleepness night, Swift suddenly stirred with inspiration: He woke up and realized exactly how he would write "The Tangierman’s Lament," starting with:

"In the beginning was Joseph Crockett.

And Joseph Crockett began ten children, who begat others, and they others, and so on through the centuries."

Other stories in the 240-page, illustrated collection include an inside look at the Pentagon on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001; an Atlantic Ocean fishing expedition; and a profile of NASCAR star Ricky Rudd.

| (276) 791-0704

YOU SHOULD KNOW

• Title: "The Tangierman’s Lament and Other Tales of Virginia"
• Author: Earl Swift
• Book Signing: Nov. 10, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• Where: Mistletoe Market at the Zazzy’z Booth (front lobby) at Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center, Abingdon
• Info: (276) 698-3333
• Orders: (434) 982-2932
• Web: www.upress.virgi-nia.edu