The “Best Town in North Carolina” has some explaining to do.

Steve Hill returns to RedPubPod with Statesville After Dark: The Worst of the ‘Best Town in North Carolina’, this time bringing the skeletons out of the closet. Richard Eller, Patty Thompson, and Jane St. Clair talk with Steve about murders, the liquor trade, ghost stories, and local scandals behind the familiar streets of his hometown.

How did Statesville get that “best town” nickname, anyway? Steve traces it to a railroad conductor with a knack for promotion—and a willingness to give Charlotte second billing. From there, the conversation heads into territory the town’s old advertising probably left out, including Tom Dooley’s hanging and the stories still told about the Vance Hotel’s little ghost girl, Arlene.

Bring a flashlight and your phone. With photographs, walking-tour stops, song lyrics, and 43 QR codes linking to 43 songs, Steve’s book lets you stand where a story happened and hear it set to music. Local musicians and members of his own family helped bring those songs to life. The episode features music by Elizabeth Carter, plus a conversation with her about songwriting and how a visit to the Statesville Historical Collection led to her involvement in the book.

There’s plenty of laughing around the microphones, but Steve also talks about when humor needs to give way to a serious telling of history. Slavery, Jim Crow, and a tragedy in his own family are part of the record, too. His years of collecting and newspaper research have given him stories he initially struggled to believe.

And those scathing “reviews” at the front of the book? Let’s just say the people in these stories have opinions about Steve airing their business. Apparently, Amazon missed the joke, as the fictitious blurbs are attributed to the folks mentioned in the book!)

Come celebrate with Steve at the book launch on Friday, October 23, 2026, from 5–8 p.m. at the Statesville Historical Collection, 117 S. Center St., Statesville, NC 28677. The event will include a reading, musicians, light bites, and beverages. Admission is free. Come for the book, stay for the stories—and meet some of the people behind the music.

Get your copy of the book at: https://tinyurl.com/StatesvilleAfterDark

Might want to check out his first book, too: https://tinyurl.com/InTheShadowOfTheClock

Thanks to our RedPubPod sponsor, Taste Full Beans! Stop by for coffee, tea, or a bite to eat, browse their selection of Redhawk books, and tell the staff your literary podcast sent you.

Taste Full Beans Coffee, Tea & Café 29 2nd Street NW, Hickory, NC (828) 325-0108 https://www.tastefullbeans.com

Don’t forget to FOLLOW, SHARE, LIKE, & SUBSCRIBE to RedPubPod! Know someone who loves local North Carolina history, true crime, or a good ghost story? Send this episode their way.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RedhawkPub/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/redhawkcreative/

What happens when stories written to be heard become stories meant to be read?

In this episode of RedPubPod, host and Redhawk Publications publisher Patty Thompson welcomes guest host Tom Dyer, founding publisher of Florida's Watermark, for a lively conversation with Greg Triggs, project editor of This Happened: Yarnslingers Book One, and contributing writer Janice Meyerson.

Published by Redhawk Publications in celebration of Yarnslingers' 15th anniversary, This Happened grew from the Catskill Mountains-based writers' collective founded by Ramona Jan. Yarnslingers brings writers before live audiences to share tightly crafted, first-person stories inspired by a prompt — stories that can be funny, poignant, vulnerable, unexpected, and deeply personal.

Greg and Janice talk about the unusual discipline of writing within a 750-word limit, the difference between writing for the page and writing for a live audience, and the delicate balance between storytelling and performance. Greg also takes listeners behind the scenes of transforming years of live storytelling into an anthology, including the process used to select stories while preserving the individual voices of the writers.

Janice — an internationally experienced opera singer who came to writing later — brings her own perspective on commanding a stage, finding humor in life's mishaps, and learning when performance enhances a story and when the words need to stand on their own.

Along the way, both writers share selections from This Happened, and the conversation moves from laugh-out-loud encounters to stories of loss, memory, identity, and the unexpected people who leave lasting marks on our lives.

Ultimately, this episode is about more than one book. It's about why we tell our stories in the first place — and how putting an ordinary life into words can ensure that a person, a moment, or a memory isn't lost.

Catch Yarnslingers Live in September!

September 20 at 2 p.m. — Yarnslingers presents “Danger” at Farm Arts Collective in Damascus, Pennsylvania.

September 24–27 — Yarnslingers joins the Big Eddy Film Festival in Narrowsburg, New York, with individual storytellers sharing pieces inspired by the themes of selected films.

Learn more about Greg Triggs and Yarnslingers:

GregTriggs.com

Yarnslingers.com

Purchase This Happened: Yarnslingers Book One:

https://tinyurl.com/YarnslingersBookOne

As always, we are honored to have RedPubPod sponsored by the best little coffee shop in all of North Carolina, Taste Full Beans! Be sure to stop by and let the super-friendly staff know you heard about “TFB” from your favorite literary podcast, RedPubPod!

Taste Full Beans Coffee, Tea & Café

29 2nd Street NW, Hickory, NC

(828) 325-0108

https://www.tastefullbeans.com/

Don’t forget to FOLLOW, SHARE, LIKE, & SUBSCRIBE to RedPubPod! Show some love for the written word by talented writers because carefully chosen words in the proper order can change the world.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RedhawkPub/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/redhawkcreative/

Do you have to leave home to find your purpose... or is home exactly where you'll find it?

This week on Red Pub Pod, we sit down with debut author Aaron Kohrs to discuss his inspiring memoir, Big Dreams Back Home: Finding Purpose and Building Community in Small-Town America.

After earning a graduate degree in Ireland, Aaron expected his future to unfold in a major city. Instead, life brought him back to Hickory, North Carolina, where an unexpected lesson emerged: success isn't always measured by promotions, prestige, or the next rung on the career ladder. Sometimes it's found in serving your neighbors, building genuine relationships, volunteering, listening, and discovering that community may be life's greatest achievement.

Join hosts Patty Thompson, Jane St. Clair, and Richard Eller as they explore Aaron's journey—from adopted son to teacher, community organizer, school board candidate, and public engagement professional—and discuss why small towns still have something profound to teach all of us.

It's a conversation about belonging, purpose, empathy, civic engagement, and redefining what it really means to live a successful life.

Oh... and somehow Blue Pub Pod, Yellow Pub Pod, Green Pub Pod make an appearance. You'll have to listen to understand.

Because sometimes the biggest dreams begin by coming back home.

Get your copy of the book at: https://tinyurl.com/BigDreamsBackHome

As always, we are honored to have RedPubPod sponsored by the best little coffee shop in all of North Carolina, Taste Full Beans! Be sure to stop by and let the super-friendly staff know you heard about “TFB” from your favorite literary podcast, RedPubPod!

Taste Full Beans Coffee, Tea & Café

29 2nd Street NW, Hickory, NC

(828) 325-0108

https://www.tastefullbeans.com/

Don’t forget to FOLLOW, SHARE, LIKE, & SUBSCRIBE to RedPubPod! Show some love for the written word by talented writers because carefully chosen words in the proper order can change the world. And in Aaron's case, they probably will!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RedhawkPub/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/redhawkcreative/

REDPUBPOD HOSTS:

Patty Thompson — Publisher, Redhawk Publications

Jane St. Clair — Associate Editor, Redhawk Publications

Richard Eller — Engineer and Executive Director, Redhawk Publications

KEYWORDS:

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