Where did the Ideas come from for Southern Superstitions?

Mother was a natural-born storyteller. She told stories from the past about horse and buggy days when grandpa courted grandma. He lived on the banks of the Clio River. She lived in Springfield, Louisiana, and it'd take him all day to get from Clio to Springfield to visit her, driving a horse and buggy down gravel roads. She explained how the mattresses were stuffed with the gray Spanish moss that hangs from live oak trees. In the winter, they had to heat bricks to put in the bed with them and warm their feet.

She brought the past and our family history back to life for us. I lost my father when I was only four on Christmas Day. After his death, all I had were her stories and my memories. He was from Brookhaven, Mississippi, and they met on a Greyhound bus.

Mother died, and her stories died with her, except for the ones stuck in my memories. Her love for stories, books, and reading taught me to love books and value reading at an early age. She read all the classic fairy tales to me before I started school at five years old, the first grade. Because of her stories, I now write my own. If not for her stories, and her guiding spirit, I doubt I'd ever told any myself. Southern Superstitions began with my mother's words, "The Lord has something better in mind, and the Lord works in mysterious ways." I wrote a short story that came to me from working on a strawberry farm with her while I was still in elementary school and from listening to her words. I titled the short story, "The Lord Had Something Better in Mind," and it won first place in fiction-writing competition at Southeastern Louisiana University. I penned it in my first college creative-writing class. Years later, I developed the short story into my full-length novel, Southern Superstitions.

Mother was full of old wives' tales and superstitions. I expanded my short story into a novel using many of them. With the book, Mother lives on. Her voice rings with the words of the book. She is in essence the woman, Myrtle. She brought humor to many situations, and I know of no one else who can tell stories the way in which she did, including me.

First written April 6, 1999

I've had good reviews on Amazon for the novel, but some readers think of her as a complaining old woman. She was so much more, for she taught me Bible verses among all those old wives' tales and Southern superstitions. And, she taught them to me in a way that would stay with me forever. I used to think she talked in riddles and wondered why she didn't just speak in plain English. It took me years to grow up and understand. I'd never have spent much time thinking about something that she just came right out and told me point blank, but she produced though-provoking riddles that made my mind work and made me think. Some of those old superstitions are included in Southern Superstitions. You might've grown up with some of them, too.

Blurb:

June Russell is the daughter of a small-town Louisiana strawberry farmer determined to have a career besides her mother's berry farm.

Andy Allen is a strawberry inspector at the local bureau whose interest in June has grown past business into more a personal one.

But June's mother, Myrtle, thinks June can do better than a simple strawberry inspector. Worse, Myrtle's wild beliefs in anything superstitious appear almost prophetic when June and Andy are thrown time and time again into unexpected and life-threatening situations.

A storm, an accident, escaped convicts, Andy missing in a Louisiana swamp.

Can love survive the obstacle course placed in their path? Can June and Andy overcome each trial with belief, faith, hard work, and the power of prayer?

Available in paperback or ebook at Amazon. Available at Barnes and Noble, Sony, Kobo, and Christianbooks.com.

Andy falls in love, but June's mother thinks her daughter can do better than a strawberry inspector. Can Andy convince Mrs. Myrtle he'll be the son she has never had and win her approval? He's going to have to change her mother's mind in more ways than one if their relationship is to survive. Can he persuade June that there is more to their relationship than friends? He doesn't want to be the big brother she never had. It's going to take more than Myrtle's superstitions to see them through an April flood, an accident, and escaped convicts when Andy goes missing in a Louisiana swamp while on a deer-hunting trip during Christmas season. Can love survive the obstacle course placed in their path? Will June be able to give Andy a child? Can two determined young people overcome each obstacle with belief, faith, hard work and the power of prayer? Will they ever convince Mrs. Myrtle to let go of superstitions, or will she stubbornly cling to them just like she vows she'll never fly on those big-winged mechanical birds because man ain't got no business messing with God's plans? June never gives up on Andy and clings to hope that he'll return to her. It was faith in God that would bring her husband home. Even a lucky penny or dime declared, "In God we trust."

 

June couldn't keep bittersweet memories at bay. She remembered a New Orleans trip when Andy had convinced her to stroll the Riverwalk. When she'd asked where he planned to take her in that big, wicked city, he'd laced his hand through hers and replied, "How about the zoo?"

Her heart ached when she remembered how flippant she'd been when she'd answered, "As if I'd monkey around with you." She wanted nothing more than to have Andy in her arms again. Her hand darted to the spot he'd kissed her, and she pressed her fingertips against it. She'd turned her face, and his lips found hers.

Then, he'd pulled her to her feet, took her hand, and said, "Come on. Let's enjoy the water some more before the sun slips away." Holding her by the hand, the two walked into the river together.

After all they'd been through, convincing her mother to accept Andy, an April flood, struggling to have a child together, and working side-by-side, the love of her life, her soul mate was missing and nothing would ever be the same. How could she go on listening to her mother's superstitions? Was there no changing the woman's mind about them any more than changing it about flying on an airplane? She could hear her mother rave about those big-winged mechanical birds and how man had no business messing with God's plans, but deep in her heart she knew it was faith in God that would bring her husband home. Even a lucky penny or dime declared, "In God we trust." Only $2.99 http://www.amazon.com/Southern-Superstitions-ebook/dp/B006X8GAWA/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1327008085&sr=1-2

Look what people are saying about B. J. Robinson's Southern Superstitions!

Shawn K. Williams says, "Southern Superstitions is an inspirational story that's full of personality as well as intricacy in the way it explores the complexities of family life and the conflict between faith and luck. Barbara does a great job of pulling together the deeply rooted superstitions of the South and entwining them into a suspenseful tale of faith, romance, and endurance. I especially enjoyed the setting and the culture of the deep South."

Kathy Boswell says, "Very good. She never gives up hope that Andy will return to her someday. She puts it all in God's hands like she's done every crisis in her life. She knows He will take care of this for her."

Pam Cable says,
"When I read Barbara Robinson's Last Resort, I thought it can't get any better than this. But, as a southern writer myself, I found myself caught up in this book of superstitions and the power of God. With a strong hand, the writer delivered the goods here. As good as a read from Eudora Welty. I was wrapped in the "pages" from beginning to end. Captivating. Loved the character
of Andy ... Enjoyed the ride, B. J. Robinson."