Two years ago, popular outdoor writer Glynn Harris published Bamboozled by a Bobcat: A Louisiana Boy’s Dirt Road Recollections. A collection of stories from his long-running weekly newspaper column, it was a big hit with readers who enjoy the outdoors and walking down memory lane.
Now, Harris has struck gold again with a new book. Fathers, Sons & Old Guns: Stories from Under the Hickories is a collection of 50 stories that will bring a smile to your face. With such titles as “I was Yuppie Before Yuppie was Cool,” “Horror Tales of Modems, Mouses and Downloads,” and “I Remember Momma,” the short stories are an eclectic mix of humor nostalgia and favorite pastimes.
Harris is one of the most respected writers in his field. Four radio stations air his weekly “Glynn Harris Show,” and numerous publications carry his weekly “Glynn Harris Outdoors” column.
During his 50-plus-year career, Harris has written for such prestigious magazines as Outdoor Life and Field & Stream and has won more than 60 Excellence in Craft awards from the Louisiana Outdoor Writers Association (LOWA), the Outdoor Writers Association of America and the Southeastern Outdoor Press Association. His enormous contributions to the outdoor sports writing profession have also earned him LOWA’s Arthur Van Pelt Lifetime Achievement Award, the Sports Legends of North Louisiana award and induction into the Louisiana Chapter of Legends of the Outdoors Hall of Fame.
I share a lot in common with Harris because I grew up in North Louisiana’s Piney Woods about 10 miles from his boyhood home. As a result, his stories of growing up in the country and enjoying life’s simple pleasures resonate with me.
The book’s very first story, “Fathers, Sons & Old Guns,” made me smile. Harris tells how excited he was as a kid when he received a .410 shotgun one memorable Christmas morning, of spending time with his dad learning how to shoot it and then the proud day when he bagged his first squirrel.
Reading the nostalgic tale took me back some 60-plus years to my own special Christmas morning when I also got a single shot .410. I still recall killing my first squirrel with it, and for decades I was able to enjoy that special memory every time I walked by a particular hickory tree.
Fathers, Sons & Old Guns is a perfect gift for Mother’s or Father’s Day. It can be purchased through Amazon, or you can obtain an autographed copy by mailing Glynn Harris a check for $18 to P.O. Box 1102, Ruston, LA 71273.
You can read more of Terry L. Jones’ review of Fathers, Sons & Old Guns at CountryRoadsMagazine.com.
