Waking Up in a Cornfield--: Selected Columns

This book is a selection of columns Cox has written for both the Asheville Citizen-Times and the Waynesville Enterprise-Mountaineer.

Cox, who has been writing a weekly column for more than five years, has won several press awards, both on the state and national levels. He has been honored for both serious and humorous writing, and Waking up in a Cornfield reflects this range.

Recently, Cox's writing received national exposure when one of the essays in this collection was published in the March 1999 issue of the Reader's Digest.

Previously, one of Cox's columns was lauded by nationally syndicated columnist, James J. Kilpatrick, author of the Writer's Art. Kilpatrick, who is perhaps the most highly regarded authority on good newspaper writing in the country, said of Cox's essay, "Now and then a piece of writing comes over the transom that is so nearly perfect in its way that I read it with a sigh of admiration mixed with envy." Kilpatrick provides one of the comments for the cover of Waking up in a Cornfield: "If Chris Cox were not a writer, he'd be a painter or a musician. He has a lovely sense of the music and color of words." END

Born in Sparta, NC, Cox received BA and MA degrees in English at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC. He is currently a member of the faculty at Southwestern Community College in Sylva, NC, and he resides in Waynesville, NC. His column continues to appear every Saturday in the Living section of the Asheville Citizen- Times.

"I enjoy the challenge of writing a weekly column," Cox said. "I love to write under pressure, and I like the immediacy of it all--you write it today, it appears tomorrow, and it's forgotten by Wednesday. You're really only as good as your last column--it is impossible to become complacent under such circumstances. I have been truly flattered by the attention my work has received, and I'm deeply appreciative of the opportunity to revive some of these essays. I hope people will enjoy reading the book a fraction as much as I enjoyed writing it." TABLE OF CONTENTS: Part I: The Married Years Part II: The Birthplace of Del Reeves Part III: Great Insights and Other Delights