Category: Books

Ford Mountain Publishing Is Heading to the Appalachian Highlands Celts Celtic Festival!

We’re going Celtic this weekend.

Ford Mountain Publishing will be joining the Appalachian Highlands Celts Celtic Festival, taking place September 4–6, 2026, at the beautiful and historic Tipton-Haynes State Historic Site in Johnson City, Tennessee.

The festival brings together the history, music, traditions, and cultures of the Seven Celtic Nations for a weekend of celebration—and we’re looking forward to being part of it.

But before you make your plans, there is one important detail.

You Can Find Us Friday and Sunday Only

Ford Mountain Publishing will have our booth open on:

Friday, September 4 & Sunday, September 6

We will not have our booth open on Saturday, September 5. So, if you’re coming specifically to see us, browse our books, or check out what we’ve brought along, make sure to find us on Friday or Sunday.

A Few New Things Are Coming to the Mountain

We’ll be bringing some familiar Ford Mountain Publishing offerings with us—but we’ll also have some new items for sale.

That means this will be one of your first opportunities to stop by, browse, and see what we’ve been working on.

There will be books. There will be publishing and creative goodies. And there may be a few things you didn’t know you needed until you saw them sitting on the table. That happens sometimes. We make no promises about your wallet.

Books and Plus Ultra Are Joining Forces

Because apparently we have decided that simply bringing books was not enough.

We’re also partnering with our friend Roy from Plus Ultra Coffee to share some of his excellent goodies with visitors at our booth. It seemed only reasonable to bring them together.

So while you’re visiting Ford Mountain Publishing, you’ll also have an opportunity to check out some of the offerings from Plus Ultra Coffee.

Come Enjoy the Festival Weekend

The Appalachian Highlands Celts Celtic Festival offers far more than a reason to visit our booth.

The weekend is an opportunity to enjoy Celtic history, music, traditions, and culture in the setting of one of Northeast Tennessee’s historic sites.

Take some time to explore. Enjoy the festivities. Visit the vendors. Spend the day surrounded by history and community.

And, somewhere along the way, come find us.

We’d love to meet you.

Whether you’re:

  • A reader
  • A writer
  • An independent author
  • A lover of history
  • An anime enthusiast
  • Interested in Celtic culture
  • Or simply looking for something worthwhile to do over the holiday weekend

Stop by and say hello.

Save the Dates

Appalachian Highlands Celts Celtic Festival

September 4–6, 2026

Tipton-Haynes State Historic Site
Johnson City, Tennessee

Ford Mountain Publishing Booth

OPEN:

Friday, September 4

Sunday, September 6

CLOSED:

Saturday, September 5

Planning Your Visit

For complete festival information, schedules, and event details, visit:

Appalachian Highlands Celts Celtic Festival
https://www.tipton-haynes.org/events/celtic-festival-09042026

We’ll see you at the festival.

Mountain Memories: Poems from Southeastern Tennessee

I was born just shy of a Civil War battlefield in Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia. I grew up barefoot on a small farm in southeastern Tennessee, where the roads curve without apology and the names on mailboxes belong to families who have been there long enough to forget why they stayed.

That is the credential that matters for this book. Not the degrees, not the countries visited, not the years spent elsewhere. The red clay. The ridge lines. The people who shaped me before I was old enough to know I was being shaped.

In 2018, during the Hawaiian missile scare, I had what I believed were minutes left. I did not think about my list of things not yet done. I thought about faces — the ones who had loved me, the ones I had loved, and the one I knew I would see next. That reckoning is what became this book.

Appalachian Roots: Poems of Mountain, Memory, and Home is my first poetry chapbook, and it is the most honest thing I have written. It moves through four sections:

  • The Land Speaks
  • What Is Inherited
  • Becoming
  • Returning Home

William Wordsworth said poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings, emotion recollected in tranquility. That is close. I would add that it is the heart bled out onto the page — a space of vulnerability, the inner thoughts of the poet held open for the reader to find a bit of themselves in.

Some of these poems are serious. Some are not. Some are angsty, others are quieter than I expected them to be when I sat down to write them. That is the nature of the form, and it is the nature of memory — it does not always arrive in the order or register you anticipated.

· · ·

Each of us is unrepeatable, all the way down to our gut flora — which is, I’ll admit, a less romantic way of saying what I mean. What I mean is that there has never been and will never be another you, in all your specific and irreducible aspects. The world is in want of good stories, and in want of people willing to tell them honestly.

I hope that somewhere in this journey through the hills of southeastern Tennessee, you find a corner of your own story looking back at you. And I hope, whatever form it takes, you find the courage to put it on the page.

Appalachian Roots: Poems of Mountain, Memory, and Home is available now on Amazon, IngramSpark, and all other Digital sellers.

Under Western Skies: A New Prompt Book Rides Into the Sunset

There’s something timeless about the American West.

Maybe it’s the endless horizons stretching beneath a painted sky, the lonely rider following a river through mountain country, or the creak of a stagecoach rolling across a dusty trail while adventure waits just over the next ridge. Whatever it is, the Western has never truly faded from our imagination.

That’s why I’m excited to announce that Realms Unwritten: Under Western Skies is currently in processing for publication and moving steadily toward release.

Inspired by the spirit of classic frontier storytelling, this latest addition to the Realms Unwritten prompt book series explores the enduring themes that have made Western fiction a beloved genre for generations.

Image
Image
Image

For Fans of the Classic West

If your bookshelf includes works by Louis L’Amour or Zane Grey, you’ll feel right at home beneath these skies.

If you grew up watching the larger-than-life screen presence of Clint Eastwood or the enduring frontier heroism of John Wayne, you’ll recognize the spirit that helped shape this collection.

And if you’re completely new to the Western genre but find yourself drawn to tales of open country, frontier courage, lawmen and outlaws, pioneers and prospectors, then this book was created with you in mind as well.

The goal isn’t simply to revisit familiar Western tropes. It’s to provide writers, artists, worldbuilders, role-players, and dreamers with a rich collection of prompts designed to spark new stories and fresh adventures beneath vast skies and distant mountain ranges.

Whether you’re developing a novel, sketching artwork, building a campaign setting, or simply looking for inspiration, Under Western Skies offers opportunities to saddle up and head into unexplored territory.

Another Journey in the Realms Unwritten Series

One of the joys of creating these prompt books is exploring genres that continue to inspire readers and creators alike. The Western remains one of the most enduring storytelling traditions ever created because its themes are universal. With Realms Unwritten: Under Western Skies, I wanted to capture both the grandeur of the landscape and the human stories that unfold within it.

Coming Soon

The publication process is underway, and I’ll be sharing updates as we move closer to release. When Realms Unwritten: Under Western Skies becomes available, you’ll be able to purchase it online, and we’ll also have copies available at our next in-person book sale.

Until then, keep your boots clean, your campfire burning, and your imagination pointed toward the horizon.

Join Me on Substack for Creative Writing Insights

Because I (Megan) need another platform to manage like I need to stub my toe every Thursday, I’ve decided to bite the bullet and start a Substack.

Some of it will be dedicated to writing tips and tricks (like what is already listed on this site). And I’ll likely re-post some of the stuff already written here on there as well, while expanding on things there.

But what will ONLY exist on Substack will be my stories. On occasion, I’ll have snippets here to link to there, and even on Substack those posts will be condensed versions of what will later be published in longer form. Because the end goal for all my stories is to publish in paper/hard back and/or ebook.

Starting this trend is my retelling of Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea as a diesel/steam punk space opera with a few gender swapped character to make things even more intriguing. You can start reading it here and I will endeavor to post monthly updates. This endeavor may prove difficult considering all the things I’m juggling but it is a passion project I’m willing to juggle for because I want to read this story too!

As authors we’re often told to write what we want to read, and yeah, this is what I want to read so I’ve got to make the effort to write it first!