Taylor Brown

I’m thrilled to share the news that my next novel, REDNECKS, is coming in 2024 from St. Martin’s Press!

What if I told you there was a battle on American soil in 1921 in which more than one million rounds were fired, bombs were dropped from airplanes, and a multiethnic army of 10,000 coal miners wore red neckerchiefs to identify themselves, earning the nickname “Rednecks”…and almost no one outside Appalachia had even heard of it?

This is that story.

Started in 2017, this book was one hell of a beast to write. The main character is inspired by my great-grandfather, a farmer’s son who emigrated from Mount Lebanon to the US in 1889, at the age of 14, alone but for a priest as chaperone, and graduated from the University of Kentucky School of Medicine, becoming a physician and medical examiner in rural Kentucky. I’ve always felt a special connection with him since we share the same birthday.

The book also includes a cast of real-life characters including Smilin’ Sid Hatfield and Mother Jones, aka “The Most Dangerous Woman in America.”

I’m especially indebted to my friend Jason Frye — a native son of Logan County, WV, where the battle took place — for his stories, encouragement, and editing, and to the WV Mine Wars Museum staff for their recommendations and advice.

To get things right for this book, I not only had to read a library’s worth of books and talk to old-timers on the ground for their stories, but I took my dirt bike high and deep to find the old Blair Mountain battle sites where a car could hardly reach — and where coal companies still restrict access to much of the land.

I could not be more excited to share this novel with y’all.