Welcome to UNC Press's selection of books on all things Southern. From Southern food and music, Native American folktales and colorful nature guides, to books on Southern history and architecture, even ghost stories and sea-faring adventures -- we hope you'll find Southern Gateways the place to find wonderful books about our part of the country.

Whether you're planning supper or a road trip, or just want to read a good ghost story in the hammock or by the fire, these books provide the information and insight, and perhaps, inspiration to go there, do that, read more.

New this season, Give My Poor Heart Ease: Voices of the Mississippi Blues, by William Ferris, is an unprecedented mulit-media introduction to the blues and its roots. The book comes complete with a CD of original music and a DVD of original film. Check out the book's website at www.GiveMyPoorHeartEase.com.

Long Story Short: Flash Fiction by Sixty-five of North Carolina's Finest Writers, editor Marianne Gingher brings together short-shorts -- none longer than 1,800 words -- by such luminaries as Doris Betts, Orson Scott Card, Fred Chappell, and Sarah Dessen. These stories, comic, tragic, magical, fantastical, provocative, and always a joy to read, proves the short story form is a dazzling medium for every writer featured.

Foy Edelman's Sweet Carolina: Favorite Desserts and Candies from the Old North State contains over 200 mouth-watering recipes she collected as she criss-crossed her home state over the course of six tasty years. Her book is sure to satisfy anyone's sweet-tooth.

Serious readers will find lots to choose from, including Lawrence E. Babits and Joshua B. Howard's new book on the 1781 Battle of Guilford Courthouse, Long, Obstinate and Bloody -- as well as the new paperback edition of Melton McLaurin's award-winning book, The Marines of Montford Point. And don't forget to check out several new volumes in the New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture series, including Southern Folklife, Southern Foodways, Southern Literature, and Southern Music.

Nature lovers will enjoy Robert and Jane Lippson's Life along the Inner Coast: A Naturalist's Guide to the Sounds, Inlets, Rivers, and Intracoastal Waterway from Norfolk to Key West, and John Yow's fascinating book, The Armchair Birder: Discovering the Secret Lives of Familiar Birds. Bird lovers will also want to complete their set of guides to the North Carolina Birding Trail, with the Mountain Guide now available, along with guides to the Coast, and the Piedmont.

And, for Carolina fans everywhere, don't miss One Fantastic Ride: The Inside Story of Carolina Basketball's 2009 Championship Season, an authoritative and lavishly illustrated story of an extraordinary Tar Heel basketball season.

We hope you'll enjoy this selection of books, and that you'll visit Southern Gateways again and again for new ways to explore what it means to be from the South.

The UNC Press Staff