For a  photo of Bill Morris, click here.

Saltwater Cowboys:
Author Bill Morris Shares the Irresistible Inhabitants of His New Seaside Story
On North Carolina Bookwatch, Sunday, September 11, at 5 PM

In Bill Morris's new novel Saltwater Cowboys, sea turtles have been turning up in the most unusual places around fictional Croaker Neck, a small coastal fishing village in the Down East region of North Carolina. Morris' protagonist, Dodge Lawson, sets out to learn who is behind the eco-pranks. He fears it might be his friends-a dying breed of backwater buckaroos struggling to retain their traditions and self-sufficient way of life.

On the upcoming episode of UNC-TV's local literary series North Carolina Bookwatch, Sunday, September 11, at 5 PM, Carteret County resident Bill Morris shares with host DG Martin how he created "Croaker Neck" and the seaside town's irresistible inhabitants who succeed in spite of their own shortcomings.

In this, his first novel, Morris yields a quirky quagmire of environmental intrigue as he captures the clash between the Down East way of life and the modern world.

"My character Dodge [Lawson] is trying to mediate between his best friend, the shrimper, and the indigenous people and organizations he represents, and Dodge's girlfriend who represents the more enlightened people from out of town," says Morris. "Dodge sees that they have more in common than they realize and the real problem is the people who are tearing up the marsh and building condos on it. He tries to get them to see they can be on the same page."

Despite the serious topics addressed in Morris' debut novel, much of Saltwater Cowboys is devoted to the comical circumstances surrounding the honest and genuine Down Easters and their humorous encounters with aggressive developers, inconsiderate recreational fishermen and the never-ending parade of university researchers studying the local lifestyle and dialect.

"The main purpose of this book is to tell a story and maybe give you a few a laughs along the way," says Morris. "In the end, hopefully you will understand more of what is going on at the coast."

Bill Morris lives and works in the soundside village of Straits in Down East Carteret County. That same sound country is the setting for Saltwater Cowboys, as well as the story "Dinah's Dog," winner of the 2003 Doris Betts Prize for short fiction.

A graduate of Duke University, Morris is a regular contributor to Our State and Wildlife in North Carolina magazines, as well as the Raleigh News and Observer outdoors pages. His work has also appeared in the North Carolina Literary Review, Real Fiction, The Dead Mule, Urban Hiker, Spectator, and the Best of the O. Henry Festival 2003. He is currently at work on a second Down East novel.

Don't miss DG Martin's all-new interview with Bill Morris on North Carolina Bookwatch, Sunday, September 11, at 5 PM, only on UNC-TV!

During this season of North Carolina Bookwatch, guests also include: Shannon Ravenel (New Stories from the South, 2005), Emily Herring Wilson (No One Gardens Alone), Randall Kenan (Walking On Water), Ann B. Ross (Miss Julia's School Of Beauty), Lawrence Earley (Looking for Longleaf), Peter Perret (A Well-Tempered Mind), Timothy Tyson (Blood Done Sign My Name), Moreton Neal (Remembering Bill Neal), Quinn Dalton (Bulletproof Girl), Henry Petroski (Pushing the Limits), Amy Tiemann (Mojo Mom), Robert F. Irwin (Robert F. Irwin 40 Years), Tommy Hays (The Pleasure Was Mine), Mary Kay Andrews (Hissy Fit), Jerry Shinn (Loonis! Celebrating a Lyrical Life), Michael Parker (If You Want Me to Stay), Lawrence Naumoff (A Southern Tragedy, in Crimson and Yellow), Martha Witt (Broken As Things Are) and Gerhard Weinberg (Visions of Victory: The Hopes of Eight World War II Leader).

Funding for North Carolina Bookwatch is provided by UNC-TV members and by Quail Ridge Books and Music, Raleigh's independent, full service bookstore, bringing readers and writers together since 1984.

North Carolina Bookwatch is part of UNC-TV's ongoing commitment to produce programs for and about North Carolina. UNC-TV is the statewide 11-station broadcast network of the University of North Carolina. For more information, please visit www.unctv.org/ncbookwatch.

For more information about North Carolina Bookwatch and UNC-TV's other local productions, please visit our website at www.unctv.org.

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