• Just Because,  Weekly Blog

    The Famous Carole Burnett ‘Blooper’

    I’m reading Carol Burnett’s In Such Good Company, her memoir about 11 years of her eponymous TV series. Last night I came to a short chapter, “The Famous Blooper.” Whether the November 5, 1977 skit qualifies as a blooper is debatable — it never aired simply because of a blurted-out epithet. But the scene is probably one of the show’s two most famous (along with “The Dentist”). And it IS hilarious — I re-watched it this morning. And legendary, of course. Dick Clark called it the most famous blooper on any show EVER. Make sure you read Carol’s short set-up before watching. One more thing to know is that each…

  • What's Important

    Our Two to Remember on Veteran’s Day

    Remembering my father (Bob McAllister, top) and his brother (Warren “Bud” McAllister, lower right), World War II veterans, on this Veterans Day. My father enlisted in the Army Air Corps (forerunner to the Air Force) right out of high school, but the war was ending by the time he was shipped to the Pacific. He ended up seeing more action on the group’s basketball team, which won the Far Eastern championship. Dad, who died eight years ago just short of 84, always said his 7-years-older brother was the true hero. Indeed, Bud, shown here in 1943, was a bomber pilot for the Eighth Air Force, whose perilous missions were flown…

  • Outer Banks, NC

    Writer Philip Gerard (who, coincidentally, just penned the foreword to my new “Hatteras Island”) wins the super-prestigious North Carolina Award for Literature

    Noted author PHILIP GERARD, equally adept at non-fiction and fiction, has been named the 2019 winner of the North Carolina Award for Literature. The awards, established by North Carolina’s General Assembly, are the highest civilian honors given by the state. They recognize significant contributions to the state and nation in the fields of fine art, literature, public service and science. The 2019 awards will be presented by the governor at an event Sat., Dec. 16, in Raleigh. I’m pleased to say the award comes just a few months after the release of the updated, 2nd Edition of my HATTERAS ISLAND: Keeper of the Outer Banks — with a new foreword…

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  • Boomer magazine,  Richmond, VA

    A Final Coffee with … Just Me

    BY RAY McALLISTER It’s the Ides of March, which may be a fitting day to announce here that I’m leaving Boomer magazine after 11 years — eight as editor, three as columnist only. Nothing wrong with Boomer, obviously. (We won’t enumerate all that’s wrong with me.) But the book business that was supposed to be a sidelight has exploded. For instance, I: 1) just signed a contract yesterday with a writer to publish her book this fall, 2) will sign a contract with a novelist next month to publish his, 3) am redesigning another writer’s children’s book this week for reprint, and 4) have to update one of my own…

  • Just Because

    Three Books on a Whim

    WHAT WOULD YOU CHOOSE? Walked into a Barnes & Noble the other day. Signs everywhere said “Bookhaul Blowout! … 50% Off.” It was only for select books, of course, but there were quite a few. First, I should note, a couple of my own books were on a “Local Authors” table. If they’re selling mine, of course I’ll buy theirs. By the way, I try to make my new book purchases at brick-and-mortar stores, because I want them to be around. (Some favorites: North Carolina coastal indies like Buxton Village Books, Books to be Red, Quarter Moon Books, Duck’s Cottage, Island Bookstore, Downtown Books and such, and Richmond indies like…

  • Outer Banks, NC

    Doctor’s Creek Journal, Fall-Winter 2018

      Now that the members have received the Doctor’s Creek Journal, I can tell you it’s out! One of the cool things I get to do is edit and design this great, twice-yearly publication of the Friends of Portsmouth Island. Portsmouth, of course, is just across the inlet from Ocracoke on North Carolina’s Outer Banks. Now deserted, the “Ghost Village of the Outer Banks” still has many buildings standing from the old days, cared for by the FPI and the National Park Service. The stories are amazing. In this new issue, we report on the aftermath of Hurricane Florence, including four pages of photographs. (Hurricanes on the Outer Banks are…

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