Clog! a first-time novel by Dan Smith,” is not a book about plumbing,” says the author, a long time journalist and publisher who recently retired from his co-ownership role at Valley Business Front in order to complete several books. Clog! is Smith’s first novel; he’s written a memoir and a children’s book previously.
The inspiration for Clog!, which is about a square dancing team, came from Smith’s high school days in the hills of Western Carolina, where he attended a small school that had won three national square dancing championships. “This book is loosely based on what I saw there,” said Smith.
The basic plot involves a high school football player, Eb McCourry, who transfers to a small school (Toe River) before his senior year. At Toe River he not only plays quarterback, drawing attention from local colleges (Smith himself played briefly in college before the injury bug hit him) but he also gets involved with the square dancing team.
There the coach, Miss Lilly, introduces elements of clog dancing to the more traditional square dancing routines. That confounds some of the judges but it scores points on stage. The basic plot of Clog!, written in an easy to read, conversational style, is the buildup to a big square dancing competition where the main competition is a much bigger high school from Asheville. There a car dealership owner is trying to buy the championship for his bratty, spoiled daughter, a member of the square dancing team but not the star – to her chagrin.
Smith, who cut his teeth locally in the newspaper business for several papers, said Clog! is his first novel, but “probably not my last.” In fact he’s more than 200 pages into his second, a book about a retired college professor who falls for an internet dating scheme. Smith said it’s a bit easier the second time around: “I am comforted to know it will not be more difficult.” He launched Clog! formally at Hollins University earlier this week, also the home to the annual Roanoke Regional Writer’s Conference (Jan. 24-25) that Smith stages every year.
“This is a novel – it is not true, but it is based on things from my high school days,” noted Smith. “Square dancing was a big deal – like wrestling at other schools.” It’s a coming of age story as well, complete with Eb’s encounters with assorted girls as he looks for his true love. The square dancing coach is based on a real person – the “best coach” Smith ever knew in any sport, and yes in Western Carolina square dancing was a sport.
With his dad dead and his mother “a little crazy,” Eb leaves home and finds solace at a home for children – and at Toe River High School, where he finds as much joy in square dancing as he does in football perhaps. “He’s trying to establish an identity,” said Smith, “and he immediately falls in love with square dancing. He learns to be a leader and he grows up.” Smith admits that the dream girl he conjured up for Eb, Lizetta, is based on his own fantasy. Call it poetic license reserved for an author.
Smith wrote the bulk of Clog! in about a month and honed it over the past two years, picking up the pace when he left his editor/co-owner position at Valley Business Front behind. “The story has been on the edge for years.” It’s available at createspace.com, at Amazon.com and in Kindle e-book form. “It’s a fun read,” promises Smith.
By Gene Marrano
