Getting it right

“Jaws of Life: Stories” is Morris’ first book.

Appalachia tends to get short-changed according to author and critic Gonzalo Baeza who reviews two books for The Observer. One of them is a recently published collection of short stories by Furman University English professor Laura Leigh Morris. Says Baeza, “The mosaic of characters in Laura Leigh Morris’ debut short story collection “Jaws of Life” … provides a rich account of life in West Virginia. The strength of its stories, however, doesn’t lie in their factuality … but in their literary inventiveness, vivid characters, and the rich shared universe of Brickton, where most of them take place.”