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Pour the iced tea, turn the page

It's impossible to say the name of Max Courson's novel without smiling. He hopes it will entertain readers and teach young'uns about their literary heritage.

By ANDREW MEACHAM
Published March 24, 2006

VALRICO

Few readers have likely heard of Max Courson or his book, The Pulpwood Annie Chronicles - Droll Stories about a South Georgia Hooker and a Smart-Aleck College Guy, released in 2003. The Valrico author hopes to change all that.

The University of South Florida journalism professor has led an eclectic life. He holds a Ph.D. in American studies and teaches American film history, writing and communications law. He has worked for United Press International and as a spokesman for colleges.

Now Courson, 69, who has published two nonfiction books, would like to join the ranks of his favorite Florida authors. An admirer of Carl Hiaasen and James W. Hall, Courson is pushing his debut in fiction.

Over iced tea on his screened porch by a golf course, Courson recently explained the links between his own past as a Baptist deacon's son and the inspiration for Annie, a woman he saw only once at a favorite drinking hole in Alma, Ga.

The book's storyteller, known only as the "smart-aleck college guy," knew Annie intimately but did not partake of her charms. The stories, or vignettes, weave Annie's life with his own persona and more than 50 other characters.

To keep the reader from getting confused, Courson supplies a directory featuring names such as Julius Caesar Mincey, Vera Peacock, Scar Crapps and Sister Sophie Summerall.

Courson had already written most of the book by the time he became inspired by the success of his daughter-in-law, Florida novelist Shannon Greenland.

PublishAmerica, which published Courson's Pulpwood Annie tales, declares on its Web site, "PublishAmerica is no vanity publisher, by any stretch of the imagination." But authors will have to do their own marketing, and until late last year the company did not allow retail booksellers to return unsold copies, as major publishers do.

Deciding that readers would not buy a collection of humorous short stories, Courson created an "episodic novel" out of his material, weaving characters and events in and out of several stories.

Much of the material about the original Annie came from the subject of a biography Courson wrote. Willie Foster Sellers, who was arrested for numerous bank robberies in 1976 and died in prison about two years ago, supplied the material about a woman known as Pulpwood Mary.

"She was a woman of ill repute who was available for very little money," Courson recalled.

With Sellers' help, Courson constructed 17 whimsical stories steeped in dubious characters. Annie and the college guy clash playfully in all of them. He is armed with his wits, she with life experience.

Courson said he hopes to impart a love of reading and writing to his students, but it isn't always easy.

"I wish they would read newspapers more," he said. "It's practically like getting them to take castor oil."

But a cultural gap widens with each passing year. Courson estimated that fewer than one-third of his students have heard the story of Little Red Riding Hood.

"It's part of our literary heritage and our Western European heritage," Courson said. "I wonder what they learned of their mother's heritage or if all of it came from Sesame Street."

Max Courson lives with his wife, Naomi, and Naneda, their 3-year-old German shepherd, on Bucknell Drive. He is writing a sequel to The Pulpwood Annie Chronicles.

Reading list: Florida authors James W. Hall, Randy Wayne White, Stuart Kaminsky, Carl Hiaasen, Tim Dorsey.

Worst hangover: Accepting his grandfather's invitation to Sunday dinner after pounding 25-cent drinks the day before at the American Legion.

Most notorious pal: The late Willie Foster Sellers, who made the FBI's Ten Most Wanted fugitives list in the late 1960s for a string of bank robberies.

Worst first day: University of Hawaii students in 1968 whispering that Courson, arriving for a teaching stint there, was a CIA agent.

Cure for writer's block: "It's better to write something mediocre than to write nothing at all."

[Last modified March 24, 2006, 10:59:15]