The Author Guy Blog by Larry B. Gildersleeve (October 4, 2024)

4th October 2024


Hello out there,


Welcome back. Today I rise in defense of my home state of Kentucky, of which I’m extremely

proud and where all five of my novels, four published and one yet-to-be-released, are set in

whole or in part.


Recently there have been well-publicized exchanges about the “image” of Kentucky and its

residents between our current (and one of the nation’s most popular) governor, Andy Beshear,

and one of the two men in competition to become vice-president of the United States – a man

who claims ties to the Bluegrass State yet represents neighboring Ohio in the Senate. I met

Beshear last week, and I have to say, I was every bit as impressed as I’d anticipated. The other,

less so, and we’ve never met.


The other man wrote a bestselling book entitled Hillbilly Elegy, an unflattering and partially

untruthful portrayal (yes, I read the book and disliked it immensely) of Kentucky and people who

call it home. How easy it is to cast dispersions again and again as this man has about anything

and everything. His opinion is his – and matters not, to me.


I’ve been to over forty of the fifty states, and travelled the world extensively. Local and regional

idiosyncrasies of places and the people that call them home are easy to find and cruelly exploit.

And it takes a small mind, and an even smaller man or woman, to do so.


Mark Twain, who I and millions of others still admire, has been quoted as saying: “When the end

of the world comes, I want to be in Kentucky because everything happens there twenty years

later.” Problem is, absent solid proof, and there isn’t any, the statement is widely regarded by

thoughtful people as apocryphal. Could a similar statement be made and be both inoffensive and

humorous? Yes.


I’ve been to Australia many, many times. Love the country; love it’s people. On the wall in my

office is a sign that says: “The world will not end today. It’s already tomorrow in Australia.”


Until next week … Vaya con Dios.


Larry B. Gildersleeve

Location: Bowling Green, KY, USA

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