CENTURY, Fla. -- You may not be from around here, but you know these folks just the same: the thrice-cursed mayor angling for reelection; the Piggly Wiggly meat cutter with the Vegan wife; the small-town Lolita around whom a universe revolves.
"Century is a real place in northern Escambia County where I grew up," says novelist Tony Simmons. "It's a small town with a magical name and a unique spirit of its own, one of sawdust and Florida panthers. Like all small towns, it's the place every kid promises he'll leave at the first opportunity and never go back. It's also the kind of place that doesn't let go of you that easily.
"I guess I'm saying Century haunts me. Now I'm haunting it back."
Simmons is the assistant managing editor for news at The News Herald in Panama City, FL, where he writes a weekly column and oversees the newsroom. Welcome to the Dawning of a New Century, his first literary novel, departs wildly from his day job as it revisits some of the themes and characters introduced in his short fiction, some of which has appeared in regional anthologies from Pottersville Press.
"Secrets will get out, and in the process they can take on a life of their own -- especially in small towns," Simmons says. Secrets are the seeds of revolutions, and revelations lead to transformative experiences. And that's about as close to a whack upside the head by God's holy two-by-four."
This page last modified on Monday, November 27, 2006