On Saturday, Dec. 6, The Book Shelf will host two authors at 94 N. Trade St., Tryon.

At 2 p.m., Amber H. Massey will be discussing her new book “For the Love of Horses – Everyday Lessons from Life in the Saddle.  Amber grew up loving horses but never owning one.  That finally changed the day she met Marquise.  This horse was her gift from God.  During long trail rides, as horse and rider learned to work with each other, Amber felt God draw her close.  Along the way, Amber developed a solid lifelong relationship with Him.

Her stories describe the tender relationship that develops between a horse and rider and she discovers that a life of faith begins with the love of God and that He sometimes uses horses to show us the way.

From 4 – 6 p.m. John Mark Sibley-Jones will read from his newly published historical novel, “By the Red Glare.” Described by author Pat Conroy as a “fine new voice in Southern fiction,” Sibley-Jones writes of real historical characters and fictional ones caught in Columbia, S.C. during General Sherman’s burning of that city in the closing days of the Civil War.

Sibley-Jones’ book has been praised by author Ron Rash as a novel that “enables readers to feel more like participants than observers.” Historian Marion Lucas says “By the Red Glare” is “craftily written and thoroughly researched” and it is a “seamless binding of art and history.”

Dr. Sibley-Jones teaches at the S.C. Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities in Greenville, S.C.  He was an award-winning teacher at the University of South Carolina Honors College for many years. He has published more than 50 academic and professional articles. “By the Red Glare” is his first novel.  Copies of the book will be available at The Book Shelf for purchase.  The author will be available for signing books purchased on location as well as previously purchased books.

Mark Sibley-Jones is the son of Maryneal Jones, herself a published author.  She resides in Columbus, N.C.

–Submitted by Penny Padgett