Those Times and These

Meet Judge Billy Priest, former Confederate soldier, current circuit court justice, and the most entertaining man in Kentucky. To the young narrator who becomes his shadow, the Judge is a living museum of the Old South, a man who once fought in Mexico and now dispenses both justice and tall tales from the bench. These linked stories move between humor and heartbreak as the Judge回忆 (reminisces) about comrades lost, battles fought, and a world that changed while he wasn't looking. Cobb writes with the warmth of someone who loves these characters fiercely: the Judge's witty dismissals of modern ways, his quiet dignity, the way his past intrudes on present proceedings. It's a portrait of a vanishing world rendered with affection rather than sentimentality. Those who love Flannery O'Connor's Southern storytelling or Mark Twain's humor will find a kindred spirit here.