"I always wanted to be like him (Jesse Stuart), I wanted to be a writer." --Stacy R. Nelson

Stacy R. Nelson was delivered by his grandmother on a kitchen table in northeastern Kentucky in January of 1949. A one-time U. S. Army communications specialist, band member, songwriter, poet, railroad foreman, and antique log home restoration expert, Stacy's true passion has always been his writing.

     Stacy's uncle, Jesse Stuart, was his greatest inspiration. "I always wanted to be like him," Stacy remembered. "I wanted to be a writer."

     In recent years, Stacy lived "like a pauper" so he could devote all of his time to writing. "One winter," he said, "I practically lived on venison, cornbread, and beans, heating my house with firewood I cut from the hills. . . But that winter I added yet another manuscript to my growing list of unpublished works."

Stacy is currently working on his latest novel - due out in 2012.