Creekbank Stories Curt Iles, Storyteller

Stuck on Devil’s Tower   . . . I’m sure it seemed like a good idea at the time. On October 1, 1941 parachutist George Hopkins did something incredibly stupid.  He parachuted onto the top of Wyoming’s Devil’s Tower. Recently while visiting this impressive national monument, I read about Hopkin’s stunt. He did it to get attention and got much …

In my former life (as a biology teacher) I became known as the snake man.  I’ve always been fascinated with snakes.  (One evangelist at the camp once said,  “I think a lot of you, but you and those snakes worry me.”) Late August and September are active times for snakes in Louisiana.  It’s what the old timers called “The Dog …

Podcast This is our reader’s all time favorite story, “Dead End Road.”  Enjoy! 04 Dead End Road 2 It’s from my second book, The Old House.

“A Southern Woman can do anything.” -Iris My friend Iris gave me this reply to a question I asked. It sums up why I’ve always loved Southern women. I’m thankful for the Southern women in my life. I married one. She can’t be beat. I was birthed by one.  My mother reared us with the best qualities that make our …

01 Leaning trees 1 “Leaning Trees” is a reader favorite from Hearts across the Water. It’s more than a story about pines trees after a hurricane, it’s about not giving up on people, especially young people.

‘The Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.”  Proverbs 3:12 It goes against our nature to be thankful for discipline. No one wants it, but everyone needs it. I’m thankful for God’s guiding hand in my life, even when it’s been to spank me back in line.

This is a poem by my dear cousin, Mary V. Iles Hudson.  She lives in Lake Charles and is full of live at 90+. She is one of the last remaining great-grandchildren of my heroes in The Wayfaring Stranger/A Good Place,  Joe and Eliza Moore. Perseverance A seed fell on a certain spot. Just how or when mankind knows not. …

The discontented man finds no easy chair.   –Ben Franklin Lord, teach me to live contentedly. Amen. “Don’t they know that it’s so hard to find, one rich man in ten with a satisfied mind.”  -Folk Song “Satisfied Man.” A Satisfied Mind

“Take calculated risks. That is quite different from being rash.”   –George Patton George Patton was an integral part of the 1941 La. Army Maneuvers.  In the movie, “Patton”, he refers to Louisiana and the maneuvers in his famous “American Flag” opening speech. The following scene from my new novel, A Spent Bullet, relates an oft-told story of General Patton in …

I hope you enjoy this podcast from our audiobook, Hearts across the Water. 09 Our Weatherman This is the text from the book, Hearts across the Water Our Weatherman:   Lyle Whitlake   AKA ______________ It’s 2:30 am and I’m driving from the Houston airport east toward my Louisiana home.  The westbound lanes of Interstate 10 are full of vehicles slowly crawling …

09 Our Weatherman

Full Moon Living with a sense of wonder:  Full moon rises tonight@ 7:36 PM CDT/ Lake Charles. If the moon only rose yearly, or even monthly, or periodically like an eclipse, we’d turn out school to watch it.  The sight of this huge satellite rising through the pines always gives me a thrill. It’s a gift from God not to …

I’ve run across three timely quotes on life and adversity. Because all of us deal with adversity, I hope you find these quotes encouraging. In prosperity, our friends know us; in adversity, we know our friends.  – John Churlton Collins Proverbs says it aptly,  “There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”*  We always find out who those …

Special thanks to the Camp Bethany family for letting me stay and write at your camp.  Thanks to Robert and Joan, David and Derinda, Kelli, and staff. Camp Bethany is a beautiful Baptist Camp west of Shreveport on the Texas/La. line. A Spent Bullet: Coming in November This is the “elevator speech”* explanation of my  upcoming novel, A Spent Bullet. …