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Dr. Bruce Ayers will be signing copies of his new novel, A Christmas Dilemma, on Saturday, December 14th at Moonbow Tipple Café & Books in Harlan from noon until 4 p.m. It is his second novel told through the eyes of the fictional Harlan County Sheriff, Al Whitaker.

Set amidst a conflict of political ideologies held by two sons of the Middle East, the new book—like his first, Foreign Blood, is international in its reach but keeps its focus in southeast Kentucky with Harlan and Bell counties emerging as the locations where most of the critical events take place.

Given that its focus is on the conflict that emerges from diametrically opposed views from this troubled region, the action portrayed in A Christmas Dilemma seems as old as history itself and as recent as the conflicts now taking place there.

Ayers respect for Appalachia and its people is clear through the novel. He says in an introduction that he has tried to portray the people of the region stripped of the harmful stereotypes that abound in most works of fiction. In that regard, it was not unusual to see many of the characters in the novel turning to prayer. At no time, however, does praying seem contrived in A Christmas Dilemma; rather it appears natural and germane—and one could see prayer used the way it appears in the novel. this region.

Now 81, Dr. Ayers, president emeritus at Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College, has said this will be his last novel. Many readers may come away from reading A Christmas Dilemma hoping he will write another.