September 28 at 2:45 p.m. with guitar case in hand, UNCW creative writing professor and author Clyde Edgerton enters the campus bookstore and is greeted by an enthusiastic audience waiting to hear him read from his new novel. Professor Edgerton is the author of five New York Times Nobel Books, and has written ten novels, a memoir, and many short stories, but this afternoon was fully dedicated to his latest work, “The Night Train.”

“The Night Train” shows a glimpse of Edgerton’s youth when he was nineteen in 1963 and joined a rock band with six other members. An avid musician, Edgerton plays the keyboard, banjo, mandolin and guitar.  His love of music and James Brown’s “Live at the Apollo” inspired him to write “The Night Train.”

According to Kirkus Reviews, “Edgerton is profoundly skilled at taking on some of Southern literature’s most difficult themes—race and religion especially—and addressing them with both respect and humor.The command of Southern idioms and culture that earned him his reputation remains solid, and his affinity for simple sentences and clean chapter breaks give this slim novel an almost fable-like power.”

During the presentation and book signing, Edgerton graced listeners with a few of his favorite songs from past music sessions such as the Four Tops’ “Baby I Need Your Lovin’,” as well as a few songs written for his previous books. A crowd favorite was when he played “Bacon, Bologna, and Beer,” for it is hard not to laugh at a chorus that states, “a grocery store without Pork and Beans, is a store without a soul.”

Harriet Smith, a long time fan of Clyde Edgerton, has been to several of his readings and was seen in the crowd laughing as if it was her first. “I’m uplifted when I come hear him read, and he is always entertaining, so you leave happy. I also love how his work is about real life events, and real people,” said Smith.

Clyde Edgerton is a remarkable author and shows much charisma and passion for all of his work. However, when asked if he had a favorite out of all of his work, he replied, “If I had to throw all of them away and keep only one, it would have to be ‘The Floatplane Notebooks.'” This surprised a few of his fans at the reading, for they were all expecting him to say “Walking Across Egypt.”

Edgerton will continue his book tour for “The Night Train” up until November. His tour will include several more events in North Carolina, as well as other states in the south.