William Childress has roamed the Ozarks of Missouri, Illinois, and Arkansas for 13 years. His training as a poethe has published three books of poemshelps him create splendor and grace in a description of a sunset or shape the mood of a rainy autumn day.Through striking word-pictures of his life, you will meet Chilly s irascible, lovable stepfather, his three sons, and long-dead members of his family whose lives or deeds touched him and were chronicled. And you will laugh with his neighbors and friends, whose humor helps them through life in a county that has been called one of the poorest in America. They are not all saints, nor are the Ozarks heavenjust paradise with the gate left off. For more than a dozen years, William Childress has written of southwestern Missouri in magazines like "Reader s Digest, Sports Afield, McCalls, Country ""Roads," and "Friends "(the Chevrolet magazine that has carried his national column since 1979). But his millions of readers know him best through his thrice-weekly column in the "St." "Louis"" Post-Dispatch, "twice nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, and through his frequent personal appearances, where he sometimes sings his own songs and plays a mandolin, harmonica, and 12-string guitar."