EL DORADO, Ark. (AP) - Folklore or real creature, the mysterious South Arkansas Fouke monster seems to emerge from time to time in various forms. Now the legendary Bigfoot has made its way into a new e-book by an El Dorado native.
Daniel G. Ford, who lives in Gillham, published "Littlefoot-Bigfoot."
The story is set in the backwoods of southern Arkansas, partly based on the Bigfoot legend. Ford said the book idea came when he considered what the origins of Bigfoot might have been if it were true.
"So I came up with the idea that it might have been a genetic experiment out in New Mexico and somehow the host got away and ended up in Arkansas," he said. "And I went from there."
The book also brings in little creatures from the Smackover bottoms, another local legend.
Not a believer in either legend, Ford said, "If you pick a plot that's totally unbelievable and then you treat it as if it's absolute verifiable fact, it's an irony that's appealing to me - trying to make the believable as a part of the unbelievable."
Mark Twain often wrote in that way, and storyteller Garrison Keillor relates unbelievable tales to his radio audience.
"Littlefoot-Bigfoot" is not the English professor's first book. In the late 1980s, he published "Stroneys," a book about strange human characters. Stroneys make an appearance in his latest book but as monkeys.
In "Littlefoot-Bigfoot," a voodoo woman and her grandson living in the Smackover bottoms control the remnant clans of monkeys brought in by a circus years earlier. The two provide "some good backwoods humor" that Ford describes as "a little Erskine Caldwell one better."
He said the book is a spoof of both local legends and some true believers might take offense. But readers who enjoy the bizarre or those interested in backwoods legends and the mystery of the wilderness might find the book an enjoyable read.
"And if you like droll humor and quirkiness, unexpected plot twists and turns," then Ford recommends the book.
Ford earned a master's degree and doctorate in English from Auburn. He returned to Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia, where he got his undergraduate degree, and he served as dean of liberal and performing arts.
In 2001, he returned to El Dorado to become chairman of arts and sciences at South Arkansas Community College, and he later became vice president for academic affairs. Ford also teaches at Cossatot Community College in De Queen and writes a newspaper column.
Ford has published two other works: "In the Province of Babylon," a book of poetry, and "Heir and Prototype," a collection of essays on the criticisms of William Faulkner.
©2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
