Shop-Vegas, Moonshiners and Ministers

In a forgotten holler tucked deep in the southern West Virginia mountains, there was a place folks called Shop-Vegas - not because it was bright or wild, but because it had its own kind of law, legend, and luck. It was a place where the line between moonshiner and minister blurred, and where faith and firewater sometimes came from the same family tree.

Shop-Vegas: Moonshiners and Ministers tells the true-inspired tale of Jr. Muncy, a war hero who landed on the beaches of Normandy and came home to a holler teetering between salvation and survival. One day he was baptizing his best friend in the cold waters of Slate Creek, and the next he was outrunning revenuers with Tommy guns through backwoods trails on a dirt bike - all while trying to raise crops, kids, and a little bit of Cain.

Narrated by his son, Mike Muncy, this rich, heartfelt novel brings to life a wild and wonderful Appalachian world filled with:

• campfires and revivals

• ghost lights and gospel

• barn dances, backwoods justice, and Bible-thumping preachers

• crazy horses that refused to be tamed

• and neighbors who would fight the law, the devil, and sometimes each other - but always showed up come Sunday morning.

It's the story of a holler that once stood strong against change - where a boy with a shotgun could outsmart the law, and where the spirit of the hills echoed through every old pine, stillhouse, and hymnal.

More than a memoir, Shop-Vegas: Moonshiners and Ministers is a tribute to a family's legacy, a community's strength, and the unforgettable crossroads of faith, folklore, and fury.