stereotypes: gun-toting and violent men guzzling beer and chewing tobacco in jacked-up pickup trucks; overweight and gossipy women packing pistols in their purses; and sex-scandalized preachers stressing tithing while condemning fornication and the pursuit of money.

Even though these stereotypes exist, there is a rarely recognized community in redneck culture of openhearted and nonviolent outliers who believe and practice the adages "Live and let live" and "Love thy neighbor as thyself."

Rednecks and Rainbows is their story--characters who are antidotes to stereotypes even when faced with ridicule and violence and death. Their portraits exemplify how humor and amity can prevail over misunderstandings and enmity and how the hopes and truths explored in fiction might become the language of living.