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Beach Glass Books titles are sold in booksellers on the Outer Banks and elsewhere, and various online sites, including ShopTheOBX, BeachGlassBooks, BarnesandNoble, and Amazon.
BEACH GLASS BOOKS (https://beachglassbooks.com/) was begun in 2010 by award-winning Author Lindsay McAllister Zarse to publish her first children’s book, The Magic of Topsail Island. The Beach Glass Books logo, a stylized image of a wave breaking over an open book, was created by artist/illustrator Brian Martin, who also illustrated The Magic of Topsail Island. The two later collaborated on two other children’s books, MISSING! A Topsail Turtle Tale and Pirates on Friday. Several years later author Ray McAllister (RayMcAllister.com) was able to secure the rights to his award-winning non-fiction books about the North Carolina coast, which he brought to Beach Glass. (The opportunity arose when legendary regional publisher John F. Blair, Publisher, had to be merged into another firm with the retirement of its principals.) The company became legally affiliated with Ray McAllister Books LLC and began distributing his beach books and two others. Therein followed the publication of an updated and enlarged second editions of Wrightsville Beach: The Luminous Island,  Hatteras Island: Keeper of the Outer Bank, and Topsail Island: Mayberry by the Sea, as well as the publication of a new book: Ocracoke: The Pearl of the Outer Banks. In late 2025, that book also was released in an updated and enlarged second edition. Meanwhile, Beach Glass began publishing other writer’s works as well, beginning with reprints of two classic Outer Banks books by historian Ellen Fulcher Cloud on the islands of Portsmouth and Ocracoke, Portsmouth: The Way It Was and Ocracoke Lighthouse and The Old Salts. Therein followed beloved Richmond columnist Randy Fitzgerald’s warm and funny collection written with his wife, Barbara, Flights of Fancy; Charlotte attorney Charles Oldham’s gripping true story of a 1905 crime, The Senator’s Son; the poignant memoir, Diary of a Broken Mind, by Anne Moss Rogers on the loss of her son; Roy Robbins’ compelling love and murder story, North: A Novel; a classic collection of humor pieces by the legendary Jack Sandberg, Uncle Jack’s Outer Banks; Oldham’s powerful story of mutiny, murder, and race, Ship of Blood; Zarse’s magical fourth children’s book, with artist Stuart Parks, The Gold Hole Quest; a memoir by acclaimed author Philip Gerard, Words & Music: An Album of a Life in Story and Song, and Kip Tabb's book of uncovered stories, Finding The OBX. More titles are planned for 2026, including a romance/historical fiction novel set on Ocracoke Island. For guidelines on having manuscripts considered for publication by Beach Glass Books, please see SUBMISSIONS.
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Portsmouth: The Way It Was 2nd Edition Price range: $17.95 through $29.00
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OBX ‘Ghost Village’ Classic Re-Published in Enhanced Edition

The late Ellen Fulcher Cloud’s Outer Banks classic, Portsmouth: The Way It Was, first republished in an enhanced hardcover edition by Beach Glass Books, now is available in paperback, as well.

A small, now uninhabited island southwest of Ocracoke, Portsmouth Island was once a thriving seaport serving the North Carolina coast. In the award-winning Portsmouth, first published in 1996, Ellen Fulcher Cloud recreates the island’s early history based on previously undocumented information: records of storms, wars, and Federal occupation during the Civil War, along with numerous personal letters and photographs. Here, too, are the stories of America’s first marine hospital, established on Portsmouth in 1820; of Dr. Samuel Dudley, the wealthy physician later in charge; and of John Wallace, the businessman “Governor of Shell Castle.” We meet the brave members of the Life-Saving Service, the island’s one Black family, and Mrs. Mattie Gilgo, whose daylong interview describes Portsmouth life a century ago. We go inside the island’s mail service and village school – and learn why this flourishing village emptied out after two centuries of existence.

Portsmouth: The Way It Was, which includes a new foreword by award-winning coastal author Ray McAllister, is available in both hardcover and now paperback. This enhanced 2nd Edition includes more pages and photographs, and enhanced photo reproduction. It should find its way onto the shelf of any Outer Banks lover.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Ellen Fulcher Cloud is the author of three books, including Ocracoke Lighthouse and Old Salt, which have been republished in a combined edition. A native of Ocracoke Island, she was a local historian, preservationist and genealogist, as well as an accomplished sketch artist. Ms. Cloud, who was involved in the early phases of the Portsmouth republishing project, passed away in December 2016. The book was completed with the assistance of her daughters.

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BEACH GLASS BOOKS (https://beachglassbooks.com/) was begun in 2010 by award-winning Author Lindsay McAllister Zarse to publish her first children’s book, The Magic of Topsail Island. The Beach Glass Books logo, a stylized image of a wave breaking over an open book, was created by artist/illustrator Brian Martin, who also illustrated The Magic of Topsail Island. The two later collaborated on two other children’s books, MISSING! A Topsail Turtle Tale and Pirates on Friday.
Several years later author Ray McAllister (RayMcAllister.com) was able to secure the rights to his award-winning non-fiction books about the North Carolina coast, which he brought to Beach Glass. (The opportunity arose when legendary regional publisher John F. Blair, Publisher, had to be merged into another firm with the retirement of its principals.) The company became legally affiliated with Ray McAllister Books LLC and began distributing his beach books and two others. Therein followed the publication of an updated and enlarged second editions of Wrightsville Beach: The Luminous Island,  Hatteras Island: Keeper of the Outer Bank, and Topsail Island: Mayberry by the Sea, as well as the publication of a new book: Ocracoke: The Pearl of the Outer Banks. In late 2025, that book also was released in an updated and enlarged second edition.
Meanwhile, Beach Glass began publishing other writer’s works as well, beginning with reprints of two classic Outer Banks books by historian Ellen Fulcher Cloud on the islands of Portsmouth and Ocracoke, Portsmouth: The Way It Was and Ocracoke Lighthouse and The Old Salts. Therein followed beloved Richmond columnist Randy Fitzgerald’s warm and funny collection written with his wife, Barbara, Flights of Fancy; Charlotte attorney Charles Oldham’s gripping true story of a 1905 crime, The Senator’s Son; the poignant memoir, Diary of a Broken Mind, by Anne Moss Rogers on the loss of her son; Roy Robbins’ compelling love and murder story, North: A Novel; a classic collection of humor pieces by the legendary Jack Sandberg, Uncle Jack’s Outer Banks; Oldham’s powerful story of mutiny, murder, and race, Ship of Blood; Zarse’s magical fourth children’s book, with artist Stuart Parks, The Gold Hole Quest; a memoir by acclaimed author Philip Gerard, Words & Music: An Album of a Life in Story and Song, and Kip Tabb’s book of uncovered stories, Finding The OBX.

More titles are planned for 2026, including a romance/historical fiction novel set on Ocracoke Island.
For guidelines on having manuscripts considered for publication by Beach Glass Books, please see SUBMISSIONS.

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