VIDALIA, La. &045; Cora Morace’s latest novel is as far from her last as the bayou is from the mountains.

In January 2004, Morace published &uot;Cocodrie.&uot; In it are two twins from the Bayou Cocodrie area of Concordia Parish, one of which goes off to see the world while the other stays close to the swampland.

That novel was set in an area that is her husband Ray’s native home. But for &uot;Appalachia,&uot; published by California-based Behler Publications, Morace goes back to the land where she grew up &045; the mountains of Kentucky.

&uot;Appalachia&uot; follows two childhood friends through the economic depression of the mountains and the trials of Vietnam.

One of the men becomes involved with a militia group and stashes of illegal weapons. In this case, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree &045; his father also ran afoul of the law making and selling moonshine.

His friend, on the other hand, ends up working for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, a job that puts the pair on opposite sides of the law.

Add a serial killer to the mix, and you have the makings of a novel that’s vastly different from Morace’s previous offerings.

&uot;This one has more action, more plot (twists), than ‘Cocodrie,’&uot; Morace said.

&uot;’Cocodrie was meant to follow the tempo of the swamp. This one is not as laid back, Š not as mystical as ‘Cocodrie.’ Although you have to have some mystery. We’re not going to understand everything in life, and there’s a thrill to that.&uot;

In addition, the characters in &uot;Appalachia&uot; are in many ways based on people Morace met growing up, including her experiences with the colorful hot-rod enthusiasts that populated the area.

&uot;I’ve seen boys ride through the mountains with their headlights off because they had something in the truck that shouldn’t have been there,&uot; Morace said.

The novels are different, and yet the same in at least one respect &045; Morace’s approach to writing. Coming up with the plot twists and turns she uses might seem difficult, but she said that’s not at all the case.

&uot;Stephen King says to start off with ‘what if?’ I put the characters in a situation and see how they’ll react, and everything comes from that,&uot; Morace said.

That approach, and the fact that she lets each novel’s first draft sit for several weeks before revising it, help explain why she has at any given time three or four books in various stages of production.

That now includes her next book, a half-written work titled &uot;Once Upon a Bridge.&uot;

In that novel, Morace returns to Concordia Parish, this time with a novel based on real-life murder cases she heard while serving on a parish grand jury.

In one of those cases, the grand jury decided there was enough evidence to try someone in connection with a death on a local bridge &045; thus, the book’s title.

That, once again, will be a departure from Morace’s previous works in that it deals firsthand with the law enforcement and justice system.

That will give Morace another chance to tackle what has become one of her favorite tasks &045; meticulous research.

&uot;Have to stay close to the truth or you lose your readers,&uot; she said.