1. Articles and journalistic efforts (xxx 10)

Not only did Phillips write fiction, but she also enjoyed journalistic pursuits, particularly publishing a few pieces in Cleveland’s The Plain Dealer. She sporadically published articles between 1981 and 1995.

2. Shalana poem with picture (p. 6 note 5)

This item is a page from The Black Times, June 1976, showcasing Phillips’s second published poem “Shalana.” Notice that the poem is signed “Faye Miller Knox” which refers to Phillips’s middle, maiden, and first husband’s last name. Right above the poem is an image of a little Black girl; however, it is not a picture of Phillips’s daughter, Shalana, but rather a stock photo like those that accompanied many of the poems published in The Black Times.

3. English 430 paper (p. 34 note 3)

This item is an untitled essay from Phillips’s upper-division English course at Cleveland State University where she attended from 1992-1994. The paper has been peer reviewed by a fellow classmate who remarked, “This is a truly wonderful story with the most engaging and delightful narrative voice I’ve read in a long time!”.

4. Examples of Miller’s edits from short stories (p 34. Note 3)

Delores’s sister, Linda, was also a sharp editor of Phillips’s work. Here is an example of her edits to her short story “The Good Side of A Man.” Her end note to Delores reads, “As you doubtless already know, this is a powerful treatise to love, forgiveness, ingenuity, and an innate goodness in flawed humans.”

5. Tomorrow People – (p. 86 note 6)

Delores and her sister, Linda, began collaborating on a co-authored novel, named Tomorrow People. Their collaboration was soon abandoned due to their diverging visions about the direction of the novel. Delores would go on to transform Tomorrow People into No Ordinary Rain, but parts of the draft of their endeavor still survives.

6. Writer in Residence Video (xxxiv)

In 2007, Phillips became the Writer in Residence at Albany State University in Albany, Georgia. In this video she reads sections from her first novel, The Darkest Child, and answers questions from the audience.

7. Wondrene Barry – (p. 85 Note 3)

“Wondrene Barry” is the sixth short story in The Renwood Circle Stories, and although it is Phillips’s longest tale, the first dozen pages are missing. Notice that the last name in the short story is “Berry” not “Barry,” but like the character Zyma in the short story collection who later becomes the inspiration for the child protagonist Zyma Root in No Ordinary Rain, the character Wondrene Berry here in The Renwood Circle Stories serves as inspiration for Wondrene Barry in the same novel.