Mike Hartner on Characters Waiting to Be Heard @MHartnerAuthor #AmWriting #HistFic #Goodreads

Inside the Mind of An Author

In the Darkness brought on by a closed room and narrow stairs, I slowly ascend to the top and push the attic floorboard to the side. This stairwell, conveniently hidden in a second floor wall, has been very dusty and full of cobwebs. I’m really not sure what to expect when I go into the attic. I have, however, heard strange noises.

Climbing up into the attic, into the mind of this author, I look around. The walls are cluttered with post it notes, and most of them had small symbols and some writing. There were papers that had fallen to the floor, and the whole area looked like an old bomb shelter.

I’m immediately dodging the many different children who are running around. The voices that each one uses to taunt the others are all different.

I stop one of them. His name is James.

“Are there any others around?”

“Oh, there are plenty.”

“Where are they?”

“Sitting in a corner of the filing room in the back. They’re waiting for their opportunity to come join the fun.”

“What are they waiting for?”

“Why, everyone knows that they’re waiting to be heard. Not all of us characters can be heard at the same time. Sometimes, he listens to three or four of us for a short time, and sometimes he listens to one of us for a long time. But, we’re all here. Waiting for our chance to be heard.”

“So why are you three out here running around?”

“We’ve already been heard. He’s concentrating on us right now, and it’s our chance to play and rest while he figures out what he wants us to do next.”

“How many are in the back room?”

“The last I checked, the room was crammed, and the waiting list was endless. Lots of voices like us want to be heard. We want to tell our stories.”

James escaped from my vision and went back to running around.

When I saw them return, I also saw them carrying long sticks, using them as play swords. I beat a hasty retreat from the mind of this author.

James Crofter was ripped from his family at age 11. 
Within a year the prince was a pauper in a foreign land. 
Is nature stronger than nurture? And even if it is, can James find the happiness he so richly desires? 

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Genre - Historical Fiction, Romance

Rating – PG

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@JimRada Shares 10 Things You Didn’t Know About LOCK READY #AmReading #HistFic #TBR

10 Things You Didn’t Know About Lock Ready

I was asked to give you a little insight on me by telling you 10 things that you might not realize about my newest historical novel, Lock Ready.

1. While Lock Ready is the last book in the Canawlers trilogy, I also wrote a short novella using the same characters. The novella was written as a promotional item for Canalfest in 2003. The story is called The Race and is set 10 years after Lock Ready. While the hard copy version is out of print, you can still purchase an e-book version.
2. It has been 13 years since the first book in the trilogy was published. Canawlers came out in 2001 and the second book, Between Rail and River, was published in 2003.
3. Lock Ready is the first historical novel that I’ve written since 2007. After October Mourning was published that year, I wound up working on a number of non-fiction history projects and my fiction writing kept being put on the back burner.
4. The Canawlers trilogy was inspired by a bike ride. I biked the C&O Canal towpath with my wife in 2000. During that 5-day trip, I realized that a lot of history had happened along the C&O Canal. Being a writer, I started trying to figure out a story that I could build around it. Once I realized that the most-interesting period along the canal was probably during the Civil War, I started thinking about how the canal and war collided and came up withCanawlers.
5. Hugh Fitzgerald, who was killed in the first book of the trilogy, Canawlers, was supposed to live. I hit a snag during my first draft of the book and couldn’t move it forward. When I started examining the structure of the story and character arcs, I realized that Hugh needed to be written out of the story. Doing so put an obstacle between David and Alice, was the catalyst for George joining the army and forced Alice to stand on her own.
6. Writing the Canawlers trilogy led to my interest in history. Once Canawlers was written, my editor at theCumberland Times-News where I was working started giving me assignments that were history oriented. One of these assignments led to me writing my second historical novel, but more importantly, it led to me realizing that history was filled with lots of interesting stories.
7. I had planned at one point to write a Canawlers novel set in 1924. I imagined that the story would be told by an elderly Tony Fitzgerald as the canal was preparing to close. I originally put the story off because it was such a large gap in time between Lock Ready and the novel. I realized that if I was going to write that story, it would either have to stand alone or I would have to write a couple books that bridged that gap between Lock Ready and the 1924 book.
8. I have a small collection of C&O Canal memorabilia. This includes nails from canal books, old books, bank notes and maps. I had started gathering the items originally to help with my research, but it evolved into adding some of the ephemera. It probably isn’t worth too much, but it’s a nice collection.
9. The final version of Lock Ready is far different than the original drafts. One of the reasons that it took me so long to write Lock Ready is that I kept changing the story. I had always known how I wanted the story to end, but just about everything else changed at one time or another. Certain story lines just didn’t work out. I kept bits and pieces, researched more and developed new story lines. Once things finally clicked, writing the entire story worked out pretty easily.
10. One of the fun research trips I did for the Canawlers trilogy was to ride on a canal boat. Though the canal is no longer in service, there are stretches that the National Park Service keeps operational and where you can ride a canal boat through a lock. I like the Great Falls Visitors Center. It is set back in the woods and the NPS personnel dress in period costume. You feel like you are stepping back in time. Riding the boat through the lock is very fun, but even in the short ride, you can see how laid back life was generally on the canal.

The Civil War split the United States and now it has split the Fitzgerald Family. Although George Fitzgerald has returned from the war, his sister Elizabeth Fitzgerald has chosen to remain in Washington to volunteer as a nurse. 

The ex-Confederate spy, David Windover, has given up on his dream of being with Alice Fitzgerald and is trying to move on with his life in Cumberland, Md. Alice and her sons continue to haul coal along the 184.5-mile-long C&O Canal. It is dangerous work, though, during war time because the canal runs along the Potomac River and between the North and South. 

Having had to endured death and loss already, Alice wonders whether remaining on the canal is worth the cost. She wants her family reunited and safe, but she can’t reconcile her feelings between David and her dead husband. Her adopted son, Tony, has his own questions that he is trying to answer. He wants to know who he is and if his birth mother ever loved him. 

As he tries to find out more about his birth mother and father, he stumbles onto a plan by Confederate sympathizers to sabotage the canal and burn dozens of canal boats. He enlists David’s help to try and disrupt the plot before it endangers his new family, but first they will have find out who is behind the plot.

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Genre – Historical Fiction

Rating – PG-13

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Website jamesrada.com

@MargaretWestlie on Shares Her #WriteTip for Overcoming Stage Fright #AmWriting #HistFic

I have been steeped in the stories about my ancestors since my birth.  They may have even seeped into me through the walls of the womb.  Anna’s Secret is a story I’ve heard many times from various people.  The latest version was from my Uncle Harold.  He said that one of our own people was suspected of the crime of murdering Anne Beaton with a turnip hoe.  It was said that she was no better than she should be and was doing a little marital wandering with someone in the community.  For a long time the smithy was suspected.  He was in custody for a period but was finally exonerated and left Prince Edward Island for good.  Ultimately the authorities decided that the crime was perpetrated by a woman and was in fact, a crime of passion.  This last was pronounced with great relish.  They never found the person responsible.  It seems that Anne had greatly riled a wronged wife, and probably several.

The story caught my imagination and I began to wonder: what if she wasn’t who they thought she was? What if the reason for her murder was entirely different?  What if the murderer was discovered?  Who would it be?  Her husband?  The wronged woman?  The man she was said to be involved with?  There was a lot to play with here.  In a technical sense, how close to reality could I be without offending descendents?  Not too close, I decided.  Anyway, it’s more fun to write what pops into my mind and see how it plays out.

As I wrote, the narrative opened like a flower as I examined the individuals who I decided were involved.  Who were they?  What relationship did they hold to Anna and to her family and to each other? How did Old Annie figure into it?  After all she was a daft old woman who had to be transported to gatherings in a wheelbarrow because she couldn’t be left alone.  Most of the time she didn’t know anyone and lived in her mind very far in the past with people she knew in her youth.  What did she have to do with Anna’s murder?  After all, she and Anna had been life-long friends.

And what did it do to the community?  Their sense of safety was shattered and people took to locking their doors, some even in the daytime.  This was in a community that never locked its doors even in my grandmother’s time.  I remember this from my childhood.  The only time the door was locked was if they were going to be away for an extended period because, what if someone needed something and they weren’t home to give it to them?  I remember my own mother telling me a story about an old man who peddled goods and trinkets door-to-door.  He was a little simple as they say here. They woke up one morning and discovered him asleep on the lounge with a blazing fire in the stove.  After the murder, people were afraid to walk out alone at night.

As the story progressed it took awhile for me to realize who the real perpetrator was and the denouement was almost as much a surprise to me as it will be to you.

Anna Gillis, the midwife and neighbour in Mattie’s Story, has been found killed. The close-knit community is deeply shaken by this eruption of violence, and neighbours come together to help one another and to discover the perpetrator. But the answer lies Anna’s secret, long guarded by Old Annie, the last of the original Selkirk Settlers, and the protagonist of An Irregular Marriage. Join the community! Read Anna’s Secret and other novels by Margaret A. Westlie.

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Genre – Fiction, mystery, historical

Rating – G

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Website http://www.margaretwestlie.com

E. Stoops' #WriteTip on Settings Aren't Just for Diamonds #AmReading #AmWriting #HistFic

I don’t know if it’s just the books I’ve been picking lately, but I’ve noticed an awful lot of non-specific settings being used.  Vague State College in Moderately-Sized City, USA is a popular location as is  Bigger City, USA that is a strange mishmash of New York City, Miami, San Francisco and Phoenix, sometimes with a touch, but not too much, of Chicago or Detroit. While I prefer that horror stories occur in Derry, Maine, because Derry doesn’t exist (so I tell myself) I really prefer that other books take place in a real setting, or at least a very specific setting, one I feel like I could stumble over on a long road trip through the area.

It’s not because I necessarily find specifics more exciting, it’s more that I like to believe that the book I’m reading really could be  transcriptions of tapes left behind revealing a secret world that has existed under my nose (the premise of pretty much every Urban Fantasy novel ever.) Or that there really is, somewhere in our universe, a planet with magic, dragons, enchanted swords and dazzlingly beautiful women. Simply put, specific isn’t exciting on it’s own, but it makes a setting feel real, and the more real and concrete a book convinces me the story is, the more gripping I find it. It’s like a stage magician – if you can figure out the trick it’s bummer, but the minute you realize you can’t, your mind has to accept that maybe it really is happening. And doesn’t the show get more exciting then? Same with books for me.

Specific settings also help with one of my pet peeves – internal consistency. Books with vague settings tend to make mistakes. In the first chapter the character mentions that they made a quick fifteen-minute run to the grocery store, but it’s a plot point in chapter 15 that she lives 20 miles out of town. Oops. In a specific setting the mistake might still happen, but it’s unlikely. And it also helps with characterization. Once you have a specific setting you can easily say what is or is not normal for the area, which helps the reader determine who is and isn’t an outsider without the author directly explaining (spoon-feeding) those details to the reader.  But there’s always caveats – some stories need the vague location to have the proper ambiance. Authors that choose a specific place but screw up basic details tend to get crucified.

I think the best question to ask is not “Should this be more specific?” but “What advantage do I gain if I leave this detail vague?” If you can’t think of one, it’s probably time to be specific. This also opens the book up to great opportunities for specifics to provide subtle clues about who isn’t who they seem. In Pocket, notice that Magister Ryan drinks tea while the rest of the crew drinks coffee. It’s the earliest foreshadowing that he isn’t who he says he is.

In an alternate universe where the twentieth century gave rise to individuals with psychic talents, the Great War ended far differently, and the flow of history led the United States into a losing war with China by the middle of the twenty-first century. The combined submarine navies of Britain, Russia, France, Canada and the United States are holding back an ever more hostile enemy that is intent on winning a war of attrition. A desperate Navy presses antiquated boats into service to supply the main fleet and mans them with the leavings of the Navy’s worst sailors. For Chief Petty Officer Lucius Tagget and his best friend Aaron Fredrickson, it’s their ticket out of naval prison and a chance to clear their names.

What should be an uneventful assignment behind the front lines turns into a nightmare when Aaron is killed in an accident that claims the lives of all the men on his submarine. Terrified of condemning another boat and crew to eternal patrol, the Navy assigns the CPNS Puget Sound a talented seer in hopes of preventing another accident. Instead, that decision changes the entire crew, and ultimately, the entire war.

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Genre - Alternative History

Rating - PG-15

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Blog http://smalltomatoespress.blogspot.in/

Fenella J. Miller on Regency Romantic Adventures & More #AmReading #HistFic #Romance

When did you first know you could be a writer?

I was writing stories and plays as soon as I could hold a pencil. I wrote a play that was performed in the Infant School and a pony book when I was about twelve. I didn't write anything again until in my mid-20s and was trapped in a country cottage, miles from anywhere, with a small child and no car. I decided then that one day I would be a published writer.

What inspires you to write and why?

I don't think it would be correct to say I'm inspired by anything or anyone to write. The drive comes from within, I am a writer, this is how I define myself, and published or not, I will always write as long as I can sit in front of the computer and dictate.

What genre are you most comfortable writing?

I write romantic fiction, mostly historical. I was told once to write what I read – I rarely read contemporary fiction but always have either a historical or thriller on the go. That said, I have written the first in a trilogy of young adult fantasy and hope one day to complete this series.

Who or what influenced your writing once you began?

I write Regency romantic adventures because of my love for Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer. I have always been a voracious reader and I'm certain that Dorothy Dunnett, Bernard Cornwall and others like them, have shown me what a good book looks like.

What is hardest – getting published, writing or marketing?

An interesting question – which will produce a different answer from every writer you speak to.

Twenty years ago getting published was much easier, a writer could send directly to a publisher and there were dozens of major publishers, rather than just five. Publishers were prepared to stick with an author, build their career, which is not the case today. I know many excellent writers who have been dropped by one of the big five because their sales were not high enough or they couldn't get their books into the supermarkets. Nowadays unless you are a celebrity, or have written the book of the century, you are unlikely to get an agent to represent you. Without an agent you cannot get to a book to one of the main five publishers.

This is why I am a hybrid writer – I am traditionally published as well as indie publishing. I would never go back to writing exclusively for a mainstream publisher, I love being in control of everything from the writing and editing, proofreading and cover design. I buy these services; if I don't agree with my editor then I'm not forced to go with their suggestions. I get 70% royalties, I know exactly how much my royalties will be, and I'm paid monthly.

Writing, for me, is the easy part. When I have a story to tell, the book more or less writes itself. As I write historical fiction there is a great deal of research involved in order to get the book accurate, but that is part of the joy of writing.

Marketing has to be done whether you are traditionally published or indie published. I am ambivalent about the benefits of social media. I have a website which I update regularly, and a blog which I try and post on several times a month as well as being a guest and various other blogs. I interact with readers and friends on Twitter and Facebook, I also have a Good Read and a Linkedin account, and belong to several writing loops. I try and limit my time on these things, but I could write twice as much if I didn't participate. Although publishers insist that their authors have a strong Internet presence, I'm not sure how many extra readers and sales all this faffing about actually produces.

Do you find it hard to share your work?

When I first started I think I was reluctant to let anybody see my writing as I lacked confidence in my work . If you sell thousands of books a month you can probably be fairly sure you are writing something people want to read. I have a group of Beta readers who see my books first, if there is anything wrong with the plot or characters, they will tell me. By the time the book is published it has been professionally edited and proofread and it's the best I can make it. You can't please everybody (look at some of my reviews and you will see what I mean) as reading is a very personal thing. A good friend said that 50 Shades of Grey was the best trilogy she'd read in years and I thought it was a load of rubbish – millions of people agreed with her so the fact that I didn't like it doesn't mean it must necessarily be a bad book.

Is your family supportive? Do your friends support you?

Yes, my family is supportive as most families are. My daughter-in-law has read all my books, my daughter is not a fan of historical fiction so I don't think she's read more than a couple. My sister-in-law is one of my Beta readers - my brother has yet to read anything I've written.

I get all the support and encouragement I need from my writer friends. We meet regularly and can be totally honest with each other. We will promote each other's books although we don't review as could seem a bit incestuous.

Do you plan to publish more books?

I'm a writer – what else would I do with my work? Apart from having a very long backlist to indie publish I also have three historical family sagas written that only need a professional edit and proofreading before being ready to go. I am also about to start writing the second part of Barbara's War, and its possible I will write the rest of my young adult fantasy trilogy as well next year.

What must you do to make money, other than write? It is rare today for writers to be full-time.

I am a full-time writer as well as a retired teacher. I'm earning more from my writing now than I received as a top of the scale teacher. I would certainly not need any other employment in order to live very comfortably even if I wasn't retired.

What other jobs have you had in your life?

When I was first married I worked in an office but stopped when we had children. My husband was a full-time student and so I worked as a cleaner, part-time shop assistant, fieldworker, and waitress in order to help out with his student grant. During that time my husband and I got involved in Wivenhoe Arts Club and ended up running the bistro there. Through doing this we became part owners of a hotel in Cornwall, but this was not a good move and we returned to Essex. I then trained to be a teacher and worked for ten years in secondary schools, first as a special needs teacher and then as a maths teacher, before opening a French style bistro with my husband. I worked as a chef there for five years and then returned to teaching but this time as a primary teacher. I was offered early retirement and took it eight years ago – and have since written over thirty books.

World War II brings divided loyalties and tough decisions in this page turning drama from Fenella Miller.

Hannah Austen-Bagshaw’s privileged background can’t stop her falling in love with working-class pilot, Jack, but Hannah has a secret. Torn between her duty and her humanity, she is sheltering a young German pilot knowing she risks being arrested as a traitor. Hannah’s worst fears are realised when Jack finds out what she has done and their love begins to unravel.

Will her betrayal be too much for Jack to forgive?

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Genre – Historical fiction

Rating – PG

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@JessicaDall Shares an #Excerpt from "The Copper Witch" #AmReading #Historical #Fiction

She tilted her face up, careful to keep her lips from quite touching his. “I think this is dangerously close to looking like a compromising position, your majesty.”

“I don’t think so.” He shook his head, barely moving side to side.

“No?” she whispered.

He dropped her hand, slipping his other arm around her just below his other hand. He pulled her flat against him. “I think this would look much more like a compromising position.”

She raised her eyebrows, meeting his eyes steadily. “I didn’t know I asked for an example.”

He slid his hands down her silk dress lightly, following the slight curves of her figure. “You are a very beautiful woman, Adela.”

“Perhaps I share that with—”

He kissed her, holding her tight to his chest.

She let him for a moment, enjoying the feeling of his hard body against hers before she pulled back, doing her best to look admonishing. “Your majesty, I’m engaged.”

“And?” he asked, eyes still on her lips.

“And that means this is completely improper.”

He bent, leaving his mouth nearly touching hers. “You don’t seem to be pushing me away.”

“It’s still improper.”

“Doesn’t feel that way to me.” He shifted her against him, sliding a hand further down her back, pressing her hips into him.

She leaned back. “I have a feeling Lord Auborn would not share that particular view, your majesty.”

He raised an eyebrow. “You’d really rather have Auborn than me?”

“I’d rather be respectfully married than end up being the king’s bed warmer for a night,” she said, adding as an afterthought, “your majesty.”

“Why not both?” he asked.

“Something tells me that having improper relations with you would ruin my prospects with Lord Auborn, your majesty,” she said. “He does not seem to be a particularly forgiving man in that aspect.”

“I could make it up to him, I’m sure.”

“I’m the daughter of a poor baron, your majesty. I can’t risk what prospects I have because I would like…” she cut herself off, pretending she hadn’t always intended to say it.

He smiled, prompted, “You would like…?”

She met his eyes, held them. “It doesn’t especially matter now, does it?”

“Oh, I think it does.”

“Your majesty.” Adela finally pushed herself back an inch, the chair behind her stopping any true retreat. “I’m sure there are more than enough women in your dining hall right now who would be willing to make you feel better for the night.”

“And they’ll all expect something from me.”

“You think I won’t?” She cocked an eyebrow.

“I think you understand what it’s like to lose a parent.”

She snorted. “Yes, but I don’t believe I ever used that excuse to try to get someone into my bed.”

Adela Tilden has always been more ambitious than her station in life might allow. A minor nobleman’s daughter on a failing barony, Adela’s prospects seem dire outside of marrying well-off. When Adela catches the eye of the crown prince, Edward, however, well-off doesn’t seem to be a problem. Thrown into a world of politics and intrigue, Adela might have found all the excitement she ever wanted—if she can manage to leave her past behind.

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Genre – Alternate Historical Fiction

Rating – PG-13

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Connect with Jessica Dall on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://jessicadall.com/

"They dig that intellectual, #author thing..." #Excerpt from @AlexMueck's #Humor Novel

Sample 1 - Chapter 17

Present Day

Baxter boasted, “If you Google the slang word for Johnson, you will find it’s synonymous with penis. The source of the reference is murky, and there are lots of theories, but the first recorded reference was in the 1860s. I believe I have now uncovered the origin of this urban legend.”

Professor Gladstone sighed, shrugged, and brought his right hand to his forehead as if he had a migraine. The summarization of the bar scene alone had Gladstone thinking of some good scotch he had back home. He half-wished he were drunk now.

Even if he’d been inebriated, he was not some sorority hussy. He could never fall for Baxter’s bullshit. Silly songs, college bar games, saucy dialogue, and nudity—the paper reminded him of some cheesy porn script covered over by a few historical clichés.

He recalled camping in rural Maine. At the one general store, one could get live bait, along with an assortment of goods, including playing cards, booze, condoms, and the four-pages-only local newspaper. It also had a small selection of rentable movies, half of which were porn.

Then he had been revolted by some of the titles: The perverted Dickens, A Tale of Two Titties; the Huxley bondage epic, Slave New World; the heroine Indian gangbang adventures of, Poch-a-Hotness; the make-love-not-war lesbian drama, Daughterhouse Five; Surecock Holmes in the “whore done it?”—The Mounds of Baskerville.

It was all so vile, but no more so than Baxter’s thesis.

Baxter had more to say. “All those songs were real, Professor Gladstone, except of course the one he made up on the spot. All those people, John Edwards, Little Archie, Frank James, Badger Bob—they existed.”

Professor Gladstone took his hand from his head and pointed at the student. “The first three names I’m well familiar with, but this Badger guy is likely your own creation—along with the rest of the bit characters.”

“What about the main character, Captain Coytus?”

The pounding against his skull intensified. He closed his eyes for several seconds and willed this nightmare to end. Continual harping about this Captain Coytus reminded him of a matter with his only son, Theodore. For almost a year, his son had insisted a monster lived in his closet. No matter how many times the room was inspected and the closet cleared, when the lights dimmed, the monster returned.

How much more must Baxter’s frightful tale continue? The comparison brought something else to mind—the closet. Behind his office closet door lurked another monster, a deposit of Baxter’s mischief.

He spread his hands. “Mr. Baxter, I really have had enough for one day. We don’t need to rehash this sordid story. I’m at the point where I’ll give the paper a D- grade just for your conviction. Will a passing grade and graduation from Harvard be enough to send you on your way?” His furrowed brow etched with hope.

“It certainly will not,” an insulted Baxter replied.

Professor Gladstone massaged his temples. “How about a C?”

Baxter straightened. “For this magnum opus, I will take nothing less than an A+.”

With vigor that bordered on panic, Gladstone shook his head, holding both hands in a stop motion. “An A+ paper will be seen by fellow professors. If this was ever to see the light of day, I would be ruined with ridicule.”

The student grimaced. “I plan on publishing this. Consider yourself lucky that you got a sneak peak.”

“Publish?”

“I owe it to the academic world. I came here expecting at minimum, praise, but I never considered that you’d be envious of my work.”

Heat swelled into his cheeks, and he gripped the armrest of his chair until his nails turned white. “Envious?”

Baxter nodded. “Jealousy is the only explanation I can fathom for pretending to ignore the obvious.” He paused, raised an eyebrow, and asked, “You’re not trying to play dumb, only to steal this scoop for yourself, are you?”

To think he, a professor, would ever author something so maniacal! “I would never—”

Baxter cut him off. “It’s unethical.” And tapping his chest, he continued. “Unlike me, you do not possess the evidence to make the case.”

Like an electrical eel that keeps shocking its already dead prey, Baxter kept zapping away. Professor Gladstone’s brain buzzed but felt short-circuited, as though he couldn’t quite bridge the gap between what was happening and what should have been happening.

“Anyway, at least I don’t have to offer you the privilege of penning the foreword. I felt obliged, being your student. There are plenty of other more acclaimed historians who surely will jump at the chance of having their name associated with this surefire seller.”

Baxter paused for just a second and continued. “I could have placed a review from you on the back cover. Naturally, I would have been happy to return the favor for one of your future endeavors, but it’s your loss on mutual prestige.”

This was beyond cocky; the lad suffered from delusions of grandeur.

Yet he wasn’t finished. “I can see the book tours. I suspect you could meet a lot of women on the road. They dig that intellectual, author thing.” He stopped to observe Professor Gladstone and then quipped, “Well, usually.”

After leaning back and with a cocky smirk, he shrugged. “If you ditch that comb-over and your Mr. Rogers’s sweater-thing, you might reel in a few ladies yourself. Try suspenders; they seemed to work for Larry King. Speaking of which, he might come out of retirement just to interview me.”

Professor Gladstone instinctively moved his wedding-ring-less hands below his desk. His marriage lasted six years, gave him a son, and then his wife left him, claiming he was a bore. He took Baxter’s insults like the anesthetized take pain. The absurdity was heaped in such rapid fashion it was mind boggling. Nothing registered. The boy had to be done with this bravado … he hoped.

Baxter preened. “I’ll do what J.D. Salinger should have done—quit after the first book. Sometimes you only have one classic in you.”

“Indeed,” Professor Gladstone offered at last. “What is this proof you speak of? I want evidence that this Captain of yours existed.” 

"“A historical fiction comedy that packs
as much heart as humor.”
—Michael Dadich, award-winning author of The Silver Sphere

When a Harvard history professor receives a thesis paper titled Jesse James and the Secret Legend of Captain Coytus, from Ulysses Hercules Baxter—an underwhelming student—he assumes the paper must be a prank. He has never read such maniacal balderdash in his life. But after he calls a meeting with the student, Professor Gladstone is dismayed when Baxter declares the work is his own. As he takes a very unwilling Professor Gladstone back in time via his thesis, Baxter’s grade hangs in the balance as he attempts to prove his theory.

It is 1864 as philanderer and crusader Captain Coytus embarks on a mission to avenge his father’s death and infiltrates the Confederate Bushwacker posse looking for the man responsible, Jesse Woodson James. Accompanied by the woman of his dreams, Coytus soon finds himself temporarily appointed to be the sheriff of Booneville and commissions his less-than-loyal deputy to help him carry out his plan.

But when tragedy strikes, the Captain is forced to change his immature ways and redefine his lofty mission—more or less."

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Genre - Humor, Historical Fiction

Rating – R

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