Posts Tagged ‘Historical fiction’


Western
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Kane Moss, a rather large, easygoing cowboy who would prefer to be left alone, finds himself leading a small posse on a bloody trail of reckoning.
Their remote Wyoming mountain village burned and pillaged by a murderous gang they are charged by their elders to find the gang and take their retribution. Little did they know that their pursuit would take them from their small mountain village to Ojinaga, Mexico. Kane Moss is no stranger to trouble. He has travelled a considerable part of the West riding shotgun on stages and participating in posses hunting for stage robbers. He has a strong code of honor learned from his upbringing and tries to do right. Sometimes naïve in trusting others he makes blunders, but always manages to come out on top. His determination is one to be reckoned with. Klatchard Bordiaz, leader of the murderous gang is a man full of hatred and contempt for anyone who has earned a decent life. He is intemperate and unrestrained having viciously killed his first man at the age of fourteen. He commands a large gang of murderers and thieves known as the Klatch Gang. On their way back to Ojinaga from a cattle drive to Montana they attack a small mountain village in the Medicine Bow Mountains of Wyoming Territory. Burning, raping and plundering the residents of this unsuspecting mountain village they stir up a hornet’s nest of angry mountain folks who are unforgiving when done wrong.
Among Kane’s posse is a young woman, Sarah Jane, who lost a brother and sister in the raid on their village. She is a determined woman and will be put down by no man. Nothing will stand in the way of her seeking revenge on the Klatch gang.
Sometimes humorous and rollicking, at other times deadly serious, their determination never fades. Through false leads, blunders and marauding Indians they manage to catch up to the raiders in the lawless village of Ojinaga. Here they find they are also up against the Mexican Rurales. The odds of success are overwhelmingly against them as Kane Moss and his small posse faces the intemperate and cold-blooded Klatchard Bordiaz, a much-feared vicious killer and gang leader.



About the Author

C. D. Tuttle was born and raised in Central Oklahoma. Through learning from his great grandmother, who was in the Oklahoma land rush of 1891, and the experiences of his father, he developed a passionate interest in the old West. He spent his formative years on a farm in Lincoln County, Oklahoma. Well educated in the sciences, he spent his professional life as a geologist, zoologist and naturalist. Throughout his travels to wild places around the world, he never lost touch with his Western upbringing. He has resided on the western slope of Colorado for the past 20 years.

 


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I didn’t ever expect to be an author, and certainly not of historical fiction. It all started back in 2008 when I began researching my family history. I had no idea what I would find but by 2010 it was clear that my Victorian ancestors had a far from normal life. After much deliberation, I felt compelled to turn their story into a novel.

Having never written fiction before (my day job involves medical writing), I thought I would struggle to reach one hundred pages. How wrong I was. Several years, and a lot of research later, I ended up with the first draft of a 350,000 word trilogy!

That draft is now the basis of the Ambition & Destiny Series, a family saga of Love, Loss and Betrayal set against the backdrop of Victorian England.

When I started writing, I thought the story started in 1843. There was one document in my research, however, that showed my great, great, great, grandfather faced a charge of larcency (theft) in 1839. It didn’t appear to impact the main story and so initially I only made a very minor reference to it in a flash back. It was almost six years later, when an editor suggested that the start of the trilogy contained too much backstory, that I relooked at the information. That was when I realized there was much more to the incident than I thought.

It was at that point that my short story prequel, Condemned by Fate, was born. It takes place in 1839/1840 and covers the months surrounding the larceny charge. Although it leads into the Ambition & Destiny Series, it is a standalone story.

Condemned by Fate was published on Amazon at the end of 2016. It is also available as a free pdf download on my website – CLICK HERE. Hooks & Eyes, the first book of the Ambition & Destiny Series, is due for publication in early 2017. Subsequent books will be available later in the year.

Although inspiration for the books came from real life events, there were a lot of gaps in my research. In addition, the story took place nearly two hundred years ago. As a result, all characterization and a good proportion of the storyline is fictitious. Names have been changed and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Condemned by Fate
A Love Story. A Foul Conspiracy. A Future of Unintended Consequences.

Charles Jackson’s untroubled lifestyle is about to end. When he accepts work at a local farm the last thing on his mind is falling in love. That’s before he meets Mary.

Mary’s world revolves around the farm and the security of her family. She has never craved the touch of a man, but one look at Charles changes that.

When her father catches them in an intimate embrace, he chases Charles from the farm, keeping Mary a prisoner in her own home. Determined to see her again, Charles inadvertently places himself at the scene of a robbery. Imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit, can he overcome the trials that lie ahead and discover those who will stop at nothing to keep them apart?

Condemned by Fate is a short story prequel to the Ambition & Destiny Series, a compelling family saga set in Victorian England.

For further information about the Ambition & Destiny Series, click here to visit valmcbeath.com.

The website also contains background details to some of the storylines in the books.

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gettysburg_general_armistead_picketts_chargeMy inspiration for writing about the Civil War had an unusual beginning. During high school, I wasn’t really interested in history, probably because I had a mundane, monotone teacher. Years later, I moved to Colorado, and became fascinated with the Victorian era because of the old mining and mountain towns. While in Glenwood Springs, I entered a contest at a toy store to win a trip to Gettysburg. Looking back, I think it was divine intervention of some sort, because I won. I had never seen a battlefield of any kind before, so when I saw the Gettysburg battlefield, I was awestruck. It was much larger than I had ever imagined, and when I started hearing some of the heart wrenching stories about the soldiers, I wanted to write one of my own. I decided to incorporate some of their stories into my book.

I wrote A Beckoning Hellfire, but decided it was too long, so I split it in two. The second half became A Rebel Among Us. I then wrote another sequel, yet to be published, and a prequel titled A Beautiful Glittering Lie. The Renegade Series is based on real life situations, although the main characters are fictitious. The series revolves around a family from north Alabama, and how the war impacts their lives. I wanted to write from the Southern perspective to give readers an idea of what a typical Southern soldier fought for and experienced. Growing up in Iowa, I was taught that the Civil War was fought over slavery, but I couldn’t understand why every Southern soldier would fight to preserve such an evil institution. After doing my own research, I learned that wasn’t the case at all. So I decided to write a story about why Southerners (and those who didn’t own slaves) fought for Dixie. A Rebel Among Us is unique from the first two books in the series, because it doesn’t involve battle scenes, it has a strong romantic element, and it discusses attitudes and opinions from both sides of the war.

A Beautiful, Glittering Lie (Renegade #1)

14425456In the spring of 1861, a country once united is fractured by war. Half of America fights for the Confederate cause; the other, for unification. Rebel forces have already seized Fort Morgan and Fort Gaines, a new Confederate president has been elected, and the Constitution has been revised. In north Alabama, a farmer and father of three decides to enlist. For Hiram Summers, it is the end of everything he has ever known.

After Hiram travels to Virginia with the Fourth Alabama Infantry Regiment, he is quickly thrust into combat. His son, David, who must stay behind, searches for adventure at home by traipsing to Huntsville with his best friend, Jake Kimball, to scrutinize invading Yankees. Meanwhile, Caroline – Hiram’s wife and David’s mother – struggles to keep up with the farm as her world revolves around the letters she receives from her husband, whom she misses dearly. As Hiram and his son discover the true meaning of war, they soon realize that their choices have torn their family apart.

In this historical tale, the naïveté of a young country is tested, a father sacrifices everything to defend his home, and a young man longs for adventure – regardless of the perilous cost.

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Winner of the 2013 John Esten Cooke Fiction Award

2012 B.R.A.G. Medallion Honoree

Winner of Editor’s Choice Award

Honorable Mention – 2013 DIY Book Festival

Honorable Mention – 2012 Los Angeles Book Festival

Civil war tore families apart, and many of those families fought to stay together every step of the way. A Beautiful Glittering Lie is a novel of the American Civil War, as J.D.R. Hawkins writes of the Summers family and the rift the war brought to their family. Drawing on her heritage to tell the tale, Hawkins presents an insightful and riveting read of a family at war. A Beautiful Glittering Lie is a strong pick for historical fiction collections. ~ Able Greenspan- Reviewer, Midwest Book Review

A Beckoning Hellfire (Renegade #2)

2851467During the bloody American Civil War, the stark reality of death leads one young man on a course of revenge that takes him from his quiet farm in northern Alabama to the horrific battlefields of Virginia and Pennsylvania.

On Christmas Eve 1862, David Summers hears the dreaded news: his father has perished at the Battle of Fredericksburg. Reeling with grief and thoughts of vengeance, David enlists and sets off for Richmond to join the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia.

But once in the cavalry, David’s life changes drastically, and his dream of glamorous chivalry becomes nothing but a cold, cruel existence of pain and suffering. He is hurled into one battle after another, and his desire for revenge wanes when he experiences first-hand the catastrophes of war.

A haunting look at the human side of one of America’s most tragic conflicts, A Beckoning Hellfire speaks to the delusion of war’s idealism.

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Hawkins should be nicknamed `Arachne’ for the beautiful tapestries she weaves of the Civil War. Without a doubt, 5/5 stars. ~ Susan Barton

The author gives the reader a realistic view of the horrors of the battlefield, along with the characters’ reactions to all that happens around them. ~ Elaine

A Rebel Among Us (Renegade #3)

5184nldldelAfter David Summers enlists with the Confederate cavalry, his delusion of chivalry is soon crushed when he witnesses the horrors of battle. Shot by a Union picket, he winds up at a stranger’s farm. Four girls compassionately nurse him back to health. David learns his comrades have deserted him in Pennsylvania following the Battle of Gettysburg, but his dilemma becomes much worse. He falls in love with the older sister, Anna, who entices him with a proposition. To his dismay, he must make a decision. Should he stay and help Anna with her underhanded plan, or return to the army and risk capture?

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About the Author

J.D.R. Hawkins is an award-winning author who has written for newspapers, magazines, newsletters, e-zines, and blogs. She is one of a few female Civil War authors, uniquely describing the front lines from a Confederate perspective.

j-d-r-hawkinsHer Renegade Series includes A Beautiful Glittering Lie, A Beckoning Hellfire, and A Rebel Among Us. All three novels are award winners, and tell the story of a family from north Alabama who experience immeasurable pain when their lives are dramatically changed by the war. Ms. Hawkins is a member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the International Women’s Writing Guild, Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, and Pikes Peak Writers. She is also an artist and singer/songwriter. Ms. Hawkins is currently working on a nonfiction book about the War Between the States, as well as another sequel to her series.

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