I’m thrilled to share with all our readers that the anthology, Northern Roses and Southern Belles has finaled in the 2011 EPIC eBook Awards Competition.
This anthology of Civil War era stories, written by me and five other authors at the Wild Rose Press, continues to entertain readers. We all wrote novellas which take place in the Civil War era, before, during, or after the war as in my story, Are You Going to the Dance?
My Texas family’s experiences inspired me. Although my story does not actually represent my Dutch great great grandfather or my French great great grandmother, they, along with many folks in the German communities of the Texas Hill Country, believed strongly in preserving the Union. Towards that end my great great grandfather took the mules he raised to the Union army. He would have been shot by the Confederate army if he had been caught.
The community where they lived in Texas voted to form local militia units rather than send fathers and sons to fight with the Confederate army. My ancestors’ son joined the local militia unit and took part in protecting their town and the surrounding farmers. This group of settlers attended church every Sunday and enjoyed weekend gatherings where they danced and socialized.
My great great grandmother was known for her kindness and independent spirit. It is said of her that she would rather have been outside riding her horse and working with the men than working inside the house. One night, she found a Comanche brave who had been wounded during a raid, but not discovered in the field by the farmers who strove to protect their crops. She saved his life without the farmers knowing, and as a result his tribe never again raided their farm.
With TWRP’s support, our anthology, Northern Roses and Southern Belles, came together easily. Encouraged by the response from our readers, I next wrote Moonlight Desperado, also inspired by an incident which happened to my Texas family after the war was over. For fun I added shape shifters to this story and published it with Siren-BookStrand Mainstream.
Along with all our anthology stories, it has been a pleasure to see Are You Going to the Dance? in print because the story that inspired it is dear to my heart.
The Civil War as you’ve never read it! Northern Roses and Southern Belles now available from the The Wild Rose Press and other eBook sellers! For an excerpt, visit my web site http://www.JeanmarieHamilton.com
Enjoy!
Jeanmarie Hamilton
That is really interesting about your family. You certainly have gained a lot of information from them to share with us. I can imagine I would have liked to do anything else than housework in those days, too. To say nothing about in these days. :)
ReplyDeleteAlways so interesting to read your blogs.
Thanks for mentioning our anthology, Jeanmarie.
ReplyDeleteYay for us, Jeanmarie! Your story was a very entertaining read as were all the others. I think a lot of fiction owes it's sense of realism to the insertion of facts.
ReplyDeletePaisley,
ReplyDeleteI know for a fact that your family history is fascinating and part of our history. So many thanks for your compliments. :-)
I agree, I would rather be out riding my own horse than working inside the house. ;-) It helps to have your own horse. One of my dreams for the future.
Jeanmarie,
ReplyDeleteI'm excited about this anthology written by tremendous authors, two including yourself and Caroline Clemmons.
I'm so proud of you, that you've taken your passion for learning about your ancestors and interwoven it through stories, which makes one unique as able to touch the reader's heart. ^5 Wishing you continued success!
Caroline and Susan,
ReplyDeleteCouldn't have done it without all 6 of us authors and TWRP's support. It's been a fun project!
Susan, you're right about using historical facts to add a sense of realism to our stories. For me, it's often the historical facts that inspire the stories.
Jeanmarie, I loved your story...OK, I enjoyed all the stories in our anthology! :) But while I made mine up from history (and a little Rhett Butler!) you took your family's past and wove it all in.
ReplyDeleteDiana,
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for your compliments and wonderful support. :-) I hope I can always touch the readers' hearts.
It's music to our ears, isn't it, when a reader tells us how much she/he enjoyed/loved our story.
Continued success to you too. Can't wait to read your third book!
I devoured the first two!
Jeanmarie Hamilton said...
ReplyDeleteDiana,
Thanks so much for your compliments and wonderful support. :-) I hope I can always touch the readers' hearts.
~With your passion for your past, your stories, I'm confident you will.
It's music to our ears, isn't it, when a reader tells us how much she/he enjoyed/loved our story.
~It's truly humbling.
Continued success to you too. Can't wait to read your third book!
I devoured the first two!
~My sincere thanks! Wishing the best right back at you! ^5
Isabel,
ReplyDeleteThanks! I enjoyed all our stories too, and I remember thinking that I would need to do lots of research in order to write a story like yours about blockade runners. A little Rhett Butler is right! Fun, romantic story!
Hi Jeanmarie, true historical stories are even more amazing than anything we can dream up as writers. I've always enjoyed the fact you can take your own family history and create something around it. And who knows, maybe there really were werewolves in your family.
ReplyDeleteJane
Jane,
ReplyDeleteLOL maybe back in France, right? ;-)
Thanks for your support and your friendship.
Great to see you here!