Fantasy or Reality?

Last week I was informed my historical paranormal Spirit of the Mountain placed first in the paranormal category of the Lories Best Published Book Contest.

The funny part about it is I have never considered it a paranormal book. When my historical editor said it had to go to the fantasy line at Wild Rose Press I drug my feet kicking and screaming, "It isn't a paranormal."

I have Indian spirits who are shape shifters and integral characters in the book. This is what makes it fall under the category fantasy/paranormal. To me the spirit element is Native American. It is part of their culture and therefore is more historical than paranormal, but I've lost the argument many times.

Native Americans have long held the belief that animals carry spirits and those spirits were called upon to help with hunts, battles, and the day to day living required when living off the land. These spirits were depicted in drawings, ceremonies with elaborate costumes, and in their stories. Many myths/legends have the main characters of Coyote, bear, skunk, and weasel.

These tales were told around campfires at night. The stories had morals like our fairy tales and fables. Only the characters in the stories were rarely human and always they told of lessons. Sometimes lessons for children and sometimes lessons for adults. And always they told of human foibles through the animals.

Here is a Nez Perce tale:

Coyote was a wise man, and Fox was slow-witted. Coyote said to Fox, "Now we shall have to get up some scheme to procure food. You are slow-witted, just like your father. My father was not that way: he was wise. I have taken after my father."
They were in their camp; and Coyote said to Fox, "If you keep perfectly still and do not move, we shall get some food." Then Coyote began thus: "I wish that I and my friend could hear the sound of five packs of food falling at the door!" Then they heard five sounds: "tlitluk, tlitluk, tlitluk, tlitluk, tlitluk!" Coyote jumped up and ran out, and there he saw five packs lying at the door. He took the three largest ones for his share, and left the two smallest ones for Fox. The large packs that Coyote got were all dry meat without any fat, but the two little packs contained fine meat. In three days Coyote had eaten all his poor meat; while Fox had a great deal left, because his was so very rich. On the fourth morning Coyote was hungry, and kept his eye on Fox to see if he had eaten all his share. Now, Fox had eaten only one of his packs, so Coyote jumped over and took the other. Then he said to Fox, "You are a fine fellow never to divide up with your friend!"
Five times they repeated the magic act and got food, but the sixth time Coyote wanted to see who brought them the meat. So he said to Fox, "I am going to see the man who gives us meat." Fox replied, "You had better not try to do that, because this is the only way we can get food." But Coyote was determined to see. He stood at the door, and cut a peep-hole so that he could look out with one eye. Then he repeated the wish; and when the packs fell, he saw a man going up over the ridge who wore long hair in a wig. This man was Deer Tick. Coyote shouted after him, "Oh, you man with the wig, you go over the mountain!"
Think you they got food again from the man Coyote had shamed?

SEDUCED BY HISTORY AUGUST CONTEST: Seduced by History Blog is hosting a month-long contest in August. One winner will receive a ‘basketful of goodies.’ All you have to do is check in on each blog during the month, look for a contest question to answer and September 1-5, 2011 send in your answers to seducedbyhistoryblog@yahoo.com. For full details, read the information on the right or click the CONTEST page.

My question: What is the title of my book set among the Nez Perce?

Paty Jager
www.patyjager.net
www.patyjager.blogspot.com

References
Nez Perce Tales, By Herbert J. Spinden, 1907
From Blue Panther Keeper of Stories.

Tales of the Nez Perce by Donald M. Hines,
Ye Galleon Press; Fairfield, Washington, 1999

Wagons, Trains, and Sternwheelers

Travel in the west was done by horse, coaches, wagons and buggies, sternwheelers and later on by train. Learning what conveyances were used where and when is always an ongoing process for me. My first published book, Marshal in Petticoats, I'd set the date and wrote the book with a train scene only to find out there weren't any trains in the area at the time. So I tried writing the scene with a stage coach and it didn't work nearly as well, then I changed the time of the story and had to go through and re-read newspapers for the new time to make sure I had other aspects correct in the story.

While researching the trains I came across sternwheelers on the Columbia River and set my next book, Gambling on an Angel there. The fourth book in the Halsey brother series, Doctor in Petticoats, has the hero and heroine traveling by train and required even more research to find out about what kind of cars were on the trains in Oregon at that time and how they were set up.

Some of the books I use for researching trains are: Early Oregon Days by Edwin D. Culp, Out West on the Overland Train by Richard Reinhardt, Rand McNally's Pioneer Atlas of the American West as well as several sites on the web. http://www.cprr.org/Museum/Car_Builders_Dictionary/
http://www.pnwc-nrhs.org/hs_or_n.html

A story I'm working on for the fifth Halsey brother book deals with logging. I'm currently reading books on how they logged in the late 1800's. Glory Days of Logging by Ralph W. Andrews and Timber by Ralph W. Andrews. I also plan to visit a couple of logging camps in Oregon.

Research is my favorite part of writing a story.

Paty Jager
http://www.patyjager.net
http://www.patyjager.blogspot.com

Photos:
http://www.google.com/search?q=historical+railroad+pictures&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
http://www.google.com/search?q=sternwheelers&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=flS&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=ivns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=zC8qTvD2E6XRiAKpmoWwAg&ved=0CEMQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=588

Fiddles, Drums, and Flutes

I like to have a sort of sound track for the books I write. Not handpicked songs put on one cd but rather several cds that play mixed together- all day long- or the whole time I'm writing one particular book. It's my trigger to get into the book faster when I sit down to write. Of course it takes a couple weeks to get the automatic jump start when I hear the music, but it works for me.

Today, while in the thrift shop(I always browse the books, cds and dvds), I found a cd of western movie title tracks. Now the story I bought this to hopefully work for isn't a typical western because it will be mainly set inside a logging camp. But what I failed to think about when purchasing this cd was the fact many movie westerns are set in Mexico, Texas, and Arizona. Nearly half of the songs have the Latin beat, trumpets, and guitar stanzas. I have a feeling this cd will have to wait for another book.

The last Halsey books I wrote I used bluegrass cds and Celtic music. Two of the heroines had Irish and Scottish backgrounds.

For my contemporary westerns I used contemporary western singers' cds. Chris LaDoux, Shania Twain, Tim McGraw, George Strait, Reba. Okay, so contemporary to me. Reading the list aged me a bit.

While writing the spirit trilogy I listened to Native American cds. The flutes, the drums, the wailing... these brought out different tempos and emotions as they played in the background.

My love of music and the inspirations I've had in my life from music helps to ground me in the lives of my characters.

Anyone have some ideas for acoustical bluegrass and perhaps Norwegian music? My heroine in this last Halsey book is Norwegian. Or logging songs?

www.patyjager.net

Gene Autry's Cowboy Code

I received a brochure in the mail the other day promoting the Cowboys and Indians magazine. Inside they had Gene Autry's Cowboy Code and it is pretty darn close to the original cowboy code only modernized.

Gene created this code in response to young radio listeners who wished to be like him.


1. The cowboy must never shoot first, hit a smaller man, or take unfair advantage.
2. He must never go back on his word or a trust confided in him.
3. He must always tell the truth.
4. He must be gentle with children, the elderly, and animals.
5. He must not advocate or possess racially or religiously intolerant ideas.
6. He must help people in distress.
7. He must be a good worker.
8. He must keep himself clean in thought, speech, action, and personal habits.
9. He must respect women, parents, and his nation's laws.
10. The cowboy is a patriot.

Could you imagine what a kinder and gentler world this would be if everyone were taught these standards?

Paty Jager
www.patyjager.net
www.patyjager.blogspot.com

Which came first?

I put up on facebook the other day the question- Which came first the Easter Bunny or the Easter Bonnet? Of course, I received some interesting answers none of which answered my questions. LOL

Which, made me dig into the history of both and found that they both go back much farther than I expected.

The Easter Bunny actually originated as the symbol for the pagan festival of Eastre. The goddess, Eastre, used the earthly bunny symbol for the Anglo-Saxons to worship to her. The Easter bunny was also use in pre-Christian fertility lore. And because of the fertileness of the hare and the rabbit, they were symbols of new life in the spring season.

Now did the Easter Bunny cross the ocean to America? The Germans brought him. The Easter Bunny was first written about in Germany in the 1500's. In 1800 the first edible Easter Bunnies were made in Germany. Nest were built in secluded places, with the children using their caps or bonnets. If the children had been good all year the Easter Bunny would lay eggs in their nest.

The Easter Bonnets? They began before Easter was celebrated. The first bonnets were circles or wreathes of flowers to celebrate the coming of spring. After so many months of drab darkness the round shape was to symbolize the shape of the sun and the path it takes about the earth and the flowers and green leaves to show the new growth and color.

Easter was once known as the "Sunday of Joy". Mothers and daughters, who wore the dark mourning clothes after the Civil War, began wearing colorful hats to this Sunday service, adorning the hats with blooming, fresh flowers. If the flowers weren't blooming yet, they made paper and ribbon flowers and added feathers.

So, which came first the Easter Bunny or the Easter Bonnet?

Paty Jager
www.patyjager.net
www.patyjager.blogspot.com

Entertainment or History Lesson?

I'm currently writing the third book in my spirit trilogy series that is set among the Wallowa Lake Nez Perce. I've enjoyed the research about this band of the Nez Perce tribe, but with this book I have to also take into account the the army that is chasing them from their home to Canada where they hope to find freedom.

I've used the names of the officers in charge of each troop that skirmished with the Nez Perce on that flight, but I've made up the rest. And I've not given the places of the skirmishes names. Even though I've been religiously reading from four books about the trek using points of view from the Indians and the military, I'm keeping it as vague as I can so it doesn't read like a military text book or a history text book. I'm trying to keep the story entertaining while showing both sides. (okay I am a bit more sympathetic to the Nez Perce than the army)But I've found the hardest part is finding ways to have the hero and heroine (he's a cavalry officer and she's the Nez Perce spirit) be together and make it not seem unrealistic. But she's a spirit and can move around with the ease of a bald eagle(her spirit animal.

So my question is: Do you read historical romance for exact history or do you read for the romance and prefer the history to enhance the story rather than take it over?

Blurb for Spirit of the Mountain available now:
Wren, the daughter of a Nimiipuu chief, has been fated to save her people ever since her vision quest. When a warrior from the enemy Blackleg tribe asks for her hand in marriage to bring peace between the tribes, her world is torn apart.

Himiin is the spirit of the mountain, custodian to all creatures including the Nimiipuu. As a white wolf he listens to Wren’s secret fears and loses his heart to the mortal maiden. Respecting her people’s beliefs, he cannot prevent her leaving the mountain with the Blackleg warrior.

Blurb for Spirit of the Lake available May 2011:
Two generations after his brother became mortal, Wewukiye, the lake spirit, prevents a Nimiipuu maiden from drowning and becomes caught up in her sorrow and her heart. Her tribe ignores Dove's shameful accusations—a White man took her body, leaving her pregnant, and he plans to take their land.Wewukiye vows to care for her until she gives birth, to help her prove the White man is deceitful and restore her place in her tribe.

As they travel on their quest for justice, Dove reveals spiritual abilities yet unknown in her people, ensnaring Wewukiye’s respect and awe. But can love between a mortal and a spirit grow without consequences?


Paty Jager
www.patyjager.net
www.patyjager.blogspot.com
buy link:http://thewildrosepress.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=177_139&products_id=4170

The Indian Wars Cavalry

Doing research for the third book in my spirit trilogy I had to do research on the plains cavalry. This was the mounted army used to curtail Indian uprisings and make sure there was safe passage for the people populating the west.

After the Civil War Southern cavalry officers were demoted to privates. There was feeling that if they were allowed to remain officers they could become in control of the military. So many left the service rather than be demoted. After the war many of the soldiers went back to civilian life, leaving the cavalry shorthanded.

The years following the war most recruits were either illiterate or spoke a foreign language, causing problems when it came to training. Officers, who were graduates of West Point or promoted during the Civil War and had sufficient training and experience in fighting, found themselves teaching ragtag groups how to ride horses and fire a rifle.

The plains cavalry weren't the sophisticated and well oiled machine the movies make them out to be. A good part of the enlisted men were criminals who chose enlisting to going to jail.

Not all forts were as large and accommodating as we see in movies either. Most were small complexes of buildings for housing, cooking and eating, and a supply or trade shop along with a stable and farrier. When the soldiers weren't working on their fighting they were the upkeep and builders of the forts.

During most of the Indian Wars period, the basic enlisted man's salary was $13 a month. Low pay, combined with boredom, and the fact many were there due to paying a debt to society for crimes they committed there was a high desertion rate.

Food at the frontier forts wasn't of good quality. The enlisted man's menu consisted of hash, stew, hardtack, salt, vinegar and molasses. Scurvy was a common disease among the men due to the lack of fresh fruits and vegetables.

I discovered with my research the cavalry life was not glamorous and you had to have either wanted to stay away from your family really bad or had no other place to go to want to stay in the mundane life that could kill you just as easy from fraternizing with the local women as it could from a bullet or arrow.

www.patyjager.net
www.patyjager.blogspot.com

Prettige kerstdagen en een gelukkig nieuwjaar

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I receive several Christmas cards with this greeting every year. My husband's family is from the Netherlands, and we receive Christmas cards from many of his aunts, uncles, and cousins this time of year.


The first Christmas card was commissioned in 1843 but Sir Henry Cole. There were 2,050 printed and they sold for a shilling. These first Christmas cards didn't depict Christmas. The images were of spring, children, and animals. The saying on the cards: wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.


In 1875 Louis Prang was the first printer to offer cards in America. These were very intricate and beautiful cards. But they were soon pushed aside by postcards that were easier to make and cheaper to send. By the 1920's the card and envelope greetings came back into style.


As world events came along they would be depicted in the cards of that year.

The first "official" Christmas card began in the 1840's when Queen Victoria send cards with portraits of the royal family at events. Later in 1953 President Dwight Eisenhower sent the first "official" White House Christmas card.

I've become one of the "newsletter" Christmas card senders. I write up a newsletter on the computer, print it out, and send it. But I love getting cards especially from other countries.

Do you send Christmas cards or letters? Do you get ones from other countries? If so what countries?

Because I love giving and it 'tis the season'- If you leave a comment you're name will be entered to win a box of western themed Christmas cards and one of my books.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Paty Jager
www.patyjager.net
www.patyjager.blogspot.com

Maize an Amazing History

The first Thanksgiving in 1621 corn was there. It was one of the new found foods in the Americas.

Europeans didn't know corn existed until Columbus discovered America and brought it back. It's believed corn was developed 7000 years ago in Central Mexico and Central America. Corn is a crop that has to be cultivated, it doesn't grow in the wild. The first Native Americans learned how to propagate corn from a wild grass called teosinte. They cultivated the grass and soon had the small 3 inch cobs with sparse kernels slowly becoming the corn we know today.

The crop was transferred by seed from Central America to North America and down into Peru by the wandering tribes.

The corn was used fresh and dried. What we call hominy today was first cooked thousands of years ago. The dried corn was ground into a meal and used for bread, puddings, and syrup. the corn husks were sued for weaving mats, hats, baskets, shoes, and ceremonial masks. The corn cobs were used for fuel, darts in games, and tied to sticks for rattles in ceremonies.

Paty Jager
www.patyjager.net
www.patyjager.blogspot.com

Have Wagon will Travel

The "soiled doves" of the wild and wooly west needed vacations, too. In the summer when the cities were hot and the men busy tending crops and cattle, some of the brothels would load up their "girls" and head to the mountains where it was cooler and they could entice the shepherds and cowboy tending the summer herds to come visit and spend money they had no place else to spend. It also made them appear "new and fresh" when they returned to the city and their usual customers.

I'd run across the fact the "girls" would go on vacations in one of my research books and didn't think much of it until my husband and I were driving around in the Steens Mountains and there was a meadow with a sign- Merry Meadow. We began asking around it was the meadow where the "girls" would vacation in the summer. There were Basque shepherds in the area and a stray cowboy would wander by, visit, and spread the word to the neighboring ranches.

Then we were watching the John Wayne movie The Cowboys and there's a scene where the cow"boys" come upon a wagon of scantily clad women. My husband laughs every time he watches that scene with the reactions of one of the boys.

Having three coincidences like that in a row, I knew a project had to include vacationing soiled doves. I'm working up that project right now.

Have you had that kind of a coincidence when things kept repeating themselves and you knew it had to be put in a book or story?

Blurb and Excerpt for Doctor in Petticoats
After a life-altering accident and a failed relationship, Dr. Rachel Tarkiel gave up on love and settled for a life healing others as the physician at a School for the Blind. She's happy in her vocation--until handsome Clay Halsey shows up and inspires her to want more.

Blinded by a person he considered a friend, Clay curses his circumstances and his limitations. Intriguing Dr. Tarkiel shows him no pity, though. To her, he's as much a man as he ever was.

Can these two wounded souls conquer outside obstacles, as well as their own internal fears, and find love?

Excerpt
“I’m going to look in your other eye now.” She, again, placed a hand on his face and opened the eyelids, stilling her fluttering heart as she pressed close. His clean-shaven face had a couple small nicks on the edges of his angular cheeks. The spice of his shave soap lingered on his skin.

She resisted the urge to run her cheek against his. The heat of his face under her palm and his breath moving wisps of wayward hair caused her to close her eyes and pretend for a few seconds he could be her husband. A man who loved her and wouldn’t be threatened by her occupation or sickened by her hideous scar.

His breathing quickened. A hand settled on her waist, slid around to her back, and drew her forward. Her hand, holding the lens, dropped to his shoulder, and she opened her eyes. This behavior on both their parts was unconscionable, but her constricted throat wouldn’t allow her to utter the rebuke.

Clay sensed the moment the doctor slid from professional to aroused woman. The hand on his cheek caressed rather than held, her breathing quickened, and her scent invaded his senses like a warm summer rain.

Paty Jager
www.patyjager.net
www.patyjager.blogspot.com

Ghost Towns

What makes a ghost town? A friend bought a book about ghost towns at a thrift store and gave it to me knowing I like to use ghost towns in my books. But I had to laugh. The book was first printed in 1971 and it stated that a town my school (Jr. High and High School) played in sports was a tourist ghost town. I can attest they had enough people in the town and area to have a school as large as the one I attended. So why did they classify it as a tourist ghost town?

This set me on a quest to find out what the requirements are to be ranked a ghost town.

Merriam Webster definition- ghost town: a once-flourishing town wholly or nearly deserted usually as a result of the exhaustion of some natural resource.

This I understand knowing how many towns sprouted up where gold and silver were found and then came to ruin when the ores played out.

Another ghost town in Oregon was Shaniko. A thriving town when wool and grain were shipped from there by train in the late 1800's and early 1900's. More railroad lines popped up across the state and people didn't have to bring their goods to Shaniko to be shipped and the town slowly died.

If towns had more than one resource to keep them prosperous they were lucky and thrived.

My thoughts on the "tourist" ghost town would be the fact when the lumber industry started deteriorating the community began in earnest to make the town appear older, more western and held staged bank robberies to gain revenue from tourists. While the town isn't really what you think of when you go looking for a ghost town with dilapidated buildings and old mine shafts, it is catering to the people who want a glimpse of what the rugged and lively west once was.

Do you have a "tourist" ghost town near you? What about a real ghost town?

Paty Jager
www.patyjager.net
www.patyjager.blogspot.com

Nez Perce Diet

Spirit of the Mountain, my August release is the first book of a trilogy about siblings who were made spirits by the Creator. While I made up the spirit world and their shape shifting and powers, the day to day living of the Nez Perce I tried to keep as factual as the information I could find.

At the time of my story the Nez Perce were nomadic, living off the land and its bounties. They had horses, but had yet to be introduced to cattle. Salmon, eel, and steelhead, were commodities of their region starting in May and early June and ran through the summer. They traveled first to the lower streams and worked their way to the high tributaries. The fish were caught, some eaten fresh others smoked and either stored for later use or used for trade. There was much rejoicing and ceremonies when the harvest was successful.

Kouse and other early roots were gathered during the spring while they were still along the lower streams fishing. They would meet at meadows in the high country once the snow had melted and gather roots. The women used sticks to dig the roots form the ground. They gave thanks to the Creator for growing the food that help sustain them through the winter months.

During the warm months they harvested wild plants, berries, pine nuts, and sunflower seeds. In the meadows they also gathered wild onion, carrots, and other plants. On the Forested mountainsides, they picked hawthorn, serviceberries, chokecherries, blackberries, and huckleberries.

Their diet also consisted of game animals and birds. They preserved what could not be eaten at once and had caches where they stored the preserved food until it was needed. So while they led a different life than the White man was used to, in reality they were not that much different in their methods of staying well fed.

Blurb for Spirit of the Mountain
Wren, the daughter of a Nimiipuu chief, has been fated to save her people ever since her vision quest. When a warrior from the enemy Blackleg tribe asks for her hand in marriage to bring peace between the tribes, her world is torn apart.

Himiin is the spirit of the mountain, custodian to all creatures including the Nimiipuu. As a white wolf he listens to Wren’s secret fears and loses his heart to the mortal maiden. Respecting her people’s beliefs, he cannot prevent her leaving the mountain with the Blackleg warrior.

When an evil spirit threatens Wren’s life, Himiin must leave the mountain to save her. But to leave the mountain means he’ll turn to smoke…

Excerpt
Wren’s eyes glistened with unshed tears. “My gift is to save The People. The weyekin who came to me in my vision quest said this.” She wrapped her arms around herself as if staving off a cold breeze.
Himiin hated that they argued when they should relish their time together. He moved to her, drawing her against his chest, embracing her. The shape of her body molded to his. Her curves pressed against him. Holding her this way flamed the need he’d tried to suppress.
He placed a hand under her chin, raising her face to his. The sorrow in her eyes tugged at his conscience. To make her leaving any harder was wrong. But having experienced her in his arms, he was grieved to let her go. Even for the sake of their people.
Her eyelids fluttered closed. Her pulse quickened under his fingers. Shrugging off the consequences, he lowered his lips to hers. They were softer than he imagined. Her breath hitched as he touched her intimately. Parting his lips, he touched her with his tongue, wanting to see if she tasted as sweet as she smelled.
Honey.

Paty Jager
www.patyjager.net
www.patyjager.blogspot.com
Buy Link: www.thewildrosepress.com

Myths, Fables- all teach lessons

My August release, Spirit of the Mountain is available already in print format at my publisher. The Wild Rose Press. It's my first attempt at a paranormal, but to me it feels like a historical. I did major research into the Nez Perce or Nimiipuu tribe to be able to write this story about the daughter of a chief who is asked for in marriage by a warrior of the Blackfeet(Blackleg) tribe which at the time of the story were according to the words of a current Nimiipuu "considered the same as how you considered the Huns". I used this fear and hatred throughout the story when the heroine is talking and thinking about living with the Blackleg(the name the Nimiipuu called the Blackfeet).

I not only researched books on their day to day living conditions, their society, and their beliefs, I also read as much as I could in their own words. Myths and legends books and any snippet I could get that was in English but translated directly from their words. It helped me to get a feel for their speaking and cadence to their dialogue.

Here is a Nimiipuu story that I copied from the Nez Perce loop I'm on. As you can see by reading the story all of the stories handed down through the generations were like our fables. They taught a lesson.

Nez Perce boy legend

A long time ago there lived in our Blue Mountains a boy who was an only child. His parents had pampered and spoiled him until he was quite selfish and disagreeable.

His parents died and he was obliged to live with the rest of the tribe as an orphan. Because of his selfishness he was not well liked and the other children did not like to play with him. Some of the children learned that the camp was to be moved and made plans to get rid of the spoiled boy.

No one told him that they were moving and that morning they took him out to the high cattails to play hide-and-seek. They would hide and then call, "Who! Who!" Part of the time the boy was following his own echo. The children slipped away and hurried back to the camp in time to go.

The boy wandered about listening to his own echo for some time before he decided that the others had left. When he found his way back to camp it was deserted.

He was hungry and by rummaging about he found some roots that had been left. Still hungry, he decided to try some fishing. With a thorn on an improvised string he made from fibers and hair left at the camp, he placed a worm on the thorn and fished. Thus he secured fish.

Not wishing to eat it raw, his mind turned to fire, and investigation proved that someone had banked a bed of coals and he soon had a camp fire going.

Night was approaching. Where would he sleep? At last he remembered the little stone and mud igloo down by the stream where the people had taken their sweat baths. He crawled into the igloo and slept quite comfortably.

In the morning, he decided to try fishing, but this time a strange thing happened. When he felt something on his line he pulled steady and hard. Slowly it came, but it was not a fish. It was a boat loaded with many provisions and an extremely homely old lady. The old lady spoke to him, "Don't be afraid little boy, I will not hurt you. I am your Grandmother Experience. I have come to help you."

Grandmother Experience lived with him, after that and helped him do many things - make bows and arrows to kill game, gather food, build shelters, and many other things.

Time went on and the boy lived with the grandmother and grew up big and strong, but wondered where his people were. He commenced traveling about in hopes of finding them. One day he did find them and they marveled at the change he had undergone. He was no longer a spoiled selfish boy. Grandmother Experience had made a self-reliant, pleasant young man of him.

If you'd like to read an excerpt of my book Spirit of the Mountain you can visit my website: www.patyjager.net and click on paranormal. While you're there enter my website contest.
I'll be blogging for six days straight at Seriously Reviewed starting tomorrow, Sunday July 25th. Come on by and read about my hero and heroines from my last two releases. The last day I’m giving away a pdf of Doctor in Petticoats my historical western that released in June. And starting on Sunday August 8th I'm doing a six day blog tour with a contest. Check out my blog to learn more.

Foxfire books and my blog tour

My blog day here happens to fall during my blog tour so I hope you don't mind if I tack on the details of my blog contest to the end of this post.

I think I've found the best books for learning how things were done in the 17 and 1800's. When I find a great resource I like to share. I've used these books to learn how to make brooms, beds, soap, preserve meat, and harvest wild plants for food.

If you don't have these books they are worth getting your hands on if you write American historical stories.

They are the Foxfire books. I have books 1,2,& 3. I bought them used and have found them invaluable. There's no author. They are articles that were first published in Foxfire magazine. I used information in book three to learn about making brooms for my current release Doctor in Petticoats.

Blurb for Doctor in Petticoats
After a life-altering accident and a failed relationship, Dr. Rachel Tarkiel gave up on love and settled for a life healing others as the physician at a School for the Blind. She's happy in her vocation--until handsome Clay Halsey shows up and inspires her to want more.

Blinded by a person he considered a friend, Clay curses his circumstances and his limitations. Intriguing Dr. Tarkiel shows him no pity, though. To her, he's as much a man as he ever was.

Can these two wounded souls conquer outside obstacles, as well as their own internal fears, and find love?

Excerpt
“I’m going to look in your other eye now.” She, again, placed a hand on his face and opened the eyelids, stilling her fluttering heart as she pressed close. His clean-shaven face had a couple small nicks on the edges of his angular cheeks. The spice of his shave soap lingered on his skin.

She resisted the urge to run her cheek against his. The heat of his face under her palm and his breath moving wisps of wayward hair caused her to close her eyes and pretend for a few seconds he could be her husband. A man who loved her and wouldn’t be threatened by her occupation or sickened by her hideous scar.

His breathing quickened. A hand settled on her waist, slid around to her back, and drew her forward. Her hand, holding the lens, dropped to his shoulder, and she opened her eyes. This behavior on both their parts was unconscionable, but her constricted throat wouldn’t allow her to utter the rebuke.

Clay sensed the moment the doctor slid from professional to aroused woman. The hand on his cheek caressed rather than held, her breathing quickened, and her scent invaded his senses like a warm summer rain.

Blog Tour Contest

This is my second day of my fifteen blog/twelve day tour. Leave a comment and follow me to all the blogs on my tour and you could win an autographed copy of my June release, Doctor in Petticoats, a B&N gift card, and a summer tote filled with goodies. To find out all the places I'll be go to my blog- http://www.patyjager.blogspot.com to find the list.

Website: http://www.patyjager.net
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Medical Expenses

My June historical western release is Doctor in Petticoats. The heroine is a doctor in a blind school because she can't persuade the medical community in her town to take her seriously as a doctor. But she is highly qualified and jumps at the chance to be the only physician in a small community.

While I didn't need this information for my story, it is one of those things I researched and now have archived for the day I may want to know.

Here are a few prices for medical procedures and assistance in the 1800’s:
A visit within one mile — $1.00
Each succeeding mile — .50
Simple case of midwifery — $5.00
For bleeding — .50
Bullet Wounds — Between $1.00 to 10.00
For setting fracture — $5.00 to 10.00
Amputating Arm — $10.00
Amputating Leg — $20.00
For advice and prescription in office — $1.00
For difficult cases, fee based in proportion to difficulty.

But as was often the case, the doctor accepted goods in lieu of money. And doctors didn't refuse to treat someone because they couldn’t pay.

I'm assuming the $10.00 bullet required more digging and stitching. Wouldn't it be nice to pay only $5 for a birthing? I know my dad says in 1957 he paid $50 for my brother's birth.

Just thought I'd throw this little bit of trivia out there for those of you who have inquiring minds like myself. Maybe one of you can use it in a book.
Do you also gather more information than you'll use in a book? If you're a reader can you tell when a person has over researched?

Paty Jager
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History--yours, mine, or someone else's

I like to write historical info on this blog because it is titled Seduced by History, but I have just about exhausted my research info for the books I've written lately and don't have the time to look up something new. I'm in the middle of polishing up three projects and not quite ready to start on something new, so I haven't been researching history lately.

I attended a local writer’s group a few months ago. The title of the talk given by a member was “If not, who will”. It was of course about writing family stories or history. And that had me thinking about all the genres-not just memoir writing.

We writers put a little bit of our history in everything we write. It doesn’t matter what you write–romance, sci-fi, westerns, or YA. In each project somewhere, is a scene, a scenario, a phrase that happened to you, a family member, or a friend. Something that is a part of your history.

Granted my dad wasn’t born in the 1800’s, but as a child he lived in a rural area where some things hadn’t moved ahead into the 20th century. His stories on more than one occasion have given fodder for a story or a scene in one of my books. Same with my in-laws who immigrated to the United States in the 1950’s.

At a family reunion on my mom’s side of the family, there were stories told no one would believe except in fiction! Of course names are changed to protect the instigators!

Even things my children have done end up in a story. Our lives are our history. Incorporating the good times and the bad of our lives into our characters brings them to life for the reader.

Do you use people you know or have known, personal situations, or phrases you’ve heard in your books or stories? If not, why?

Paty Jager
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Gathering Food the Nimiipuu Way

I think we've all heard Native Americans (Indians) thought highly of the earth and believed all its creatures were gifts. The Nez Perce were especially grateful to the bountiful fish and wildlife in their territories as well as the plants which they harvested to round out their diets.

The men of the Nez Perce built weirs and fished, but the women maintain the weirs and processed the fish. Drying the salmon and trout over fires on racks made of limbs or on sticks stuck in the ground and bent over the fire. In the heat of the summer the fish would also be dried on racks in the hot summer sun and soup was made from the heads.

The men hunted large game animals and could be gone for up to a year or more when they traveled into the plains for buffalo, returning with huge amounts of dried buffalo and hides. The women traveled with them on theses hunts to prepared the meat for transporting back to their villages.

Nothing was wasted of an animal, the meat was cooked, smoked, and dried. The tongue and liver were eaten raw and ears were used as seasoning in soups. The fat was used to cook fry bread and bear meat was barbecued. Pemmican was made from the dried meat. It was broke into pieces that would fit in a mortar and pounded adding intestines and meat fat. This was a staple when traveling. They also made a pemmican of dried salmon and berries which the Nez Perce men carried wrapped in leaves in the bottom of their quivers. This was a nutritious easy-to-carry food when they were hunting.

The women were in charge of gathering roots, herbs, berries, and killing small game. They used sticks called tu`k`es or digging sticks to extract the roots from the earth. In some instances they would span out across valleys teeming with the camas, bitterroot, and kous.

Camas roots were dug from June to September depending on the elevation where they grew. They were gathered in wet upland meadows. Weippe Meadows, Camas Prairie, Palouse Prairie and Grande Ronde Valley. They were baked and steamed. Cooking pits or large holes were dug before the harvest. After the roots were dug they would lay out hot red rocks in the hole, sprinkle with water, put dirt over the rocks, then fresh alder leaves, and a layer of meadow grass. Then the camas. The roots were covered with alder leaves, meadow grass, sprinkled with water and dirt, then a fire built on top and they cooked for three days. The roots were then eaten whole, pounded into flour, or tossed in soup.

Kous was dug from April to July. It was found in dry rocky soil and is similar in shape to a carrot. It was eaten either fresh or dry. Thy peeled off the skin and sun dried it. Then they would pound it into a oatmeal or cornmeal and serve as a cooked mush or make a ball and sun dry it or make a long bread called o`ppah that was smoked.

Bitterroot was dug in Nespelem area in August. It resembles a crocus with pink flowers. The yellow root looks like spaghetti and must be peeled. This root wasn't ground up, it was served like a vegetable. They mostly traded for it with the Plateau Indians. Women ate bitterroot or made tea to increase their milk flow after childbirth.

Wild onions were the first root of spring, dug in April. They have a fern-like top and the bulb is the size of a walnut. They also dug wild carrot in May. It grows in clusters in damp or wet areas. The blossom is two feet high and smells like the food. It is a finger sized food with a brown jacket and white meat. Sweet and rich flavor and may be eaten raw. They also dried and ground it for porridge and boiled it fresh like a potato.Or preserved the root by drying and grinding it into flour for loaves that were smoked and stored.

They stone boiled soup in willow baskets. Putting a rock that has been heating in a fire into the basket. They stored food in baskets and hide bags as well as caches or pits dug in the ground where large amounts of food would be stored for the whole band. These could be any where along their well traveled routes or hidden.

That is some more of the information I've gleaned while working on my paranormal trilogy set among the Nez Perce.

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Sources: Nez Perce Women in Transition, 1877-1990, Caroline James
Nee Me Poo- Allen p> Slickpoo Sr. and Deward E. Walker, Jr.
Photos: http://www.firstpeople.us

Nez Perce Indians and Pregnancy

I'm working on the second book of a trilogy set among the Nez Perce Indians of Idaho, NE Oregon, and SE Washington. In this book the heroine is pregnant, so I've been spending hours reading books about the Nez Perce customs and social living aspects to learn all I can about pregnancy and child birth.

The Nez Perce women had specific jobs. They gathered roots, berries and herbs as well as the firewood. It was their job to keep the fire going all night during the winter months. They were the cooks, the ones who dried and stored the meat, fish, berries and roots. Tanned the hides, made the clothing, wove baskets and constructed the dwellings. They did everything needed to sustain a family other than hunt, prepare weapons, and fight. If need be, they could hunt for smaller animals, fight, and take care of weapons though it was not one of their jobs.

During battles women provided fresh horses, food, and water for the warriors, tended the wounded, warned others of danger, directed children and the old people where to hide and how to leave when their encampments were attacked. If a husband was shot they could pick up his gun and fight. They also cooked and gathered wood during attacks, keeping the children, old people, and warriors fed during the attacks and battles.

Pregnant women still did most of the chores right up until the moment they started labor. Some would have miscarriages from long periods of riding horses in the last months of pregnancy. Usually during campaigns of fighting.

If a woman was pregnant they believed their man would have bad luck hunting. She was also not allowed to see any part of a kill—blood, skinning. They feared her child would be born deformed. They also didn't touch, view, or ridicule any deformed animals or humans, fearing it would cause their child the same misfortune. They didn't tie knots or do things symbolic of obstructing the birth.

A wide strip of buckskin was tied around their bellies. This was believed to protect the child. After the birth, this strip was burned or buried, giving the child a healthy, strong body. They did everything to keep the baby safe. The Nez Perce wanted to build a large strong tribe.

When a woman started labor she was isolated in a small dwelling with either an older family member or a mid-wife. If there were complications the Ti-wet (medicine man) was called in. The dwelling had a hole dug in the middle of the structure. The blood and after birth were put in this hole and buried. The umbilical cord was kept in a small leather pouch attached to the cradleboard. It is believed to be bad luck to destroy such an intimate part of the baby.

The cradle board is made by a relative. The baby is transported and tended in the board until he is ready to walk. Children were breast fed for several years. This was one of their ways to contribute to birth control. Other ways were with herbs.

This is just a minuscule picture of what I've learned and hope to incorporate into my paranormal historical book.

Sources: Nez Perce Women in Transition, 1877-1990- Caroline James; Nee Me Poo – Allen P. Slickpoo Sr. and Deward E. Walker Jr.
Photos: First Americans

Paty Jager
www.patyjager.blogspot.com
www.patyjager.net

Kissing under a parasite???

I posted this on the Cactus Rose blog last week, but since it is Christmas and this is a timely topic, I'm posting it here as well. Happy reading and Merry Christmas!

Mistletoe is one of the traditions of the Christmas Season. But did you know—

Mistletoe is an evergreen. The traditions of displaying evergreens at Christmas came about as a way to bring color and the green hope of spring into the home.
This plant however is a parasitic shrub. It grows on trees, living off the host plant. They are not full parasites, since the plants are capable of photosynthesis. But these mistletoe plants are parasitic in the sense that they send a special kind of root system down into their hosts, the trees upon which they grow, in order to extract nutrients from the trees.
Mistletoe has long been regarded as an aphrodisiac and fertility herb. It may also possess abortifacient qualities, which would help explain its association with uninhibited sexuality.
The unusual botanical history of mistletoe goes a long way towards explaining the awe in which it was held in the Norse myths. For in spite of not being rooted in the soil, mistletoe remained green throughout the winter, while the trees upon which it grew and upon which it fed did not (the European mistletoe often grows on apple trees; more rarely on oaks). The fascination this must have exerted over pre-scientific peoples is understandable.

Mistletoe was first hung in farmhouses and kitchens so young men could kiss the maidens while standing under it. Only they were to pluck a white berry each time they kissed and when the berries were gone so were the kisses. The berries are poisonous.

The Druids believed it was sacred and held medicinal and supernatural qualities. That is the mistletoe of oak trees. Other types of trees also have their own parasite or mistletoe but it is the Oak that was the most favored.

The Druid priesthood held a ceremony around Christmas time or five days after the New Moon following the winter solstice. They cut the mistletoe from a holy oak with a golden sickle, catching the branches before they hit the ground. The branches were divided into sprigs and given to the people to hang above their doorways for protection against thunder, lightning, and other evils.

The folklore, and the magical powers of this plant, spread through the centuries It was thought placing a sprig in a baby's cradle would protect the child from faeries. Giving a sprig to the first cow calving after New Year would protect the entire herd.

Celts believed that because mistletoe received sustenance from the host tree it also held the soul of the tree.

Ancient Scandinavia and the Norse mythology is where the tale of kissing und the mistletoe started. It was considered a plant of peace in Scandinavian history. If enemies found themselves under mistletoe in the forest they laid down their weapons and called a truce until the next day.

Most say kissing under the mistletoe is an English custom there is a story that dates back to Norse mythology. It is about an overprotective mother.

The Norse god Balder was the best loved of all the gods. His mother was Frigga, goddess of love and beauty. She loved her son so much that she wanted to make sure no harm would come to him. So she went through the world, securing promises from everything that sprang from the four elements--fire, water, air, and earth--that they would not harm her beloved Balder.
Leave it to Loki, a sly, evil spirit, to find the loophole. The loophole was mistletoe. He made an arrow from its wood. To make the prank even nastier, he took the arrow to Hoder, Balder's brother, who was blind. Guiding Holder's hand, Loki directed the arrow at Balder's heart, and he fell dead.
Frigga's tears became the mistletoe's white berries. In the version of the story with a happy ending, Balder is restored to life, and Frigga is so grateful that she reverses the reputation of the offending plant--making it a symbol of love and promising to bestow a kiss upon anyone who passes under it.

Is hanging mistletoe a tradition in your family?

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Researching your characters

I prefer researching and writing about the U.S. in the 1800's. Specifically the western U.S. However, I find myself time and again having to research farther back and overseas to fully develop my characters.

A character's roots tells a lot about that character and I find that by going back on the family tree I can develop my characters and make them more real. My problem is even though I'm researching for my book set in the west in the 1800's I have to delve into 1700's Europe sometimes.

I remember my Social Studies classes and learning all about the "boiling pot" that makes up America. I know the only true American is the Native America who has been on this continent the longest though I've also read they came from another continent as well, long, long ago. My heritage is a "Heinz 57". My mother's side being predominately German and my Dad's side Dutch, Irish, English. So even to find my ancestral background I have to travel abroad.

Which brings me to- I have a book case full of western reference books and few on European history and find myself either going online or traipsing to the library to find the research materials need when I work to "discover" family history on a character. Anyone wanting to comment and leave me some good reference books I'd appreciate it.

For my latest release, Miner in Petticoats, the heroine took some research. I wanted her Scots, but while researching for her background I found that many of the Scots at the time she would have been a girl were exiled to Ireland due to clan wars. So I put her in Ireland and she married an Irish man who was killed during the uprisings between the Irish and the English.

While none of the story takes place in Ireland, I still had to research the living conditions and the upheaval going on there to be able to give my character back story that made her who she is in this book.


Blurb:
Shouldering the burdens of his family and the mining community, Ethan Halsey devotes himself to providing for his brothers’ growing families.

However, Aileen Miller, a widow, also looking out for her family’s interests, refuses to part with the land he needs. As they battle- one to push his dream to reality and the other to prove no man will hurt her again- their lives become enmeshed and their hearts collide.

How far have you gone to build your character in your mind as well as your reader's?

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