ENLIST OR ELSE!

I’m late posting today. Somewhere, I lost a day due to a hectic, crazy weekend and week. Now I realize it’s Wednesday.


Nancy (nee Wood) and
William Harrison Johnson
circa 1885
What is going on
with her hair?

 Commemorating the start of the Civil War still, today I want to post about an ancestor who fought in the war. He didn’t want to. This man, William Harrison Johnson, believed he should mind his own business and take care of his farm and family. He truly believed he could get away with taking care of his own and letting everyone else do the same. Nope, didn’t work.

A distant relative, a villainous man who shall remain nameless here, confronted Johnson and told him that if he did not enlist in the Confederacy, his farm would be burned, his wife and daughters raped and killed, and his sons would be killed. Johnson knew this man meant it, because he had the reputation to back up the claim. The relative was one mean sonofagun! But that’s another story - an interesting but long one I'll save for another time or for a book.

Thomas Vestal Johnson

William Harrison Johnson and his sons William Riley and Thomas Vestal enlisted. Riley went to a neighboring town with friends, but Thomas (who was barely sixteen) enlisted with his father in the Sardis Volunteers. Early into the war, William and Thomas were separated. William served in Virginia, Maryland, Tennessee, Kentucky, and the Battle of Chicamauga, GA. He was hospitalized in Atlanta. When Sherman approached Atlanta, William hurried to move his parents and sister Caroline away from the city to Northwest Georgia where he lived. Definitely not heroic--unless you were an elderly couple or the daughter caring for them. William lived until 1899 and is buried in Rome, Georgia.

Thomas continued to do what he saw as his duty. Among the battles in which he fought were Gettysburg and the Second Battle of Manassas. Once the war was over, he vowed never to fire another gun. He married Sarah Bailey and they had a son. After only a few years, Sarah died of childbed fever. Luckily for me, Thomas remarried. Eleven years after the end of the Civil War, Thomas and his brother James came to Texas. James went back to Georgia, but Thomas and his new wife and baby remained near Waco.

This 150th anniversary has many engaging in heated and serious debates about the justification and causes of the Civil War. Not me. For good or ill, it’s a part of our history but we don’t want to repeat it. Regardless of the pros and cons, we need to study it to protect our peace and our freedom.

“Those who don’t study history are doomed to repeat it.”

from The Wild Rose Press

My story, LONG WAY HOME, in the Civil War anthology NORTHERN ROSES AND SOUTHERN BELLES is very loosely based on my family in Northwest Georgia and is the only non-Texas setting I’ve ever used. I fictionalized Rome, Georgia, but I remember visiting the town. Lovely setting and probably a nice place in which to live.

Friday, I’ll write about another aspect of the Civil War.

Thanks for stopping by.

SUSAN MACATEE DECLARES WAR! OH, IT WAS 150 YEARS AGO

Abraham Lincoln
November 1863

This is the official 150th anniversary of the launch of the Civil War, so I stuck Abraham Lincoln's photo here. When my younger brother Don was a boy, he loved anything about Abraham Lincoln--probably still does. Don used to call "Onward Christian Soldiers" the "Abraham Lincoln song" because it seemed always to accompany documentaries about Lincoln. That has nothing to do with today's guest, but I think it's cute. Humor me, please. This is my baby brother we're talking about.

Today's guest is Susan Macatee, a friend who has long been interested in writing, but didn't make it official until her youngest started kindergarten. Since then, Susan has been successful as a novelist. She also writes for the confession magazines, known among writers as "the Trues." You didn't think those were actually true, did you? If you did, I'm so sorry to burst your bubble.

Don't miss the part about prizes at the end.

Here's Susan's post:

           WAR IS DECLARED!

Beauregard

2011 is the 150 year anniversary of the start of the American Civil War. It all began at Fort Sumter, in Charleston, South Carolina harbor on April 11, 1861. A surrender of the fort was requested by Confederate Brigadier General Pierre G. T. Beauregard, but Federal commander, Major Robert Anderson, refused. The first shot of the American Civil War was fired from a Confederate artillery battery at 4:30 a.m. April 12, 1861. After artillery exchanges that continued through April 13th, the fort was evacuated on April 14th.   Following this, Lincoln issued a proclamation that called for 75,000 militia for ninety days’ service, to put down “combinations too powerful to be suppressed”. The American Civil War had officially begun!

Susan and her husband at a Civil
War reenactment in Nishaminy
State Park, Pennsylvania.
Don't they make a handsome couple?

This is an important anniversary that should spark a lot of interest in the war between the States. Events are planned all over the country, including battle reenactments, seminars, symposiums and lectures. New movies set during and after the war are being developed as well. Books and other Civil War paraphernalia should be in demand, also.

I currently have five books, four in print and e-book, one only available as an e-book, all available from The Wild Rose Press. The buy link for my books at The Wild Rose Press is: http://tinyurl.com/3egf4ex

My award winning novel, CONFEDERATE ROSE, is the story of an Irish immigrant heroine, who disguises herself as a man and fights in the Confederate army. She meets a charming Southerner, she later learns in a Federal spy.


ERIN'S REBEL is a time travel romance. The heroine travels from present day to land in Confederate army camp. She meets a Rebel officer who steals her heart away.

My other three Civil War romances are novellas. Two are included in anthologies: one in the 2011 EPIC finalist, NORTHERN ROSES AND SOUTHERN BELLES, the other in the historical Christmas anthology, AN AMERICAN ROSE CHRISTMAS.

The third is a stand alone novella, available as an e-book, my Civil War vampire story, SWEET REDEMPTION. To learn more about me and all of my books, visit my website, www.susanmacatee.com

I hope this will be an exciting year for everything Civil War, as well as the next four years that will follow the war years from 1861 to 1865.

For more on the start of the American Civil War, visit this site. www.civilwarhome.com/ovbegin.htm



2011 EPIC Finalist


Thanks to Susan for sharing with us. By the way, her books have won multiple awards and received rave reviews.

On Wednesday and on Friday, I'll relate  stories about a few of my ancestors who fought in the Civil War. Yep, we were on the wrong side, but you might be interested to learn why. Sure you will.

PRIZES, PRIZES, PRIZES!


Since all week we'll be talking about the Civil War, someone who leaves a comment on this blog during this week will win a download of NORTHERN ROSES AND SOUTHERN BELLES (or one of my other Caroline Clemmons books if the winner is not a Civil War fan) to celebrate the anniversary of the Civil War. Although, I have no idea why anyone would call it "civil war." Yes, yes, I understand the definition, but it still seems an oxymoron.

Isabel Roman, Author Interview

Marisa Velez (left) and Christine Koehler,
Isabel Roman

Readers, today our guest is Isabel Roman, although she is actually they. Christine Koehler and Marissa Velez write together as Isabel Roman, and have been very successful in cowriting romance novels. For this post, Christine is answering for the duo about their novella IN THE SHADOWS, which appears in the Civil War anthology NORTHERN ROSES AND SOUTHERN BELLES from The Wild Rose Press.



Caroline: Isabel, how did you come up with that idea for your novella, IN THE SHADOWS?


Isabel: I’m not sure how the concept came about, but I do know I researched both the Pinkertons and those who smuggled goods into the South during the blockade. As it turns out, Allen Pinkerton did hire one woman agent, Kate Warne. After the Civil War, Kate was responsible for a small number of female Pinkerton agents.

I based Marion off Kate, even briefly mentioned Kate Warne, and Allen Pinkerton is an old friend of Marion’s father. As for Jack, I based him off Rhett Butler. Except English. And not with the romantic background of Rhett, but with a poor vicarage background. Hey, a man’s gotta make something of himself, right?


In the classic, Gone With the Wind, Margaret Mitchell based Rhett Butler on George Trenholm, (who may or may not have been a distant relation of hers). I read Dr. E. Lee Spence’s Treasures of the Confederate Coast: The "Real Rhett Butler" & Other Revelations, A look at South Carolina's underwater heritage, and Shipwrecks of Charleston Harbor. Granted, I didn’t need to read all those for the story, but they really were fascinating. And I may have skimmed some parts.

From The Wild Rose Press

Caroline: We get lost in research, don’t we? I was especially interested to learn from you that Rhett Butler was based on a real  person. Tell us about your writing schedule. Do you write full time?

Isabel: I wish I could write full time! But no, I have a fulltime job, family, puppy, and friends. In every single other moment of free time, I write. Nights, after work and walking the dog, I try to write 2000 words. On weekends and other days off, I try to do between 5,000 and 10,000…it all depends on the flow of the story, interruptions, and naps.


Caroline: LOL Naps are important at my house. Is there a reason you’re drawn to the Civil War era?

Isabel: When I was in high school, I read a lot of Civil War romances. I took several classes as an undergrad, and watched all those epic Civil War movies popular in the 90s. But then I realized they all sounded the same. Hero from the North has to rescue the poor misguided Southern Heroine from something and they fall in love. Pft. Scarlett O’Hara was a bitch, but she was much stronger than that.


So what if the woman was from the north, and the man was English? Very different there, considering England only had a very general interest in our war. Got me thinking about a lot of things I’d forgotten over the years about the Civil War and how it truly did change our country.

Caroline: Good for you! I always thought that--even though she was not sweet as Melanie--without Scarlett O'Hara, the people around her would have starved. What are the other works you have out?

Desert and Destiny 

Isabel: I have a Druids series published with Red Silk Editions now available in book stores, a story in the only zombie romance anthology you’ll probably ever find, about a dozen short stories, and a werewolf novella in The Wild Rose Press’s GOT WOLF? anthology.

Caroline: And your Red Silk Editions have such gorgeous covers. What do you have in the works for us:


Isabel: I’m currently working on a couple things: editing a 1920s prohibition story and a very dark alternate history Regency. I also have maybe ¼ of two stories finished, one is a contemporary Egyptian reincarnation story, the other is a 1797 spy story set in Switzerland.


Caroline: Quite an eclectic mix. I love 1920’s stories, so I hope you release that one soon! Would you give us a blurb from IN THE SHADOWS?

Sex and Subterfuge

Isabel: Marion Shelton only wanted to help her country during The War, so she traveled to Charleston, South Carolina in order to learn what she could about the Confederates. She hadn’t planned on falling in love with an English smuggler, or in risking both her heart and her life for her country.


Jack Harrison’s single goal was to make money smuggling goods into the American South. He didn’t care about their war, but when he met Marion, all that changed. The problem is, can he keep her safe and still help her protect her?


Caroline: How about an excerpt:

Murder and Magick

Isabel: Here it is:


He would not shame his wife. First he had to convince her to marry him. And then, he supposed, he had to convince himself class didn’t matter. Not a simple task. In England, class defined one. Only here, in America, could one define oneself.


Jack turned to the house and could just see Gloriana through the windows, laughing with Edmund Calhoun. In cahoots, no doubt, over Marion’s marriage with Ned.


Jealously speared through him, and he wanted to march inside and challenge Major Calhoun.


But Marion was nowhere in sight. Frowning, he moved through the shadows in search of her.


“Damn woman never does what I expect,” he muttered. Circling the premise, careful not to run across a slave on guard duty, he searched for her.


One of the many things that intrigued him, her ability to do the unexpected, worried him as well. He never knew what she’d do next. And her secrets. She hid something from him. Until this latest conversation, he wouldn’t have guessed she lied about her love for him.


No, her sobs had been real enough. The surprised hurt on her face cut through him as much as her rejection of his proposal. What prompted her rejection?


“What are you hiding, Marion?” he wondered as he spotted her in Mrs. Whitaker’s morning room.


He stepped toward the room to confront her, surprise her through the French doors, when she slipped through the connecting door to Mr. Whitaker’s study.


“What are you hiding, my dear?”


Caroline: Yours was a fascinating story. Is there any other news you’d like to share us? Any links?


My website is http://www.isabelroman.com/ and my blog is on that site.

The buy link for NORTHERN ROSES AND SOUTHERN BELLES, which includes Isabel’s novella IN THE SHADOWS is:


http://www.thewildrosepress.com/index.php?main_page=advanced_search_result&search_in_description=1&zenid=162b14522c4e59f049d6bf658f403c27&keyword=Northern+Roses+and+Southern+Be&x=28&y=5 The anthology set around the Civil War is available in both print and e-book format and is also available on Amazon for Kindle, B&N for Nook, etc.

2011 Epic Finalist

Caroline: Isabel, thank you for sharing your experiences with us.

Please allow me once again to mention that the anthology NORTHERN ROSES AND SOUTHERN BELLES is a 2011 EPIC Finaltist. In addition, may I recommend one of my books for the readers on your gift list? They're found at www.thewildrosepress.com/caroline-clemmons-m-638.html 
 
 
Join me tomorrow to hear from Lilly Gayle and the Roses Christmas blog tour.
 

Susan Macatee, Author Interview

From The Wild Rose Press
2011 EPIC Finalist

Continuing with authors whose work appeared in the award-winning anthology NORTHERN ROSES AND SOUTHERN BELLES, today my guest is Susan Macatee. Although she's been writing as long as she can remember, she started writing for publication after her youngest started kindergarten. After success with short stories, she decided to try a novel. She considers that novel, LAURA, her practice novel. Success came with the publication of her second novel, a YA titled UNDER THE GUNS, but it is now out of print. Once she decided she wanted to write romantic fiction, she joined Romance Writers of America and their Fantasy, Futuristic and Paranormal chapter. Susan is also a member of Scandalous Victorians, a small writing group that specializes in Victorian set romance in both America and England. They also have a group blog, http://slipintosomethingvictorian.wordpress.com/.

Caroline: Susan, your novella’s hero is a Civil War re-enactor. How did you come up with that idea?

Susan and her husband with
the 28th Pennsylvania Regiment

Susan: The idea came directly from my own experiences as a Civil War reenactor. I chose civilian, but my husband and sons did the military side and I also witnessed many staged battles, so could accurately describe the sights, sounds, smells and action involved in a reenactment. Reenacting is sort of playacting the past, so I thought it would be fun to have a reenactor hero experience a past life, where he actually was the Civil War soldier that he portrayed.

As a reenactor, myself, I had to learn how to dress, what to eat and how to behave as a Victorian lady. My husband learned not only how to drill and how soldiers fought, but he also had to learn how a Victorian man acted in camp and toward women. Our youngest son was 10 at the time we started reenacting and we also had to learn how to appropriately dress him and what types of games and toys he would have played with. It was a fun learning experience.

Caroline: It’s sounds like a nice family hobby for those who love history as you and I do. What attracts you to time travel?


Susan: That goes way back to when I was a kid. I loved TV shows like "The Twilight Zone," "The Outer Limits," "Star Trek," "The Time Tunnel," and the daytime soap, "Dark Shadows." All these shows featured episodes where people traveled back in time and I loved the interaction of people from different eras. It was fun and a subject I longed to write about.

Caroline: I agree that it’s fun to write a time travel. Tell us about your writing schedule. Do you have another job or write full time?

Susan: I don’t have an outside job, so writing is my first priority, but I do type manuscripts for other writers. I started that business when my youngest son started school as a way to earn a little cash while learning the ropes of writing stories of my own. I still type for others, but only keep a few clients, so I’ll have enough time for my own writing.


I generally use my mornings to take care of household things, like feeding and dog and taking him to the park, starting the laundry, running errands, housecleaning. I also try to get in at least an email check in the morning, plus I take an hour for my workout.

Afternoons are reserved for writing and typing projects. When a typing project is in, I usually give that top priority, unless I have something under contract. Otherwise, I make sure I get in at least an hour a day for writing. But I also have to make time for blogging, updating my website and book promo.


Sometimes it can be a real balancing act.


Caroline: Isn’t that the truth? Writers are like those old performers with twirling plates in the air. I must compliment you for making time to comment on the blogs of friends. You have other books out. What are they and are they also time travels?

From The Wild Rose Press

Susan: I have one other time travel, ERIN'S REBEL. This is the story of a modern day reporter who crashes her car and wakes up in a Confederate Army camp. And that’s where she finds the man of her dreams. My other stories are all straight historicals, with the exception of two vampire stories both set during the Civil War.


ERIN'S REBELwas a finalist in the 2010 Ancient City Romance Authors Heart of Excellence Reader’s Choice in the paranormal category.

Available from The Wild Rose Press

CONFEDERATE ROSE is the story of an Irish immigrant who disguises herself as a male to join the Confederate army. She meets a Southerner, who she later learns is a Yankee spy, but not until after they fall in love.

CONFEDERATE ROSE took first place in the 2010 Beacon Contest Published Division and second place in the 2010 New England Reader’s Choice Bean Pot Award in the historical category.

I have four other stories. The novella, THE CHRISTMAS BALL, is part of the anthology, AN AMERICAN ROSE  CHRISTMAS; my two vampire stories, SWEET REDEMPTION, and ETERNITY WAITS, are available as stand-alone e-books and my short story, "A Kiss Under the Mistletoe," is available for FREE! A link to the download is on my website.

Caroline: You’re a very productive lady! Is there a reason you’re drawn to the Civil War era?

Susan: I love the clothing, the intrigue and excitement of setting stories during wartime. Something about the Victorian era also captures my imagination. And the fact that I spent a lot of weekends living in that time period, also makes it easier to write about the things that add realism to any story.


Caroline: Your stories pull readers into the world you’ve created. What do you have in the works for us:

Susan: I’m currently revising a post Civil War novel that I’ve titled CASSIDY'S WAR. The story’s based on characters from an out of print novel I had published about nine years ago.


Here’s the blurb: The Civil War is over, but CASSIDY'S WAR is just beginning.


Cassidy Stuart longs to attend medical school. Her training under her physician father and her time serving as a nurse during the war, have only increased her desire to be a real physician with a practice of her own. When the man who’d left her at the altar five years before, returns, she’s determined not to let him upset the plans she’s set for herself.

Unknown to his former fiancée and her family, George Masters is now a Pinkerton agent sent to investigate a physician now living in George’s former hometown. When he finds Cassidy hasn’t married, he hopes he can have another chance with her, but can’t reveal his real reason for returning, at least not until his mission is accomplished.

Can love be rekindled with a doctor bent on revenge against them both?


Caroline: CASSIDY'S WAR sounds as irresistible as your other novels. Anything else?


Susan: I’m also working on a time travel novella set after the war. This one’s based on my time travel novel, ERIN'S REBEL. I’m haven’t settled on a title yet and it’s still in first draft stage.


Caroline: Back to the anthology—would you give us a blurb from ANGEL OF MY DREAMS?

Susan: When Civil War reenactor, Kyle Dalton, keeps seeing a beautiful woman on the battlefield tending to soldiers, he thinks she’s another reenactor. But when she disappears into thin air, he starts to believe he’s seen a ghost. Did he have a past life with this woman?

Caroline: I remember that from your story. Poor Kyle. How about an excerpt:

Susan: Of course.

“Corporal, what are you...?”

He took her mouth, silencing her question. Her lips held tightly firm for a moment, then yielded to him. His tongue slid inside to taste her thoroughly. Sweet, soft and amazing. When he released her, he read the unleashed passion in her half-closed eyes.

She blushed a deep red, glancing around the tent. “Corporal ...Kyle...you mustn’t take such liberties. What will the others think?”


He looked around and shrugged. “No one’s paying us any attention.”

She lifted the pan. “I have to go.”


Before he could stop her, she hurried past him moving to the front of the tent.

“Josie.”

Something blared beside his cot. He turned his head and woke in his own bed to the blast of rock music from his alarm clock.

He shut it off and sat up. What a vivid dream! The ones he’d had before had been fragmented and fuzzy. He’d barely remembered them afterward. But that kiss. He touched his lips, swearing he could still feel her softness, smell her lavender scent.


He had truly lost it.


Caroline: The confusion for our characters is part of the fun of a time travel, isn’t it? Susan, do you have anything else you’d care to share? Any links?


Susan: My website, www.susanmacatee.com, contains info on all my stories, reviews and other news. I also post regularly on the blog, http://www.slipintosomethingvictorian.wordpress.com/ about subjects related to the Civil War. And I post about my writing projects at my blog http://www.susanmacatee.blogspot.com/


The buy link for NORTHERN ROSES AND SOUTHERN BELLES, which includes Susan’s novella ANGEL OF MY DREAMS is:


http://www.thewildrosepress.com/index.php?main_page=advanced_search_result&search_in_description=1&zenid=162b14522c4e59f049d6bf658f403c27&keyword=Northern+Roses+and+Southern+Be&x=28&y=5 The anthology set around the Civil War is available in both print and e-book format and is also available on Amazon for Kindle, B&N for Nook, etc.


Susan, thank you for sharing your experiences with us. I look forward to reading your future novels. I know they’ll be as wonderful as those I’ve already read.


Readers, please return on the 30th for an interview with Isabel Roman.

Mary Ann Webber, Author Interview

Mary Ann Webber

Like many authors, Mary Ann Webber began writing fiction in elementary school. Writing took a backseat as life became her biggest challenge. She wanted it all—marriage, home, children, grandchildren, teaching career in Virginia and Arkansas. Her early life experiences now add depth to her current characters. During the years her writing was on hold, she collected history books related to periods she found fascinating. As a result, she often spends more time researching than writing. After early retirement, she moved to Dallas to be near her children and grandchild and immersed herself in writing.



NO DECORUM, in the anthology NORTHERN ROSES AND SOUTHERN BELLES, is Mary Ann’s first novella for The Wild Rose Press.

Caroline: Mary Ann, how did you come up with the idea for NO DECORUM?



Mary Ann: I’ve spent time in Camden, Arkansas, and I’ve visited the grounds of the Chidester House, where the yearly Civil War reenactments take place, so I have a real feel for the area.

McCollum-Chidester House,
now a museum

A few years ago, I was surprised to learn the Union forces under General Steele occupied Camden for only eleven days. While the bloody Red River Campaign of 1864 raged through Arkansas and Louisiana, the Confederate and Union forces jockeyed in and out of position in Camden.

What can happen in the span of eleven days? I decided to pack as much life into this time as I could, and the story wrote itself while I continued my research.

This is unlike anything I’ve ever put on paper. The heroine is an innocent - but headstrong - teenage girl. Unlike my usual heroines, she seems to call the shots with everyone around her. Only a heroine like Juliet could make so much happen in such a short time.


2011 EPIC Finalist
2009 Preditors and Editors Top Ten
at Number 6


Caroline:  Tell us about your writing schedule. Do you write full time?

Mary Ann: My stories pop into my conscious mind as full blown movies, in living color, complete with soaring music, sound effects, and the highest paid actors. I have no idea how it happens. The characters arrive and do their jobs. I scramble to find the right words and put it all down on paper. This never happens on any sort of schedule.

I write full time in the sense that I have no longer have an outside job, such as the twenty-two years I spent teaching in public schools.

Some writers switch on their writing muse when they turn on their computers, but I have a muse who thinks she’s a prima donna. “Dahling, must we do this every morning?” she groans. Then I remind her how many camera crews and actors are waiting for us and how we need some royalty checks. She usually sighs and crawls out of bed.

Caroline: LOL Love your attitude, Mary Ann. Your muse's sister must be my muse.  Is there a reason you’re drawn to the Civil War era?

Mary Ann: My ancestors fought on both sides in the War Between the States, but probably the real reason is because my sister and I spent years sitting in dark movie houses watching GONE WITH THE WIND. It left us permanently warped. My sister says her husband has no idea how much he owes to his resemblance to Rhett Butler.

Caroline: Perhaps it's best he doesn't know. :-) What else do you have in the works for us?

Mary Ann: I’m working again on my “epic” novel, A MAN AT THE DOOR.

Also, I’m plugging away on five novellas. They’re all historical – except for one, DAKOTA WINDOW. It features time travel inside a Manhattan apartment.

Caroline: Five novellas? Wow! I remember reading part of A MAN AT THE DOOR and loved it! I hope you finish and submit it soon so I can read the rest of the story. Now, though, how about sharing a blurb for NO DECORUM for readers?

Photo of The City of Camden 
paddlewheeler with cotton bales 
headed for New Orleans

Mary Ann: Here’s the blurb:

What can happen in eleven days? In the Civil War, towns could be occupied and reoccupied by opposing armies. And just as quickly, young enemies Juliet and Randolph could fall in love, marry, and be torn apart. This fast moving tale carries a story of sudden infatuation and unending love. It happens when decorum is cast aside.

Caroline: How about an excerpt?

Mary Ann: I have two, one long and one short. Let’s start with the short one:

Ouachita Court House
Confederate Women's
Memorial

Juliet’s voice betrayed her alarm. “What’s wrong? What are you seeing?”


He slowly circled her. “Turn so your back is to the lamp. That’s it. Now I see what it is. Stand very still and lift your arms straight over your head. Right. Now look up at your fingertips.”


In a twinkling, Randolph grabbed the nightgown and whisked it over her head. Juliet stood naked in the middle of the room and Randolph swallowed at the vision. “Now, everything is just as it should be.”


Here’s a longer excerpt:


Randolph lifted the curtain and gazed out the bedroom window. “It’s almost dark. Let’s go have some fun.”


“I thought we were having fun.” Juliet rolled over and looked at him.


He grabbed her hands and pulled her to her feet. “Take off that dress and put on the one you wore to church.” He grinned at her. “Don’t wear anything under it.”


“I don’t think it’ll fit without a corset. What do you have in mind?”


Randolph emerged from the wardrobe with the church dress and tossed it to her. He also threw her a blue shawl. “Here, you’ll need this, too. It’s cool outside.”


“Where do you think we’re going?”


He held a forefinger to his lips. “It’s a secret. We’re going to the church. Wear old shoes. The grass will be wet.”


Juliet was intrigued. She never imagined marriage would be such fun. When Randolph came up with new games or funny roles to assume, she knew his Dolphie side was ready to play. She slipped into the dress and her husband fastened the bodice.


Leaving by the front door so they wouldn’t be seen, they held hands and ran to the unlighted church. Once inside, Randolph whispered, “We don’t know each other’s names.”


Juliet was breathless with excitement. “Yes, Sergeant.” She crept to the back of the church as Randolph moved across the front, bumping into pews.


Reaching the aisle, she moved slowly and deliberately toward the front. If her eyes hadn’t adjusted, she would still have found Randolph, seated as before in the aisle seat of the first pew.


She dropped onto his lap.


He moaned deeper than she’d ever heard him. Recovering, he whispered into her hair, “Young lady, this seat is taken.”


Caroline: LOL I remember that scene. Precious! Mary Ann, thank you so much for visiting with us today.

NORTHERN ROSES AND SOUTHERN BELLES is available from The Wild Rose Press in both print and e-download and is also available from Amazon and other online stores. Please return on Sunday to learn about Susan Macatee.

"WHAT IF?" TURNED OUT WELL

In Print or E-book

EPIC 2011 Finalist, NORTHERN ROSES AND SOUTHERN BELLES includes six novellas, one of which is mine. The five other authors and I are friends and decided to put together an anthology on a "what if we did this?" basis. Working together was fun! Not only were we able to contract the anthology with The Wild Rose Press, but we've had wonderful reviews from the result. We were #6 in the 2009 Preditors and Editors Top Ten poll last year and received a 4. rating from Romantic Times. This was the only thing I've written set in Georgia or in the Civil War time period--I prefer Texas in the years from 1870-1895. To my pleasant surprise, NORTHERN ROSES AND SOUTHERN BELLES came together rather well (in my opinion, which might be more than a little biased LOL). Over the next few weeks, I'll slip in interviews with each of the authors and ask each to share some information about her novella. First up is my long time friend, Jeanmarie Hamilton.

Jeanmarie Hamilton

Jeanmarie enjoys family and friends, oil painting, fossils -- which reminds me of her story that was inspired by a "dinosaur beach" -- and dinosaur tracks. She said, "A thirty-inch long dinosaur footprint touching your toes can change your life!" Texas is her home as it was to some of her ancestors -- men who were farmers, ranchers, judges, lawmen -- women who would rather be outside riding their horses than inside cooking, who learned to speak the language of the Lipan Apache, stopped hangings, and raised children. Jeanmarie loves writing stories set in the Southwest about heros and heroines, the problems they overcome, their fears and triumphs and the forever love they can't deny.


Caroline: Welcome, Jeanmarie. How did you come up with that idea for ARE YOU GOING TO THE DANCE? for the anthology?

Alsatian dress Castroville
women settlers wore

Jeanmarie: When we authors decided to write an anthology, I was interested in writing a story about my Texas ancestors' experiences. I didn't want to write about them exactly, so I used their actual history for inspiration. The town of Castroville, Texas (known as Little Alsace) voted to have a local militia unit to protect their town rather than send men to fight in the Confederate army. My great great grandfather wanted to keep the states together. He'd come to Texas from Holland in the early 1840s and it was important to him and many other farmers in that area of Texas to keep all the states together. His son became a member of the local militia.

Comanche family. Comanches were
known as Lords of the Plains

Another family story involved my great great grandmother saving the life of a Comanche brave who had been wounded and hadn't been found. The scene of how she discovered the Indian at night and removed the bullet and cared for him is actually part of my great great grandmother's story. Inspired by the militia and her experience, I developed the characters, Lexie and Clay, for "ARE YOU GOING TO THE DANCE?"

Caroline: Tell us about your writing schedule. Do you write full time?


Jeanmarie: I write all the time. I'm either writing a story, editing, or working on promotion for my stories. I start around 9 in the morning and stop when my husband arrives home from work around 5 or 6 pm. I take off on the weekends when he's home all day, unless I'm in a hurry to finish a project at an editor's request.

Caroline: I know you love setting books in Texas, as I do. Are you drawn to the Civil War era?


Jeanmarie: Although my story, ARE YOU GOING TO THE DANCE? takes place immediately the Civil War, I haven't previously written stories influenced by the Civil War. I would rather write stories about how the war influenced my characters' lives following the war and how they picked up their lives once again.

Caroline: What are the other works you have out?



Jeanmarie: I have a few out. MOONLIGHT DESPERADO published by Siren BookStrand is a werewolf western historical romance that takes place in central Texas after the Civil War. This story was inspired by an incident which involved raiders who robbed my great great grandmother in Castroville. Of course I changed it as well as the characters and added werewolves for some fun. Werewolves are strong over-the-top characters and I enjoy reading and writing about them.

SEDUCTION was my debut book out in 2009. It's a western historical romance with a little touch of pygmalion flavor. PURE HEAVEN, out with Red Rose Publishing, is a short novella, an erotic werewolf western historical romance I wrote under the name Jenette DuPris. It has received some great reviews as well, and it's part of a multi-author series titled Legends of Loving Texas.

Caroline: What do you have in the works for the future?


Jeanmarie: I just contracted another erotic werewolf story, GUARDIAN OF HER HEART, with Siren Bookstrand. This one is a contemporary story and also a novella. It is scheduled for release in March, 2011. Meanwhile, I'm working on an erotic western historical novel about a Texas Ranger and a strong-willed rancher's daughter.

Caroline: Would you give us a blurb from ARE YOU GOING TO THE DANCE?

Jeanmarie: Strong-willed Lexie Perreau must protect her lifelong friends, the Lipan Apache from being wrongly arrested for a deadly raid. Clay has led the local militia in times of war and peace and kept his community safe. But someone has just been killed by raiders. Now he must find the killer and agrees with the men in town that he must catch the Apache raiders responsible.


But beautiful and courageous Lexie challenges him at every turn, endangering her own life and possibly the trust and respect of the one man who holds her heart.


Caroline: How about an excerpt:


Jeanmarie: Certainly.


"Mind if I cut in?" Clay smiled at her.


"Yeah, I do mind." Al looked plainly disgruntled.


"Too bad." Clay pushed Al back, slipping between him and Lexie, taking control.


As Clay's gentle hand swept around her waist, and his other hand took hers, she breathed a sigh of relief. Relaxing in his embrace, she smiled at him as he swept her into a turn, following the music. "I didn't know if you'd make it," she admitted.


"Sorry, I was late. I wouldn't miss the dance knowing you'd be here."


At his words, Lexie looked up at his eyes. His warm gaze sent heat and that disconcerting ache streaming through her to settle low in her stomach. Oh Lord. She hoped no one noticed how he affected her. He easily led her around the room, turning her in time to the waltz until she was almost dizzy. When the music stopped, he released her from his hold and escorted her to the refreshment table.


They drank glasses of punch and afterward shared a breathtaking polka. As the dance ended and people clapped and whooped, Lexie noticed Clay's attention was drawn to the entry. She turned to see what he looked at and saw with disappointment that one of the younger militiamen stood inside the doorway gesturing for Clay to follow him.


"Looks like I'm needed for something. Hate to leave so early, but I'd better check this out." Clay turned to leave.


"No. I'll go with you." Obviously, there was trouble. What kind of danger did he face? She hurried after him as he made his way through the crowd and out the door to the road.

Caroline: Is there any other news you’d like to share? Any links?

Jeanmarie: I'm thrilled to say that the anthology, NORTHERN ROSES AND SOUTHERN BELLES, which includes "ARE YOU GOING TO THE DANCE?" is a finalist in the 2011 EPIC contest. Look for an ad for the anthology, NORTHERN ROSES AND SOUTHERN BELLES, in the January 2011 issue of RT Book Reviews. I'd love it if readers would like to sign up for my newsletter. Anyone interested can find the link on my web site at http://www.JeanmarieHamilton.com


The anthology set around the Civil War is available in both print and e-book format and is available at http://www.thewildrosepress.com/ and also on Amazon for Kindle, and most other online book sources.


Jeanmarie, thank you for sharing your experiences with us.