In honor of the 150th “anniversary” of our country’s most  ”dishonorable” war, I thought I’d regale you with some trivia.  (Thanks       to Civil War Trivia and Fact Book by Webb Garrison.)

See how well you do. Answers will appear in the post below.

1.    What important visitor did General George McClellan deliberately snub in November 1861 by going to bed instead of seeing him?   a) Jeb Stewart;   b) Ulysses S. Grant;   c) Abraham Lincoln;   d) Andrew Carnegie.

2.    With commanders usually at a distance from the site of conflict, how did they order their men to fall back? a) Sent an official messenger on horseback;   b) Sounded retreat by bugles or drums;  c) Shouted “retreat.”  d)  Shouted “run away.”

3.   What much did it cost to send a letter from one warring region to another?  a) Twenty five cents;   b) Five-dollar gold piece;   c) One dollar;   d) Fifty cents.

4.    How did Jefferson Davis spend the morning before his inauguration:   a) Consulting with General Lee;   b) Giving an interview to support his presidency;   c) Re-writing his speech;   d) Praying on his knees.

5.    What former slave and author of a famed autobiography helped recruit blacks for the Union army?   a) Harriet Tubman; b) Frederick Douglass;   c) Sojourner Truth;   d) Booker T. Washington.

6.    What physician invented a weapon for the Union army that was the prototype of the machine gun? (Only twelve were used!)   a) Samuel Colt;   b) Frederick Remington;   c) Horace Greeley;   d) Dr. Richard Gatling.

7.    What key figure in the war typically address his wife as “Mother.”   a) Abraham Lincoln;   b) Robert E. Lee;   c) Ulysses S. Grant;   d) Jeb Stuart.

8.    What did hundreds of northern admirers send General Grant after his victory at Fort Donelson?   a) A new horse;  b) Cigars;    c) An engraved pocket watch and gold fob;    d) An ivory handled pistol.

9.    Who was the fanatical abolitionist who left a prewar trail of blood in Kansas and Virginia?   a) Jesse James;   b) Frederick Douglass;   c) George Armstrong Custer;   d) John Brown.

10.    What poet, a volunteer nurse, wrote several poems dedicated to President Lincoln?   a) Oliver Wendell Holmes;   b) Walt Whitman;   c) Henry Wadsworth Longfellow;   d) Emily Dickinson.

Let us know how you did. Or… just pop in at Comments to say howdy

1.    c.   Abe Lincoln.

2.   b.  Sounded retreat by bugles or drums.

3.   a. Twenty five cents.

4.   d.  Praying on his knees.

5.   b.  Frederick Douglass.

6.  d.  Dr. Richard Gatling.

7.  a.  Abe Lincoln.

8.  b.   Cigars.

9.  d.  John Brown.

10.  b.  Walt Whitman

The premiere of this season’s “CSI: New York” last week gave me pause to think about one of the unsung heroes of the Civil War … Dorance Atwater and Andersonville Prison.  In the CSI story, Gary Sinise has left the unit to work on identifying victims of 9/11 in order to provide closure to their families.

Dorance Atwater was born and raised in Terryville, Connecticut, and in 1861, probably lying about his age, enlisted in the Union army and joined the 2^nd New York Calvary.

After being captured by the enemy on July 7, 1863, while carrying dispatches to General Kilpatrick, he was imprisoned first in Richmond before eventually being transferred to the notorious Rebel POW camp in Andersonville, Georgia.

The original 16.5 acre POW camp was meant to house ten thousand prisoners; however, by June 1864 there were over twenty thousand.  By August there were over thirty-three thousand prisoners housed there.  Words cannot describe the deplorable conditions the prisoners had to endure.

Since Atwater was detailed as a clerk to the surgeon and recorded all the daily deaths, he secretly maintained a record of the deaths and burial locations of many of his fellow soldiers.

Once the war ended, he attempted to have the lists printed by the Government Printing Office. At that time he had been discharged from the Army and enlisted in the General Service as a clerk. He was purported to have been paid $300 for the death list with a promise that it’d be returned to him after it had been copied by the Army.

The Army dragged its feet in copying, printing, and distributing the list to bring closure to some of the family members who had loved ones die at the prison.  What the Army didn’t know was that he’d kept a secret copy of the list. Atwater took it upon himself to give the information to the New York Tribune where the names were published as a supplement to their newspaper.  I actually purchased a copy of the list when I visited Andersonville, and it’s mind-bogging to say the least.

Dorance was arrested, court martialed and found guilty.  He received a dishonorable discharge, a $300 fine and 18 months in prison.  Through the help of the famous Civil War nurse and later founder of the American Red Cross, Clara Barton, he served only two months of the sentence.  After his release he was made United States Counsel to the Seychelle Islands off the coast of Africa.  This assignment was later changed to U.S. Counsel to Tahiti, were he married a Tahitian princess.  He died in California in 1910.

Before he died, with the help of Clara Barton, they were able to properly mark and identify the many previously unknown graves at Andersonville Cemetery, no doubt bringing comfort and closure to many families up North.

Now you can see why the CSI episode brought  Dorance Atwater to mind and the courage it took for him to make certain that many fallen soldier’s graves were identified and closure could come to their loved ones.

Yesterday was the release day for my, along with fellow Filly Linda Broday’s, newest anthology “A Texas Christmas.”  In honor of the release I will give away signed copies to TWO  lucky commenters today.

Although I don’t consider Gone with the Wind a romance (no happy ending) but indeed a love story, it’s still been a great influence in my literary life.  After I read GWTW for the first time when I was fifteen, the book opened the door to a life-long interest in the most deadly conflict in U.S. history.

I’ve learned that the War Between the States, aka the War of Northern Aggression, had a great impact not only on the North and the South but also on the Western regions where we filliess set our historicals. My home state of California, but a youngster then, struggled with secession issues. Rebels fought Yankees in the territories of Arizona, New Mexico and Oklahoma.

In addition, a little-recognized group of rebel soldiers called “galvanized Yankees” protected the vital lifelines into the west during the closing months of the war. During and after the war, some became Indian hunters.

The term “galvanized Yanks” comes from metal when coated with zinc to protect it from corrosion. The surface color of the metal is altered, but underneath the coating, the steel is unchanged. The metaphor referred to prisoners of war of both sides who took advantage of personnel shortages to escape the horror of prison life by joining the opposite army. Deep down, however, the new recruits usually remained loyal to their own side and would often desert at the first opportunity. Many of the transplanted Reb soldiers proudly remained “Billy Yanks or “good old rebels” underneath their adopted blue uniforms.

Prison camps of both sides –the most infamous being the Confederate prison camp at Andersonville, Georgia, and the Union camp at Alton, Illinois, were horrific places of filth, starvation and disease. For many of those captured, enlistment in enemy forces was the only escape.

As a result, loyalties often came into question. In December 1864, in Egypt Station Mississippi, a Confederate regiment of 250 “galvanized” soldiers threw down their arms and surrendered as Union troops charged them. The former Yanks were sent to the Union prison in Alton as deserters. Fortunately, General Grenville Dodge recruited them into the 5th and 6th U.S.

Volunteers before they could come to trial for treason.

The U.S. War Department continually revised this practice of exchanging prisoners and enlisting them for the other side. When Colonel James Mulligan in 1862 realized that many Confederate prisoners actually wished to join the Union Army with honor not deceit, he enlisted these former Confederates to be used on the front lines, an unethical practice soon to become illegal.

In 1862, an uprising by captive Sioux on their forced encampment on a Minnesota reservation led to 1,500 settlers being killed. In a knee-jerk response to protect the western frontier hundreds of miles away, Colonel John Chivington and his 700 volunteers attacked the peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho living at San Creek Colorado. The “take-no- prisoners” order led to the death of many innocent men, women and children and caused deep resentment among the tribes. They retaliated by terrorizing the Oregon trail and U.S. mail routes.

This prompted General Ulysses S. Grant to order a contingent of Galvanized soldiers to the frontier to protect the trails, telegraph lines, and mail routes. Called “U.S. Volunteers,” the regiment was commanded by Northern officers. Doubts about the loyalty and reliability of these ex-Confederates were alleviated, since the frontier duty of “Indian fighting” would prevent them from fighting old comrades at arms.

Seems I learn something new every day!

(Coming soon,   Book Four, Hearts Crossing Ranch series

I’ve always loved Historical Romance.  I grew up with Dad reading Louis L‘Amour and Mom reading Barbara Cartland.  In 1987 I’d written two stories and decided to be adventurous and go to my first RWA set in Dallas.  This was ‘big time’ for me.  I mostly walked around with my mouth open in shock, trying to absorb all I could about the business.

The last day I get a 10 minute interview with a real New York editor. She wasn’t interested in my Civil War story but the one about Texas held her attention for a few minutes.  Two months later I got the call and sold my story, Weston Bred.  Kensington told me they had a problem with the name.  So, within 24 hours I became Jodi Thomas and the book became BENEATH THE TEXAS SKY.

In 1988 my first book came out pretty much unnoticed by anyone not related to me.  Since I was a member of the Texas Press Women, I entered it in their statewide contest.  It won and went on to national.  I won there also which threw BENEATH into second printing.

Berkley bought the Civil War book and won the bid for book three, THE TENDER TEXAN.  My career rolled along with a book every year until number 16 hit the New York Times list.  Then BENEATH got a new cover and came out again.  Years later it got a face lift with cover number three.

I laugh and say anyone has to look hard to see my name on the first cover.  In twenty-three years of writing over thirty books, four RITA wins and almost a dozen anthology collections set in early Texas, BENEATH THE TEXAS SKY will always hold a place in my heart.  I still love historical romance.

When I’ve had a long day in the real world there is nothing better than turning my computer on in my study and stepping into the past.  I sometimes wonder if my Civil War book had sold first, would I be the Queen of Civil War Romance?

Tonight, while many of you are reading this, I’ll be in 1875 with Rose McMurray.  We’re going on a grand journey with a cowboy who has a dark past and a lie he’s chosen to live with.

Many people write and ask me, ‘How do I step from the historical Whispering Mountain series to the modern day Harmony series?’

It’s easy.  Like flipping channels between your two favorite programs.

Speaking of TV.   When you are in a western mood, what do you watch?  What movies spark your imagination and put you to dreaming back in the past?

I will give away our newest anthology “Give Me a Texas Outlaw” to one person who posts a comment!

“Widows of Wichita County” was reprinted and released in July.

“The Secrets of Rosa Lee” is due to be re-released August 2011.

And “The Tender Texan will re-release in December 2011.

Hi everyone!  I just wanted to share with you all what a great month May has been for me! I have had two short stories released this month with Victory Tales Press.  Today I wanted to tell you about the one that appears in A HISTORICAL COLLECTION, an anthology that I’m in along with Karen Michelle Nutt (The Devil’s Wolf), Kate Kindle (A Tale From the Red Chest), and Miriam Newman (Deirdre). These stories all take place in different historical settings and time periods. My story, Jason’s Angel, is set in the final days of the War Between the States. 

Writing Jason’s Angel wasn’t easy.  My conundrum was the fact that for me, the Civil War was such a tragic time in our history that I wasn’t sure if I could see that my characters reached their “Happily Ever After” ending that I wanted them to have.  The only way I could see to do that in this case was to make Sabrina Patrick’s compassion so great that she saw beyond all boundaries of gray or blue, and didn’t think of the hero, Jason McCain, as the enemy, but first as a wounded man who needed her help.  

 Since Jason and another fellow Union soldier had been captured and are being held in the hospital where Sabrina volunteers, she knows that they will both die of their wounds if she doesn’t do something more than let nature run its course in those deplorable conditions. There is nothing she can do but bring them home, away from the inhumane treatment they are receiving from their guard and even from some of the hospital staff.  No one is more surprised than her Aunt Emmaline, who is none to happy with Sabrina’s decision. 

The only thing that could make matters worse is to find out that not only is Jason wearing Yankee Blue, he’s a southern boy, born and bred in Georgia—only a few miles from where Sabrina’s home is situated. What could make him fight for the Union? As Sabrina finds out more about Jason’s devastating past, she begins to understand. Because he is half Cherokee, his family has been shunned, and unimaginable tragedy has followed.  Can his restless soul find peace in Sabrina’s sweet love for him? 

I will leave you with a blurb and excerpt from JASON’S ANGEL. To order A HISTORICAL COLLECTION, go to the Victory Tales Press store here:

http://victorytalespress.yolasite.com/online-store.php

 or to my Amazon author page here:

    http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B002JV8GUE 

 If you would like to read about the other exciting stories in this anthology, or any of the other anthologies that Victory Tales Press offers, here’s the link

http://victorytalespress.yolasite.com/online-store.php

 I WILL BE GIVING AWAY PDF COPIES OF A HISTORICAL COLLECTION TO TWO COMMENTERS TODAY! Please leave a comment when you stop by to read the blog along with your e-mail address and you will be automatically entered for the drawing.

Jason ‘s Angel by Cheryl Pierson

Two wounded Union soldiers will die without proper treatment. Sabrina Patrick realizes they won’t get it at the Confederate army hospital where she helps nurse wounded men. She does the unthinkable and takes them to her home.

Jason McCain’s pain is eased by the feel of clean sheets, a soft bed, and a touch that surely must belong to an angel. But what reason could an angel have for bringing him and his brother here?

 FROM JASON’S ANGEL: 

Sabrina nodded. “Is there something else, Aunt Emma?”  

“You’ve been acting mighty peculiar, Sabrina.  Did something happen between you and Jason?”  The kindness and assurance of understanding, no matter what, in her aunt’s tone undid what little resolve Sabrina had left.  She had been on pins and needles since Jason had kissed her.  And she’d thought of nothing else.  But she’d been careful to avoid being in a similar position again since that day, and when she’d brought up his meals there had been only polite conversation between them.   

 Once, she’d thought she’d caught a glint of a deviling reminder in his eyes, but he’d looked past her after a moment and she couldn’t be sure. She couldn’t even tell Desi.  Desi would have gotten the greatest bit of fun from that knowledge—and she was unpredictable. 

For all Sabrina knew, had she confided in Desi, her younger sister might have decided to take matters into her own hands and tell Jason that Sabrina liked it. Which she had.  Or that Sabrina wished with all her heart he would kiss her again.  Which she did. She might even tell him of that indescribable rush of wind and heat and wonder that moved over her entire body when their lips had met—a feeling that she was still trying to figure out how to put into words herself.   

But Desiree would certainly have no trouble telling Jason what Sabrina had felt like—she was never at a loss for words.  And that’s why Sabrina could never tell her—not until she grew up a little.  

 How wonderful it would be to unburden herself to Aunt Emmaline. And how utterly shameful.  

“He…he kissed me,” she blurted. The familiar heat burned her cheeks.  

But Aunt Emmaline only smiled, and Sabrina watched her face transform into a reminder of the beauty she must have been as a young woman. 

“Is…that all?”  

Sabrina took a deep breath.  This was harder than she had imagined it might be.  “No.  I—Aunt Emma, I kissed him back.” 

Aunt Emma didn’t answer for a moment.  Finally, she took Sabrina’s hand in hers until Sabrina met her eyes.  “Sabrina, when I was young—younger than you, though not quite as featherheaded as Desi—there was a young man in my life.  He kissed me one time—and I kissed him back.  I’ve often wished through the years, that I’d allowed myself a second kiss.  Things…might have worked out very differently if I had.” 

“Aunt Emma—are you saying—”  

The older woman squeezed Sabrina’s hand gently.  “I’m saying follow your heart.  He’s a lonely soul, your Jason.  He’s searching for a place in the world.  And this world is changing, dear.  He may never find it without your help.  I’ve often wondered why you brought home two Yankees.  I’ve done a little digging of my own, as well.  These boys are Georgia born and bred.  Mrs. Davenport knows of their family, the McCains from over near Allen’s Ridge.”  

Sabrina was quiet, wondering how much of the family history her aunt had uncovered. 

“I…learned quite a bit, Sabrina,” she said gently.  

 Apparently, though, she wasn’t going to share any details. 

 “Mrs. Davenport is a fount of information.  Those men have been through hell, and not just the last years while the war has been raging.” 

Sabrina nodded, her throat tight. What must Jason believe, after what he had told her?  That she was keeping her distance because he’d opened his heart to her?  Or, because he was, as he said, “a half breed”?  

She had to go to him.       

?

I recently read an article about saving the Civil War Battlefield at Glorietta Pass in New Mexico. It rang a very familiar bell.

It was that battle that started my career as a romance writer. And nearly everything that sparked that first “what if” in me turned out to be untrue, but I didn’t  realize that until years later.

And what is Glorietta Pass, you might ask.

I learned about it more than twenty years ago when I was reading one of the many military history magazines. I can’t name which one now, but I usually found little tidbits that illuminated history in some way. I had majored in journalism and minored in American history, and had I not gone into newspapering, I would have taught history. My interest in history, especially American history, has never dimmed.

One reason is my favorite history professor at the University of Alabama. His name was Dr. Pancake (how can you not love a professor named Pancake?) and he used real and compelling personal stories to get across his points. Novels can never really compete with historical fact. Few novelists can write more compelling people – good and bad – than those who actually made our history.

When I read the magazine article on Glorietta Pass, I found a story that churned my imagination and inspired me to write my first novel, based very, very loosely on that particular page of the Civil War.

The basic facts: General Henry Sibley, a graduate of West Point, resigned his commission at the onset of the Civil war and was commissioned as a Confederate officer. He was sent to Texas to put together a brigade (approximately 2,500 men) to go into New Mexico. The immediate objective was to take Fort Craig, the territory’s capital at Santa Fe. The greater objective was to capture Union rifles and supplies, march to Colorado and take the gold fields, then move on to California.

The opposing forces were commanded by a Colonel Edward Canby. In February of 1862, Sibley neared Fort Craig which was commanded by Canby. The colonel, unsure how many men the Confederates force included, employed several ruses, including the use of wooden “Quaker guns,” to make the fort look stronger. 

To make a long story short, the ruse worked and the Confederates didn’t try to take the fort. Instead they forced the Union forces to attack by cutting off the Union communications. The battle took place at Valverde and Glorietta Pass. Although the Union forces lost the battle and retreated, Canby was able to destroy the Confederate supply lines which had been inadequate from the beginning of the venture. Although Sibley won one battle, he lost the greater one. Short on supplies, he had to withdraw back to Texas with the Union forces nipping at his tail.

Even some of these details are open to debate, depending on the perspective. What was important, however, the battle ended any hope of the Confederacy to move farther west..

Okay, those are some of the mostly accepted facts.

What caught my interest, however, was the relationship between Sibley and Canby. According to the article, they were West Pointers together. The article said Canby was one year behind Sibley and had married Sibley’s sister. The article further said that Canby had been reprimanded and charged by some to have let Sibley escape because of the close relationship.

Those latter details are what inspired my first book. “Between the Thunder.”

In the book, my hero is a Union officer sent to stop Confederate forces from taking Colorado’s gold fields. The Confederate leader was his West Point roommate, and the heroine the Confederate officer’s younger sister who was riding with him. (Yes, there was a good reason).  I particularly liked it because it offered a three way conflict rather than only that between the hero and heroine.

But then several years after writing the book, I found another account of the relationship or non-relationship between Sibley and Canby. This time they were roommates, and Canby had married Sibley’s distant cousin. A third account said yes, they were at West Point together, but there was no sister or cousin or any other formal relationship. By then, my head was spinning. Despite exhaustive attempts, I couldn’t find any more definitive information on the supposed relationship. I finally, reluctantly, sadly decided it never existed.

“Between the Thunder” will always be one of my favorite books. I loved my characters, and I’ve just gotta thank the writer of that first article who apparently got a lot of things wrong but who is responsible for one writer’s career. I probably wouldn’t started writing if the story hadn’t haunted me.

I didn’t use any of the actual facts of the battle, only the inspiration, the “what if” writers talk about, so I didn’t have to worry about misleading anyone. But I did have an author’s note about it. It definitely taught me to try to get at least three sources for anything I use as fact in my novels, and even then I often find accounts contradictory. How many versions are there of the gunfight at the OK Corral? Or the Jesse James legend?

So what is a writer to do? Have any of my fellow writers encountered the same problem with facts which turn out, after all, not to be facts?

 Abraham Lincoln was the first American president to be assassinated, but another tragic “first” is associated with his death: On July 7, 1865, Mary Surratt, age 42, became the first woman in America’s history to be executed by the federal government. 

Although she constantly maintained her innocence, she was convicted of “Treason, Conspiracy, and Plotting Murder of President Abraham Lincoln.” Her execution is long considered a gross miscarriage of justice, although the men hanged with her were unquestionably guilty of plotting the assassination as well as the unsuccessful abductions of Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William Seward. 

Although birth year varies,  most accounts have Mary Elizabeth Jenkins born  in May 1823 in Waterloo, Maryland. Well educated for a girl of the time period, she studied at a Catholic female seminary in Virginia and married John Harrison Surratt when she was seventeen. Three children, two sons and a daughter, were born to them. After their home just outside of Washington DC was lost to fire in 1851, the couple rebuilt a combined home and tavern and post office in Prince George’s County. The community eventually became known as Surrattsville. After John died in 1862, deeply in debt,  Mary rented the property for $500 a year to a former policeman named John M. Lloyd, and moved to a house she owned at 541 High Street in Washington. For extra income, she rented out some of the rooms.

During the Civil War, her eldest son joined the Confederate army, and younger son John Surratt Jr. worked as a Confederate agent. This was when and how he met other agents including John Wilkes Booth. Booth stayed at Mary’s boardinghouse from time to time. No one has ever claimed she had even an inkling that these men worked for the Confederacy. 

Three days after  Lincoln’s death, police searched the boardinghouse and found a hidden photograph of the assassin John Wilkes Booth. Several boarders were arrested for conspiring to assassinate the president. Also arrested was John M. Lloyd, the man who rented her Surrattsville property.  Threatened with a murder charge and kept in solitary confinement, Lloyd and a boarder, Louis Weichman, agreed to give evidence against Mary in return for their freedom. 

It is certain that she was not party to any assassination plans. Booth’s diary and other evidence that could have cast doubt on the prosecution’s case against her were suppressed by the government, and some of the testimony against her was false. 

Since Lincoln had been Commander in Chief of the Army,  Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton declared the assassins should be tried by a military court. Although President Andrew Johnson and most of the Cabinet members disagreed, including Secretary of the Navy Gideon Wells, Attorney General James Speed agreed with Stanton. Therefore, the defendants did not have the advantages of a jury trial. They were instead judged by a nine-member military commission set up by President Andrew Johnson. 

Five out of the nine members of the Military Commission recommended that Mrs. Surratt be shown mercy “due to her sex and age”. President Johnson later claimed he was never told this, Despite a large number of friends and neighbors who appeared in the court to stress she had never been disloyal to the Union cause, Johnson gave the order to hang the woman who he pointed out “kept the nest that hatched the egg”. 

On 29th June, 1865, Mrs. Mary Surratt, who in court had dressed in black and covered her face with a veil, was found guilty along with seven men for involvement in the conspiracy to murder Lincoln. She, Lewis Powell, George Atzerodt, and David Herold were sentenced to be hanged at Washington Penitentiary on 7th July, 1865. Reportedly, her last words on the scaffold were “Don’t let me fall.”

Mary’s son, John Surratt, Jr., who had participated in the failed  abduction plots, was tried that summer before a civil court. Although the jury stood eight to four for acquittal, he was not released from prison until June, 1868. 

Four years after her execution, Mary’s daughter Anna Surratt successfully pleaded for her mother’s remains. Today, Mary Surratt rests in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Washington, D.C. under a simple headstone reading “MRS. SURRATT.”

Ironically, at the time of Mary’s death, a case was pending before the Supreme Court, questioning the jurisdiction of military courts in cases involving civilians. In 1866, less than a year after she was was hanged, the Supreme Court ruled that a military court had no jurisdiction in civilian cases, if the civil courts were open. Her sad story has been the subject of several fascinating books as well as Robert Redford’s recently-released film, The Conspirator.  This is another of those historical “tidbits” that I never learned in school.

Unconventional. Unafraid. Unwelcome.

A female physician with an adopted black daughter? The townsfolk of Idaho Bend will never accept Dr. Mercy Gabriel—even when faced with a deadly cholera epidemic. But all Mercy needs is one man willing to listen…and to trust.

Four years of war command turned Lon Mackey into a footloose gambler who can’t abide attachments. Yet he can’t help getting riled by the threats Mercy keeps receiving. Her trailblazing courage could reignite his faith and humanity. And his loyalty could make her dream—for the first time—of a family of her own….

Her Healing Ways is the final book in my Love Inspired Historical “Gabriel Sisters” series about three Quaker sisters who are trying to help others in the aftermath of the Civil War.

This final story is Mercy Gabriel’s. She worked alongside Clara Barton as a fellow nurse throughout the Civil War. Now she’s graduated from the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania, which was the first US medical college exclusively for women.

Mercy and her adopted daughter Indigo, an orphaned former slave, head west to find a place where Mercy hopes she will be accepted as a physician.

I think this hope demonstrates one of the most interesting facts about the West. The West was a place where the “unconventional” had more freedom, had a chance to prove themselves and be accepted for what they could do, not their differences.

Mercy rightly assumes a frontier community with both logging and mining will need a doctor and they will accept her when the need arises.

Can you think of any other examples of unconventional people who found a home in the West?

Mark Twain and Theodore Roosevelt come to my mind. Mark Twain developed his writing while out West (The Jumping Frog of Calaveras County). And after his first wife’s untimely death, Theodore Roosevelt carved his future from his escape to the West

Any more examples? Comment to get your name in the drawing for one copy of HER HEALING WAYS.

I am so excited to share with you that I just had three holiday short stories released through Victory Tales Press last week!  As you all know, I normally write historical western romance, and two of these stories are just that. The third is a contemporary story, and I would like to tell you a bit about all of them.

HOMECOMING is a story I had written about a year ago.  I knew it was very odd, and probably had no chance of “making it” in the romance market, especially with the larger houses.  I don’t want to give anything away, so I will just have to be content to say that it has a very odd twist to it, a bit of the paranormal, and is a very different kind of story.  It appears in the Sweet edition of A CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.  Darn it, I wish I could tell you more because this is one of my favorite stories, but I’m afraid I’ll say too much!   I’m in this collection with four other wonderful authors.  Here’s the blurb for HOMECOMING, a story of forgiveness and faith at Christmas:

A holiday skirmish sends Union officer Jack Durham on an unlikely mission for a dying Confederate soldier–his enemy.  While thinking of the losses he’s suffered, can Jack remember what it means to be fully human?  Will the miracle of Christmas be able to heal his heart in the face of what awaits him?

My story in the Sensual edition of A CHRISTMAS COLLECTION is called SCARLET RIBBONS.  For as long as I can remember, the song of the same title has been part of my life.  I grew up in the 60′s/70′s and folk music was a staple in my home.  This poignant song, made popular by Harry Belafonte, tells the story of a man who hears his child praying for Scarlet Ribbons for her hair. It’s late, and the streets are empty, with no place to get the Scarlet Ribbons. During the night, the father anguishes over not being able to get such a simple gift for his daughter.  In the morning, just before dawn, he goes into her bedroom and there on the bed are two beautiful scarlet ribbons for her hair. If you have never heard the song, it’s well worth a listen or ten–I promise it will touch your heart (I can never listen to it without crying like a big third grader.)

My story of SCARLET RIBBONS is about a half-breed gunslinger who comes back to Mexico after many years to several surprises.  There is, again, a hint of the paranormal in this story.  I was so happy to be able to place it with Victory Tales Press, as it is quite different.  But this was a story I had had in mind for a long time.  Here’s the blurb:

Miguel Rivera is known as El Diablo, The Devil.  Men avoid meeting his eyes in fear of his gun.  Persuaded by a street vendor, he makes a foolish holiday purchase–two scarlet ribbons.  Can a meeting with a mysterious priest, and the miracle of the scarlet ribbons set Miguel on a new path and restore the love he lost before? 

My contemporary story, WHITE CHRISTMAS, appears in the Spicy edition of A CHRISTMAS COLLECTION along with three other wonderful authors.  I think my idea for this story stemmed from the many hospital visits I have made with my sister this year, and talking with so many wonderful ER nurses and doctors. What happens with their holidays? And what about first responders–fire fighters and police officers?  In my story, I took a lonely divorced ER nurse who hasn’t had a proper Christmas in many years, and a long-single fire fighter who has lost everything dear to him and threw them together for Christmas.  Here’s the blurb for WHITE CHRISTMAS:

Since her divorce, busy ER nurse, Carlie Thomas, is happy to spend Christmas on duty.  Fire fighter Derek Pierce needs special care after being injured on the job.  But Derek’s wounds are more than skin deep.  Will they spend the holidays haunted by the ghosts of the past, or could this Christmas spark a beautiful friendship–or even something more?

If you love holiday stories, this is a treasure-trove!  There are four books in all in the A CHRISTMAS COLLECTION set: sweet, sensual, stimulating and spicy.  The stories are grouped according to “heat” level so there are no surprises.  These are great for gift-giving for this reason.

To order, or for more information, here’s the link. http://victorytalespress.yolasite.com/online-store.php

I’d love to hear from y’all.  What is your favorite holiday story? Is it one of your own, or someone else’s?  I love holiday stories and I’m always looking for new ones.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!