His Mama Said Okay

His mama said it’s okay that I put this photo of Jackson in this particular blog post. 

Bless her for not minding that the kid shill for his granddaddy’s new book. I think it’s the single raised eyebrow and the dark solemn eyes.  Even if he's too young to read it, the boy just knows this is a fine story. After all, there is a cannon on the cover.

He’s holding the proof copy of my just-finished second book in the Captain McBee trilogy.  This one takes the war, Faith and John’s dicey romance, and the complexities of Levi’s servitude, through 1863, including the game-changer battle at Gettysburg. 

The story also sweeps in a couple of historical figures, Judah P. Benjamin, the Confederacy’s enigmatic Secretary of State, and Captain Champ Ferguson, a murderous stinker who led a band of partisan rangers on the Tennessee-Kentucky border.

Jumping with a purpose: For ten years now, during one weekend in October, I’ve stood by the tombstone of a different Confederate veteran buried in our city cemetery and as each man's spirit, given a first-person account of his life, including his war story. It’s called “Speaking With the Dead,” and it’s a popular fund-raising event put on by our county historical commission. 

Here’s a photo of me from a couple of spirits back when I was telling how my guy searched for buried barrels of whiskey while in Louisiana. 

He was among a group of thirsty Texas soldiers who used their musket ramrods to probe the ground in the barn of a guy known to distill spirits. They soon “knocked on wood.” They dug up the barrels and replanted them in their camp where the creative soldiers took turns during the night laying on the ground and sipping the distilled spirits through cut hollow reeds. Amazing what young soldiers remembered when they got home and talked about the war.

Earlier this week, I was asked to help promote the tour by giving one of the spirit speeches from years past to a group of about thirty local ladies at the library.

During the Q and A session after the program, a writer friend in the audience mentioned that I have a new book, Redeeming Honor. Then another lady asked the title of the first book in the trilogy. 

I had a very embarrassing senior moment when the word “Tangled” in Tangled Honor hid behind a big rock somewhere in my brain. The best I could do was “Something” Honor, until my friend remembered and shouted out “Tangled!”  Not the best sales pitch I’ve ever made, for sure.

Maybe Jackson will do better than his granddad. Here’s the link to the Amazon page where Redeeming Honor and my other two Civil War novels can be bought. 

http://www.amazon.com/Redeeming-Honor-1863-Philip-McBride-ebook/dp/B0150ECJJA

I do hope you’ll consider buying a paperback copy or the Kindle ebook version. Thanks.