February 9, 2014: The upcoming 205th birthday of President Abraham Lincoln, as well as, the 150th anniversary of the Civil War has got many thinking about the war. In particular, much thought has gone into what were the keys to the Northern victory. Popular opinion is the North's victory was inevitable. The Union had more men and materials and simply ground the confederacy down. The South, so this line of thought goes, could not hope to win against such odds.
In researching plot points for my upcoming novel Lost Cause, a thriller set in Civil War battlefields and locations, I read dozens of books, watched hundreds of videos, and attended countless speeches on the Civil War's battlefields, combatants, politics, and economy. This research reveals the Union victory was not predetermined. Nor did the South enter the war believing they were fighting a Lost Cause. Rather, the North won the war due to a combination of better diplomacy, leadership, resource management, innovative battle tactics, and political debate.
What are your thoughts on the Northern keys to victory?
#####
Check out my first novel here.
January 5, 2014: Lost Cause is the exciting follow up to Unleashing Colter's Hell, the Amazon top 100 terrorism thriller. Lost Cause begins during the Civil War and is a nail-biting chase to find a relic supposedly owned by Robert E. Lee. Legend has it the relic's finder will have the power to start the second civil war. Members of the Confederate League are hot on the trail of the relic. They seek it's power to right the wrongs of the civil war. National Park ranger Grayson Cole, along with fellow ranger and best friend Alex Reeves, and Sarah Thompson Gettyburg artifact curator, are ordered to find the relic before it falls into the wrong hands.
I've read countless text books, novels and articles about the civil war in order to bring realism to the thriller. Here is a short list of recently read books:
- Battle Cry Freedom
- US Grant
- Cause and Comrades
- Nothing But Victory
- Grant
- Team of Rivals
- Killer Angels
- Confederates in the Attic
- How the South Could have won the war
- Why the North Won the war
I'm always looking for new civil war materials, especially ones with a unique perspective on the war between the states. What book(s) would you recommend to add to the list?
December 31, 2013: At the end of the year, I like to look back at the books I've read over the past 365 days. Here is my list. There are some really great reads, others not so much. Although, I didn't set out the year to read a broad spectrum of works, 2013 turned out to have a great mix of fiction and non-fiction, thrillers, science, history, and fantasy. Every one of the books made me think, which I believe is the ultimate goal of every author.
What does your list look like?
- The Lost Bank
- The Inner Circle
- The Magic of Reality
- Pearl Harbor: FDR Leads the Nation to War
- Feast of Crows
- Why the North Won the War
- Area 51
- The Story of Medieval England, from King Arthur to the Tudor Conquest
- Dance with Dragons
- Inferno
November 23, 2013: Unleashing Colter's Hell is a semi-finalist in the Authorsdb cover contest. The thriller is one of 16 chosen out of the more than a 130 covers submitted in the mystery, thriller, and suspense category.
The semi-finalists are listed alphabetically here. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to find Unleashing Colter's Hell. Give it 5 Stars!
Unleashing Colter's Hell's recognition in the Authorsdb cover contest follows the novel's winning the Reader's Favorite 2013 Gold Medal in the mystery and thriller category.
Unleashing Colter's Hell makes a great gift, get the award-winning thriller here.
