The Light: Tales From a Revolution - New Jersey

The second book in my critically-acclaimed Tales From a Revolution series is now in production, and should be available soon.

The Light depicts the special challenges posed by American Revolution for members of the Quaker faith.  Active participation in the Revolution was believed to run counter to their core value of nonviolence, but  British success in the struggle could lead to the loss of their hard-won religious freedoms in the Colonies.

The different approaches that members of the Society of Friends took to this tension between belief and freedom make for a compelling and fascinating new story, one that I'm sure you'll all enjoy.

Along the way, you'll see what life was like under occupation by the Hessian mercenaries brought to these shores by King George to support the Redcoats, and you'll witness George Washington's famous Christmas Day battle in Trenton.

Details about availability, ordering, book club support and more will be coming soon, as I have them.

Up for Discussion

The Prize lends itself particularly well to book club and classroom discussions, with its rich and carefully realistic view of life at the edges of the English settlements, but at the center of the early days of the Revolution.

To facilitate these discussions, I've prepared a set of discussion questions. They're broken out into five-chapter groups, which represent around 30 pages for each set of questions.  Meeting just once a week, your group can easily read and dissect The Prize in just over a month - or less than a case of Charles Shaw's finest (unless your club is very thirsty).

Enjoy!

Discussion Questions

Cause for revolution

When any government, or any church for that matter, undertakes to say to its subjects, 'This you may not read, this you must not see, this you are forbidden to know,' the end result is tyranny and oppression, no matter how holy the motives. Mighty little force is needed to control a man whose mind has been hoodwinked; contrariwise, no amount of force can control a free man, a man whose mind is free. No, not the rack, not fission bombs, not anything - you can't conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him. 

- Robert A. Heinlein, If This Goes On, 1940

This week marks Banned Books Week, and while there's a part of me that kinda wishes that someone, somewhere would ban one of my books for the publicity value, the more serious part of me is deeply grateful that I don't have to worry about this as a practical matter.

It hasn't always been so - indeed, in the broad sweep of human history, we are living in a moment that is aberrant in its broad tolerance for dissenting voices.  Personal expression is protected, honored and defended to a degree that 99% of all humans ever to have lived would find foreign - and a large proportion of that 99% would probably find it repugnant.  We grow accustomed to the chains we wear, to the point of preferring them to the dangers of freedom.

Part of why I choose to write about the American Revolution is that it represents the first great eruption of the idea of freedom for all - not just a privileged few, who happened to be born with the "right" ancestors, or who cultivated influential connections, but for every farmer, every blacksmith, every prayer, every sinner... and every writer.

To be sure, the history of human freedom starts far, far before our Revolution, and has continued to make progress since it - and there are vast opportunities still to see its ongoing growth.  But the men and women whose struggles I try to relate were true pioneers in this long journey, even if they didn't have a conscious sense of it as they tried to simply live their lives.

It is because of their victories that I can write about their lives, that I have the freedom to imagine and share what their daily experiences were like, what they thought, what blasphemies they uttered.  I cherish that freedom, and I'm proud to have the chance to exercise it.

Instead of urging you to read my book, today I'm going to urge you to find a banned book - one that some self-appointed arbiter of right and wrong thought you needed to be "protected" from - and do your bit to continue the journey toward universal freedom.  Thank you.  (There'll be plenty of time to read my books, don't worry... nobody's thought of banning them... darn it all.)

Excerpt from The Prize

This excerpt's been on my Facebook Wall for a long time, but I wanted to make it more accessible to all.  If you haven't already read The Prize, hopefully this will entice you do so in the near future.  Enjoy!

Caleb and Captain Mallett were just fitting the last of the shaped ribs into the first canoe when the sound of the village church bell pealed out faintly over the woods.

Straining to fit the cedar slat under the gunwale as it pulled the birch bark skin taut as a drumhead, Mallett grunted, "Must be that someone has had a house afire."

Caleb, who stood on the side opposite, holding the clamp that secured the other end of the slat, scanned the horizon above the woods, and said, "I do not see any smoke."

With a last push, Mallett forced the rib under the rim of the gunwale, where it snapped against the birch bark and held its position. As the men grinned at their accomplishment, the bell continued to peal furiously.

Mallett looked up and down the length of the canoe, nodding and grinning. "'Tis a fine-looking craft," he said. "We have only to seal the seams, and she'll be ready for the lake. We will fit the last of the ribs into your canoe in a few days, once they have finished with the shaping."

He frowned toward the village, where the bell was still persisting. "I see no smoke, either, and yet they continue to ring. Perhaps there has been an attack by the Indians… though these Abenaki do not seem to have an interest in such warlike acts, these are certainly dangerous times once again. Let us be off, to see what aid might be needed."

Mallett did not bother to saddle his horse, but merely put the bit in the stallion's mouth, and pulled himself up on its back. He called out to Caleb, "Here, you ride behind me. Louis is a strong horse, certainly a good deal stronger than his namesake on the throne in Versailles." Both Mallett and the horse snorted, and Mallett added, "The horse is smarter, too."

Caleb smiled and took Mallett's proffered hand to clamber up behind the older man. Scowling now at the still-pealing bell, Mallett growled, "Hold tight, lad, we're going to ride hard." Since he did not want to slide over the horse's rump and find himself suddenly sitting on the road, Caleb heeded Mallett's advice, clamping his hands around the rider's wiry sides. 

With a nod, Mallett snapped the reins, and kicked the horse into a smooth, speedy pace over the ground. By the time they pulled up before the blockhouse, where a crowd had gathered, the bell had stopped pealing, but MacGregor stood at the top of the steps, reading loudly from a broadside.

Captain Mallett and Caleb dismounted and Mallett tied up his horse before they joined the crowd, coming into earshot of the general store proprietor.

"…when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security."

As he drew breath, the man beside Caleb whispered excitedly, "'Tis a declaration of independence for the colonies from the Crown, passed by the Congress this week past!" Caleb's eyebrows went up, and even Mallett seemed surprised, pursing his lips thoughtfully and nodding to himself.

"Such has been the patient sufferance of the Colonies, and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world."

MacGregor's voice rang out clearly as he read through the long list of particular complaints against the King and Parliament, winding up to the conclusion.

"We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by the authority of the good people of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be free and independent states; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as free and independent States, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce and to do all other acts and things which independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor!"

As MacGregor lowered the broadside, his forehead shining with sweat and his face red with exertion, a great cheer arose from the crowd assembled before the blockhouse. Someone began ringing the church bell again, and Caleb felt his throat becoming raw before he even realized that he was contributing to the din himself.

Looking around at the other people gathered, he saw men weeping openly and embracing, even those who had had long standing enmities between them. Mallett was smiling widely and nodding with a look of deep satisfaction on his face. 

He leaned close to Caleb and said into his ear, "'Tis a fine, fine statement they've here published. Mark this moment well, lad, for you shall never see another so filled with import as this, so long as you live. I know that I have not, in my many years."

Papercut, Anyone?

Such has been the patient suffering of my beloved readers, as you waited for the paperback edition of The Prize to become available, that it gives me unutterable pleasure to inform you that it is now available in your format of choice.

Whether the instant gratification of your nook, Kindle or other e-reader is your preference, or if you are a fan of the tactile sensation of turning the pages (and garnering the occasional papercut, if you're like me), The Prize is now available in your favorite formats everywhere:

Kindle
Nook
iBooks
Any other e-reader

Paperback from Amazon
Paperback from Barnes & Noble
Paperback from Books-A-Million
Paperback from Powell's
Paperback from select independent bookstores

However you prefer to read, please buy your copy - and tell your friends about it, too.  Honest, gentle reviews on your favorite site - Amazon, B&N or Goodreads are my personal favorites - are greatly appreciated.

Thanks for reading - and watch for more cool developments here soon!

Proof of Concept

Sometimes, my characters do things that make me wonder, "is that really possible?"  For instance, in The Prize, Caleb routinely paddles his canoe over what I came to realize were some pretty extended distances.  I've done a little bit of canoeing myself, but I wondered whether I was asking too much of the boy.

So the summer after I completed the manuscript, I got out onto Lake Champlain myself, first just paddling around the bay, but working up to longer trips.  Within a couple of months of irregular practice, I was pretty readily able to drive my canoe a couple of miles without resting - and I'm no paragon of physical fitness.

Based on this experience, I figured that a younger man, for whom the canoe was a primary means of transportation, and who was accustomed to the daily exertions of working on a family farm, would be more than able to perform the feats of canoeing that I depicted.

In addition, reading some accounts of canoe trips by modern-day recreational paddlers convinced me that the trips I wrote into the story would have represented a solid part of a hard day's work, but I consider my conception of Caleb's habitual travels around the lake to be completely plausible.

I'm tempted now to find out for myself just how difficult it is to shear a sheep with just 18th-century shears... but that's another book (The Declaration) that's not out yet.  Perhaps another time.

The Watched Pot

Finally, the reward for patience and not a little hard work - seeing my first novel for sale at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other booksellers.  It's available now for your favorite e-reader device or software (nook, Kindle, others), and will be coming soon in paperback.

It's been called "magnificent" by a professional historian who manages the historical museum for the Ethan Allen Homestead (in the exact place and time where the novel is set), and has gotten a warm reception by all who have read it so far.  And, at four bucks, if it's not your cup of tea, you're only out the price of a cup of tea (okay, maybe chai).

Buy it, read it, review it - and please tell your friends, mailman, book club, kids' teachers, anyone - getting the word out is the biggest hurdle between getting a book published and having it become a success for all involved.

Thanks so much to everyone who's already jumped on board - this is the first day of my new career as a novelist, and I couldn't be more excited!