I am really excited to be hosting the blog tour for Mendota and the Restive Rivers of the Indian and Civil Wars 1861-65 (The Simmons Family Saga) by Dane Pizzuti Krogman @dekester09 @maryanneyarde

 

Mendota and the Restive Rivers of the Indian and Civil Wars 1861-65

(The Simmons Family Saga)

By Dane Pizzuti Krogman

 

 

This is the fictional story set in Mendota, Minnesota of the Simmons family who are faced with the consequences of the Dakota Sioux Uprising of 1862 that swept across the state as well as the Civil War.

 

The father, Dan enlists in the 1st regiment of Minnesota volunteers as a teamster. His two sons, who are both underage join the 2nd Regiment. John, aged 16 becomes a bugler and William, aged 15 becomes a drummer. Their sister, Sara is left behind with their mother, Louise to fend for themselves. Dan is sent east to fight with the Army of the Potomac while his sons are sent to the western theater to serve in the army of the Cumberland. Back in Mendota, their neighbor and close friend, Colonel Henry Sibley is ordered to stay in the state to control the Indian uprising.

 

Dan will see action up through the battle of Antietam. He will later find himself in the hospital in Washington DC where he befriends a comrade also from the 1st Regiment. His sons barely miss the action at Shiloh but after, are engaged in all the major battles in the West. While they are passing through Louisville, William falls for a young woman, Mary who works as a hospital nurse. Back in Mendota, Sara befriends a young Chippewa native boy while her mother struggles with the breakup of her family. After Colonel Sibley defeats the Sioux, he is promoted to General and ordered to round up all the Dakota and push resettle them in the Dakotas.

 

This leads to the punitive expeditions that he and General Sully will command up until 1864. William is captured at the battle up Missionary Ridge and then sent to the prison camp at Belle Isle, VA. and then onto Andersonville. GA. John receives a 30 day furlough and returns to Mendota before he re-enlists. Louise and Sara wait for the war’s end so the family can be reunited, but events may not turn out as anticipated.

 

 

 

WAR—it sounds so heroic, so glamorous. The reality is anything but.

WOW! What a novel. Not only is Mendota and the Restive Rivers of the Indian and Civil Wars 1861-65 (The Simmons Family Saga) by Dane Pizzuti Krogman rich in historical detail, but the characters have been depicted with a heavy dose of realism. Add to the mixture a bloody Civil War and a community that has been let down by the government and seemingly despised by everyone and you have yourself a book that will keep you reading way past your bedtime! There is also a dash of romance as well. What more could you want? This novel really does have it all.

As this book is set during the American Civil War and the Dakota Sioux uprising then you must be prepared for some harrowing scenes. But one of the things that I found the most difficult to read about was the prejudice, hatred and fear that is depicted throughout this novel. The way the Sioux were treated was inexcusably barbaric. But in retaliation, the Sioux held nothing back for they had years of hate and anger driving them forward. As is often the case in war, it is the innocent who must suffer. A very sobering thought.

I really enjoyed this book, and I especially enjoyed getting to know the Simmons family. I will certainly be looking out for more books by this author.

 

Amazon UK, Amazon US, Amazon CA, Amazon Au, The Indie Book Store 

 

Dane Krogman

 

Dane Pizzuti Krogman was educated in the fine arts at the University of Minnesota, receiving BFA and MFA degrees. He also specialized in Asian art history, with a concentration in textile and surface design. After graduation, he worked as a freelance designer creating fashion samples for women’s athletic wear. He eventually relocated to California and taught at Cal-Poly Pomona in the Environmental Design program then moved on to work as a pictorial artist for outdoor advertising. Moving back to the Twin Cities in 1981 he formed a scenic design company call Artdemo which in 10 years did over 1000 designs and productions for sets, props, and special effects for television commercials and feature films. In the early 90’s he relocated to Charleston, SC to work as a spec writer for feature film scripts. Six of his screenplays have won major writing awards and two of these have been optioned for production. During this time he also taught scene design at the College of Charleston. This position led to an adjunct teaching position at Virginia Commonwealth University where he taught art direction for filmmakers. In 1998 he took a full time teaching position at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts where he taught art direction, life drawing, set construction, and Asian film studies, eventually becoming chairman of the department. 

 

The common thread through all of this has been his passion for Japanese design, art, and fashion. He has lived in Kyoto, Japan for the past 20 summers studying Japanese kimono and obi design of the Heian and Edo periods. In 2002 he won the Grand Prize for the best graphic novel at the Hiroshima manga competition. His graphic Novel Skeleton boy was selected for inclusion into the Hiroshima peace memorial library in 2007.

He was most recently an adjunct faculty member in the Graduate Program in Digital Filmmaking at Stony Brook Southampton. He is also an award-winning screenwriter. His screenplay, The Schooner was produced as the Australian film, AUSTRALIA in 2008. He has other award-winning films that have been optioned for production or are in production.

As a Civil War historian he has worked as a technical advisor for the films, Dances with Wolfs, Gettysburg, and Glory. He currently has one Civil War novel in pre-publication; MENDOTA, AND THE RESTIVE RIVERS OF THE CIVIL AND INDIAN WARS 1861-65. 

He also works part-time as a crew member on a Grand-Am Rolex series race team. The team won the national championship in 2008.

Tour Schedule

(follow the tour HERE!) 

 

Sisters at War by Clare Flynn

Sisters at War

By Clare Flynn

1940 Liverpool. The pressures of war threaten to tear apart two sisters traumatised by their father’s murder of their mother.

With her new husband, Will, a merchant seaman, deployed on dangerous Atlantic convoy missions, Hannah needs her younger sister Judith more than ever. But when Mussolini declares war on Britain, Judith's Italian sweetheart, Paolo is imprisoned as an enemy alien, and Judith's loyalties are divided.

Each sister wants only to be with the man she loves but, as the war progresses, tensions between them boil over, and they face an impossible decision.

A heart-wrenching page-turner about the everyday bravery of ordinary people during wartime. From heavily blitzed Liverpool to the terrors of the North Atlantic and the scorched plains of Australia, Sisters at War will bring tears to your eyes and joy to your heart.

Everything has something that goes together hand in hand. Romance has heartbreak, joy has sadness, life has death. This book has everything.

Hannah and Will Kidd are a young couple so drastically affected by the war. Will’s job requires him to spend most of his life at sea, and Hannah can do nothing but clean the house and hope that he returns in one piece, or even, that he returns at all.

Judith, Hannah’s sister, might act tough, having distanced herself from Hannah after the death of their mother by their father’s hands, but she longs for the feeling of love. She finds that with Paolo, an Italian who once served on the same ship as Will. But, when the British start rounding up all Italians, on the basis that they may be fascists, Paolo is ripped away from Judith.

Judith and Hannah are very much in the same boat (no pun intended). Both have had their loved one taken away from them, and, although Will leaves by choice, neither can help but feel such an intense feeling of loss with their beloveds so far away.

I adored this novel because it does not gloss over the horrors of the war. Not everyone gets a happy ending, and some chapters will leave you reeling. I honestly could not put this book down, and I read it in a day.

This is an absolutely brilliant book, and I cannot wait to look into some other books by this author.

Buy link.

I am exciting to be hosting the blog tour for The Steel Rose (The Boar King’s Honor Trilogy, Book 2) by Nancy Northcott #HistoricalFantasy #TimeTravel #CoffeePotBookClub @NancyNorthcott @maryanneyarde

 

The Steel Rose

(The Boar King’s Honor Trilogy, Book 2)

by Nancy Northcott

 

The Boar King’s Honor Trilogy

 

A wizard’s misplaced trust

A king wrongly blamed for murder

A bloodline cursed until they clear the king’s name

 

Book 2: The Steel Rose

 

Amelia Mainwaring, a magically Gifted seer, is desperate to rescue the souls of her dead father and brother, who are trapped in a shadowy, wraith-filled land between life and death as the latest victims of their family curse. Lifting the curse requires clearing the name of King Richard III, who was wrongly accused of his nephews’ murder because of a mistake made by Amelia’s ancestor.

 

In London to seek help from a wizard scholar, Julian Winfield, Amelia has disturbing visions that warn of Napoleon Bonaparte’s escape from Elba and renewed war in Europe. A magical artifact fuels growing French support for Bonaparte. Can Amelia and Julian recover the artifact and deprive him of its power in time to avert the coming battles?

 

Their quest takes them from the crowded ballrooms of the London Season to the bloody field of Waterloo, demanding all of their courage, guile, and magical skill.  Can they recover the artifact and stop Bonaparte? Or will all their hopes, along with Amanda’s father and brother, be doomed as a battle-weary Europe is once again engulfed in the flames of war?

 

The Steel Rose is the second book in the time-traveling, history-spanning fantasy series The Boar King’s Honor, from Nancy Northcott (Outcast Station, The Herald of Day).

 

Excerpt

 

This is set at a gathering in London several days after Bonaparte escapes Elba. Amelia has Seen riots occurring in France. She and her friends have sought privacy to share her vision by scrying in the fire and to discuss his prospects. The Merlin Club, which is mentioned in this excerpt, is a group of Gifted covertly working in Britain’s defense. Julian is their director.

To think, Julian mused, he’d expected this evening to be a waste, another tedious occasion enlivened by the occasional need to dodge a snare. Instead, he was hearing a tale that fit disturbingly well with information trickling out of France. Amelia’s composure and her orderly presentation as she created a scrying of her earlier vision were admirable.

If he asked, would she join the Merlin Club? Women could be members, though that was kept secret. To mask its true nature, the club needed to seem like the others in St. James’s, which admitted only men. His aunt, who sat in an armchair by the divan, had declined to join. 

“And then we came in here,” Amelia concluded as the fiery image faded. 

Julian glanced at Robin, who stood on the opposite side of the hearth from him. “Those soldiers wore the uniforms of the gendarmerie, the military who provide security for the country. Do you think this is happening now?”

To her credit, she didn’t answer at once but frowned, apparently examining her memories.

The firelight that cast a glow over the old leather books on the shelves also gilded her face and shadowed the hollow between her breasts. She made an enchanting picture. Perhaps too much so. No matter how much she had to offer, no matter how trustworthy he believed her to be, he would never lose his head over a woman again.

“I don’t think so,” Amelia replied at last. “It feels…uncertain.”

“Could you tell this time whether they’re rioting in Bonaparte’s favor or against him?” If the mob was against him, that could be a boon to the allied nations.

“I still can’t, no.” The thoughtful look in her eyes sharpened into worry. “Do you think Bonaparte will start another war?”

“Almost certainly,” Robin said. “Even if France cedes the government to him, he’ll want to even scores against the Allies, to regain the reach he once had. It’s heartening to hope some in France may not favor that.” 

Julian nodded. “Can you scry Bonaparte, Amelia, or summon a vision of him?”

“I’ll try.” Extending her hand, she poured argent power into the flames until even he could feel it where he stood by the mantel. The image of a small chateau formed. 

“I’ll try to see inside.” Frowning, she fed in more magic, but the view didn’t change.

She had so much power but less training than she should’ve, thanks to her idiot father’s inability to stand up to her foolish mother. This was what came of marrying the unGifted. England’s wizards were dying out or poorly trained while the more selective French and Germans, even the Italians, added daily to their numbers. Julian had the normal complement of Gifts, scrying, wielding witchlight and using it to ignite small flames, throwing it in larger volumes called witchfire, pushing or pulling objects or people, and projecting magic to light candles or create glamours, but he couldn’t pretend he was as strong in any of them as his ancestors had been two generations back.

The flames turned blue at the edges. “I can’t draw more,” Amelia said.

“He’s hidden,” Julian responded. “Blocked from the scrying by French wards, no doubt. He could be anywhere.”

He and Robin exchanged an angry glance. Julian added, “Only wizards raise wards. First the French Gifted helped him escape Elba, and now they shield him. They’ve broken accords going back to King Alfred’s day.”

Feeling his way, Julian said, “Amelia, you were scrying in the fire, not relying on your seer Gift at all, were you not?” When she nodded, he continued, “Do you know the saying ‘A seer need not scry to See—”

“—‘what is, what was, and what will be,’” she finished with him. They smiled at each other, the same idea blooming in both their minds.

“Perhaps if I don’t scry, if I simply open myself to it,” she said, voicing that shared idea, “I could See something.”

Scanning the shelves and tables, Julian frowned. “You know more than I about what spurs your Gift, but perhaps if we had something related to Bonaparte or to France?”

“That might help,” Amelia said. “I’ve only used what my grandmother calls triggering objects that were related to my family or home.”

Aunt Augusta walked to the table under the lone window. She picked up a porcelain shepherdess statuette and peered at the bottom. “Italian,” she announced. The bust of Caesar was, oddly, German, as was the swan on the bookshelf. The dancing couple in Georgian attire on the mantel, though, were French. 

“Better than nothing,” she said, handing the figurine to Amelia.

Amelia turned it over, and the firelight picked out delicate gold detailing on the man’s long coat and the woman’s jewelry. Holding it loosely, opening her senses, she brushed Julian’s magical awareness with her power.

“Don’t watch me,” she said. “I can feel your attention.”

***

France, Amelia thought, glory and Napoleon… eagles and sabers. She called up the memory of the battle she’d envisioned. Moments ticked by, but patience was key here, essential to—

The room winked out of being. Purple-gray mists swirled around her with the stink of rotten eggs. The mists dispersed. Through the last wisps, stone and stucco buildings came into view, their roofs steep. A dozen men in the blue uniforms of the French army rode their horses at a walk down a narrow street. They stopped before an inn and walked inside. Their leader, a narrow-faced man whose brown hair held traces of ginger, followed the stout landlord up the stairs.

The landlord knocked on a door and opened it, revealing a comfortable parlor. In the chair opposite the door sat Bonaparte. 

Amelia’s breath caught as the onetime Emperor of France rose. “Ney,” he said, “so good to see you. Bienvenue, mon frère. With you at my side, who can prevail against us?” 

Bonaparte and the man—Ney—embraced. Swirling fog obscured the vision.

“I lost it,” she murmured. “Trying…”

But she couldn’t recapture it. Rubbing her brow, she said, “It’s gone.” 

Everyone looked to her, their faces hopeful. If only she had more to report. 

She described the vision. When she mentioned Ney, her listeners’ faces hardened.

“Who is Ney?” she asked.

Robin replied, “Possibly the bravest of Bonaparte’s marshals. He commanded the rear guard in the retreat from Russia and is a brilliant cavalry officer. After Bonaparte abdicated, Ney made his peace with Louis XVIII and stayed in the army. If he has switched sides, that’s a grave problem.”

“I don’t think he has,” Amelia said slowly. “I think he will, but I don’t know when. It feels…not definite.”

Shaking his head, Robin said, “Ney commands six thousand men. He’s doing well enough under the Bourbons. Why would he risk all that?”

An image flashed across her sight, a mounted figure in glistening armor and a cloth-of-gold surcoat waved a sword as though exhorting the men in front of him. Above, the fleur-de-lys of France flapped in the breeze.

“Amelia?” Sophie said.

The vision faded. She regained it but couldn’t amplify it. Quickly, she told her companions about it.

“How odd,” Julian said. “Nobles wore armor in the time of Richard III, so maybe it’s to do with that. It wouldn’t be anything to do with Bonaparte. Let us know if that happens again, but we’ve more pressing concerns than this mystery just now.”

Robin shook his head. “If Ney turns his coat, if his command goes over to Bonaparte…”

“We must go,” Julian said, “and alert the Merlin Club since the government will not listen.”

 

Click on the Universal Link to buy your copy in your favourite online bookshop! This novel is available to read with #KindleUnlimited subscription.

 

Nancy Northcott

 

 Nancy Northcott’s childhood ambition was to grow up and become Wonder Woman. Around fourth grade, she realized it was too late to acquire Amazon genes, but she still loved comic books, science fiction, fantasy, history, and romance. She combines the emotion and high stakes, and sometimes the magic, she loves in the books she writes.

 

She has written freelance articles and taught at the college level.  Her most popular course was on science fiction, fantasy, and society.  She has also given presentations on the Wars of the Roses and Richard III to university classes studying Shakespeare’s play about Richard III. Reviewers have described her books as melding fantasy, romance, and suspense. Library Journal gave her debut novel, Renegade, a starred review, calling it “genre fiction at its best.”

 

In addition to the historical fantasy Boar King’s Honor trilogy, Nancy writes the Light Mage Wars paranormal romances, the Arachnid Files romantic suspense novellas, and the Lethal Webs romantic spy adventures. With Jeanne Adams, she cowrites the Outcast Station science fiction mysteries.

 

Married since 1987, Nancy and her husband have one son, a bossy dog, and a house full of books.

 

Social Media Links:

Website • Facebook • Twitter • BookBub •  Amazon Author Page • Goodreads

 

Click on this LINK to follow the tour!

 

 

I am exciting to be hosting the blog tour for The Pact (The Illustrated Colonials, Book One) by Tom Durwood #HistoricalFiction #YoungAdult #BookReview @TDurwood @maryanneyarde

 

The Pact

(The Illustrated Colonials, Book One)

By Tom Durwood

 

Six international teens join the American Revolution.

 

Coming of age and making history. 

 

They went into 1776 looking for a fight. Little did they know how much it would cost them…

 

Six rich kids from around the globe join the Bostonian cause, finding love and treachery along the path to liberty.

 

A new perspective on one of history’s most fascinating moments.

 

Amply illustrated edition of a young-adult historical fiction novel.

This book is very wise—I know that sounds like a strange thing to say but it is full of inspiring quotes and little nuggets of wisdom. I really enjoyed reading about the characters and the things they learn in their school. The story is full of twists and turns which made it unputdownable. I can't say much else about this novel because I don't want to give away any spoilers.

A great read. 

 

The Pact (The Illustrated Colonials, Book One) is avaliable on #KindleUnlimited

Amazon

 

Tom Durwood

 

Tom Durwood is a teacher, writer and editor with an interest in history. Tom most recently taught English Composition and Empire and Literature at Valley Forge Military College, where he won the Teacher of the Year Award five times. Tom has taught Public Speaking and Basic Communications as guest lecturer for the Naval Special Warfare Development Group at the Dam’s Neck Annex of the Naval War College.

 

Tom’s ebook Empire and Literature matches global works of film and fiction to specific quadrants of empire, finding surprising parallels. Literature, film, art and architecture are viewed against the rise and fall of empire. In a foreword to Empire and Literature, postcolonial scholar Dipesh Chakrabarty of the University of Chicago calls it “imaginative and innovative.” Prof. Chakrabarty writes that “Durwood has given us a thought-provoking introduction to the humanities.” His subsequent book “Kid Lit: An Introduction to Literary Criticism” has been well-reviewed. “My favorite nonfiction book of the year,” writes The Literary Apothecary (Goodreads).

 

Early reader response to Tom’s historical fiction adventures has been promising. “A true pleasure … the richness of the layers of Tom’s novel is compelling,” writes Fatima Sharrafedine in her foreword to “The Illustrated Boatman’s Daughter.” The Midwest Book Review calls that same adventure “uniformly gripping and educational … pairing action and adventure with social issues.” Adds Prairie Review, “A deeply intriguing, ambitious historical fiction series.”

 

Tom briefly ran his own children’s book imprint, Calico Books (Contemporary Books, Chicago). Tom’s newspaper column “Shelter” appeared in the North County Times for seven years. Tom earned a Masters in English Literature in San Diego, where he also served as Executive Director of San Diego Habitat for Humanity.

Websites, Website, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, Amazon Author Page, Goodreads.

Thank you to The Coffee Pot Book Club for giving me the opportunity to read this book.