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 Posted: Thu Apr 30th, 2009 02:14 pm
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susansweet3
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That must be it , Fan.  No primary research , only secondary.  That makes sense. 

Susan

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 Posted: Tue Nov 3rd, 2009 03:30 am
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OpdykeTiger
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Not long ago I read The Judas Field, by Howard Bahr.  This is another of his fictional studies of the Franklin battle.  What an awesome novel!  It feels like William Faulkner meets Shelby Foote.  It also has the greatest fictional description of an infantry charge ever written IMO.

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 Posted: Sat Nov 14th, 2009 10:56 pm
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Naim Peress
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I saw Doctorow give a reading at the New York Historical Society. When I asked him about going to the areas affected by Sherman's March to the Sea, he said that he didn't go there. He told the audience,"You want to do as little traveling as possible."

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 Posted: Mon Nov 16th, 2009 05:43 am
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cklarson
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Dear All,

I've romped through all the entries on this subtopic and find them interesting. Myself, I gave up on novels years ago and am now fairly guiltless about it. First, most writers write about people like themselves, creative types, with whom I can't identify. Also somehow depression is associated with creativity and you can forget that. Secondly, as one of my friends said: I can understand how you feel. You say to yourself, if these characters would just stop doing what they're doing, they wouldn't be suffering like this, Scarlett O'Hara being a prime example--she never grew up, while Rhett did.

My beef about historical novels by "big" authors is I ask myself: why should I be reading their version of events when I really want to know the real version of events? Good romantic historical novels, however, I like, or at least did as a teenager.

My all time favorite as a child was Rifles for Watie that won the Newberry Award for children's books. It's still in print and is very authentic and the author did a lot of research, including how cooks made clean drinking water from polluted ponds.

With all this said, I never thought I'd end up writing fiction, but I have: my book _South Under a Prairie Sky: The Journal of Nell Churchill, US Army Nurse & Scout_. It's set in my aunt's hometown of Monmouth, IL on the home front and mostly TN on the warfront. I have an underbook that sources every entry and separates fact from fiction where necessary. Everything in the book is fact based in some way. I used a lot of local sources such as the Monmouth Atlas newspaper from the 1860s and the Chicago Tribune, as well as ORA records and memoirs and letters. One cousin told me he read it in 7 hours straight, with a half hour off for dinner which made me feel good. I was also proud to be able to put in information about Swedes in the Civil War which no one covers. Many Swedes immigrated to enlist and be commissioned (to "get their tickets punched"). Count Vegesack was a Medal of Honor awardee. How many of you all know that a Swedish regiment fought with French forces at Yorktown and Swedish naval officers were on board Rochambeau's ships? The British were known to be the bullies of the Baltic and almost all of Europe went to war with them at the time of the Amer Rev.

Cheers!

C. Kay Larson

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 Posted: Wed Nov 18th, 2009 02:06 am
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TimK
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I don't have a problem with historical fiction or novels, as long as they're well researched and accurate. I do not like gooey soap opera type stories set in a historic setting, such as the Civil War. I was never a teenage girl.

Kay - is there a good way to see the details of your book? Does the publisher have a web site, or is Amazon the best way to look at the details? I'd be interested in looking at it. I can tell from all your previous posts that this is an area you are passionate about, and I have a strong feeling you wrote your book with this passion. That alone has me interested. I wish you luck!

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 Posted: Thu Nov 19th, 2009 08:16 am
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cklarson
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Given that Annie Oakley has always been one of my heroes, I'm hardly one for goo myself (and I did follow a bit in her footsteps: by aige 17 I could ride and shoot, too; thanks to "Girls Rifle Club" in Madison, WI, I got to be a certified NRA sharpshooter!). But even as a teenager, I found most historical novels featured daring women and dashing male heroes, which is why I read them. I think you'r right, it's the "historic setting" novels that are the problem.

RE: "Nell" -- there is a good amount of material on Amazon. But you can also send me a private message with your e-mail address and I'll send you an excerpt.

Thanks for your support.

Kay


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 Posted: Mon Nov 21st, 2011 01:31 am
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jojotater
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In my novel "Chase the Wild Pigeons," I researched extensively. I tried to honor the facts of the war and the time. I reseached letters, diaries, and slave narratives. Check it out at civilwarnovel.com

Last edited on Mon Nov 21st, 2011 01:32 am by jojotater

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 Posted: Mon Nov 21st, 2011 10:56 pm
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Hellcat
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It's one thing if the author actually incorporates the war fully into the plot and doesn't just grab it for a backdrop then heavily push the backdrop so that folks will think it's intricate to the plot when in reality the plot could be set in any period. I kinda enjoy it when the author has me looking at their work and they've so incorporated the time period, whether it is Civil War or some other, that I'm actually looking things up to learn more or to find out if that actually happened. One of those things where they get you to want to learn more.

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 Posted: Fri Nov 25th, 2011 06:06 pm
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csamillerp
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A good Civil war Fiction puts a face on the average soldier not just a regiment, company ect. When i research the civil war i tend to focus on commanders not on the common soldier. I also read the Bernard Cornwall cornwell books very good books... gives you a break from the endless facts that non-fiction books throw at you.

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 Posted: Mon Feb 13th, 2012 08:13 pm
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Pvt 13th US Inf Co D
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In my opinion Bernard Cornwell should get back to it. The series is good (at least I think it is) He should at least start it again because it is the 150th anniversary of the war.

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