Interview with Shannon McNear by Carrie Fancett Pagels

Shannon McNear

What got you interested in the colonial time period?

Well, if a decade or two of breathing the air of Charleston, South Carolina, won’t do it ... :-) Seriously, what really fired my imagination was attending my first Revolutionary War reenactment in 2006, the 230^th anniversary of the Siege of Charleston. From that day, I was seriously hooked—and this in an area probably best known for Civil War history.

What inspired your latest colonial work?

Story after story of the conflict between Americans who fought for independence and those who chose loyalty to the king.

Do you have a favorite colonial place you like to visit and why?

Old Fort Dorchester State Park, now known as Colonial Dorchester. It’s one of the few local sites that hasn’t been built over, which means there’s a wealth of archaeological finds just twelve inches or so down. Also, since it’s one of the lesser-known area attractions, it tends to be quiet and peaceful—a great place I can let my family run and play. And I love the fort and church ruins, and the cemetery.

If you care to say, you can tell readers where you live and what colonial places you have in your state or your home state if different.

We live on the outskirts of Charleston, South Carolina, and there are too many places to list! Seriously, Charleston was the busiest seaport on the southern coast during colonial times, possibly the richest. We have plantations, town homes, forts, churches (some ruined and some not), buildings of commerce, and old jails. Inland and upstate are battlefield sites in various states of upkeep (one is half under water now). Kings Mountain, which I wrote about in Defending Truth, is right up on the state line.

Do you have a favorite colonial recipe you enjoy and would like to share with readers?

Just one?? I suppose johnnycakes would be the obvious choice since they figure so prominently in Defending Truth.

Johnnycakes—or journeycakes—are essentially cornmeal pancakes. I can’t find serious provenance for the use of baking soda or powder before the early 1800’s, so the main leavening agent would have been eggs. Here’s the basic recipe as I recently tested it:

 Johnnycakes

2 cups cornmeal (stoneground is best, I grind my own with a Nutrimill, which makes the meal more “thirsty” than commercial, aged cornmeal)

½ tsp. salt

2 Tbsp. sugar

2 eggs

1 ½ c. milk, more or less

Stir dry ingredients together, beat in eggs, then add milk to make a pourable batter. Fry like pancakes—best on a hot, oiled cast iron griddle—and drench in butter. :-) Or butter and syrup, or butter and jam.

This is a very flexible recipe. You can substitute flour for half the cornmeal, or change up the sugar for honey or molasses. Definitely don’t hesitate to adjust the amount of milk to make your batter the desired consistency—a thicker batter makes for a thicker cake. Also, make them a little smaller than you think you should, since they tend to be very filling.

Story overview/blurb

On the frontier of western North Carolina, which will someday become east Tennessee, Truth Bledsoe keeps her family fed while her father is away fighting the British. When she discovers a half-starved, fugitive Tory, she’s not above feeding him, but to go past simple Christian charity to forgiveness seems impossible. To love would be unthinkable.

Micah Elliot has fled capture after the massacre at King’s Mountain, heartsick, battle weary, and ashamed of the cowardice that sent him westward over the mountains instead of eastward to home. Groping his way through a crisis of faith, he must discover and embrace what might finally be worth laying down his life for.

Author bio

Shannon McNear has been writing one thing or another since third grade and finished her first novel at age fifteen—but it would be more than thirty years before she’d receive her first book contract. In the meantime, she graduated from high school, attended college, met and married her husband, birthed nine children, lost one, taught five to drive, revised that first story innumerable times, and completed six others.

Her writing experience includes former interview coordinator and review editor for Christian Fandom, founding contributor of Speculative Faith, and founding member of the Christian Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog Tour. She has also served as area coordinator, southeast zone director, and local chapter founder and president for American Christian Fiction Writers. She's an active member of ACFW, RWA, and My Book Therapy.

At the 2012 ACFW conference, to her shock and delight, she was awarded a first-time author contract from Barbour Publishing for her historical romance novella Defending Truth. It released September 2013 as part of A Pioneer Christmas Collection.

A Midwestern farm girl transplanted more than 20 years ago to Charleston, South Carolina, she loves losing herself in local history, especially the colonial era. When not homeschooling, sewing, researching, or leaking story from her fingertips, she finds joy in worship, women’s ministry, and encouraging whoever God brings across her path.

Interview with Lori Benton, debut author of Burning Sky

I’m so pleased to present this interview with Lori Benton, debut author of Burning Sky, featured in last week’s Tea Party. Lori was born and raised east of the Appalachian Mountains, surrounded by early American and family history going back to the 1600s. Her novels transport readers to the 18^th century, where she brings to life the Colonial and early Federal periods of American history, creating a melting pot of characters drawn from both sides of a turbulent and shifting frontier, brought together in the bonds of God's transforming grace.

When she isn’t writing, reading, or researching 18th century history, Lori enjoys exploring the mountains with her husband – often scouring the brush for huckleberries, which overflow the freezer and find their way into her signature huckleberry lemon pound cake.

What got you interested in the colonial time period?

Stumbling upon good fiction set during that time period, and the movie The Patriot, with Mel Gibson. Those two things collided at the right time, and made me determined to write a hero who wore knee breeches. I wish I could claim something more profound than that as the start of all this, but it certainly led to much less frivolous reasons for my continuing interest in the 18^th century.

What inspired your latest colonial work?

Burning Sky, my first published novel, is set in 1784, right after the Revolutionary War. It’s a complicated answer, what inspired it. I’d been researching late 18^th century American history for about four years before I began Burning Sky, working on a novel set in 1790s North Carolina. But my attention kept being drawn to the Mohawk Valley of New York. The conflict in that colony during the Revolutionary War was intense, with particular animosity raging between patriot and loyalist Americans. Along with the conflict European Americans were experiencing, the Haudenosaunee (the Six Nations of the Iroquois), who had lived on that land for generations, ended up drawn into the conflict as well—not all on the same side. For a time, the Iroquois Confederacy ceased to exist as brother fought against brother.

I saw this setting, and still see it, as fertile ground for the type of stories I love to tell, stories of men and women caught between worlds (races, cultures, upbringings, beliefs)—often with loved ones facing them across the divide. After I’d decided on the setting and time period, I simply had to wait until a character showed up. It wasn’t long before Willa Obenchain came striding over the mountains, heading home.

Do you have a favorite colonial place you like to visit and why?

Living in Oregon makes it hard to visit colonial places. I have a long wish list of them I’d like to visit. A few years ago I had the pleasure of touring the late 18^th century home of General George Rogers Clark, Locust Grove, in Louisville, KY. I’ve also in recent years visited a historic home in North Carolina, the Alston House, which retains the bullet holes around its back door from a Revolutionary War skirmish that took place there.

I’m familiar with that skirmish from my own research! Do you have a favorite colonial recipe you enjoy and would like to share with readers?

I’d love to share my succotash recipe. The mixture of ingredients is far older than colonial, though. It’s the type of meal (with a few modern additions) the Iroquois often made of their three staple crops: corn, beans and squash.

Succotash

3-4 strips of bacon (more if you really like bacon)

About a Tbs. of cooking oil

½ cup chopped yellow onion

1 tsp. minced garlic (from a jar is fine)

1 c. frozen or fresh corn

½ c. chopped fresh tomato

1 c. each yellow squash and zucchini, chopped

¾ c. lima beans, cooked tender (don’t overcook), or canned

¾ c. pinto beans, cooked tender (don’t overcook), or canned

salt & pepper to taste

a pinch or two of basil, fresh or dried

Fry bacon. Preserve drippings in pan (up to about a Tbs., more if you love bacon, as this will flavor the vegetables and beans). Set bacon strips aside. Add about a Tbs. of cooking oil to the pan, if needed. Sauté chopped onion and minced garlic until onion is tender. Add corn and tomatoes. Sauté a few minutes. Add chopped zucchini and yellow squash.* Sauté until tender. Add beans, salt, pepper, and basil to taste. Stir until heated through and mixture is cooked to your satisfaction. Crumble the bacon and sprinkle on top, or stir it in too. Serve warm. Makes 3-4 servings

* Feel free to modify ingredients/portions. Substitute different types of beans and squash, or something else entirely. Add a bit of vegetable broth. You can even make it sans bacon, though I never shall. Enjoy!

Abducted by Mohawk Indians at fourteen and renamed Burning Sky, Willa Obenchain is driven to return to her family’s New York frontier homestead twelve years later. At the boundary of her father’s property, Willa discovers a wounded Scotsman lying in her path, and is obliged to nurse his injuries. The two quickly find much has changed during Willa’s absence—her childhood home is in disrepair, her missing parents are rumored to be Tories, and the young Richard Waring she once admired is now grown into a man twisted by the horrors of war and claiming ownership of the Obenchain land.

When her Mohawk brother arrives and questions her place in the white world, the cultural divide blurs Willa’s vision. Can she follow Tames-His-Horse back to the People now that she is no longer Burning Sky? And what about Neil MacGregor, the kind and loyal Scottish botanist who does not fit into her plan for a solitary life, yet is now helping her revive her farm? In the aftermath of the Revolutionary War, strong feelings against “savages” abound in the nearby village of Shiloh, leaving Willa’s safety unsure. As tensions rise, challenging her shielded heart, the woman once called Burning Sky must find a new courage—the courage to again risk embracing the blessings the Almighty wants to bestow. Is she brave enough to love again?

GIVEAWAY! Please leave a comment, including your email address, to win a copy of this most excellent story.

Carrie Fancett Pagels Interviewed on Blog Talk Radio

Return to Shirley Plantation: A Civil War Romance by Carrie Fancett Pagels

Carrie Fancett Pagels was interviewed on Giovanni Gelatti's Blog Talk Radio, Tuesday, March 26th. Julian Charity, Historian from the beautiful colonial Shirley Plantation, also answered questions as did Murray Pura, Editor for the anthology "Cry of Freedom."
Link to the show: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/gelatisscoop/2013/03/26/launch-party-for-cry-of-freedo0m

Listen to part (or all!) of the show and come back and leave a comment here. Question: What were you surprised by when you listened to the interview? 

Giveaway: Three commenters will win a PDF copy of Carrie's upcoming ebook novella release "Return to Shirley Plantation: A Civil War Romance."  One person will receive Shirley Plantation note cards, chocolate(!), a PDF copy of Carrie's novella and a copy of Julian Charity's book on Military history of Shirley Plantation. 

Joan Hochstetler interview

Joan Hochstetler is the author of Daughter of Liberty, Book 1 of The American Patriot Series.

Published by: Sheaf House Publishers

Date: April 1, 2012

Joan is also the author of 3 other books, Native Son and Wind of the Spirit, books 2 and 3 of the American Patriot Series, and a contemporary novel, One Holy Night. Her website is http://www.jmhochstetler.com or www.theamericanpatriotseries.com


Joan, what got you interested in the colonial time period?

I was raised a Mennonite, and the history of the Hochstetlers is well known in the Amish and Mennonite community. You’ll find our family’s story on the Hochstetler History page on my author website. In 1757 my ancestors were caught up in one of the last Indian attacks on the border settlements in Pennsylvania during the French and Indian War. So that first drew my attention to the colonial era.

What really got me started writing about it however, was The Scarlet Pimpernel, a fabulous TV movie from 1982 starring Anthony Andrews and Jane Seymour. It was set during the French Revolution, and I absolutely adored it. ADORED it! I knew immediately that I HAD to write my own version of the story. Alas, I wasn’t in the least interested in the French Revolution, plus there was no reason to duplicate that setting. Luckily we had our own Revolution, and my hero turned out to be a girl. And so it began . . .

What inspired your latest colonial work?

My latest book, Crucible of War, Book 4 of the series, releases in September 2012, after the re-release of Daughter of Liberty and Native Son in the new Heritage Edition. In the course of researching the first volumes, I uncovered so much fascinating material that it quickly became apparent it would be impossible to do justice to our nation’s founding in only 2 or 3 volumes. Wind of the Spirit ends right before the crucial battles of Trenton and Princeton, which left that story yet to be told. And much, much more. That keeps me going. Every time I start to think I have to give up this crazy obsession, I look ahead to all the pivotal events still coming up, and I’m re-inspired. People today know so little about what our founding generation suffered and sacrificed, and I refuse to allow that legacy ever to be forgotten.



Do you have a favorite colonial place you like to visit and why?

Oh, Colonial Williamsburg, without a doubt. I’ve only visited there once in the flesh—someday I’m going to go back for sure—but I’ve been on their website many times. Living history just doesn’t get any better. The interpretation of the colonial and Revolutionary periods of this country is impressive. Every citizen of this country ought to take a pilgrimage there at least once in their lifetime.





If you care to say, you can tell readers where you live and what colonial places you have in your state or your home state if different.

I’ve lived in the Nashville, Tennessee, area for many years, and one of my favorite colonial/early American sites to visit is Rock Castle on the east side in Hendersonville. The home was built by Daniel Smith, a surveyor, captain in the Revolutionary War, United States Senator, and Indian treaty negotiator, among other accomplishments.

Joan also has a favorite colonial recipe she enjoys and would like to share with readers. It's called Iroquois Soup and you can find it Sunday, May 20, on CQ.

Thank you for being our guest today on Colonial Quills, Joan.
Thank you for having me! And, I’ll be giving away a copy of the new Heritage Edition of both Daughter of Liberty and Native Son.

Be sure to leave a comment to be included in a drawing for giveaways of Joan's books! They're available for purchase on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Christianbook.com.

Interview with Kelly Long - Author of New Colonial Amish series

Last year, when our new member to Colonial American Christian Writers, Kelly Long, told me she was writing an Amish Colonial series, I was thrilled!  I was the only one in the group writing about characters who had emigrated from that part of Europe. Plus with the interest in the Amish, I really hoped and prayed that when this book came out we’d also have an increased interest in colonial American books.  I have had the pleasure of listening to five of Kelly’s eight books/novellas. She is an amazing author. 

I am looking forward to reading Arms of Love (Publisher -  Thomas Nelson, 2012) when it becomes available for purchase on April 3^rd.

Kelly, what got you interested in the colonial time period?

It was truly because I felt there was a missing piece in our cultural perceptions of the Amish—their past. I wanted to look at their flight from Europe to their beginnings in Lancaster County, America. At the turn of the eighteenth century, there were only 500-1200 Amish in America.

What inspired your latest colonial work?

This latest work, Arms of Love, was inspired by a desire to explore Amish beginnings as well as to pay tribute to those who suffer from PTSD, a disorder which has ravaged two of my loved ones. And, I wanted the chance to do a Novel Bible Study…a four week study at the back of the book which uses the novel as a launching off point to discuss Biblical application in everyday lives.

Do you have a favorite colonial place you like to visit and why?

Two of my children were born in New Hampshire…I’d like to go back there for a bit for the memories.

Kelly, do you have a favorite colonial recipe you enjoy?

I can share an Amish recipe… Readers, you can find a Whoopie pie cookie recipe from Kelly this coming Saturday on CQ!

Get connected: Kelly Long can be found on Facebook (Fans of Kelly Long) or Twitter (KellyLongAmish) or blogging on Fridays at Amishhearts.com or Amishliving.com. 

Giveaway:  Kelly Long books can be purchased at CBD and other book sellers. Kelly will be giving away a signed copy of Arms of Love!

Lisa Norato Interview

LISA NORATO is the author of PRIZE OF MY HEART, published by BETHANY HOUSE, March 1, 2012. Lisa Norato is also the author of two romances previously published by Five Star Publishing.  Her website is http://www.lisanorato.com. She is a brand new member of Colonial American Christian Writers and we are so happy to have her in our group!

Lisa, what got you interested in the colonial time period?

I grew up on the New England coast, exposed to and influenced by its rich history and folklore.  I went on school trips to living history museums like Plimoth Plantation (depicting 17^th century Pilgrim life in Plymouth, Massachusetts) and weekend outings to Old Sturbridge Village (depicting early New England life from 1790-1840).  As I grew older, summers always included day trips to historic Newport, where on one occasion I toured a eighteenth-century replica of Captain Cook’s square-rigged ship Endeavor, and family vacations on Cape Cod, including a visit to the Whydah Pirate Museum in Provincetown filled artifacts of the 1717 pirate wreck.  With this long-engrained appreciation for the time period, a New England early American setting seemed the natural choice for my work. 

What inspired your latest colonial work?

Prize of My Heart began with the idea of a man searching for his lost son, the most precious thing in the world to him.  As I thought it over, I was reminded of the Biblical story of Abraham and Isaac.  What if he were forced to choose between the son he loved and obeying God?

The novel takes place during New England’s Federal period.  Like most romantics, I’m inspired by the works of Jane Austen.  I love the Regency era, but I knew for my own story, I wanted my characters to be American.  At the end of the war of 1812, well-built sailing vessels were very much in demand in America, and by this time Duxbury, Massachusetts, had developed into one of the country’s leading shipbuilding centers.  My heroine’s home is actually modeled after the King Caesar house, the Federal style mansion of shipbuilder and merchant, Ezra Weston II built in 1809.  During this time, Lloyds of London named him owner of the largest trading company and fleet of ships in America.  The house is preserved and owned by the Duxbury Rural & Historical Society and is opens for tours.

Do you have a favorite colonial place you like to visit and why?

I work in downtown Providence, Rhode Island, where I love walking along nearby Benefit Street.  Benefit Street is its own outdoor history museum, as it’s lined with historical architecture dating from the 1780s and includes churches and residences, from elegant mansions to modest homes, all built in the period’s Federal style.  In keeping with the period architecture, the front doors to these dwellings open up onto the sidewalk.  If not for automobiles parked on the narrow street, the view is literally like glimpsing back in time 150 to 200 years.  Most of the buildings have plaques outside their doors to indicate the year they were built and other interesting information.

Giveaway:  Leave a comment for a chance to win a copy of Lisa’s new release!!! 

Interview with Gina Welborn

Gina Welborn

Gina Welborn is the author of “Sugarplum Hearts” in the Highland Crossings anthology.

Published by: Barbour Publishing

Date: February 2012

Gina, what got you interested in the colonial time period?

Fame and fortune. I’d written manuscripts in numerous other time-periods but couldn’t sell them for various reasons, so Laurie Alice asked me if I’d like to join a novella collection about Scottish immigrants. My thoughts immediately went to my name slathered in itty bitty font beneath the names of the other fabulous authors in the collection, which had been a lifelong dream of mine from the second I'd been asked me to join the collection. So I said “absolutely yes!” and totally ignored the fact I knew practically nothing about the colonial era besides what I’d learned from multiple family trips to Jamestown and Yorktown. Since the collection was to be a generational one, I immediately went about praying I would get the last story, preferably, set around 1840. Clearly God, Laurie, Pamela, and Jennifer had better things in mind for me. My novella is set 1790 in the beautiful Fayetteville, North Carolina. In fact, I’ve grown to love the early federalist era so much that I wrote “Sugarplum Hearts” with the intention of someday telling the romances of three (or more) secondary characters in the novella. Feel free to guess which ones as I await fame and fortune to come my way.

What inspired your latest colonial work?

Wikipedia. Carrie, don’t give me that “be serious” look. (CFP: I am giving Gina the Carrie "eye" right now!) Really, Wikipedia. Since what little I knew about the colonial era was from reading “A Patriot’s History of the United States” and from watching Glenn Beck when he was on Fox, I set about googling. Somehow I came across an article about candy-making that resonated with me. When the original plot idea I had wasn’t working out, I called my mentor, friend, and writing partner in this collection, Laurie Alice Eakes. She asked me of all the research I had done, what one thing stood out to me the most. Candy. Sweets. Lemon drops and toffee and marzipan figurines. Her suggestion was to make my hero the immigrant instead of my heroine. We then brainstormed a bit more until I had the basics of plot and main characters.

Do you have a favorite colonial place you like to visit and why?

Gina's mother with two of her children at Jamestown

We live a little over an hour away from Jamestown. In the last ten years we’ve been in Virginia, we’ve taken various extended family members and friends to visit sites all over the state, including Jamestown both before and after the 400^th anniversary renovations. The new museum is glamazing! Plus we always have fun playing in the fort, in the native huts, and on the boat replicas. History doesn’t have to be boring. Nor should it! It’s hard to go to any of the museums and reenactment sites in Virginia and not be in awe, fall in love, and have fun no matter what time-period is the focus.

Gina, do you have a favorite colonial recipe you enjoy?  Would you care to share it with CQ readers?  Readers, you can find Gina’s Apple Pie recipe this coming Saturday on CQ.

I love desserts of any time-period. Yum-me. Many of the food items readily accessible to us, such as sugar and refined flour, were expensive and often in short supply during Colonial times so desserts were not an everyday thing. However, many foods we consider desserts were meal-time basics: fruit pies/cobblers/crisps, marmalades, jams, jellies, and candied nuts. Dried and preserved fruit helped many a colonial family through a winter when hunting and fishing were scarce. 

Here’s an overview of Highland Blessings:

Head to historic North Carolina where a brooch unites the lives and loves of four women. Dangerous accusations force Seona to leave Scotland with the brooch in tow, but will she find peace before her past is revealed? Years later, Fiona hopes to recover the brooch only to wind up on the whipping block. Can she trust the man who comes to her rescue? Seren sells the brooch to open a confectionery, but will the precious heirloom be lost to a hopeless dream? When the brooch is stolen, can Brynna reclaim it before she loses something even more valuable?

Here’s the official snippet about Gina's story:

When Scottish broker Finley Sinclair bargains he can sell Seren Cardew’s entire stock of candy for triple the selling price, she thinks he’s out of his newly-immigrated mind. But Seren is desperate to make a go of her fledgling business. With little funds left after selling a treasured family heirloom, Seren knows Finley’s proposal is what’s needed to save her dream. But on the way, he might steal her stock. . .and her heart.

Links to buy Highland Crossings:

Christian Book Distributors

Highland Crossings at Amazon 

HC at Book Depository 

Highland Crossings at Barnes and Noble 

Author bio:  Years—okay, eons—ago, Gina Welborn worked in news radio scripting copy until she realized how depressing human tragedy was, so she took up writing romances and now only thinks “It is time for a dead body?” when she’s at a lull in her newest manuscript. This Oklahoma-raised gal now lives in Richmond, Virginia with her youth-pastor husband, their five Okie-Hokie children, and a Sharpador Retriever who doesn’t retrieve much of anything (but he can sit really well). Her first novella, “Sugarplum Hearts,” part of the HIGHLAND CROSSINGS anthology, will be released by Barbour in February 2012. Her second novella, “All Ye Faithful,” in A CASCADES CHRISTMAS release later in 2012. Gina likes to put a spiritual spin on her rambling at www.ginawelborn.com or at www.inkwellinspirations.com, a team blog with eleven other inspirational authors.

Giveaway:  Gina is giving away a copy of Highland Crossings this week.  Leave a comment and your email address to enter in the drawing (next Sunday).