Eighteenth-century Philadelphia smelt bad. That’s one tidbit I discovered when researching my latest book, The Shenandoah Road: A Novel of the Great Awakening. And there were waves of disease: smallpox, malaria, and yellow fever. New Englanders and Quakers had decent standards of personal hygiene, but horses pooped everywhere, and there were no toilets, only “necessaries” […]
Behind the Scenes: Author Pamela S. Meyers dreamed of traveling back in time
Having grown up in the small resort town of Lake Geneva, WI, I’d heard for as long as I could remember how the wealthy of Chicago had come north to Geneva Lake after the Great Chicago Fire to build large (sometimes gargantuan) homes on the lakeshore to house their families while the city was rebuilt. […]
Behind the Scenes: Author Carole Brown listened to her mother’s stories of World War II
Do you have a favorite military picture of a loved one? My journey into learning about the spies of World War II begin with my mother’s tales of living through the war and the pictures I saw. The romance, bravery, fashions, vocabulary, the shows and music, so much nostalgia—all of it fostered a love of this […]
Behind the Scenes: Author Leeann Betts discusses the fact that she is a pseudonym
Several people have asked me “Why a pseudonym?”, so I thought perhaps more readers and authors might want to know the answer, as well. Within the Christian community, I’ve had folks who said, “Isn’t that like lying?” The answer to the first question is perhaps easier than to the second. So I’ll start with the […]
Behind the Scenes: Author Debra E. Marvin identifies the murder weapon
I recently had the great pleasure of writing a mystery for Journey Fiction’s Nosy Parker series based on ‘grown-up’ fans of the girl detective—girls of the fifties who’d obsessively read those books many of us also grew up with. My original idea was to have a 1950s heroine with a history degree become involved with […]
Behind the Scenes: Author Linda Shenton Matchett always wanted to be a reporter
During my young adult and career years, my writing opportunities ebbed and flowed, but I kept my hand in “reporting” through school year books and newspapers, and employee newsletters, with the occasional article in a community publication. When my husband and I relocated to NH to open a B&B, I once again found myself involved […]
Behind the Scenes: Author Tamera Lynn Kraft fell in love with the Greatest Generation
Alice’s Notions is the story I always wanted to write. The 1940s was such an interesting period of time to write about. This generation was called “the greatest generation” for good reason. This was the generation, forged in the trials of the Great Depression, who put their lives on hold and sacrificed everything to fight […]
Behind the Scenes: Author Gail Kittleson’s parents and her fiction
We don’t often reflect on the forces molding our childhood experiences until much later in life. Here I am in my sixties, finally considering how much World War II affected my parents, and therefore, my siblings and me. The Women of The Heartland Series, I realize now, found its roots in my parents’ moorings. Dad […]
Behind the Scenes: Author Susan Page Davis mirrors her ancestors’ lives in her stories
My Great-aunt Belle left a journal she wrote in the 1920s and ’30s. She died in 1939 at the age of 55 from complications of appendicitis. I never got the chance to know her, and I would love to be able to sit down with her for a cup of tea. Aunt Belle noted so […]
Behind the Scenes: Author Denise Weimer watched her folks restore a house
When I ask if God has ever taken you out of your comfort zone to perform a character overhaul on you, does a specific time and situation leap to mind? Often this happens when we discover something isn’t what it appears to be, or isn’t what we hoped. That new job. The place we moved […]