This is the final post in a 4-part series about the research that went into Taylor Davis and the Quest for the Immortal Blade, book three in my Taylor Davis trilogy. The Silk Road was a network of overland trade routes connecting Europe and the Middle East to the Orient. It flourished during the Middle Ages […]
The Nestorian Trading Community and the Start of the Black Death
This is the third in a 4-part series about the research that went into Taylor Davis and the Quest for the Immortal Blade, book three in the Taylor Davis trilogy. The Black Death outbreak of the fourteenth century features heavily in my final Taylor Davis book. Over a course of approximately 15-20 years, the pandemic followed […]
A Lost Armenian Monastery and the Bones of St. Matthew
This is the second in a 4-part series about the research that went into Taylor Davis and the Quest for the Immortal Blade, book three in the Taylor Davis trilogy. My research into my last Taylor Davis book carried me to Kyrgyzstan, where I found some fascinating history and legends concerning the coming of Christianity to […]
Taylor Davis: Lake Issyk-Kul
This is the first in a 4-part series about the research that went into Taylor Davis and the Quest for the Immortal Blade, book three in the Taylor Davis trilogy. Eight years ago, in 2013, I published Taylor Davis and the Flame of Findul. Book two, Taylor Davis and the Clash of Kingdoms followed the […]
Grand Rapids-Kalamazoo Plank Road
In 1862, when Blood of Pioneers takes place, most of Michigan’s commercial centers were located along Lake Huron—within easy reach of Detroit by boat—or along the rail corridor that ran between Detroit and Chicago. Grand Rapids, you’ll note, was not close to either. The settlement began as a trading post and blacksmith shop on the […]
Second Baptist Church of Detroit
Second Baptist Church of Detroit is a historic and still-functioning church that features in my middle grade historical fiction novel, The Candle Star. Organized in 1836, a year before Michigan became a state, it claims the honor of being the oldest Black congregation in the midwest. The congregation moved to its present location in 1857, […]
What's Next?
I’ve had a few people ask me what’s next on my agenda. I’ve been a little secretive. I’m still going to be a little secretive, but I’ll give you a broad hint at the end of this post. But first, what have I been doing? Reading. Reading and reading and reading. I’ve reread old favorites […]
Confessions of a Newly Full-Time Writer
I’ve been pretty silent on here lately. Those who have been hanging with me awhile know everything changed for me last spring when I decided to send my last homeschooler to public school. I made the decision to go mercenary–write in a popular genre and see what I could accomplish and what kind of money […]
Ebb Tide: Mitchelville
This is the third in a three-part series about writing and researching my upcoming young adult historical fiction novel, Ebb Tide, the third book in my Ella Wood trilogy. (Part 1: The Port Royal Experiment; part 2: African American POW Trial.) Mitchelville, on Hilton Head Island, which was located in close proximity to the Union […]
Ebb Tide: African American Soldier POW Trial
This is the second in a three-part series about writing and researching my upcoming young adult historical fiction novel, Ebb Tide, the third book in my Ella Wood trilogy. (Part 1: The Port Royal Experiment.) Ebb Tide continues the theme of the evolution of Black soldiers in the Civil War, begun in Blood Moon. The First (July […]