Interview of Author - Bert Goolsby

The winner of a copy of The Locusts of Padgett County is           Debby Johnson -- Congratulations!!!

Question 1

Are experiences in your novel based on someone you know, or events in your own life?

Writers are told, “Write what you know.” (I recognize, however, it is difficult to write what you don’t know.) Much like any writer, I write what I know or have experienced; and what I don’t know, I try to make it something I do know by researching the matter.) I am blessed with a legal education and experience, a lot of it in the trial and appellate courts. Much of what I write about comes from these areas. As any lawyer will tell you, each case that lands on the lawyer’s desk is a story in itself─having setting, characters, conflict, and a resolution of some kind. I am also blessed with having grown up in the Deep South during interesting periods of American history, namely World War II (that’s “two” and not “eleven” as I understand one TV news reader put it) and the years immediately following it, years marked by their own upheavals─the Korean and Vietnam wars, the civil rights revolution, and a President’s assassination.

Question 2

Did you have to travel much concerning your book(s)? If so, what’s the most interesting place you traveled?

The only traveling I do is back in time; and if I am unfamiliar with a place or entertain an uncertainty about it, I travel there electronically via the internet. For example, for use in a novel I am presently writing, the working title of which is Beyond Millstone, I searched for a 1965 road map of Texas to fashion a route that my protagonist, a lawyer, might follow as he travels westward toward Abilene, Texas, to find a missing heiress.

Question 3

Which of your characters is most/least like you, and in what way(s)?

I suppose to some extent I resemble each of the lawyers I write about in my novels Harpers’ Joy (Grace Abraham 2005), The Trials of Lawyer Pratt(Publishing by Rebecca J. Vickery 2011), and The Locusts of Padgett County(Alondra Press 2012). In Lawyer Pratt, I include a number of “war stories” that grew out of my experiences as a trial lawyer and as an appellate judge. I guess the character Andrew Beauchamp, the criminal prosecutor-protagonist in Locusts, comes closest to being me and Candle Reid, the lawyer-protagonist in Harpers’ Joy, being the least like me. Both, however, make mistakes of judgment while wanting to do the right thing; but Candle can be lazy and is an alcoholic, separated from his wife and children.

Question 4

Do you read reviews of your books? If so, do you pay any attention to them, or let them influence your writing?

I do read the reviews. I just wish there were more of them. They serve to encourage me to write more, if they are good, and to try to write better, if they are not so good.

Question 5

What book are you reading now?

I just finished reading Empire of the Summer Moon (Simon & Schuster 2010), an account of the rise and fall of the Comanche Indians in Texas, and The Harbinger (Charisma House Group 2011), a story that explains how the judgments of Isaiah 9:10 are relevant today.

Question 6

What are your current projects?

As I mentioned above, I am writing a novel presently entitled Beyond Millstone, having just finished the first draft. The plot, revolving as it does around a lawyer’s search for a missing heiress, takes the reader on a journey to Texas and introduces the reader along the way to interesting, sometimes quirky characters, such as a pair of ventriloquists, whose dummies “Kuddles” and“Sprinkles” hate one another’s operator, and a tent revivalist, Brother Jimmy Holcomb, who convinces Kuddles to become an evangelist, ministering to children. My principal focus today, however, is on promoting my recently published novel, The Locusts of Padgett County (Alondra Press 2012).

Question 7

If you could have dinner with one of your characters, who would it be and why?

Of all my creations, I am most fond of Tweeve Huggins, the wife of Delaware Huggins, the narrator of Her Own Law (Xlibris 1998), my first novel, and the aunt of Skeets McLendon, the twelve-year-old narrator of Familiar Shadows (Publishing by Rebecca J. Vickery 2011). A female author friend once told me that Tweeve is her “role model.” Tweeve, a very determined, resourceful woman reminds me of my mother who, like Tweeve, though deprived of much in the way of formal education, took charge of everything and everyone around her. Tweeve, like my mom, views herself as gifted with having “walking around sense,” a gift that enables one, not only to meet any challenge, no matter what it is, but to prevail against it.

Question 8

Do you have any upcoming events?

I have a scheduled appearance before a senior-citizens group at the Redeemer Lutheran Church in Columbia to talk about my writing and to promote my books, particularly my latest novel, The Locusts of Padgett County. The latter is a historically based novel set in the Deep South when racial prejudice shaped much of its laws and the administration of justice. The inspiration for the story is the 1909 South Carolina Supreme Court appeal from Greenville County, State v. Johnson, 84 S.C. 45, 65 S.E. 1023 (1909). The case, as does my story, involves a black janitor prosecuted for assault with intent to ravish, a death-penalty offense at the time. The janitor touched a white woman on the shoulder as she practiced piano in a school auditorium.

I’ll be speaking on January 9, 2013, at the noon gathering of the Retired Officers Wives at the Officers Club at Fort Jackson, SC.  I’ll be talking about “You Have It Within You,” which will refer to what to write about and the sources of stories.

All of Bert’s books, both novels and short-story collections, are listed on www.amazon.com and www.barnesandnoble.com. Most are available in both book and electronic formats such as Kindle and Nook. Smashwords offers three of his novels in electronic formats at www.smashwords.com.

He can be reached at www.ctgllb@aol.com

For a review of his latest work, see: http://www.amazon.com/Locusts-Padgett-County-Bert-Goolsby/dp/0985490918/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1352509262&sr=1-1&keywords=bert+goolsby

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

Bert Goolsby is a former Chief Deputy Attorney General of South Carolina who once headed the Criminal Division of the Office of Attorney General and served as Acting Solicitor or as a special prosecutor in a number of judicial circuits throughout the State. He is also a retired Judge of the South Carolina Court of Appeals. He attended the University of Alabama but later transferred to The Citadel where he received his undergraduate degree. He received his law degree from the University of South Carolina and an advanced law degree from the University of Virginia. Raised in Dothan, Alabama, he now resides with his wife Prue in Columbia, South Carolina. They have one son, Philip Lane Goolsby, M.D., of Green Bay, Wisconsin.
(Bert wanted me to mention that I designed the book cover for his novel, The Trials of Lawyer Pratt.)

Please leave a comment for a chance to win a copy of Bert's novel, The Locusts of Padgett County. Drawing will be Friday, November 23.  Please leave an email address, or if you are the announced winner, contact me a sfc58@sc.rr.com.

 

 

Winner of Murder in Marietta

The winner of Deborah Malone's novel Murder in Marietta is ----

Megan Parsons.

 

Congratulations Megan!

Colonial Quills Blog Features A Forted Frontier Holiday

On each Monday for the next two months, the authors of the Colonial Quills blog will give a gift of their writing for their readers!

 

The anthology is entitled A Forted Frontier Holiday: A Colonial American Anthology.  In nine installments, the authors will bring their characters from throughout colonial America into Fort Providence in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia.

 

 

 

Here’s a list of the installments (including mine, which is Part 2 posted Nov.  12):

Part 1 - Inside Fort Providence by Carrie Fancett Pagels (Nov. 5)

Part 2 - A Providential Proposal by Susan Craft (Nov. 12)

Part 3 - Landlocked by Carla Olson Gade (Nov. 19)

Part 4 - Preserve My Life From Fear by Elaine Marie Cooper (Nov. 26)

Part 5 - A Gift from Buckskin Samson by Kathy Maher (Dec. 3)

Part 6 - Narrow Passage by Pat Iacuzzi (Dec. 10)

Part 7 - Untitled by Lynn Squire (Dec. 17)

Part 8 - Christmastide by Carrie Fancett Pagels (Dec. 24)

Part 9 - Amish Snow by Kelly Long (Dec. 31)

If you love a good story set in colonial America, then visit

http://colonialquills.blogspot.com/

 

Once on the blog, learn more about the authors of the anthology by visiting the Contributors Page.

 

Meet My Guest Author, Deborah Malone

Leave a comment and get a chance to win a copy of Murder in Marietta --                         drawing will be at 9 p.m. November 14

(Please, leave an email address, or, if you're not comfortable doing that, when I make the announcement and you are the winner, contact me at my email address listed on this site.)

 

What fun to “cyber meet” Deborah Malone (Debbie) after reading her first novel Death in Dahlonega while my sister and I were on one of our jaunts that happened to be in Dahlonega, GA.  And now, she’s written Murder in Marietta, where my sister lives. Can’t wait to purchase the book for my sister (and a copy for me too!).

Deborah Malone’s first novel Death in Dahlonega was a finalist in the American Christian Fiction Writer’s Category Five writing contest! Deborah was also nominated for the 2012 Georgia Author of the Year in First Novel category.

She has worked as a freelance writer and photographer for the historic magazine “Georgia Backroads.” She has had many articles and photographs published, and her writing is featured in “Tales of the Rails,” edited by Olin Jackson. She is a member of the Georgia Writer’s Association. As a current member of the American Christian Fiction Writers she has established a blog where she reviews Christian Fiction.

 

Question 1

What was the inspiration or motivation behind the book?

Thank you so much for having me Susan.

Since this is a series, I’ll tell you a little why I wrote cozies.  I’ve always loved to read, so I think it was natural that I’d transition into writing. Mysteries have been my genre of choice since I was a young girl and loved to read Nancy Drew.  Cozy mysteries are one of my favorites, and Ann George has been a big influence on my writing. As for writing Christian fiction – Margaret Daley’s books were a big influence. I’d written several articles on Dahlonega and Marietta and I loved the settings. It was an easy choice for me.

 

Question 2

What is the most important thing you hope your readers will get from your books and why?

     There aren’t any deep messages in Murder in Marietta, but there is a theme of forgiveness and faith. For the most part, I hope I make someone laugh and take them away from the stresses of real life for just a while. I want them to have some laugh out loud moments.

 

Question 3

As you researched for your book, did you learn anything that particularly touched your heart?

When I was writing the article about Marietta, the one the book is based on, I discovered the owner of the Kennesaw House (now the Marietta Museum of History) had written a diary. I was able to get a copy and it was amazing. She and her family (husband and three girls) lived there during the Civil War. This family was from the north and they were right smack dab in the south so of course their outlook on war was different than those who lived around them. I was touched and awed to be reading about the life of someone who had lived over 100 years ago.

 

Question 4

If you could have dinner with one of your characters, who would it be and why?

Oh my goodness this is a hard one because there are three main characters. I think I’d like to meet Nana. She is a little spitfire who is not about to sit in a rocking chair and grow old. She has a wisdom about her that comes with age. However, I’m not sure I’d want to be around when she gets involved with some of her antics. J

 

Question 5

What is your favorite bible verse and why?

I have several, but one of my favorite is Proverbs 3:5. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.

 

Question 6

Upcoming events? 

I’m really excited about a couple of things coming up. On November 10  and 11 Dahlonega, GA, will be holding a book festival. I was invited to be one of the regional authors. Then my book signing/book launch for Murder in Marietta will be held November 17, 2012. Can you say, too much fun?

 

You can reach Debbie at several web sites:

www.deborah-malone.com

www.deborahsbutterflyjourney.blogspot.com

www.sleuthsandsuspects.com

www.cozymysterymagazine.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/deborahmal

 

You can buy Debbie’s books at:

www.amazon.com

www.barnesandnoble.com

Walnut Grove Plantation Revolutionary War Skirmish

Walnut Grove Plantation Skirmish, Spartanburg, SC

I recently visited the Walnut Grove Plantation in Spartanburg, SC, and discovered the poignant story of a skirmish that more than likely was played out in many places in the backcountry during the Revolutionary War.

Soldier's tent

Near the end of the war, Captain William “Bloody Bill” Cunningham deserted the Americans and became a partisan leader for the British.  He gathered a band of loyalists who took it upon themselves to take their revenge on the patriots.  Captain Cunningham and his men passed through the counties of Newberry and Laurens and ended their career in the present county of Spartanburg.

barter

A young wounded patriot, Captain Steadman, lay upstairs in the Moore’s manor house.  The Moores were patriots who were caring for the captain who was engaged to marry one of their daughters. On the day of the Walnut Grove Plantation skirmish, two patriots came to visit Captain Steadman, but Bloody Bill Cunningham and his men entered the house and murdered Steadman and his friends as they tried to escape.

Soldier prepares dinner

         Meanwhile, Kate Barry, a spy and scout during the Revolution, learned of the attack on her father’s house and rode to get her husband’s militia company. Her husband, Captain Andrew Barry, rushed his troops to Walnut Grove Plantation and drove off the loyalists. He was too late to save Steadman, but kept the house from burning.


spinners at Walnut Grove reenactment

The three patriots were buried by the Moore family, and their graves were the beginning of the family cemetery.

Rosanna Farrow, A SC Revolutionary War Heroine



A typical backcountry cabin.



Rosanna Farrow was proud of the fact that she had five sons old enough to fight for liberty. When her boys went to war, she and her daughters were left alone, unprotected and surrounded by Tory neighbors. There was often not enough food, and sometimes when their home was in danger from the enemy, they hid out in the woods and swamps in hollow trees and the rocky coves of the Enoree River.

They slept with pistols or weapons of some kind under their pillows, for they never knew when the enemy would come to their door.

One night, a messenger came to tell her that three of her sons had been captured and were in a jail in Ninety-Six, a British post in the SC backcountry. The commander, Colonel Cruger, who was prepared to hang the boys, offered to trade them one rebel for two British soldiers.

Lt. Col. John H. Cruger

After instructing her daughters to stay indoors and to keep the doors and windows closed, she grabbed a rifle and ran to the stable where she caught and saddled a colt. The only horse left on the place, it had never been ridden. Nevertheless, she sprung into the saddle and bound herself to it with a girth. As she rode away, she shouted to her daughters, “It is not the most comfortable way of riding.”

She made her way towards Fair Forest camp in the present region of Spartanburg, SC. This region was inhabited by only a few hunters and some scattered families and Indians. Her path was a lonely wilderness, broken only by hills and streams.

Ninety-Six, SC

Arriving at Colonel Williams' camp, he granted her six British prisoners and a guard. Not stopping for rest, she rode on for miles through barren wilderness and gloomy forest. Before daybreak of the second night of her wild ride, she caught sight of the English standard waving above the scarlet uniforms of the British, and with her apron as a flag of truce, she dashed up to the camp commander, Colonel Cruger, and informed him of her mission.

Colonel Cruger replied, “Well, you are just in time, for I had given orders for those rebellious youngsters of yours to be hanged at sunrise, but I guess you can take the rebels.”

“My sons!” she cried, then turning with eyes flashing with indignation, she retorted, “I have given you two for one, Colonel Cruger, but understand that I consider it the best trade I ever made, for rest assured, hereafter the ‘Farrow boys’ will whip you four to one.”

As she dashed off followed by her sons, a soldier remarked, “That's a pretty good speech for so dainty a lady, but she is as warm for the cause as the men.”

So long as she lived, Mrs. Farrow was admired and loved, and it is said that even years after, the eyes of the British soldiers flashed with pleasure when they talked of this South Carolina daughter.

Samuel Farrow

One of her boys, Samuel, lived to represent Pinckney District in Congress, and a portrait of him now hangs in Washington showing the sabre scar on his face made at the Battle of Musgrove's Hill.

Samuel Farrow lies buried in the family burying ground near Enoree Station in Spartanburg County. Where the noble mother lies is not known, but history will always cherish the memory of one whose warm heart and love of country prompted her to so daring a deed of heroism.

(A lot of this information was taken directly from An Essay, by Miss Ruth Petty, Converse College, Class of 1897)

Footnote: Samuel Farrow served in the US Congress and the SC House and was Lt. Governor of SC from 1810-1812. Subsequent research indicates that Mrs. Farrow's burial place was found along with other family members in a pasture near the Enoree River in South Carolina.

Colonial Women of Edenton Rebel

Not Your Typical Tea Party

On October 25, 1774, a group of women in Edenton, NC, formed an alliance to support the American cause against taxation without representation.

Mrs. Penelope Barker

Following the example set by the Boston Tea Party, fifty-one women, organized by Mrs. Penelope Barker and meeting at the home of Mrs. Elizabeth King, drew up resolves declaring their intention to boycott English tea and English cloth.

The custom of tea drinking was deeply instilled in the colonists’ lives. Almost every home had a tea service, and social occasions were often defined by the amount of tea served. So, swearing off tea was no small matter.

From the Morning Chronicle and London Advertiser, January 16, 1775, came the following account of the Edenton Tea Party and the only authentic list of signers of the resolutions.

Extract of a letter from North Carolina, Oct. 27:

The Provincial Deputies of North Carolina having resolvd not to drink any more tea, nor wear any more British cloth, &c. many ladies of this Province have determined to give a memorable proof of their patriotism, and have accordingly entered into the following honourable and spirited association. I send it to you, to shew your fair countrywomen, how zealously and faithfully American ladies follow the laudable example of their husbands, and what opposition your Ministers may expect to receive from a people thus firmly united against them.

RESOLVED

As we cannot be indifferent on any occasion that appears nearly to affect the peace and happiness of our country, and as it has thought necessary, for the public good, to enter into several particular resolves by a meeting of Members deputed from the whole Province, it is a duty which we owe, not only to our near and dear connections who have concurred in them, but to ourselves who are essentially interested in their welfare, to do everything as far as lies in our power to testify our sincere adherence to the same; and we do therefore accordingly subscribe this paper, as a witness of our fixed intention and solemn determination to do so.

 

Abagail Charlton         Mary Blount

F. Johnstone                Elizabeth Creacy

Margaret Cathcart       Elizabeth Patterson

Anne Johnstone          Jane Wellwood

Margaret Pearson        Mary Woolard

Penelope Dawson       Sarah Beasley

Jean Blair                    Susannah Vail

Grace Clayton             Elizabeth Vail

Frances Hall                Elizabeth Vail

Mary Jones                  Mary Creacy

Anne Hall                    Mary Creacy

Rebecca Bondfield     Ruth Benbury

Sarah Littlejohn          Sarah Howcott

Penelope Barker          Sarah Hoskins

Elizabeth P. Ormond Mary Littledle

M. Payne                     Sarah Valentine

Elizabeth Johnston      Elizabeth Crickett

Mary Bonner               Elizabeth Green

Lydia Bonner             Mary Ramsay

Sarah Howe                Anne Horniblow

Lydia Bennet             Mary Hunter

Marion Wells               Tresia Cunningham

Anne Anderson           Elizabeth Roberts

Sarah Mathews           Elizabeth Roberts

Anne Haughton          Elizabeth Roberts

Elizabeth Beasly          

The Edenton Tea Party shocked the Western world, and when news of it reached Britain, because it was a political effort by women, it was met with ridicule and sarcasm.

Political Cartoon Regarding the
Edenton Tea Party

For example, in January 1775, Arthur Iredell wrote the following to his brother, James Iredell:

Is there a female congress at Edenton, too? I hope not, for we Englishmen are afraid of the male congress, but if the ladies, who have ever since the Amazonian era been esteemed the most formidable enemies: if they, I say, should attack us, the most fatal consequence is to be dreaded. So dextrous in the handling of a dart, each wound they give is mortal: whilst we, so unhappily formed by nature, the more we strive to conquer them, the more we are conquered. The Edenton ladies, conscious, I suppose, of this superiority on their side, by a former experience, are willing, I imagine, to crush us into atoms by their omnipotency: the only security on our side to prevent the impending ruin, that I can perceive, is the probability that there are but few places in America which possess so much female artillery as Edenton.

Although political resistance was common in the 1770s, an organized women’s movement was not. Until Mrs. Barker and her friends took their action, women simply did not engage in political discourse in the US or abroad. Their actions were even more extraordinary, for where the men of the Boston Tea Party wore costumes and face paint to hide their identity, these Edenton wives and mothers wanted to send the king a clear and strong message, so they courageously signed their names to their petition, knowing that they were committing an act of treason against British rule.

There was one unexpected consequence brought about by the Edenton Tea Party. Mrs. Barker’s husband Thomas was stationed in London as North Carolina’s appointed agent to Parliament. When word came that his wife had organized a rebellion at home, he was forced to flee to France and did not return to North Carolina until 1778.

Edenton Tea Party Monument

Sometimes called the Edenton Rebellion, the event later became known as the Edenton Tea Party and was one of the earliest organized women’s political actions in United States history. It was a valiant representation by American women of the frustrations with English rule and the need for separation and independence.

Edenton Tea Party Historical Marker