Why Setting is a Writer's Best Friend {+ Giveaway}

It’s a pleasure to welcome author Martha Conway to Thoughts in Progress today as part of her WOW Blog Tour for her release, SUGARLAND: A JAZZ AGE MYSTERY.

As part of the tour, I have one copy of SUGARLAND to giveaway. Please see the end of the post for more details.

Martha combines history and mystery in this story of Eve Riser, a jazz pianist in 1921 who witnesses the accidental killing of a bootlegger. To cover up the crime, she agrees to deliver money and a letter to a man named Rudy Hardy in Chicago. But when Eve gets to Chicago she discovers that her stepsister Chickie, a popular nightclub singer, is pregnant by a man she won't name. That night Rudy Hardy is killed before Eve's eyes in a brutal drive-by shooting and Chickie disappears. Then things really get complicated!

SUGARLAND recently received a Reader’s Favorite Book Award.

Genre: Historical Fiction

Hardcover: 314 pages

(Also available in paperback and e-book)

Noontime Books: June 1, 2016

ISBN: 978-0991618552

Please join me in giving a warm welcome to Martha who is joining us today to talk about ‘Why Setting is a Writer's Best Friend.’ Welcome, Martha.

The other day my daughter and I were talking about dreams, and I realized that what stays with me the most about a dream is where it is set. There are some places—houses or rooms—that I swear I’ve been to again and again in my dreams. Other places are startling because they are so unique.

Where I go in my dreams is as vivid to me as where I go when I read. I’ve been to some amazing places in novels—the flatlands of northern Mexico in Cormac McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses; a neglected southern farm during the Civil War in Cold Mountain; small English villages in any Jane Austen novel; Dunkirk during World War I in Atonement.

Each of these places I can picture in my mind’s eye as if I’d made my own movie. I think that’s one of the real thrills for me about reading (or dreaming!). In a very real way, readers are a part of the creative process.

As a novelist, I usually think of characters and their story first, and setting second. However, once I’ve fixed a location where my story takes place, I try to exploit it for all that it’s worth. I’m a setting junkie.

Setting is a potent tool in a writer’s toolbox, because it can be used to indicate all sorts of things in a “show don’t tell” sort of way. I like to put each scene in a setting that reflects the mood. My novel Sugarland opens with a romantic tryst in an abandoned train car late at night. The dark intimacy is perfect for the scene, but the train car also represents something more, something about the overall story itself—Eve, the main character, is about to go on a journey both literally and figuratively.

It’s fun to play around with what a place can represent, and I feel as though novelists sometimes don’t do that enough. When I am at odds with how to show what a character is feeling (short of saying, She felt this), I like to have her look at something or hear something in her environment that indicates her interior feelings and thoughts.

On a larger scale, I also like to use setting to create an overall story atmosphere; in Sugarland, there are a few scenes of musicians playing in clubs — either performing on stage or after hours, toodling around— and it helps to bring up a Roaring Twenties kind of vibe (the novel is set in the 1921). There’s excitement in a club setting: the music, the illegal hooch, gambling. But there’s also tension: gangsters, racial prejudice. I feel like that is a potent mix, which I could not have achieved nearly as well just by dialogue.

To paraphrase writer Richard Russo (and probably others): “Place is character.” The way a writer describes a place, and the way they allow characters to inhabit that place (comfortably or not so much), is an amazingly effective way to add depth and complexity, both to the characters and to the story itself. And as a reader, if a setting is done well, I get this beautiful gift of going somewhere I would not normally go. Like a dream.

Martha, thanks for visiting with us today and sharing these thoughts on settings. As a reader, settings do play a very important role in the books I read. Sometimes it’s the setting alone that draws me in.

Now for those who aren’t familiar with Martha, here’s a bit of background on her.

Author Martha Conway

Martha Conway’s debut novel 12 Bliss Street (St. Martin’s Minotaur) was nominated for an Edgar Award while Thieving Forest won an Independent Publishers Book Award, the Laramie Award, a Reader’s Choice Award and the 2014 North American Book Award in Historical Fiction. Her short fiction has appeared in The Iowa Review, The Mississippi Review, The Quarterly, Folio, Puerto del Sol, Carolina Quarterly, and other publications.

She graduated from Vassar College and received her master’s degree in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University. She has reviewed fiction for the San Francisco Chronicle, The San Francisco Review of Books, and The Iowa Review. The recipient of a California Arts Council fellowship in Creative Writing, she has taught at UC Berkeley Extension and Stanford University’s Online Writers’ Studio.

Other Books by Martha Conway

·        12 Bliss Street

·        Thieving Forest

You can find out more about SUGARLAND and Martha by visiting her website and blog and connecting with her on Facebook and Twitter.

SUGARLAND is available through Amazon as well as your local independent bookstore.

Here’s a listing of blogs participating in Martha’s tour. Be sure to visit them for more chances to win a copy of SUGARLAND.

*Monday, October 10 @ The Muffin

Interview and Giveaway

http://muffin.wow-womenonwriting.com/

Wednesday, October 12 @ Renee’s Pages

Review

www.reneespages.blogspot.com

Monday, October 17 @ Lisa Haselton’s Reviews and Interviews

Interview

http://lisahaseltonsreviewsandinterviews.blogspot.com/

Friday, October 21 @ Bev Baird

Review

https://beverleyabaird.wordpress.com/

*Monday, October 24 @ Building Bookshelves

Interview, Review and Giveaway

www.blogs.republicanherald.com/bookshelves

Tuesday, October 25 @ Choices

Review

http://madelinesharples.com/

*Friday, October 28 @ Mystery Thrillers & Romantic Suspense Reviews

Guest post and Giveaway

http://mysterythrillerandromanticsusreviews.blogspot.com/

*Sunday, October 30 @ Vickie S. Miller

Review and Giveaway

http://www.vickiesmiller.com/

Wednesday, November 2 @ Bring on Lemons

Review

http://bringonlemons.blogspot.com/

Thursday, November 3 @ Deal Sharing Aunt

Review

www.dealsharingaunt.blogspot.com

Monday, November 7 @ Celtic Lady’s Reviews

Review

http://celticladysreviews.blogspot.com/

Thanks to the wonderful folks at WOW, I have a print copy of SUGARLAND by Martha Conway to giveaway. The giveaway is open to residents of the U.S. only and will end at 12 a.m. (EST) on Thursday, Oct. 27.

To enter the giveaway, just click on the Rafflecopter form below and follow the instructions. The form may take a few seconds to load so please be patient.

A winner will be selected by the Rafflecopter widget and I’ll send an email with the subject line “Thoughts in Progress Giveaway.” The winner will have 72 hours to reply to the email or another winner will be selected. PLEASE be sure to check your spam folder from time to time after the giveaway ends to make sure the notification email doesn’t end up there. If you win and you’ve already won the book somewhere else or you just decided for whatever reason you don’t want to win (which is fine), once again PLEASE let me know.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Do you enjoy books that have a mix of history and mystery? Do you enjoy books that have a jazz tie-in?

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Edwin: High King of Britain {+ Giveaway}

(Notice: The winner of this giveaway is Nan Z. Congratulations to Nan and thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway.)

It’s a pleasure today to be participating in author Edoardo Albert’s Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tour for his debut historical fiction release, EDWIN: HIGH KING OF BRITAIN, the first installment in his Northumbrian Thrones series.

Edoardo has graciously answered some questions for me about his intriguing new release. Thanks to Edoardo and the lovely Amy at Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours, I have a print copy of the book to giveaway. Please see the end of the post for more details.

This debut historical fiction series vividly recreating the rise of the Christian kings of Northumbria, England. In 604 AD, Edwin, the deposed king of Northumbria, seeks refuge at the court of King Raedwald of East Anglia. But Raedwald is urged to kill his guest by Aethelfrith, Edwin’s usurper. As Edwin walks by the shore, alone and at bay, he is confronted by a mysterious figure–the missionary Paulinus– who prophesies that he will become High King of Britain. It is a turning point.

Through battles and astute political alliances Edwin rises to power, in the process marrying the Kentish princess Aethelburh. As part of the marriage contract the princess is allowed to retain her Christian faith. But, in these times, to be a king is not a recipe for a long life.

This turbulent and tormented period in British history sees the conversion of the Anglo-Saxon settlers who have forced their way on to British shores over previous centuries, arriving first to pillage, then to farm and trade–and to come to terms with the faith of the Celtic tribes they have driven out.

The dramatic story of Northumbria’s Christian kings helped give birth to England as a nation, English as a language, and the adoption of Christianity as the faith of the English.

Please join me in welcoming Edoardo.

Mason - What was your research process like for this book?

Edoardo:

Writing a previous book! Edwin:High King of Britain is, in part, the result of writing a non-fiction book on the history and archaeology of the Early-Medieval kingdom (if you call it a Dark-Age kingdom scholars will sniff at you) of Northumbria, called Northumbria:The Lost Kingdom and published by the History Press. My co-writer on this project was Paul Gething, an archaeologist and director of the Bamburgh Research Project, an archaeological enterprise that has been digging in and around Bamburgh for nearly 15 years now, leading to some major rethinking about the kingdom of Northumbria.

We wrote the book to tell the story of this most important, but little remembered, kingdom; for most people in Britain, history starts with the Romans invading in 43 AD, stops when they left in 410 AD, and then restarts in 1066 when the Normans arrived. The six hundred years in between are populated by a few vague figures: Bede, Vikings, Arthur, Alfred, but that’s about it. Yet these were the centuries when the foundations for modern Britain were laid, from its very division into England, Wales and Scotland, through to the common law, the shires (the county of Hampshire, for instance, is an older historical entity than France!) and the adoption of Christianity. It was the most crucial period in British history, and practically no one knows about it! While researching Northumbria:the Lost Kingdom, I learned about King Edwin, and the two kings that followed him, Oswald and Oswiu, in Bede’s EcclesiasticalHistory of the English People and I immediately thought, this is a wonderful story: I bet someone’s written it. Only, when I checked, nobody had! So I thought I would do it, and this is the first part of the results.

Mason - Now that your book has been published, what surprised you the most about this project and its outcome?

Edoardo:

I found the hard-headed thought that my publishers, LionFiction, went into when costing and estimating sales for the book fascinating. I had, rather naively, assumed that publishers simply decided whether they liked a book or not before deciding to publish it, but the process is much more business oriented than that, with the editorial department working closely with the marketing department, estimating sales, working out where and who will stock the book, its future potential, etc. Publishing is, most definitely, a business and it behoves an author to understand this.

Mason - If you could write a book with any author (living or dead), who would it be and what would the book be about?

Edoardo:

Gosh, choices, choices! Any author? Of course, I could pick one of my favourites – Tolkien, Waugh, Kipling, Stevenson – but then I’d risk a complete loss of authorial self confidence. In that case, I think it would be better to go with a non-fiction writer, and pick a topic that I would like to learn more about. So, with that decided, I’d obviously pick Bede himself, and ask him to collaborate in a sequel to the Ecclesiastical History of the English People, called the Political and Military History of the English People. Then I’d have the answers to the questions that have preoccupied me when writing Edwin and its sequels.

Mason - Do you have any habits/rituals you follow when writing such as a certain place to write, favorite beverage to drink, quiet verses noise, etc.?

Edoardo:

I get started early. I’ve got a wife and three sons, plus various cash-flow jobs, so absolutely the best time to write is before everyone else is up. The alarm is set for 5am; I get up, make a cup of tea, and set to it. There’s nothing better than having written one or two thousand words before the rest of the world has woken up!

Mason - What do you hope readers take away from reading your latest release?

Edoardo:

I’ve got two books that have recently come out: Edwin:High King of Britain is of course the first, but just last week my non-fiction biography of the most important of all the Early Medieval kings came out: InSearch of Alfred the Great: the King, the Grave, the Legend. I would hope anyone reading either of them would put down the books with a renewed respect for the tenacity with which men, in violent, chaotic times, clung to hope, venerated beauty, cultivated wisdom and strove, against all the odds, for virtue. That they could do so in such circumstances should be an inspiration for us all.

Mason - Are you currently working on any new projects?

Edoardo:

Several! First, I’m writing the next volume in The Northumbrian Thrones trilogy: Oswald: Return of the King. I’m aiming to get that done by the end of October and it should be out next June. Then I’m researching and writing a history of London that focuses on an aspect of the city that has never been properly investigated: its religious history. The Light that Drowns the Stars: A Spiritual History of London should be out late next year from Lion Hudson. And while I’m writing that, I will also be working on the final volume of The Northumbrian Thrones trilogy: Oswiu: King of Kings. So, busy, busy, busy!

Thank you very much for your questions – they were most interesting. 

Edoardo, thanks for joining us and answering these questions to give us insight look at how your book came about.

 

Here is praise for EDWIN: HIGH KING OF BRITAIN …

        “In the first installment of the Northumbrian Thrones, a new historical fiction series, Albert launches readers into the tumultuous world of 7th century Northumbria. Edwin, the deposed king of the region, forges political alliances, is betrayed, and fights critical battles that form the arc of his rise and fall as High King of Britain. As he ages, he fears for the future of his kingdom, and war has simply become a necessary evil. His shifting worldview leads to conversion to the Christian faith—a slow process given special attention by Albert. But it is not a clear path, and sometimes Edwin and his subordinates doubt the validity and the power of the Christian God, as opposed to the pagan deities they have left behind. Albert’s focus on the religious element does not detract from the political and dramatic aspects of the history he is portraying. Rather, it lends an extra dimension of psychological turmoil, because characters must deal with the problem of not only individual identity but also the beginnings of a national identity related to religion. Albert’s offering is a highly entertaining and refreshing work of historical fiction thanks to his emphasis on the precarious intersection of religion and identity.” – Publishers Weekly
        “A splendid novel that leaves the reader wanting more.” – Bernard Cornwell, New York Times bestselling author
        “A fast-paced and gripping tale of the great Northumbrian King Edwin, reclaiming one of our great national figures from the shadows of history.” – Justin Hill, author of Shieldwall

EDWIN: HIGH KING OF BRITAIN is available at the following sites: Amazon US, Amazon UK, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, and IndieBound.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR …

Edoardo Albert is a writer of Sri Lankan and Italian extraction based in London. The best response to his writing was when he reduced a friend to helpless, hysterical, rolling-on-the-floor-holding-his-stomach laughter. Unfortunately, the writing in question was a lonely hearts ad. He hopes to produce similar results in readers, without inadvertently acquiring another wife.

For more information on Edoardo and his writing, visit his website. You can also connect with him on Facebook and Twitter.

TOUR SCHEDULED:

You can also find out more about Edoardo (as well as more chances to win his book) by visiting the following blogs participating in his blog tour.


Monday, August 25
Review at Princess of Eboli
Review at 2 Book Lovers Reviews
Tuesday, August 26
Review at Just One More Chapter
Review & Giveaway at Unshelfish
Wednesday, August 27
Review at Dab of Darkness
Thursday, August 28
Interview & Giveaway at Dab of Darkness
Monday, September 1
Review at Book Lovers Paradise
Review at Queen of All She Reads
Tuesday, September 2
Review at Flashlight Commentary
Wednesday, September 3
Review at The Writing Desk
Review at The Mad Reviewer
Friday, September 5
Spotlight & Giveaway at Passages to the Past
Monday, September 8
Review at A Book Geek
Review at Svetlana’s Reads and Views
Tuesday, September 9
Review at Book Nerd
Wednesday, September 10
Review & Giveaway at 100 Pages a Day – Stephanie’s Book Reviews
Friday, September 12
Review at A Bibliotaph’s Reviews
Monday, September 15
Review & Giveaway at Words and Peace
Tuesday, September 16
Review at Layered Pages
Thursday, September 18
Review & Giveaway at Beth’s Book Reviews
Friday, September 19
Review at Book Drunkard

GIVEAWAY DETAILS:


This giveaway is for one paperback copy of EDWIN: HIGH KING OF BRITAIN and is open to residents of the U.S., U.K., and Canada. The giveaway will end on Wednesday, Sept. 17.

I’m trying the Google form again for this giveaway since the Rafflecopter widget didn’t want to work for everyone. To enter, just submit the requested information in the form below. There is no requirement to enter, but comments are always appreciated. 

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope I’ve enticed you to check out EDWIN: HIGH KING OF BRITAIN. Is historical fiction your favorite genre or just one of many genres you enjoy? Also, tell me what you think about using the Google form instead of the Rafflecopter widget. Which do you like best? Which works better for you?

*This post contains affiliate links.

 

Author Liz Trenow discusses The Forgotten Seamstress (+Pre-order offer)

I’m delighted today to welcome author Liz Trenow here to talk about her second novel, THE FORGOTTEN SEAMSTRESS, which hits bookstores next Tuesday, May 6.

A beautiful patchwork quilt and the secrets stitched into every seam are at the center of THE FORGOTTEN SEAMSTRESS (ISBN: 9781402282485; $14.99 U.S.; Historical Fiction; Trade Paper). During Liz’s virtual blog tour there is a FREE eBook preview of the first four chapters available on Kindle and NOOK.

Etsy Gift Card Offer

All readers who pre-order a copy (print or eBook) of THE FORGOTTEN SEAMSTRESS before May 6 and send their proof-of-purchase to seamstress@sourcebookspr.com will be entered to win an Etsy gift card. Giveaways will be held when Sourcebooks hits 100, 250, 500, 750 and 1,000 pre-orders with prizes ranging from $25 up to $100.

Here’s a brief synopsis of the book …

        In 1910 London, a remarkable young seamstress is noticed by Queen Mary and given a position in the royal household. A century later, Caroline, a struggling designer, discovers a mysterious hand-me-down quilt with a curious verse embroidered into its lining.
        When Caroline learns that the fabric in the quilt is rare royal wedding silk and begins to dig deeper, she uncovers the extraordinary story of two women whose lives collide with devastating consequences. But that secret pales in comparison to the truth Caroline finally learns about herself. 

Please join me in welcoming Liz as she graciously answers some questions for me.

Mason - How did the collaboration with internationally-acknowledged quilter Lynne Edwards impact the story?

Liz:
It’s quite simple: I could not have written the story without her!
I am not a quilter myself so, as I set out to write THE FORGOTTEN SEAMSTRESS, I knew that I would need expert guidance. From the moment I contacted her, Lynne embraced the project with such enthusiasm that I knew at once that our collaboration would produce something remarkable. 

We met several times and, over bottles of wine and lots of laughter, ‘devised’ the quilt that my character Maria sewed, taking into account the influences and sources of inspiration that she would have had at different times of her life, and the sort of fabrics she might have had at her disposal at each point in time. The quilt is constructed in ‘medallion’ style, allowing my character to add ‘frames’ each time she picks up the quilt again, sometimes after a long period has elapsed.

Maria sews each concentric ‘frame’ in memory of, or in tribute to, the people who befriend her throughout her life. But we had to be careful to ensure that the messages behind each design were sufficiently subtle not to give away the mystery too quickly, so they are ‘hidden’ in the applique shapes, in the fabrics, in the design and choice of piecing system, and ultimately, in the very construction of the quilt itself.

Each time we came across a problem, we would pour ourselves another glass of wine and Lynne would think for a few seconds before declaring ‘That’s it, that’s how she’d do it,’ and then grabbing a piece of paper and drawing the design so that I could picture it for myself, or perhaps rushing upstairs to her workroom and producing a piece of patchwork to demonstrate how it worked in real fabric. She even lent me a very beautiful unfinished quilt of Liberty Prints that had been left to her by a pupil, so that I could have it in front of me as I wrote that particular passage.

I arrived with a very sketchy idea of how the quilt might be constructed, but by the time we had finished we both had a very clear view of what the quilt would look like. With her years of experience and expertise, Lynne knew precisely what fabrics and techniques Maria might have used, and we had great fun creating her ‘virtual quilt’. 

The pattern Lynne has very generously devised is available for free at www.liztrenow.com. If you decide to create ‘Maria’s quilt’ please let me know!
 
Mason - What are the challenges and rewards of writing a novel that goes back and forth over a period of nearly 100 years?

Liz:
The first challenge was to ensure that the ‘voice’ of each character was consistent and true to the period. For Maria’s story, I read lots of Victorian literature and other novels set in the time, as well as books of social history. For the 30-something metropolitan woman Caroline, I looked no further than my two daughters, both of whom are around that age, and live and work in London! I wrote Maria’s story, and then Caroline’s and then created many drafts of the novel (13 in total) trying to stitch their stories together. 

The second challenge was to devise a way in which my contemporary character, Caroline, would be able to discover what had happened to Maria, who in any case is an ‘unreliable narrator’. Because there is a century between the two characters they could not have met, so there had to be a way for Caroline to learn about Maria’s life story.

While researching the history of Severalls Hospital, I came across a wonderful book by the sociologist and author Diana Gittins called Madness in its Place (Routledge 1998), in which she quoted from her recordings with staff and patients. These first-hand accounts really brought the place and the people to life, and in one of those light-bulb moments, I realised that this was exactly what I needed to do with Maria. 

So I created a character – Professor Patsy Morton – who had undertaken a research project not unlike that of Diana Gittins’, although a couple of decades earlier. This was the perfect way of allowing Caroline – and the reader – to hear Maria’s story first hand.
This was my ultimate reward: although we never properly ‘meet’ her in the book, the tapes enabled me to feel that I really knew her – I hope this is the same for you. If you want to find out more, please visit me at www.liztrenow.com.

Liz, thank you so much for stopping by today and sharing this background with us. The quilt that Lynne designed is beautiful. The pattern makes me want to try my hand at quilting again.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Liz Trenow is a former BBC and newspaper journalist, and author of THE LAST TELEGRAM. Liz’s family have been silk weavers for three hundred years, which has led to two novels with silk as their focal point. 

For more on her work, visit her at www.liztrenow.com. 

Advance Praise for THE FORGOTTEN SEAMSTRESS …

        “The characters are strong, caring and well developed, and the descriptions of the handmade quilts will appeal to those who also have passion for quilting. Trenow has written a spellbinding story that will keep readers up late to find out what happens next.” – RT Book Reviews
        “The two narratives are seamlessly woven together, forming a heartrending tapestry of tragedy and resilience.” – Booklist
        “A page-turner with eye-opening details about the conditions of mental hospitals in the 20th century, as well as the provenance of royal fabrics, the art of quilting, and the vagaries of modern interior design.” – Publishers Weekly
        “Weaving together Caroline's and Maria’s journeys, Trenow meticulously stitches each piece of this engrossing story into a unified—and heartwarming—whole.” - Kirkus

Hi everyone and thanks so much for visiting today. Are you a quilter or is someone in your family? Have you ever tried your hand at quilting the ‘old fashion’ way without a machine?

* This post contains affiliate links.

Author Karen Kondazian: Women Who Lived As Men

Reading can transform us into anything our imagination envisions. But what about becoming someone else just to survive? 

Author Karen Kondazian makes a stop here today on her WOW Blog Tour launching the release of THE WHIP, a historical fiction novel based on a true story. In her book, Karen takes readers on a trip back in time to the Wild West and a woman devastated by loss who hides from her pain by masquerading as a man (and she happens to kill a couple desperados while in disguise).

Here’s a brief synopsis of THE WHIP: 
Life can be tough! Imagine falling in love with a runaway slave and having his child. Or tracking a killer who destroyed your family. Living your life as a man, making your living as a stagecoach driver, or killing a famous outlaw. Any one of those things would qualify as a tough life but what if they ALL happened to you? They did to Charley Parkhurst and THE WHIP is the story of her incredible life in the Wild West of the 1860s. 

Karen joins us to talk about ‘the original Steel Magnolias: women who lived as men.’

For a myriad of reasons, many women throughout history have put on britches and lived their lives as men. Charley Parkhurst, (1812-1879) the main character of my novel, THE WHIP, was one of those free spirited women. 

That females have chosen to live as men is no surprise though, since women always, since time memorial, have confronted constraints and rules in how to behave and how to live their lives in their 'gentile cage'. Ninety-nine percent of the 'gentle sex' had two choices in which to live out their dreams: that of wife or prostitute, and on rare occasions, if they had some education, they could aspire to become a teacher, but always under a man. 

So for a few brave and extraordinary women who wanted to live their lives out loud, there was sometimes no other choice except to don men’s clothing in order to gain freedom and access to man’s privileges. Many of these courageous women are known, but most lived and died and were not famous, so their names are lost. But Loreta Velazquez and Hannah Snell are two women we do know of who made the same bold decision as Charley Parkhurst, but for different reasons.

Loreta J. Velazquez (a.k.a. Henry Buford)

Though born in Cuba in 1842, Loreta Velazquez eventually made her way to New Orleans for schooling, where she learned English. There in Louisiana she fell in love and eventually eloped with a soldier known only as William, and at the outbreak of the American Civil War, joined the Confederate Army. When Velazquez wasn’t able to convince William to let her join him, she disguised herself under the name of Henry Buford and went to Arkansas. She recruited over 200 men in several days, and presented them to her husband to command.

Disguising herself as a man must have been liberating because she later moved on to Tennessee and fought in the siege of Fort Donelson until the Confederate Army surrendered. During this period, Velazquez became a lieutenant. At the battle of Shiloh, she fought the same battalion she’d raised in Arkansas but was wounded. When the doctor discovered that he was a she, she quickly left for New Orleans and gave up her uniform. Later, authorities would hire her as a spy (as a woman) and while traveling north, officials hired her once to search for herself!

Hannah Snell (a.k.a. James Grey)

Hannah Snell, born in 1723, would marry in 1744 and move to London. Two years later, she gave birth to her daughter. However, her daughter died and her husband later deserted her. Maybe as a way to cope with her grief, she assumed her brother-in-law’s name, James Grey, and, dressing in men's clothes began looking for her husband. 

In her search, she moved to Portsmouth and ended up joining the Marines. Her unit set sail on the ship Swallow, and sailed to Lisbon, Mauritius and eventually India.

Fighting in the battle of Devicotta in 1749, she was wounded several times in the legs as well as her groin. Somehow, she was able to treat her groin wound secretly and her sex was never revealed. 

Probably tired of keeping her sex a secret, when her unit returned to Britain, she revealed her true self to her shipmates. Snell would then petition the Duke of Cumberland for her pension, and sold her story to the publisher Robert Walker, who published her account in several different newspapers. 

She would be honorably discharged and the Royal Hospital officially recognized Snell’s military service, granting her a pension. At the end of it all, though, she eventually remarried and had two children, coming full circle to where she began.

Karen, thanks for sharing these stories with us. It’s fascinating to learn how these women survived (and thrived) as men.

Here’s a bit of background on Karen. Her life dream was to be a CIA spy…until she turned eight and she was invited to appear on Art Linkletter’s “Kids Say the Darndest Things”. After several days of missing school to tape the show Karen realized that acting was indeed her true calling. 

Karen has an extensive list of both theatre and television roles she’s played and also teaches at the Lee Strasberg School of Theatre and Film in Hollywood. Karen’s first foray into writing also stayed in the acting realm: The Actor’s Encyclopedia of Casting Directors. But now she’s branched out into historical fiction with a main character that any actress would love to play! 

For more on Karen and her writing, visit her website, check out her blog, find her on Facebook, or chat with her on Twitter at @thewhipnovel and on Twitter the hashtag is #WhipNovel.

Now here’s an intriguing book trailer where the author discusses THE WHIP with Peter Robinson.

Ladies, have you ever dressed up as a man? Men, what about you - anyone ever dressed as a woman? Thanks so much for stopping by today. It’s always fun learning more about history and the people who made it.