Listening is Also Research by Saralyn Richard

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I first started researching the 1900 Storm, the deadliest natural disaster ever to hit American soil, when I was 15 years old. In those pre-Internet days, research meant going to the library, reading books and other primary source materials (some of which was on microfilm and microfiche), and taking copious notes in spiral notebooks.

At the time I was burning to write about a family secret that I knew would be book-worthy, and I would be the best person to tell it. I thought of the premise as MY STORY, and I nursed and nurtured it over the years. In the 1980’s when I got my first computer (a tiny-screened Mackintosh), I began writing, but 100 pages into the manuscript, the computer died, taking the story with it.

Fast forwarded past a very busy career in education and eight books written and published, and I decided it was time to return to this story. By now, so many wonderful books were written about the 1900 Storm, that I decided to set the novel five years later. Turned out that the Galveston of 1905 was an exciting time, filled with optimism and state-of-the-art science and engineering, and a wave of immigration that brought energetic, clean-living workers to the island to help with rebuilding.

I spent time in person and online with the Galveston and Texas History Center at the Rosenberg Library, and I read lots of books and journals about the building of the seawall, digging of canals, raising of the grade, and building of boardwalks to give people access to the houses being raised.

I happened to include something in my monthly newsletter, asking subscribers to send me names of family members who lived in 1905, as well as any storm survivor stories they knew. The response was incredible! Within days I had more than fifty vignettes and names of real people to go with them.

Often, when I went to a restaurant in town or a public event, people would stop me to tell me another storm survivor story, and I realized I had opened a channel for people to share. The stories were tragic and uplifting at the same time. The grief and loss were excruciating, but the rebound extraordinary. A friend’s grandparents had two babies swept from their arms in the rushing tidewater, never to be seen again. But the babies’ parents went on to rebuild their lives and have three more children.

I found that listening to the stories immersed me in the time and place in a way that “book research” never could. And I included a lot of the stories in the manuscript of PORT OF DESTINY: A Victorian History, Mystery, & Romance.

The book was released on September 1, and I realized that, rather than being my book, it is OUR book. The story of three immigrants could be the story of every family in America, unless it is descended from indigenous people.  The book’s little stories add more than local color to the story. They tell the tales of resilient and brave people, and the forward-thinking island that wouldn’t be destroyed.

Listening to stories made our book much more authentic. I’m really glad I did it!

Do you have a storm survivor story to share? It’s not too late to add to the collection. Sign up for my newsletter at https://saralynrichard.com, and I promise I’ll listen.

Three immigrants. Two disappearances. One murder. And a love story that defines them all.
When Rosa’s brother vanishes from hurricane-ravaged Galveston, she turns to his best friend, Nathan, to help her uncover the truth. Together they are swept into the mystery that swirls around her immigrant family in a city rebuilding after the devastating 1900 storm. Just as Nathan’s feelings for Rosa blossom, Chana enters the picture. Bold, resilient, and with a conflicting love interest of her own, she forces them to make the most important decisions of their lives.

Presidential Humor…

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This post is dedicated to the fearless leaders of our country who have wittily (or not) contributed memorable public statements to be celebrated on National Presidential Joke Day.

Yes, it’s a real thing that comes around every August 11 to commemorate attempts at humor coming from the mouths our Chief Executives, past and present.

Funny, Not Funny?

Although humor was invented millennia ago, the inciting incident for this celebration actually occurred in 1984, when Ronald Reagan was about to launch his regular weekly radio address to the nation. As he frequently did before the broadcast went live, he warmed up his voice with something humorous. Only this time, the feed was already live.

“My fellow Americans,” he intoned in his best Presidential voice, “I am pleased to tell you I just signed legislation which outlaws Russia forever. The bombing begins in five minutes.”

Scrambling to avoid the unleashing of a real-life War of the Worlds, news outlets removed the remark before their broadcasts aired, but it remained on the recording for posterity. It is said that Reagan’s poll numbers dipped for a time after word of his oopsie got out, but at least the Kremlin recognized a joke when they heard it.

George W. Bush was funny without even trying, as evidenced by the several books of humor written about his gaffes.

His speeches even gave birth to a new literary term, Bushisms, that refers to his frequently error–prone speech. Examples include “They misunderestimated me,” and the classic, “Is our children learning?” He was given a Lifetime Achievement award in 2008 for “services to gobbledygook”  by the Plain English Campaign.

Going back in time, we have Herbert Hoover, who once quipped, “Blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the national debt.” Not sure I’d laugh at that one.

Jokesters in Chief

The best humor, seems to me, comes from presidents who know how to laugh with their audience. Abraham Lincoln was a true quipster. Once accused of being two-faced, Honest Abe is said to have replied, “If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?”

Bob Dole, who wrote a book about Presidential humor (or lack thereof), cited the reason for losing his bid to be Vice President as this: “I didn’t show enough leg.”

In modern times, presidents leaned more and more on speechwriters to insert humor where needed.

At his last White House Correspondents’ dinner, the beleaguered Bill Clinton said he felt sorry for Republicans because they only had seven months left to drive him out of office.

“So little time, so many unanswered questions, he quipped. “For example, over the last few months, I’ve lost ten pounds. Where did they go? Why haven’t they presented them to the independent counsel? How did some of them wind up on… the host of Meet the Press?

If you tuned in to the video of the latest Correspondents Dinner, you might wonder if the current occupier of the White House employed writers at all, or if he was simply putting his own riff on the sterling prose they’d dutifully prepared for him. Based on the facial expressions and body language of his writing staff and other attendees, they  looked like they’d been stricken with food poisoning.

Some presidents just aren’t born jokesters. According to Bob Dole, while  Founding Father John Adams was known as lacking a sense of humor, he was “a sharp-eyes satirist.” But his son, John Quincy Adams was “often cranky and full of insults.”

Several writers have written about dealing with their employers’ public utterances. Liz Carpenter, who spent her White House years as Lady Bird’s secretary told this story about Lyndon Johnson. after his writers sent him what he considered too “highfalutin” because it contained several quotations by Aristotle. According to Carpenter, Johnson snorted, “Those folks don’t know who Aristotle is,” where upon he replaced the attribution with “as my dear old daddy used to say to me…”

I have a feeling there were some head-shakes and slapped foreheads in the Writers’ Room when the staff heard that one.

Which President do you think was the funniest?

 Gay Yellen’s award-winning writing career began in magazine journalism. She later served as the contributing editor for the international thriller, Five Minutes to Midnight (Delacorte), which debuted as a New York Times “Notable.” Her Samantha Newman Mystery Series is packed with suspense and laced with touches of romance, heart, and humor.  Available on Amazon or to order through your favorite bookseller.

Photos are official White House images

 

Meeting the Authors of Freed by the Frontier

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by Paula Gail Benson

What better way to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence than to read stories about the people whose lives created the history of our country? Denise Farnsworth, Sherry Shindelar, and Susan F. Craft have each contributed a novella to Freed by the Frontier. I’ve asked them to introduce themselves and to tell a little about the setting and characters they portray. Please let me recommend these accomplished authors to you. I think you’ll truly enjoy their work.

Denise Farnsworth

North Georgia native Denise Farnsworth, formerly Denise Weimer, has authored over twenty traditionally published novels and novellas—historical and contemporary romance, romantic suspense, and time slip. As a freelance editor and Acquisitions & Editorial Liaison for Wild Heart Books, she’s helped other authors reach their publishing dreams. A wife and mother of two adult daughters, Denise always pauses for coffee, chocolate, and old houses.

How did you select the setting and time period for your story?

The setting and time period of Ofuskee Trail Surrender, 1814 Georgia and present-day Alabama, is linked to the first novel of my Scouts of the Georgia Frontier, A Counterfeit Betrothal. Keturah Caldwell, the heroine of the novella, was the fancy fiancee from the east in A Counterfeit Betrothal. She and her family disappear on a trip to visit her betrothed on the border of Creek Indian Territory. The epilogue reveals they were set upon by robbers, and sold to a band of Creek warriors, then at war with the white settlers and the Cherokees. A mysterious brave protects Keturah as she’s taken deep into enemy territory.

While the story takes place during America’s Federal period (Regency in England), its remote frontier setting gives it a more Colonial feel. Many people are unaware that the Cherokees fought with the Americans against the Creeks and British during the Red Stick or Creek War, part of the War of 1812. I’ve enjoyed bringing this lesser-known era and setting to life in several stories, including those mentioned and A Contrary Betrothal, releasing this August.

What makes the characters unique in Ofuskee Trail Surrender?

As in the other two stories in Freed by the Frontier, the heroine is a strong woman who rises to the challenges of the wilderness and a totally different way of life. Only, Keturah doesn’t start out strong. She starts out spoiled, accustomed to using her beauty and charm to get what she wants. As she grows as a person and in her faith, she learns to rely on her mind, spirit, and courage, and especially her faith. Wildcat, the hero, holds a secret that makes him more like her than Keturah ever expected, but he teaches her patience and the strength that can be found in surrender.

Sherry Shindelar

Originally from Tennessee, Sherry loves to take her readers into the past. A romantic at heart, she is an avid student of the Civil War and the Old West. When she is not busy writing, she is an English professor working to pass on her love of writing to her students. Sherry is an award-winning writer: 2025 Maggie winner, 2023 Genesis finalist, Maggie finalist, and Crown finalist. She currently resides in Minnesota with her husband of forty-one years. She has three grown children and three grandchildren. Connect with Sherry at sherryshindelar.com.

How did you select the setting and time period for your story?

My setting and time period, Indian Territory and Texas in the late 1850’s, were selected for me in a way. My novella is the prequel to the first book in my Lone Star Redemption series, Texas Forsaken, which was inspired by the real-life captive story of Cynthia Ann Parker. Cynthia Ann was captured by the Comanche at age nine on the Texas Frontier and recaptured by the U.S. cavalry in 1860. Texas Forsaken starts right before my character Eyes-Like-Sky is recaptured in 1860. The prequel, “Wichita Path Sacrifice,” which is part of Freed by the Frontier, is set three years earlier and portrays the story of how Eyes-Like-Sky fell in love with a Comanche warrior, Dancing Eagle. I love stories set on the frontier, and I’m intrigued by the men and women who risked all for a new beginning.

What makes your characters unique?

As mentioned above, Eyes-Like-Sky was inspired by the real-life story of Cynthia Ann Parker, the most famous captive of the nineteenth century. During the twenty-four years she lived with the Comanche, Cynthia Ann integrated into the tribe, fell in love, married, and had children. The last thing she wanted was to be ripped away from her Comanche family. Her life story haunted my heart for years. That is why I chose to write a story about a captive on the Texas Frontier. I wanted to take a few grains of her history and develop a character inspired by Cynthia Ann, but with a much different life trajectory. In the beginning of “Wichita Path Sacrifice,” Eyes-Like-sky is fighting to escape her captors, but when her strength and courage earn her the admiration of a rising warriors, she begins to question whether escape is what she really wants.

Susan F. Craft

Nationally acclaimed writer of inspirational historical romance, Susan F. Craft retired after a 45-year career in communications. A widow who was married 48 years to her high school sweetheart, she has two adult children and one granddaughter. A history nerd, she enjoys painting, singing, and sitting on her porch watching chipmunks dine from her bird feeder. She recently learned how to play the ukulele. Soli Deo Gloria

How did you select the setting and time period for your story?

When I first came across the Great Wagon Road, the idea of a trail traversing the eastern coast of the US fascinated me. I had only ever heard of the pioneers who journeyed out West. I remembered how much as a child I enjoyed the TV series Wagon Train and thought a series of romances portraying the hardships of travelling in the 1750s might interest other history buffs. The Blue Ridge Mountains hold my heart. My senses come alive when I visit them. I chose the 1750s because I wanted to expand my knowledge of a time period little known to me. It was an exciting time of settlers, clashes and friendships with Native Americans, a hotbed of the beginnings of the French and Indian War, as well as the stirring of hearts and minds toward rebellion against England.

What makes your characters unique?

My characters struggle with divorce. Though not unheard of in Colonial America, it was uncommon and frowned upon by all levels of society. The heroine suffers shame and the damage to her reputation from a sham divorce that causes her to mistrust men. The hero hears the rumors and gossip that conflict with the woman he begins to care for.

 

Denise, Sherry, and Susan, thank you for being with us at The Stiletto Gang. Thank you for your wonderful stories and best wishes for Freed by the Frontier!

photo of donalee Moulton

Marie-Joseph Angélique – May you rest in peace

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by donalee Moulton

In June 1734, Marie-Joseph Angélique, an enslaved Black woman, is found guilty of burning the lower town of Montreal to the ground. For this, it is determined, she must die.

Canada Post stamp of Marie Joseph AngeliqueConflagration! follows the trial, conviction, and execution of Angélique, now honored on a Canadian stamp. In an era when lawyers are banned from practicing in New France, Angélique is on her own. Philippe Archambeau holds court in this historical mystery, a clerk assigned specifically to document her case. He believes Angélique might just be telling the truth. Or not.

This is spectacle. Angélique is being wheeled through the streets of Montréal in a cart. In her hand, she holds a burning torch, an acknowledgement of her crime. Someone, as is tradition, has stripped her bare and placed a white chemise over her body.

This is humiliation. The hand cart that carries Angélique on her final journey is usually used to transport garbage. I look at the people who look at Angélique as she makes her way to the hanging post, and I wonder if this is what they see: garbage. If this somehow gives them a sense of justice. On Angélique’s white shirt is embroidered: incendiaire. A life has been reduced to a single word.

This is revenge. We have won. Justice has prevailed. Angélique stops at Notre-Dame, one last chance to make things right with God, the King, and the crowds who throng the streets. Her amende honorable. I do not know if Angélique believes in God, our god. I can hear my mother’s voice, “There is only one god.” Would the Negress slave agree?

This is power. We have decided Angélique is guilty. She most likely is. The evidence, such as it is, supports this conclusion. There are no other suspects. Does that give us the right to decide what happens to her soul?

On Monday, June 21, 1734, Marie-Joseph Angélique is hanged in front of the house she is said to have burned. Her body will be displayed on a gibbet for two hours. Then it will be placed on a pyre. Her ashes will be collected and scattered to the wind. It will be the final degradation.

cover of book Conflagration! by donalee Moulton

What’s a Freedom Plane?

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In the government’s growing penchant for giving events names that have little relation to what they actually are, our Museum of Natural History announced the arrival of The National Archive’s “Freedom Plane Tour,” a display in honor of the 250th anniversary of  the United States of America. The invitation to the opening of the exhibit had me wondering where they’d be parking a Boeing 737 in the museum’s urban setting.

Silly me, to think there was a plane in the exhibit.

The plane never left the airport. Only its precious contents are on display in a very small, darkened space at the museum. We joined the long line of folks slowly snaking into and through the closet-sized, curtained enclosure, surrounded by security. Only a dozen or so gawkers at a time were granted a brief view of some of the most important original documents that forged our nation.

At first, I was disappointed that only a few items were there. But as I took my turn before each one, I was transfixed. I began to imagine what it must have been like for those who struggled to produce them, and the compromises and sacrifices that had to be reckoned with in order to forge a new nation, founded on radical principals of liberty and freedom, at least as they were perceived 250 years ago.

I imagined what fortitude and courage it took to reach enough consensus to have laid it out on a page for all posterity.Oaths of Allegiance to King George I wished I was allowed more time to read the difficult script and each signature, and especially, to ponder those last minute, hand-written edits on what became the final drafts.

It was definitely a messy business, and it’s not difficult to understand why we’re still debating many of the particulars today.

Which may be why, at the outset, the founders must have known how important it was to insert the word “more” between “a” and “perfect union.” They understood that, hard as we humans may try, achieving perfection is only a pipe dream.

And yet, bless our little hearts, we still try.

Every citizen learns at least an elementary version of how life was back then. But many of the details, as evidenced in the few documents displayed here, were new to me. More than any history book or TV documentary I’ve ever come across, these few items on display brought the struggle to life.

Treaty of Paris 1783In adding their names to the Declaration of Independence in 1776, these colonial representatives still had to unite and then muster the wherewithal to engage in a long, costly war. A  peace treaty with Britain was not signed until 1783.

But that’s not all.

They still had to figure out how to form a unified nation among the independent colonies, each of which had varying economic and social needs and philosophies.That task took well over a decade to accomplish.

The final draft of the U.S. Constitution was not ratified until 1783, and at the actual signing, representatives from only eleven the thirteen new states were present.

Fast forward to current times

As I walked out of the exhibit, the day was dreary. So was my mood. I mourned the spirit of so those who stood up for their lofty principles and fought battle after battle, both intellectually and physically, to create a country that has been, for almost all of its 250 years, the envy of the world.

It’s difficult these days to remain positive about the future of our country, what with the seemingly constant turmoil within and outside of our borders. While it’s tempting to believe that, since we’ve always been able to pull ourselves away from the brink of collapse, things will always work themselves out. But great civilizations before us have thrived and withered. Let us not be complacent.

I’ve included photos of every document in the exhibit; the pictures aren’t great, but given the crowd, the lighting, the height of the display, and the short time allowed, t’was the best I could do. Like our country, much is still a work in progress.

If you want to experience the exhibit in person, the official itinerary is here: Freedom Plane. 

Read more about this award-winning author at GayYellen.com.

 

Behaving Badly: Out of the Drawer

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Dear Stiletto Gang Readers: I am so proud to know today’s guest. Read on; I have no doubt you’ll understand why. ~ Donnell Ann Bell  

Out of the Drawer

By: Rochelle Staab

Author Rochelle Staab

Most every writer keeps one or more unwritten novels somewhere in a drawer/file/box, waiting, hoping for the enthusiasm to finish. Most drawer stories wait forever. Some resurface then fizzle again. My new novel, Behaving Badly, spent ten years in the drawer before the escape. Inspiration didn’t reappear overnight. Unwittingly, my personal journey away from writing, fed into the story and setting and made me a better writer.

After a series cancellation and my frustration in trying to please an editorial team who liked me but not the ideas I pitched, I decided to write what I really wanted to write: noir set in depression/prohibition-era Los Angeles. Using a working title of Above the Fold, I created a gritty, recently widowed female crime reporter who chased front-page headline stories about crime and corruption in 1930s Los Angeles without the convenience of a cell phone or a computer.

I loved the idea. Like so many women who found and claimed their power through the 1920s into the 1930s, my heroine had guts. Tess—my protag’s name has always been Tess—had a character profile, a supporting cast, solid research, and a complicated abduction plot involving a silent screen star lookalike.

Seventeen chapters in, Tess claimed her ground. I deflated. My agent gave me a mediocre response when I pitched a historical noir mystery featuring a female reporter. I feared the same reaction from my editor. I needed to shake off rejection and self-doubt and do something to make me feel good about myself.

Rochelle Staab and hiking buddy Barbara Beck at Escondido Falls, Malibu, California

I had always felt less than because I didn’t have a college degree, something I knew I had the power to fix. I enrolled in the local community college to see if I had what it took to erase my insecurity. My major would be English, because, you know, writer? But a required history class seduced me. One more, and I became a history major. I graduated and moved on to Cal State Northridge to complete my credits. I read primary sources; I wrote essays about world history. I formed opinions. Despite being the oldest history major at CSUN, I did a summer internship at the Autry Museum. I built a blog on the history of chocolate and co-wrote a video about the history of Los Angeles State Historic Park. Without planning, the classes I took, like the history of Weimar Germany, added context to the world surrounding Tess. My Sunday hikes around L.A. gave me a sidewalk-up familiarity (setting!) with Los Angeles infrastructure during the city’s growing years, the city Tess lived and worked in.

During my last semester at CSUN, I had a casual conversation with an acquaintance at my gym, a man who read hard cover novels on his daily stationary bike routine. I told him I wrote three books. A week later I spotted him reading my first book, Who Do Voodoo? on the bike. Seeing him turn the pages of my book fired a spark. I wondered if I would ever have the courage and creativity to write another novel.

Two weeks before I graduated with Honors, the gym guy and I had dinner. He asked what I would be writing after I graduated.  Just so I could call myself a writer and still believe it, I told him about Tess, my 30s reporter. That night I opened the “drawer” in my computer and figuratively pulled out Tess and what soon became Behaving Badly.

I started editing the seventeen chapters I wrote ten years ago and fell in love with the story all over again. Worried about failing Tess one more time, I logged my daily word count but without specific goals. From then on, each day when my gym friend asked how the writing was going, I had an answer. I found my pattern. Editing the seventeen chapters gave me courage. From there, I tried to write a new chapter each week, building the rest of the story without pressure or deadline. My friends smiled at me with that patient “will she ever finish the damned thing?” look. Twenty-eight chapters later, and a much richer story, Tess tied up some loose plot ends, and I typed THE END.

I had promised myself that if my agent still didn’t like historical noir ten years later, I would take charge of my writing future, self-publish Behaving Badly, and reclaim my agency. When he told me that the historical fiction genre had no audience, and perhaps I should write about hiking instead, our gracious parting made me a publisher.

A chance meeting with another author while on a basement tour of speakeasys in downtown L.A.—where else would authors bond?—led to a self-publishing conversation. He offered to school me. I took him up on it, followed the process, commissioned a cover, formatted the document, and within weeks uploaded Behaving Badly to Amazon. The feeling of publishing my own book exhilarated me.

On April 30, Tess and Behaving Badly debuted at #14 on Amazon’s Depression History of the U.S. chart and hit #10 the next morning. Today Amazon named Behaving Badly the “Top New Release” in Depression History of the U.S. Tiny category, but fitting, I think, for a historian, noir mystery author and publisher with her 1930s drawer novel.

Never give up, fellow writers. Never give up.

About the Book:

In 1932 Los Angeles, crime has no consequences

Recently widowed crime beat reporter Tess Hammond turns grief into purpose when her editor assigns her a seemingly small missing-teen story that balloons into murder, corruption, violence, and white slavery in Depression-wrought, Prohibition-era 1932 Los Angeles. As the search for the young woman leads Tess from an underground speakeasy to a Poverty Row studio, from Hollywood Boulevard nightlife to a gambling ship at sea, she encounters a world of mobsters, corrupt cops and, eerily, the chain of duplicity and corruption that cost her detective husband his life and almost ends her own.

About the Author: Rochelle Staab is a Los Angeles mystery writer, avid hiker, trail blogger, and historian with a deep background in the radio and music industry. She returned to the writing community in 2026 after a seven-year hiatus to earn a BA in history with an emphasis on America and Los Angeles. Using Mother Nature as a tour guide, Rochelle has blogged about over 300 different hikes in the mountains, urbs, and burbs of Los Angeles, exploring L.A. from the ground up. Rochelle’s fourth novel, BEHAVING BADLY, the first Tess Hammond historical noir mystery novel set in 1932 Los Angeles, released in May 2026.  ~ https://rochellestaab.com/

Down the Rabbit Hole

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By Donnell Ann Bell

I’m glad I only blog once a month on The Stiletto Gang. Mainly because when I stumble on a topic I’d like to discuss, that’s how long it takes to condense the mushroom cloud in my brain into a few cohesive paragraphs.

Case in point, I recently read an ad in American Police Beat Magazine for a device called the MX908 mass spectrometer. This handheld gadget is portable, and because of its cost, (close to $60K per unit) is currently being used by elite first responders.

What does it do? The MX908 mass spectrometer is capable of detecting real time chemical identification (such as explosives, HazMat operations and priority drugs such as fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine and more). 908 Devices – YouTube

I can’t tell you how happy I was to learn about this advancing technology. During ridealongs and citizens academies, I’ve learned that while cops live daily with the knowledge they may take a bullet, they and their fellow first responders, face a greater risk known as exposure.

Exposure to explosives, chemicals and toxic drugs. I’m excited about the advancement of this mass spectrometer. I believe it will save innumerable lives.

I didn’t mean my blog to be an ad for the MX908, however. My original intent was to pinpoint how and when the technology may have evolved and how fiction authors (in particularly science fiction authors) may have contributed.

That idea proved fruitless and of little merit.

DeForest Kelly as Dr. McCoy Source: Public Domain

Lois Winston and I are critique partners, and I told her about the device and quipped something like Gene Roddenberry, screenwriter and creator of Star Trek, would be proud. If you recall Roddenberry created Star Trek in 1964. One of his characters, Dr. Leonard McCoy, aka Bones, used a medical scanning device on patients to determine illness or injury.

Still, Gene Roddenberry can’t take credit for the spectrometer. As I dove further down the rabbit hole, I learned the first mass spectrometer was invented in the 19th century and before that Issac Newton and others were delving into the color spectrum, telescope, microscope and myriad other devices. Did you know Newton is responsible for calculus?

And please don’t get me started on Benjamin Franklin!!!

I did learn quite a bit about science fiction authors while I was researching but I’ll save that for another blog. There are some amazing authors I’d like to include.

Also, during my explorations, I discovered I was attempting to engage in what is known as Synoptic philosophy, which comes from the Greek word συνοπτικός synoptikos (“seeing everything together”). Add synoptic to the word philosophy, it means the love of wisdom emerging from a coherent understanding of everything together.

Obviously, although my curiosity knows no bounds, I have much to learn.

Does your research lead you down the proverbial rabbit hole? Have you heard the term Synoptic philosophy?

About the Author:  Donnell Ann Bell is an award-winning author who began her nonfiction career in newspapers. After she turned to fiction, her romantic suspense novels became Amazon bestsellers, including The Past Came Hunting, Deadly Recall, Betrayed, and Buried Agendas. In 2019, Donnell released her first mainstream suspense, Black Pearl, A Cold Case Suspense, which was a 2020 Colorado Book Award finalist. In 2022, book two of the series was released. Until Dead, A Cold Case Suspense won Best Thriller in 2023 at the Imaginarium Conference in Louisville, Kentucky. Currently, she’s working on book three of the series. Readers can follow Donnell on her blog or sign up for her newsletter at www.donnellannbell.net.

 

Before the Internet Search by Saralyn Richard

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When I was a junior in college, as an English major, I was required to take a course in John Milton. Taught by a professor who had made Milton  his life’s work and who strove to model himself after the legendary poet, the course had the reputation for being the hardest one on campus. I believed it at the end of the first session of class, when Professor Boyette gave us more than fifty topics to research at the library for homework.

The topics were as pedestrian as the Elizabethan world order, the cycle of sin and redemption, Christian  allegory, Dante’s circles of hell, and many others I can’t recall. If the assignment were made today, the homework could be done in an hour or so, courtesy of the Internet, but then we had to trek to the library and find reference books, drag them to the carrels, read about the topic, take notes….you may remember those days, not so fondly.

Image by alison updyke at Pixabay

            The research paid off, back then, and the Milton course became my most intellectually challenging and charming—a favorite. In fact, I chose to write and defend an honors thesis on Milton as a capstone course my senior year.

Not surprisingly, then, when I had an opportunity to visit England the summer after graduation, I became fixated on finding things that related to Milton. I saw his bust, but no grave, at Poet’s Corner in Westminster Abbey. I saw his famous mulberry tree on campus at Cambridge University. I asked around and nobody seemed to know where Milton was buried.

That shocked me. One of the most famous Renaissance poets in the world, and I couldn’t find out where he’d been interred. The British are essentially friendly to tourists, and almost everyone I asked had a theory. And every theory sent me on a wild goose chase all over London.

In the end, I had to leave England before finding out the truth. A few years later, my in-laws went to England. They asked me what I would like them to bring back for me, and I replied, “The location of John Milton’s grave.”

Sure enough, when they returned, they had brochures and pictures of themselves next to Milton’s grave, which is in the churchyard of St. Giles without the Cripplegate, Milton’s father had been the pastor of that church. Thus, a three-year treasure hunt came to a successful end, and I had my destination. (I was able to visit, myself, a few years after that.)

Image by Pexels from Pixabay

            Today, just for kicks, I consulted findagrave.com and asked for John Milton’s gravesite. This is what it gave me in a matter of seconds:

John Milton Famous memorial

Birth

9 Dec 1608

Bread Street, City of London, Greater London, England

Death

8 Nov 1674 (aged 65)

London, City of London, Greater London, England

Burial

St. Giles Cripplegate Churchyard

London, City of London, Greater London, EnglandShow MapGPS-Latitude: 51.5187642, Longitude: -0.0938894

            Oh, the power of the Internet, and how it’s changed our lives! One last example—I’m writing the historical mystery I started researching at the library when I was fifteen years old. The aftermath of the Great Storm of 1900 is a big part of the setting, and I had extensive notes taken from primary sources over a ten-year period. For various reasons, I was unable to complete that novel until now, and ta-da! The Internet is such a boon to the story-telling. For example, I can find out how many kopecks to a ruble or what a person could buy with five dollars in 1903 in a New York Galveston minute!

The experience makes me wonder—all the time—what we would do if we lost the Internet, the ability to ask Siri or Alexa, or even the ability to photograph objects for later use.

How about you? Do you have a favorite pre-Internet search to share? I’d love to hear about it.

 

 

Saralyn Richard is the author of The Detective Parrott mystery series, The Quinn McFarland mystery series, A Murder of Principal, and the children’s book, Naughty Nana. Subscribe to her monthly newsletter for contests, prizes, surveys, and other fun content at https://saralynrichard.com.

Interconnected February Celebrations

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by Paula Gail Benson

I remember seeing the 1942 black and white movie Holiday Inn with Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire. Bing ran an inn that only opened on the holidays. In 1952, Kemmons Wilson named his chain of hotels Holiday Inn after the movie, seeking to give guests the same special relaxing accommodation experience.

The movie’s Holiday Inn opens on George Washington’s Birthday and Abraham Lincoln’s Birthday. While this movie introduced Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas,” it has not often been shown in recent times due to its depiction of black characters and a performance using blackface. A new musical version of Holiday Inn appeared on Broadway in 2016, eliminating the Presidents’ birthday recognition numbers from February and using only Valentine’s Day from that month.

I thought both Washington’s and Lincoln’s Birthdays were federal holidays, but I was wrong. Washington’s Birthday was informally celebrated across the country after his death in 1799, and was designated as a federal holiday on January 31, 1879. Later, it became celebrated on the third Monday in February pursuant to the Uniform Monday Holiday Act passed on June 28, 1968. Lincoln’s Birthday was never recognized as a federal holiday, but was celebrated in some states.

George Washington was born on February 22, 1732 (or, by the dating system at the time of his birth February 11, 1731—the British Calendar Act of 1750 moved to the Gregorian calendar). Since 1896, the United States Senate has had a member read Washington’s Farewell Address on February 22 each year.

Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809. His birthday is observed as a holiday in Hodgenville, Kentucky (where he was born), Connecticut, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, California, Missouri, and New York.

The Mount Vernon website indicates the name of the federal holiday has never been changed to “Presidents’ Day.” It contends that happened as a merchandizing effort for sales.

African American communities began celebrating Black History Month in February as part of the commemoration of Lincoln’s Birthday. In the 20th century, the recognition also sought to honor Frederick Douglass’ Birthday of February 14.

To celebrate the holiday, here’s a link to Washington’s Farewell Address, Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, and Douglass’ Fourth of July Speech.

Frederick Douglass
Image from Wikipedia

Rabbit Holes & Root Beer

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Help! I’ve burrowed down another rabbit hole, and I’m stuck in a warren full of of too many possibilities. So deep am I into the research for my next book that I lost track of time. Which is to say, I almost forgot to write this post.

With no plan for what to post today, I turned to a holiday calendar for inspiration. Maybe this date in history would spark and idea. Boy, did it ever, though it sent me burrowing even deeper.

Turns out, today is National Black Cow Day. Curious as to why we should celebrate dark bovines, I clicked and learned that today’s Black Cow hoopla is all about a drink I’d always known as a root beer float—that delicious concoction of vanilla ice cream melting inside a tall, icy glass of root beer.

Okay, I thought, a fun subject, but not meaty enough to write about—until I read more, and discovered sassafras.

Sassafras is an incredibly fun word to say out loud. (Try it!)

It’s also the original ingredient in root beer, first marketed in America in the 19th century by Philadelphia pharmacist Charles Hires. But that’s not what kept me deep inside that rabbit hole.

When I discovered how important sassafras was to native tribes across the eastern half of what became America, I had to read on.

Here’s why: Attentive readers of my Samantha Newman Mystery Series may recall a mention in Book 3, The Body in the News, of the discovery of a possible ancient Native American campsite on Carter Chapman’s Serenity Ranch. With the idea of that as a plot point in the next book, I’ve been researching indigenous people who may have once inhabited the region.

Cornell Botanic Gardens

Who were these people? What did they eat? What tools did they use? Were they peaceful, or warlike? What might they have left behind at the campsite? I’ve already done a ton of research based on those questions, with more to go. And, to that, I now add this question: Did sassafras trees grow on their land?

Today I learned that every part of the sassafras tree was used by Native Americans from the east coast to west of the Mississippi into Central Texas. Roots from which root beer flavoring is derived were used as toothbrushes. An emetic made from bark was used in purification after funeral ceremonies. Leaves, rubbed onto bee stings, wounds, cuts, sprained ankles, and bruises, were thought to have healing properties.

Ground Sassafras/Cornell Botanic Gardens

Timber from the sassafras tree was used in construction, furniture making, and—when explorers learned of its utility— shipbuilding. By the early 18th century, sassafras became the second-most exported American product, right behind tobacco.

I could tell you everything I’ve learned about sassafras and the possible tribes who may once have hunted on what’s now Carter Chapman’s Serenity Ranch in my books, but I’m running out of time to get this posted.

Also, I have to get back to my research.

bittersoutherner.com

But I’ll leave the foodies among you with one more sassafras fact: its leaves were also dried and pulverized for use as a thickening and flavoring agent. If you’ve ever had true Cajun gumbo, you’ve enjoyed the flavor of filé, made from ground roots or leaves of the sassafras tree.

All of which makes me hungry for some gumbo right now. Maybe I’ll chase it with a few frosty swigs of a root beer float.

Happy National Black Cow Day to you, and may your day be full of fun adventures, down rabbit holes or wherever you roam.

Gay Yellen is the author of the award-winning

Samantha Newman Mystery Series including:

The Body Business, The Body Next Door, and The Body in the News!

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