Pepper Basham's Blog, page 19

The Unimaginable – grace in Hamilton

So….

[image error]My 15-year-old music loving girl has become quite passionate about this not-so-new phenomenon of Hamilton, the musical. To say this will help her in American History class is an understatement because…she not only as the whole thing memorized, she’s started researching information around the history of the revolution just to check on her ‘friends’ in the musical

A Moonbow Night by Laura Frantz

[image error]Of one thing I am certain, Laura Frantz’s writing holds as spellbinding a quality as the stories she weaves with such intricate detail. A Moonbow Night is no different. Steeping in imagery thick with the mountains and hollows of frontier Appalachia, Laura introduces us, not only to riveting characters as alive to history as the famous Daniel Boone, but also to a culture, faith, and setting that breathes off the page.

Tempe Tucker is a true-to-life Appalachian woman with grit, tenacity, and a strength to survive all that the beautiful-yet-dangerous landscape might provide. As one of the few inn’s along the Shawnee River in the wilds of Kentucky, her family live by ingenuity, hard-work, willpower, and faith.

One of the many passages I LOVED LOVED in this book is:

“Scripture.”

“Say any by heart?”

“Some. But I’d rather live it by heart.”

Sion Morgan enters her world as a Virginia surveyor looking for an experienced guide to lead his crew. He gets more than he bargained for in Tempe Tucker….but so does she. Sion’s quiet, somewhat aloof, and yet surprising personality tugs upon the strings around Tempe’s heart.

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http://victoriafalls24.com/blog/2013/07/03/moonbow-victoria-falls/

They seem to be two people born of a similar strength and a similar pain, yet of a very different spiritual views…until Tempe’s faith and directness wiggle through Sion’s doubt with a quiet perseverance. It’s beautiful to see how Tempe becomes Sion’s guide in more ways than a navigator through the Kentucky wilderness, but also a shepherdess, of sorts, toward a deeper treasure for his soul.

Secondary characters pack the pages with levity, increasing depth, heartache, and challenges, and as usual in a Laura Frantz book, just as no sense is spared, neither is any emotion.

Like the expert guide, Laura leads us on a journey as beautiful as it is dangerous. As gripping as it is revealing – and we are left with a masterpiece of words in our hands and hearts.

Someday I hope to write a story as poetic and profound as A Moonbow Night. Thank you, Laura, for sharing your gift of storytelling with the world.

I received this copy of A Moonbow Night from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group

My FAVORITE Readers I met this year

[image error]You know, there are a lot of “Favorite Book” lists going on right now to sound-off the end of 2016. It’s a humbling and sweet experience to make one…or be shocked to make MORE than one – but I what want to turn that ‘favorites’ lists around and give a shout-out to the readers.

I haven’t words to express the depth of gratitude and joy I’ve experienced this year in building friendships and finding encouragement from so many readers. (And me not being able to find words is a big deal since I’m both a writer AND a speech-language pathologist

History Tidbits – The Thorn Healer

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click on photo for reference

I love history – particularly certain time-periods. What about you?

 

Of course, there are certain eras I don’t care to read-up on as much, but as a whole  I really enjoy the discovery true events and places in the past.

As I researched for The Thorn Healer, it was amazing to visit the places that showed up in my book.

Today I’m going to introduce you to The Kenilworth Inn – but in The Thorn Healer (and in 1918) it was called U.S. General Hospital # 12 – a facility taken [image error]over by the army to be used as a hospital.

Before the owner of The Kenilworth Inn could use it for its designed purpose, the army swopped into Asheville with the distinct need of a convalescence hospital for soldiers, (while their primary hospital was being constructed in nearby Azalea). In 1918 the army opened the hospital to treat wounde

d soldiers, particularly those suffering from tuberculosis.

Biltmore Hospital, as it was locally called, shows up in The Thorn Healer as the place our hero, August Reinhold, is transferred after the German internees leave Hot Spring

s. It was a beautiful facility, still is – with a indoor bowling alley v[image error]ery similar to the one at the nearby Biltmore Estate.

Though the hotel saw some great days after the army returned it to its owner, the stock market crash of 1929 killed the owner’s dreams for the Inn and the facility began a slow shift from one owner to another until present day (again, used as a military hospital in WW2)

Now the building is an apartment building complex, but the beauty of the ‘Inn’ is still apparent.

[image error]August Reinhold, a other german internees like him, would have stepped down this very rug in the lobby of Kenilworth or sat by the fire and chatted here.

So….do you enjoy reading books where you can actually visit the places in the story?

Thanks to the lovely manager at The Kenilworth Inn Apartments who took me on a tour of the historical building. 

Overwhelmed by Reader’s Responses!

It’s true. The past two days I’ve been on the verge of tears from the absolutely BEAUTIFUL reviews that have come in about The Thorn Healer.

Why?

Well, because this story has been the hardest one to write to date (just as Julie Gwinn or Carrie Schmidt). Writing the hero wasn’t difficult, but ‘finding’ my heroine in the middle of all her pain (under deadline) nearly broke me!

Release Day!! Book Birthday #4

Wow! It’s been a crazy year, but after lots of hard work and some brainstorming help from my super duper brainstorming team and agent, Julie Gwinn – we have a new book baby!!

Yes! Today, the third book in the Penned in Time series is here!

This book is a little different than its two predecessors. Here are a few differences:

The Thorn Bearer used both the Blue Ridge Mountains and England for settings. The Thorn Keeper used England. The Thorn Healer takes place completely in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.
The Thorn Bearer (TTB) and The Thorn Keeper (TTK) are best read together, but The Thorn Healer (TTH) can stand alone – although you might enjoy it more if yousee how the heroine, Jessica, changes from book one to book three.
Though The Thorn Bearer has follows the timeline of the sinking of the Lusitania in its first few chapters and The Thorn Keeper has pinpoint historical events within it, The Thorn Healer follows a close set of historical events surrounding the small mountain town of Hot Springs. 

What else to know about The Thorn Healer? It received 4 1/2 stars from Romantic Times and was listed as a Top Pick!! 

So if you’re looking for a good Christmas present for yourself…or someone else, try out this story. It’s even green for Christmas colors

In Pieces

It’s Christmas!

So, of course, my family is enjoying the process of pulling out ornaments we’ve collected through the years and safeguarded for posterity’s sake

Creating a Word…Shakespeare-style

You know what happens when you leave a creative mind in a car alone for too long?

Crazy stuff.

Like….creating a word that holds the essence of your brand! YES!

Historic note: It is theorized that playwright William Shakespeare first cited from over 200 to 1500 words! Whether he was the inventor of them or not, we can’t know for sure, but he’s given credit for a BIG bunch of them.

Another historic note you can use on Jeopardy some day: Author John Milton is said to have coined over 600 words still listed in the Oxford Dictionary! WOW!!

Word inventing is cool…especially if it is meaningful to the story or author

Appalachian y and er

Southern Appalachia is an interesting place.

As my culture, there are so many things I love about it. The fierce loyalty of family, the sense of community, the independent spirit and resourcefulness. Of course there are things I’m not too fond of either – the suspicion, the sometimes insular nature of people, the tendency to be fearful of the unknown. And then their is the culturally…um…unique things?

One is the tendency to put a ‘y’ on the end of words that end in an ‘a’. For example, instead of saying “I want an extra cup”, you might hear “I want an extry cup.” The name Sarah might be said “Sary”. Many a Laura naturally became Laurie

The Cautious Maiden by Dawn Crandall

I’ve been a fan of Dawn Crandall’s books ever since I read her first one, The Hesitant Heiress – by the way, I own the dress on this cover