Cody C. Engdahl's Blog

Review of Black Redcoats: The Corps of Colonial Marines 1814-1816, by Matthew Taylor

A delicious, adventurous, true tale of American blacks living out their revenge against their oppressors. 

This is the book I was looking for. I was looking for information about the ex-slaves who became Royal Marines and burned down the White House. I was delighted to find an entire book dedicated to the subject, and so much more. Author Mathew Taylor delivers a fascinating tale rarely told.

Black Redcoats covers the origins of the War of 1812, the Chesapeake campaign, and the British proclamation of freedom to all who’d join their ranks. The book is filled with emotionally charged anecdotes and vignettes of real people, making this human story more poignant. 

It also covers the Georgia and Florida campaigns, the end of the war, the fate of the Royal Colonial Marines, and their surviving legacy. Most importantly, this book tells the story of the brave men who threw off their chains and truly fought for freedom. 

The author himself is British and makes no attempt to hide his patriotism and pride in his country’s military heritage. However, I believe this is an objective and fair account of the very human story behind the war. Taylor also points out the British Empire’s own duplicity in offering freedom to American slaves who came to their ranks, while maintaining slavery in their own colonies. He pulls no punches when it comes to criticizing his own country, as he does the United States.

This is a great book for anyone who wants to learn more about this often brushed-over conflict and is interested in true stories about human perseverance and heroism. Bravo, Mr. Taylor.

Check it out here:

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Review of Country of the Bad Wolfes, by James Carlos Blake

Gorgeous family drama spanning generations over a hundred years. 

This is one of my all-time favorite novels. This is also my second time reading it. It’s got to have one of the best openers of any novel I’ve ever read. The prologue tells the story of the family’s patriarch: A handsome Irish-English pirate shipwrecked in the New World in 1826, the first of the Wolfes to set foot there.  

The rest of the novel is a rhapsodic, fairytale-like romp full of action and adventure as his descendants carve out their lives in New England, Mexico, and finally Texas over the next eighty-four years. James Carlos Blake is able to weave through the years at a brisk pace, yet zero in on thrilling moments with emotional depth and fully fleshed out characters, all while tying the plot to historical events and even including historical figures like Porfirio Díaz. There are so many moments that brought tears to my eyes, made me laugh, or even made me want to be there.  

James Carlos Blake was one of the best writers of our time. Read this book and you’ll see why. Sadly, we lost him in January 2025. He was 81 years old.

Read a copy of it here:

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After Action Report: “The Gathering” at The White House Inn Museum

I always say, playing the fiddle gets you invited to the dance. It was certainly the case for me at the White House Inn Museum’s “The Gathering” last Saturday in White House, Tennessee. 

It was a historical event full of old-timey crafts, reenactors, and me with my fiddle and a table full of novels to sign!

These two pictures were taken by my friend and fellow author, Loyd Elmore Jr.

There he is! Say hi to Loyd. If you want to check out his books. Click the link I added to his name above. If you like Stephen King, you’ll like Loyd too. He writes fantasy, science fiction, and horror. I’ve read his books: Malinville,  Malcolm’s Bridge, and The Space Between the Spaces. I really enjoyed them.  He’s bought every one of my novels off of Amazon. He brought the last three for me to sign. I was happy to do so. I’m honored that he reads them.

Speaking of friends, here’s Bob!

Bob has read every novel I’ve written except for the latest one, The French Fiasco. He picked it up this weekend. I’m really curious what he thinks of it. In it are some twists, turns, and payoffs, especially if you’ve read the whole series. He says I can ask about it when he’s done. I’m looking forward to getting some feedback.

It was a great day. I had several repeat customers and some new ones. Here are some more pictures.

I try to get a picture with everyone I sell a book to. It’s the part of marketing where I show “social proof” of real people buying my books. I also use them to help with bookkeeping. I try to keep track of what I sell throughout the day, but sometimes I get flustered and forget to record it, so looking at the pictures, I can figure out what I sold.

There was a tall, handsome Marine who bought a copy of Rampage on the River. We posed for a picture together, but I can’t find it! I think the person who took it might not have hit the button. It was bright out there and hard to see. I should have checked before we parted ways. I took a picture of a copy of the book by itself, just so I had a record of it to match my log.

Here’s a little “pay it forward” story.

This woman gave me a twenty-dollar bill for a seventeen-dollar book and told me to keep the change. It was very nice of her. Since I keep a tip jar out for my fiddle playing, I figured I’d drop the three dollars in there. 

But this boy came along. Don’t let his size fool you, he’s thirteen! He reminded me so much of myself at that age. I loved reading books. We talked about how much we liked novels about the Vietnam War. 

He wanted to buy my first book. It’s ten dollars, but he only had seven. I said that was good enough. He was like, “Are you sure? That’s a lot less.” I told him it was no problem since someone else had already paid the difference.

Heck, I would have given him the book anyway. A kid like that could be reading my books for the next thirty years or more. I plan to keep writing them for him. I hope I continue to earn his readership. 

Okay, let’s do the numbers!

I had Laura print up this flyer for me. I had it on my table for people to scan. It’s a way to build this email subscriber list by giving away the novella. I hope you’ve read it, by the way. I’ll put the link for you to download it if you haven’t. Don’t forget it’s FREE and I’m really proud of it.

Okay, so here we go:

I sold 13 books,

Got 7 new subscribers,

and had 6 new downloads of the novella.

Not bad for a day’s work.

I also did some networking.

This is Bill Maddox, the blacksmith. He told me about a historical home they’re renovating out by the Cedars of Lebanon State Park. Anyway, he told me that they might need a fiddler for some of their events. I’m happy to oblige. I’ll let you know if I do anything out there.

Also, some of my friends from Morgan on the Rim were there and confirmed that they’re going to give me a table this year. So that’s October 24-26 in Ridgetop, Tennessee. It’s a Civil War event. I’ll be there with my books and fiddle. I’ll put more details out when we get closer. I hope to see you there!

In the meantime, make sure you get your free copy of The Underground Railroad Ball!

August 2025 Sales Report

August is traditionally one of the slowest, if not the slowest, months for book sales. I’m happy that my slow month royalties now rival what I got during the surges of my first two novels in 2019 and 2020.

Subscriptions include page reads from Kindle Unlimited and listeners on Audible. Subscriptions and ebook sales make up 84% of my income.

Still, I’m always happy to see physical copies getting out there in the world. I hope they are lent to potential new readers who’ll come back to buy new releases as I go.

I’m immensely grateful for my readers/listeners in the UK. They have about 70 million people compared to 330 million in the US, but 40% of my royalties come from Britain. They’re big readers and love historical novels. This is why I’m always advertising there.

Get a FREE novella from me: The Underground Railroad Ball.

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Review of Hex-Ed, by Sarina Dorie

Funny, sexy, scary, playful, childlike, and deep. 

I’m surprised how much I’m enjoying the series, especially since it’s outside of my usual Military Historical Fiction genre. I was originally drawn to the whimsical artwork on the covers. What’s inside did not disappoint me. Sarina Dorie is definitely writing her passion, and sometimes I wonder if she’s actually a witch herself.

I was surprised by this second Womby School for Wayward Witches novel, so much so that I had to check the genre. It is not Young Adult Fantasy, as I had assumed, but rather New Adult & College Fantasy, which makes a lot more sense to me now that I’ve read some of the more spicy scenes. They’re still tasteful, but whoa…! Dorie goes there, and it’s a lot of fun!

Hex-Ed picks up a few years after Tardy Bells and Witches’ Spells. Clarrisa Lawrence is all grown up now. She’s no longer a nerdy high schooler, but a college student trying to eke out a normal life after the tragic catastrophe at the end of the last book. She’s been convinced that magic isn’t real and that the things she’s seen and felt were nothing more than episodes of psychosis. 

But all the medication and gaslighting cannot keep the magic away, or the Witchkin and Evil Fae who either want to enslave her, drain her of her power, or destroy her altogether. Clarrisa needs to learn the nature of her strange talents and how to control them before the forces of evil have their way.

Hex-Ed is a fun, short read. The print length is listed at 172 pages. I read it in a week and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. Dorie is a funny, witty writer who knows how to build a scene that bubbles over into hilarious chaos. She expertly leads you along with teasing and foreshadowing, rendering this story a real page-turner.  I have the first eight books of the series. With two down, I’m excited to read on. 

Check it out here:

Get a FREE novella from me: The Underground Railroad Ball.

Check out my latest novel here:

Review of Dynasty Killers, by Baptiste Pinson Wu

Great moments of humanity in a harsh world of violence and distrust.

I just finished Dynasty Killers, which is Book Three of Baptiste Pinson Wu’s The Three Kingdoms Chronicles. Great work, great series, it’s illuminating and entertaining, which is all I ask for in a book. I loved the moments of humanity interspersed throughout the violence and villainy. Honor among enemies is my favorite trope, and Dynasty Killers serves it up in abundance. 

Liao Chun is now a full-grown man in the twilight of the Han Dynasty. He’s the captain of the Scorpions, an elite troop of warriors doing the bidding of legendary warlord Cao Cao. But as Chun does his mentor’s dirty work in the ongoing Chinese civil wars, he must reconcile his own conscience with his master’s ruthless ambitions.

Pinson Wu is doing us a great service, bringing such a rich history and culture to Western eyes with real historical characters and depictions of actual events like the Battles of Wancheng, Xiapi, and Guandu. Consider me among his legions of fans. Five stars from me. I was not emotionally prepared for what happened in this book. It was beautiful, heartbreaking, and unexpected. Bravo, Mr. Pinson-Wu. 

Get a FREE novella from me: The Underground Railroad Ball.

Check out Dynasty Killers here:

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My FREE Novella Is Now Available, and Why I’m Giving It Away.

You can get it here immediately: The Underground Railroad Ball.

Click the link, type in your email address, and you’ll be taken to a page where you can download it for multiple readers, such as Kindle, Nook, Apple, or as an ePub file or a PDF, which you can print out and read that way if you prefer. You can even read it online. 

I like using the free Kindle app to read books on my iPhone. It’s easier because I always have it with me and I can read it in the dark while my girlfriend sleeps. If you need help downloading or finding a way to read it, let me know. I’m happy to help.

This is a 21,500-word novella. It’s an immediate prequel to my first book, Rampage on the River: The Battle for Island No. 10.

It’s about Chester E. Newman, who is a sheriff’s deputy in Detroit at the onset of the American Civil War. He wants nothing more than to gain his captaincy in the 2nd Michigan Cavalry. To do so, he must recruit a company of men, but all his plans are thrown into chaos when runaway slaves and slave catchers come to town. With the Fugitive Slave Act still in force, Newman must walk the fine line between his oath to the law and what’s right in his heart. 

I’m giving it away to build my email subscriber list. Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to inform your readers of new releases, specials, and appearances. Sure, I have a decent following on social media, but those platforms don’t show all my followers every post I put out unless I’m paying for ads, which I do, but they’re expensive! Plus, you can lose your social media account, but no one can take away your email subscribers.

Marketing experts say that writing and giving away a “reader magnet” is a good way to entice people to subscribe to your list. It also gives them a sample of what to expect from you as a writer. It’s best to write something that’s connected to your series, but not essential reading. Usually, a prequel or a side story about one of your characters will do.

I knew I wanted to write one when I started my email subscriber list, but I wasn’t sure what it’d be about. I wanted something that would lead into my first book, Rampage on the River. In Rampage, Carl fights a duel with Klaus over an incident that happened at a ball the night before the novel started. I wanted to explain that in more detail, but didn’t feel I had enough for a story until one day it hit me.

I was in the shower when the idea came. Carl’s captain is a sheriff’s deputy at the beginning of Rampage on the River. What if he was involved in a caper with runaway slaves, slave catchers, the Fugitive Slave Act, and the Underground Railroad? Even better, there’s a real historical story of a daring rescue of a fugitive slave in Detroit that I could use as an inspiration for my story.

I loved it! I immediately texted my girlfriend and told her the idea, then copied and pasted that text into my notes so that I wouldn’t forget by the time I got to writing it.

I was still writing The French Fiasco at the time. I resolved that The Underground Railroad Ball would be the very next thing I wrote. Furthermore, even though it would be a novella (short novel) and free, I would pour my heart into it. It had to be as good or even better than my six previous novels.

I gave myself six months to write, edit, and distribute it to my subscribers. Fueled by passion, I did it in two and a half. I’m extremely proud of the result. I get excited every time I see a new download has occurred. I may be giving it away for free, but I think this was an investment that will pay dividends for years to come.

I currently have 107 subscribers on my fledgling list. I hope to have at least two hundred when I announce the pre-order for my next novel, Black James, which will probably come out sometime over a year from now. I’m running my list through MailerLite, which is free up to your first thousand subscribers. I figure by the time I get to a thousand, it’ll be well worth it.

So join my email subscriber list, download The Underground Railroad Ball, and tell me what you think! I’d love to hear from you! You can even review it here.

Review of Fletcher and the Mutineers by John Drake

Fletcher comes full circle.

This is Book III of the Fletcher Series, of which there are currently eight. It picks up where the last one ended and wraps up several threads from from the series so far. Fletcher and the Mutineers is almost like two novellas in one book. The first half takes place in Jamaica, where Fletcher is trying to build his fortune while hiding from the Royal Navy on the eve of the Second Maroon War. The second part takes place in Boston, where a standoff between the British, the French, and a ship full of mutineers in the harbor threatens to pull the US and Britain into war again.

Like the first two books, there are plenty of action sequences and intrigue, including naval battles and even a submarine. The book follows the same “found manuscript” trope, in which the writer claims to have won Jacob Fletcher’s memoir in an auction and then fills in the blanks with information from articles and other sources from Fletcher’s life. What we get is a story that shifts between the first-person narrative of Fletcher and a third-person narrative from his adversary’s point of view. This happens from chapter to chapter.

Fletcher’s voice is convincing and delightful, in which you can hear the old sea dog in him. His old enemy is back and more willful than ever. There are plenty of “oh sh%t” moments when I truly didn’t know how Fletcher was going to get out of a tight spot. It’s a fun and thrilling read and a great addition to the Fletcher Naval Adventures series.

Check it out here:

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My Review of Andor: A Star Wars Story

Several sets of space women brood and talk about their feelings. Much of this happens near 1970s architecture. 

There’s some shooting every few episodes. Then they all get new settings and the process starts again. 

I found the constant switching between ongoing conversations made their concerns seem more fast-paced. 

The unhappily-married space senator helped me appreciate the empire the most. I was relieved to finally see the Death Star. I hope its giant space cannon will help dry some of their tears. 

The show reminded me of the times I watched the IV drip during my chemotherapy. 

Diego Luna is in it at times. He does a good job of being non-threatening. He kind of looks like a Funko-Pop doll, which I think makes the toys seem more realistic. Bravo.

Check out my latest novel, although the pacing might be a little too fast:

Not Racist Enough? My reaction to a 3-Star Review

Blood for Blood Review Response

This reviewer gave Blood for Blood at Nashville only three stars because they say it didn’t depict racism in the South enough during the American Civil War.

This same person gave me a 5-star review for The Perils of Perryville, for which I am grateful. I’m also grateful for this feedback and the 3 stars, although I wish they would have given me at least one more star to help my average.

I’ll start off by saying that Blood for Blood at Nashville features a historical, racially motivated massacre, a historical race riot in Detroit, as well as people being called the odious “n-word” throughout the entire book, so what more do you want? Even the Yankees are guilty of overt racist behavior in this novel because many of them were.

The personal experience of this reviewer is awful, and it makes me sick to my stomach reading it. So I am sympathetic and understand their feelings. However, they are talking about the 1960s at the height of the Civil Rights Movement. 

It would seem logical that things were worse a hundred years prior, especially at the end of the Civil War, when people were still legally enslaved in states that were still loyal to the Union and in Confederate-occupied lands. However, this novel predominantly takes place in Union-occupied Tennessee after the Emancipation Proclamation and on the eve of complete Union victory. This would have been when Federal troops were enforcing the newly won freedoms and civil rights for blacks, perhaps even out of spite, if not for the obvious moral reasons. In fact, black people had more rights and equality in the immediate aftermath of the war and through the following ten years during Reconstruction. They could vote, hold office, intermix with whites in society, and basically have rights that they would not see again until after the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.

So, what happened? 

Out of fear of rekindling the war, the Federal Government cowardly abandoned them. They turned their backs, withdrew occupation, and allowed ex-Confederate States to pass “Jim Crow” laws which would strip blacks of their rights and drive them into social and economic destitution for the next hundred years. We are still feeling the effects of that today.

Was there plenty of racism then? Yes. Did I portray that racism in my book adequately? I like to think so, but perhaps not up to everyone’s standard. 

In the end, I strive to portray history as accurately and objectively as possible. At the same time, I’m writing swashbuckling adventures in that history, and I tend to be a bit of a romantic. Trust me, though I am sensitive to our struggle with racism, then and now. I’m also excited about portraying heroism in my books, including with the black soldiers I feature in Blood and Blood at Nashville and the black characters in all my books. 

I hope the person who wrote this review sticks with me. They called it an “Excellent Series” in their review of The Perils of Perryville. Perhaps I’ll be redeemed when they read Mexico, My Love. We’ll see. 

In the meantime, if you’ve read any of my books, please give me some stars on Amazon and Goodreads, as many or as few as you feel I deserve, and perhaps write a few lines about what you liked or didn’t like. It helps level out the averages in the algorithm. By the way, I blotted out this person’s name to protect their identity. I would do the same for you, especially if you gave me a bad review.

Haven’t read any of my books yet? What if I gave you one for FREE? 

I’ve written a novella just for that purpose. It’s to grow my email subscriber list. Click here to join:  https://subscribepage.io/EngdahlHouse. 

You plug in your email address, and you’ll get a copy of The Underground Railroad Ball in about a month when it’s ready. It’s already written. We’re just editing it now. It’s a 21,000-word novella that’s an immediate prequel to Rampage on the River: The Battle for Island No. 10.

Also, I promise not to spam you or give your email address to anybody else. It’s just a way I can update you when I have new releases, specials, or public appearances. 

Check out a preview of Blood for Blood at Nashville here: