Lance Weller's Blog, page 3
August 27, 2012
The Wilderness: The Turning Point
For those of us who study and think about the American Civil War, there are any number of turning points—those moments when the course of the war, and, thereby, the fate of the country, hung upon a single instant or decision. And, like a
discussion about the designated hitter rule in baseball, arguments and opinions revolving around the Turning Point can become heated. And, as you can imagine, having written a book about the Battle of the Wilderness, I have an argument and opinion of my own.
A...
August 24, 2012
Waiting on Wilderness
I recently had a short essay published on Tamara Linse’s new blog The Native Home of Hope which is a lovely site dedicated to writers west of the Mississippi. Check it out (link below).
http://www.nativehomeofhope.blogspot.com/
While you’re waiting for Wilderness to hit the bookstores (less than 2 weeks!), check out Christian Kiefer’s The Infinite Tides (now on sale) and Jonathan Evison’s “The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving” (out on 8/28).
http://xiankiefer.wordpress.com/
August 21, 2012
At Last!
I’ve never felt suited to do much of anything other than writing. I’ll save the essay about why it’s taken me so long to find any sort of success for another time and another forum but, suffice to say, my whole life has been lived in anticipation of being where I am now. However well Wilderness does in the marketplace when it’s released next month, the last year of getting it finally, truly ready for publication—from offer to contract to line edits and galleys and every other thing that goes...
August 16, 2012
Enabling Abel
I’ve been fortunate so far in that Wilderness is getting reviewed and, not only that, but reviewed positively. One thing that has been mentioned in some reviews has been the character of Abel Truman; more specifically: the NAME Abel Truman. In any novel touching on the subject of the American Civil War, having a protagonist named for that Biblical brotherly conflict runs the risk of coming off not just old-hat but lazy. I think I was able to pull it off in Wilderness because, truthfully, I ne...
August 11, 2012
Upcoming Appearances
As the publication date for Wilderness gets closer, my calendar’s getting filled-up. Somewhere off to the right of this page , we’ve added a list of appearances I’ll be making. If you click on an event you will be taken to a website with pertinent details. Would love to see you there (wherever there might be…)! I will update this as additional events get added.

August 5, 2012
Top Eight American Civil War Histories (and one Novel)
Top Eight America Civil War Histories (and one Novel)
When I realized my protagonist for Wilderness was an American Civil War veteran (lucky for me, this was pretty much right away, otherwise there would have been a job of work in the rewrite dept) I figured I, as the author, had better know a thing or two about that conflict. I came to the study of that deep and broad history raw and callow, having only the barest understandings of the shape of the thing, let alone who did what to whom and wh...
July 26, 2012
Sea-Stacks and Driftwood
One of the many things I worked hard to get right in Wilderness was landscape description. At the beginning of the book my character, Abel Truman, is living as a recluse on the wild northwest coast of Washington State. One of the reasons I chose to set much of the novel in that locale is the striking other quality to the landscape; to visit there—let alone live there—is alienating and strange and suits the character of Abel.
Here are some passages from Wilderness, paired with photographs of th...
July 22, 2012
The Seven League Boots-Part 2
Later that night, after he had eaten again (another biscuit, this time with the gravy fresh and hot and filling him with a heat he’d not known his entire time on the mountain) they sat quietly together before the hearth fire. The Aunt in her cane-rocker and Trevor cross-legged on the floor. The Aunt surprised him by speaking first.
She said: “He was always awful proud of you.”
Trevor looked at her but she was bent over the bowl of her pipe, filling it carefully. “Was he?”
She glanced up sharply....
July 20, 2012
The Seven League Boots
Here’s another older story that I don’t think is online anywhere; this is the first half and the second half will follow in a separate post. This story first appeared in the Winter ’99 edition of New Millennium Writings and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize by that magazine’s editor. This is a locale and a character I’ve revisited in another unpublished story and someday I’ll go back to this well and try and make something more of it all.
The Seven League Boots
In May 1916, when the cougar bou...
July 14, 2012
Top 8 Pacific NW Novels
Those sections of my novel, Wilderness, that are not set during the American Civil War take place in the Pacific Northwest. To that end, I thought it’d be a fun exercise to list, in no particular order, my eight favorite novels set in this corner of the United States. Now, to be fair, a couple of these are real stretches in their connection the NW, and one isn’t a novel at all, but all possess that certain something that makes me think of them as NW books.
(Why eight? Honestly? Eight was all I...