R.E. Thomas's Blog, page 4
April 3, 2014
Mother Earth, Bloody Ground Sneak Peak
Over on my Facebook group, I took a vote from the members about releasing a teaser for Mother Earth, Bloody Ground, and about what characters that teaser should focus on. They picked Patrick Cleburne and Frank Cheatham, so here’s the sneak teaser: Scene with Patrick Cleburne and Frank Cheatham I will leave this teaser link […]
March 28, 2014
Understanding Civil War Field Fortifications
Hand in hand with the rifled musket, I think one of the most misunderstood tactical features of the Civil War is field fortification. The conventional wisdom is that if you put infantry behind a stone wall or an earthen embankment, they could hold off all comers so long as their ammunition held out or they […]
March 16, 2014
Sequel Status Update
A quick status update: Mother Earth, Bloody Ground went to the proofreader today. That is the next-to-last major step before going to press.
March 6, 2014
Why Stonewall Goes West Was “Short”
Looking over my reader reviews, the one criticism that is appears repeatedly and seems reasonable is that Stonewall Goes West was a short novel. A couple have even gone so far as to accuse me of making it deliberately short as a cheap sales ploy. There are three reasons as to why the novel was […]
The Meridian Campaign
Seeing as how the 150th anniversary of the Meridian Campaign came about, I thought I was blog on the real campaign, as well as the small ways in which it changed in Stonewall Goes West. Ever since I became acquainted with the details of Sherman’s February and March foray into eastern Mississippi, I saw it […]
March 1, 2014
The Dahlgren Controversy
As today is the 150th anniversary of the inglorious end of Judson “Kil-Cavalry” Kilpatrick’s raid on Richmond, and with it the start of the Dahlgren Affair, I thought I would share my thoughts on the latter. Briefly, the Dahlgren Affair stems from the alleged discovery of documents on the corpse of Ulric Dahlgren, a Union […]
February 22, 2014
Trolling The Owner
Last May I had the pleasure to launch Stonewall Goes West at the 150th Anniversary reenactment of Chancellorsville. I met a lot of nice people, but also one not so nice fellow. He came over, chomped on a sandwich with his mouth so wide open as he spouted tinfoil hat theory that he dribbled and […]
February 18, 2014
Them Big Navy Guns
I’m a big Age of Sail fan, and watching the first episode of Black Sails prompted me to blog a bit about Civil War naval power. The revolution going on — in armor, in artillery, in propulsion — at sea during the period is something that is only half-observed in my mind. The exploits of […]
February 4, 2014
Don’t Advertise Your Book On Goodreads
Since Stonewall Goes Out came out, I have had some decidedly mixed experiences with various promotional efforts. Once of the pieces of advice I have for all indie and small-press authors out there: don’t self-advertise on Goodreads. I can’t speak as to how effective other means of advertising on the Goodreads website, such as book […]
January 30, 2014
Why Fight Elbow to Elbow?
The other day I was asked on my Facebook group why soldiers ever fought in those elbow-to-elbow linear formations, standing in the open and exchanging fire. It seems very counter-intuitive, and especially so in the context of the minie ball and the rifle musket. Yet the reality is that whether the soldiers were armed with […]
