I have a new interview up on Christine L. Henderson's blog Reading and Writing Books! We had a fun conversaation. Check it out and leave a comment!  You'll see that she picked up the old, out of print edition of Native Son, still carried by some resellers on Amazon, but thankfully the new edition is easily found.  ..read more

Do you like the blog’s new look? I’ve been intending to change it forever but just haven’t taken the time. Today I decided to play a bit, inspired by the French setting in Refiner's Fire, and I really like this theme. (By the way, I just discovered that if you're looking at it on a smart phone, it looks somewhat different, and the image in the header doesn't show.) A while back I happened across some wonderful paintings by Italian artist Arturo Ricci, and for the header image I decided to use one I particularly like, L’Attesa or “The Expectation”. It reflects my characters and parts of Refine ..read more

Voting for the Christian Indie Awards is now open, and Bob Hochstetler and I covet your vote for The Return, Book 2 of our Northkill Amish Series, closely based on the inspiring true story of our Amish ancestors. Voting is open through March 31, 2018. To vote, go here, click on the link, scroll down to The Return, in the Historical Fiction category, and submit your vote. Book 1, Northkill, won the 2014 Foreword Magazine Indie Award, and The Return has already won the Interviews and Reviews 2017 Silver Award for Historical Fiction. We greatly appreciate your help in spreading the word abo ..read more

Memorial Day Sale on the definitive, thrilling historical fiction series on the American Revolution! For a limited time get books 1-3 and 7 for only $.99 ea. on Kindle. Suitable for high school through adult readers.  “If you are a fan of Rev War novels, 18th century history, or gripping good storytelling, start with Daughter of Liberty. You have a lot of great reading in store and memorable characters to meet.” —Lori Benton, best-selling author of Shiloh ..read more

View of Boston in 1776 from Road to Dorchester While researching the Revolution I was struck by the number of weather events that in some way impacted the war’s course. My last post looked at a phenomenon that affected the New England states in May 1780, spreading dread and confusion among those who either experienced it or heard descriptions of it. Today I’m going to begin a series focused on other weather-related events that had a notable effect on the combatants. We’ll start with one at the war’s beginning that’s portrayed in Native Son, Book 2 of The American Patriot Series ..read more

Dark Day mural, painted by Works Progress Administration artist Delos Palmer in Stamford, Conn., Old Town Hall. In Forge of Freedom Carleton relates an account he heard of a strange, unsettling early darkness that had descended over the New England states a few weeks earlier. This is, in fact, a real historical event that occurred on May 19, 1780.  The weather had been cool in the north for most of the preceding month. Although the sky remained clear, a dirty yellow tinge colored it, and for several hours after sunrise and before sunset the sun held a reddish cast. But wha ..read more

  One of the fun things about doing this series, in addition to the covers, has been the maps that are included. I’ve loved maps since my class began to study them in elementary school social studies, so it’s been a delight to work on these. Obviously a professionally published historical series needs maps, and I’ve included at least one in every volume. My illustrator, Jim Brown of Jim Brown Illustrations, is wonderful to work with and does a smashing job creating the maps I need. Here’s the latest one: the Siege of York, which began on September 29, 1781 and ended on October 19 ..read more

Yesterday I finished the full edit of Forge of Freedom! And now that I have the final page count—523 pages! Yikes!—my designer can finalize the cover’s spine width. As Marisa said, “That’s a big book.” Yes, it is. And I don’t expect to ever do that again!  Even the back cover is going to be gorgeous, as you can see in the preliminary at the left. The text isn’t correct at this point and will be changed, so ignore that. The image of Muchalls castle in Scotland appeared in previous posts and is in the sidebar at right. It’s the perfect stand-in for the manor house at Jonathan Carleton’s Vi ..read more

At last!! It’s finally time to reveal the cover of Shiloh, the second installment in award-winning author Lori Benton’s Kindred duology. And here it is! Don’t you just love this cover? It’s every bit lovely as Mountain Laurel’s!  And speaking of book 1, if you’ve read Mountain Laurel, I know you’re looking forward to book 2 as much as I am! Shiloh releases on October 5 this fall and will be available for preorder on March 1. Shiloh is a rich historical novel of faith, hope, and second chances. Below is a preview of the story.  DECEMBER 1795  A year has passed ..read more

As you can see, the blog has a new look! The header image is John Trumbull’s American General George Washington resigning his commission as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army to the Congress of the Confederation at Annapolis, Maryland, on December 23, 1783. Trumbull depicts Washington’s resignation as the commander in chief of the army on December 23, 1783, to the United States Congress, then meeting at the Maryland State House in Annapolis. At this time our government was a confederation, rather than a republic, as it became in 1788. That Washington resigned his commission was h ..read more