History Tidbit: Delaware Christmas Crossing

Okay, I'm totally re-posting this, but this is one of my all-time favorite historical Christmas stories. Definitely worth a re-telling. Enjoy. :D

Source

Did you know...?

What our founding fathers were doing Christmas Day, 1776?

On the night of December 25-26, George Washington decided it was high time this American Revolution was won. He took all his troops and ferried them across the Delaware River. This was a very dangerous maneuver. Logistically it was difficult and time-consuming, made more complicated by the below-freezing temperatures of both the air and the water, and the jagged ice chunks floating down a swift, swollen river.

What they hoped would only take a couple of hours took more than four, and things didn't go according to plan. At all.

Why were they doing this, you ask? Well, as I said, our primo presidente thought it was high time the war was won. His men were starving and wanted to return to their homes and families. It was Christmas, and they were stuck in a freezing, starving, mud-caked war camp.

Meanwhile, across the river in Trenton, New Jersey, a camp of Hessians (German mercenaries hired by England) were holding the American insurrection at bay. Washington guessed that the Hessians would have spent Christmas day eating, drinking, and celebrating. He figured if he could take them unawares, while they were still sleeping off their mead-hangovers, he could take Trenton.

He meant to ferry his men over quickly and stealthily march into the Hessian camp under cover of darkness. Well, as stated above, things didn't go so well. By the time Washington's army reached the Hessian camp, the sun was rising.

But Washington had guessed right about the state of the mercenaries. They had partied and drank all night, and most were still a-snooze when the American troops stormed their camp.

Despite everything that went wrong, the revolutionaries took the Hessian camp without a single American casualty. It was a Christmas miracle. Only days later, on January 2nd and 3rd, they defeated British reinforcements under General Cornwallis. It was a turning point in the American Revolutionary War.

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This Christmas season, let's be sure to give thanks for those who came before us, spending Christmas without their families so we could spend ours with our families in a free land.

Let's give thanks for our loved ones, especially our children who are safe in our homes and in our arms at a time when twenty families in Connecticut can't say the same thing.

Let's remember the significance of Christmases 2000 years past, look forward to a New Year (of writing and publishing perhaps?) and live in the moment. Because the moments we have this Christmas will never come again.

And remember, knowledge of our past is our inheritance. What we do with that knowledge will shape our destinies...

Do you have a favorite historical Christmas story you like to tell every year?

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Historical Tidbit: The Origin of Common Figures of Speech

Did you know... that most of our weird figures of speech actually do have their origin in historical truth? It's true!

Let me start with a disclaimer. I didn't write this. At all. One of my best friends posted it on Facebook and I knew I had to share it. But I posted the entire thing as is. Here's where it was originally posted so you can try and trace it back to the original source if you want. I didn't bother. 

This is pretty much a list of common idioms and their origins. Who knew figures of speech could be so historically fascinating?

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Historical Tidbit: Romeo and Juliet of the Bronze Age

Excavation in Russia (Source)

Did you know...that a Romeo and Juliet of the Bronze Age was excavated in Russia in 2008?

It's true. While trying to start construction for a hotel at "the crossroads of Postovaia and Sedin Streets of Krasnodar," (Source) builders came across the burial site. A vertical shaft, closed off with a damper plate, leads to a sepulchral  chamber. 

Inside, they found a man lying on his back and a woman beside him, holding him lovingly. The couple--both around sixty when they died--were dubbed "Romeo and Juliet of the Bronze Age. 

Dolmen (Source)

The tribes who inhabited the area at the time are almost completely unknown to modern archaeologists. From the looks of things, they had the cult of fire, which just means they used it as purification, perhaps even worshipped it. It was a big part of their lives. They also may have been the people who built the dolmens--"...single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of two or more upright stones supporting a large flat horizontal capstone." Source

The woman's wrists are adorned with bracelets of bronze beads, which is very atypical for what they do know of tribes in the area.

Who the couple was and why they were buried that way is a complete mystery, one which may never be completely transparent to us in modern times. But it would make for a great historical story.

Source     Source

Would you be interested in a story like this? Would it make a great ending? Beginning? What do you think?

I'll be signing copies of Citadels of Fire at the Layton Barnes and Noble on December 11 from 7-10 pm. Check out the synopsis below (there's a reason this Russian-set excavation mystery caught my eye) and if you'll be in the area, come and see me. Books always make great Christmas gifts. :D

In a world where danger hides in plain sight and no one aspires to more than what they were born to, Inga must find the courage to break the oppressive chains she’s been bound with since birth.

As a maid in the infamous Kremlin, life in 16th-century Russia is bleak and treacherous. That is, until Taras arrives. Convinced that his mother’s death when he was a boy was no mere accident, he returned from England to discover what really happened. While there, he gains favor from the Tsar later known as Ivan the Terrible, the most brutal and notorious ruler ever to sit upon the throne of Russia. Ivan allows him to take a servant, and to save Inga from a brutal boyar intent on raping her, Taras requests Inga to stay in his chambers.

Up against the social confines of the time, the shadowy conspiracies that cloak their history, and the sexual politics of the Russian Imperial court, Inga and Taras must discover their past, plan for their future, and survive the brutality that permeates life within the four walls that tower over them all, or they may end up like so many citizens of ancient Russia: nothing but flesh and bone mortar for the stones of the Kremlin wall.

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Historical Tidbit: Robert Lincoln and Edward Booth

Robert Lincoln (Source)

Did you know...that a year before Abraham Lincoln's assassination, his son was saved by the brother of John Wilkes Booth?

It's true. The exact date of the incident hasn't survived, but it's believed to have happened in late 1863 or early 1864, roughly 1-1.5 years before Lincoln's assassination. Robert Lincoln was the eldest son of Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln, and the only one to survive into adulthood.

As he recalled in a letter:

The incident occurred while a group of passengers were late at night purchasing their sleeping car places from the conductor who stood on the station platform at the entrance of the car. The platform was about the height of the car floor, and there was of course a narrow space between the platform and the car body. There was some crowding, and I happened to be pressed by it against the car body while waiting my turn. In this situation the train began to move, and by the motion I was twisted off my feet, and had dropped somewhat, with feet downward, into the open space, and was personally helpless, when my coat collar was vigorously seized and I was quickly pulled up and out to a secure footing on the platform. Upon turning to thank my rescuer I saw it was Edwin Booth, whose face was of course well known to me, and I expressed my gratitude to him, and in doing so, called him by name. (Source)

T

Edwin Booth (Source)

he reason he knew Edwin's face was that Edwin Booth was a famous actor at the time. He was renowned for his work on the stage, especially in Shakespearean plays. As the Lincoln family obviously favored the theater, they would have known Edwin Booth. Of course, Booth's accomplishments have been overshadowed throughout history by the deeds of his sinister brother.

At the time, Robert Lincoln was just pleased to have not only met someone famous whom he admired, but to have been saved by him.

This is such a strange twist in the Lincoln story. I'm not sure you'd exactly call it serendipity, but maybe just a strange twist of fate, as though something was trying to forewarn the Lincolns that their family would soon be inseparably intertwined with that of the Booths.

It would make a terribly interesting story, don't you think?

What's your take on this strange historical occurrence? How would you handle it in literature?

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Historical Tidbit: Witches and Vampires

Corpse of Medieval Witch (Source)

Did you know...that in medieval times, people had their own ways of dealing with supernatural creatures, and it was nothing like what we've all learned from Dorothy Gale and Bram Stoker?

It's true. In 2011, archaeologists digging in the Tuscany region of Italy uncovered what they believed to be an 800-year-old witch graveyard. The women buried there seemed to be between 25 and 30 years of age. One of them had seven nails driven into her jaw, presumably to keep her from uttering spells. More nails were found driven into the ground around her, bolting her clothing to the earth. It is believed those who buried her feared she might rise from the dead to haunt them. They put the extra nails there to keep her in her grave.

Another corpse was found surrounded by seventeen dice. In Italy, seventeen is an unlucky number, and during the time this woman lived, women were not allowed to dice at all. It was considered unseemly. 

Then there's the fact that these women were buried in the raw ground, rather than in pine boxes. They don't even sport shrouds. The only odd thing is that the archaeologists were digging on the site of an 800-year-old church, which makes the ground consecrated. 

Archaeologists claim this maybe be explained if the women came from influential families who were able to secure burials for them in these plots.

Two years earlier, a medieval woman's skeleton was unearthed near Venice with a stone driven through her mouth. Apparently this was method of choice for dealing with vampires back in the day.

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Historical Tidbit: The Lost Colony of Roanoke

Do you know...about the lost colony of Roanoke?

Of course you do! It's one of the most famous unsolved mysteries in the history of, er, unsolved mysteries.

Map of area, including Roanoke
Island, drawn by John White
(Source)

The facts: 

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Historical Tidbit: Madame C.J. Walker

Sarah Breedlove (Source)

Did you know...that the first self-made female millionaire in America was a black woman?

It's true! Sarah Breedlove was born as the one of six children in December of 1867. She was the first in her family to be born free, after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed. At age 14, she got married to escape the abuse of her brother-in-law, with whom she was living. Six years later, her husband died. She was twenty years old, with a 2-year-old daughter to care for. She moved to St. Louis, where three of her brothers lived, and got work as a washer woman, earning less than $1 a day. She was determined to earn enough money to get her daughter a formal education, though.

Like most people in her day, she expected hair loss due to poor diet and living conditions. She learned about hair and hygiene from her brothers, who all worked in barber shops. She sold hair car products on commission for Annie Turnbo Malone, a haircare enterpreneur, and soon after emerged as Madame C.J. Walker, "an independent hairdresser and retailer of cosmetic creams." (Source)

C.J. Walker's grave (Source)

Sarah remarried, had her stepdaughter run the mail order part of the business, while she and her husband traveled the country, expanding. Eventually she began training other women, especially African Americans, in the concepts of beauty products, sales, and business models. Her business expanded beyond the United States to Cuba, Jamaica, Panama, Costa Rica, and Haiti.

She eventually got involved in politics, gave massive amounts of money to charity, and upon her death was considered the wealthiest African American in the country. It is unclear whether she was actually worth more than a million dollars at the time of her death, but in by today's standards, she would have been many times over. (For more details on her amazing life, see this link.)

There is so much entitlement in the world today; a massive movement of people who believe that certain people, especially minorities, ought to be given absolutely everything. But Sarah Breedlove defies that model. She was born during Civil War times, and came up very humbly in the world, with little chance for education or wealth. Yet, she pulled herself up by her bootstraps and became one of the wealthiest, most successful women of her day. The entitlement movement won't tell this story because it flies in the face of their most sacred dogma. Yet, Sarah Breedlove (a.k.a. Madame C.J. Walker) is a heroine of not only success and wealth, but education, women's empowerment, and the overall betterment of society. 

Now, most people who read my blog probably aren't members of this Entitlement Movement I speak of. (After all, we wouldn't be aspiring writers and authors if we didn't believe we have a chance to attain our dreams.) But, for the record, it's my belief that if more people were like Sarah Breedlove, our society would have vastly fewer problems than we are currently facing.

Remember, knowledge of our past is our inheritance. What we do with that knowledge will shape our destinies...

What do you think of C.J. Walker? Have you ever heard her story before?

Citadels of Fire

In a world where danger hides in plain sight and no one aspires to more than what they were born to, Inga must find the courage to break the oppressive chains she’s been bound with since birth. 

As a maid in the infamous Kremlin, life in 16th-century Russia is bleak and treacherous. That is, until Taras arrives. Convinced that his mother’s death when he was a boy was no mere accident, he returned from England to discover what really happened. While there, he gains favor from the Tsar later known as Ivan the Terrible, the most brutal and notorious ruler ever to sit upon the throne of Russia. Ivan allows him to take a servant, and to save Inga from a brutal boyar intent on raping her, Taras requests Inga to stay in his chambers.

Up against the social confines of the time, the shadowy conspiracies that cloak their history, and the sexual politics of the Russian Imperial court, Inga and Taras must discover their past, plan for their future, and survive the brutality that permeates life within the four walls that tower over them all, or they may end up like so many citizens of ancient Russia: nothing but flesh and bone mortar for the stones of the Kremlin wall.

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Historical Tidbit: "In His Hands Tightly Clasped..."

Have you heard...of the Humiston photo?

After the Battle of Gettysburg, a dead soldier was found clutching this picture of what were presumed to be his three children. 

The photo made its way into the hands of John Francis Bournes, who took it on himself to try and identify the deceased soldier using the photo. He published a story in the Philadelphia Inquirer which read, in part, “After the Battle of Gettysburg, a Union soldier was found in a secluded spot on the battlefield, where,  wounded, he had laid himself down to die. In his hands tightly clasped, was an ambrotype containing the portraits of three small children…and as he silently gazed upon them his soul passed away.  It is earnestly desired that all papers in the country will draw attention [so] the family…may come into possession of it". 

In New York, Philinda Humiston read a description of the photo and, because she hadn't heard from her husband since the battle, responded. A copy of the photo was sent to her, confirming that the deceased soldier was her husband, Amos.

This is a tragic story with a closed ending, but wouldn't it be a fantastic premise for a story? A man dies on the battlefield clutching a photo. (It doesn't necessarily have to be of children.) Who is in the photo, and why are he/she/they the last thing "he silently gazed upon...[as] his soul passed away"?

Have you heard this story before? Would you read a book with this premise?

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Historical Tidbit / Movie Review: Pompeii

So this past week I finally got around to watching the film, Pompeii, which I've been wanting to see for awhile. Because it's based on a true event, I thought I'd combine the review with a historical tidbit. I'll do the tidbit first--the truth behind Pompeii's history--and the movie review will be below.

Pompeii Forum and Vesuvius in distance. (Source)

Pompeii was a city/town near modern-day Naples. It sat roughly 8 miles from the base of Mount Vesuvius. On August 24, of 79 A.D., the volcano erupted, famously killing most of Pompeii's 20,000 residents by covering them in 13-25 feet of ash. Reports of people still lying in their beds and bread still baking in their ovens are famous facts surrounding this ancient tragedy. No one could understand why the people didn't run or how they wouldn't have understood that the volcano was erupting.

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Historical Tidbit: The Origin of "Keep Calm" Posters

Original Poster from WWII (Source)

Did you know...

That the "Keep Calm and Carry On" movement dates back to World War II?

It's true. So last week I was putting together my latest Wheel of Time Read-Along post, and I usually post fan art with it, just so people can see different renditions of characters and scenes. (Don't worry, I always credit my source.)

So anyway, I found a "Keep Calm and Cleanse Saidin" poster and decided to use it. When I clicked on the origin, it took me to the Keep Calm-o-Matic website, which is just plain awesome! This site is where you can make your own "Keep Calm" poster, and it has the origin of the movement.

Poster that led me to this story! (Source)

As it turns out, "Keep Calm and Carry On" posters were printed in England during World War II. This was the third in a series of highly successful war posters that were distributed all over the country. Surprisingly, the actual "Keep Calm" poster was not widely distributed. It was created and printed up to be used in case of an actual invasion. That would be the time to keep calm and carry on, see? But of course the Nazis didn't invade England and when the war ended, hundreds of posters were scrapped and destroyed.

Enter Stuart and Mary Manley, who owned a small bookstore in Northumberland. They found a few surviving copies of the posters and hung them in their shop. To their surprise, the public loved them and wanted to buy copies, so the couple started printing facsimiles to sell.

Since the year 2000, the poster and its variations have become world famous, and now people use them everywhere: internet memes, advertising, TV shows, news stories, politics. You name it and it probably has a "Keep Calm" poster. 

Now, me, I just thought this was a fad. A cool fad, but a fad just the same. I had no idea it had origins in World War II when good ole Winston Churchill was just trying to keep his countrymen positive and moving forward, no matter what happened.

For more info, visit the Keep Calm-o-Matic website.

Did you know about the origin of these posters? What do you think of it?

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Historical Tidbit: The Sullivan Ballou Letter

Did you know...

About the Sullivan Ballou letter?

Sullivan Ballou (Source)

There's a novel getting a lot of attention on the historical fiction circuit called I Shall Be Near to You by Erin Lindsay McCabe. I haven't read it myself, but hope to soon. Synopsis HERE. It is based in part on the Sullivan Ballou letter, which is real.

Sullivan Ballou was a soldier in the union army during the Civil War. He was mortally wounded during the First Battle of Bull Run. A week prior to that battle, he wrote his wife Sarah. It has survived in tact and is one of the most beautiful love letters I've ever read. It is reproduced here in it's entirety. I really can't read it without getting misty-eyed.

July the 14th, 1861

Washington DC My very dear Sarah: The indications are very strong that we shall move in a few days - perhaps tomorrow. Lest I should not be able to write you again, I feel impelled to write lines that may fall under your eye when I shall be no more. 

 Our movement may be one of a few days duration and full of pleasure - and it may be one of severe conflict and death to me. Not my will, but thine 0 God, be done. If it is necessary that I should fall on the battlefield for my country, I am ready. I have no misgivings about, or lack of confidence in, the cause in which I am engaged, and my courage does not halt or falter. I know how strongly American Civilization now leans upon the triumph of the Government, and how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and suffering of the Revolution. And I am willing - perfectly willing - to lay down all my joys in this life, to help maintain this Government, and to pay that debt. 

 But, my dear wife, when I know that with my own joys I lay down nearly all of yours, and replace them in this life with cares and sorrows - when, after having eaten for long years the bitter fruit of orphanage myself, I must offer it as their only sustenance to my dear little children - is it weak or dishonorable, while the banner of my purpose floats calmly and proudly in the breeze, that my unbounded love for you, my darling wife and children, should struggle in fierce, though useless, contest with my love of country? 

 I cannot describe to you my feelings on this calm summer night, when two thousand men are sleeping around me, many of them enjoying the last, perhaps, before that of death -- and I, suspicious that Death is creeping behind me with his fatal dart, am communing with God, my country, and thee. 

 I have sought most closely and diligently, and often in my breast, for a wrong motive in thus hazarding the happiness of those I loved and I could not find one. A pure love of my country and of the principles have often advocated before the people and "the name of honor that I love more than I fear death" have called upon me, and I have obeyed. 

 Sarah, my love for you is deathless, it seems to bind me to you with mighty cables that nothing but Omnipotence could break; and yet my love of Country comes over me like a strong wind and bears me irresistibly on with all these chains to the battlefield. 

 The memories of the blissful moments I have spent with you come creeping over me, and I feel most gratified to God and to you that I have enjoyed them so long. And hard it is for me to give them up and burn to ashes the hopes of future years, when God willing, we might still have lived and loved together and seen our sons grow up to honorable manhood around us. I have, I know, but few and small claims upon Divine Providence, but something whispers to me - perhaps it is the wafted prayer of my little Edgar -- that I shall return to my loved ones unharmed. If I do not, my dear Sarah, never forget how much I love you, and when my last breath escapes me on the battlefield, it will whisper your name. 

 Forgive my many faults, and the many pains I have caused you. How thoughtless and foolish I have oftentimes been! How gladly would I wash out with my tears every little spot upon your happiness, and struggle with all the misfortune of this world, to shield you and my children from harm. But I cannot. I must watch you from the spirit land and hover near you, while you buffet the storms with your precious little freight, and wait with sad patience till we meet to part no more. 

 But, O Sarah! If the dead can come back to this earth and flit unseen around those they loved, I shall always be near you; in the garish day and in the darkest night -- amidst your happiest scenes and gloomiest hours - always, always; and if there be a soft breeze upon your cheek, it shall be my breath; or the cool air fans your throbbing temple, it shall be my spirit passing by. 

 Sarah, do not mourn me dead; think I am gone and wait for thee, for we shall meet again. 

 As for my little boys, they will grow as I have done, and never know a father's love and care. Little Willie is too young to remember me long, and my blue eyed Edgar will keep my frolics with him among the dimmest memories of his childhood. Sarah, I have unlimited confidence in your maternal care and your development of their characters. Tell my two mothers his and hers I call God's blessing upon them. O Sarah, I wait for you there! Come to me, and lead thither my children. 

 Sullivan

Source 

Such a beautiful letter! Makes me cry.

What did you think of this letter? What emotions does it inspire in you? Do you want to read I Shall Be Near to You now?

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Historical Tidbit: The (Somewhat Creepy) History of the Jack-in-the-Box

**If you haven't yet, be sure to enter my Epic Giveaway! The grand prize is a Kindle Paperwhite! Click HERE to enter!**

Source

Did you know...

That the jack-in-the-box has its origins in the Middle Ages?

So at my writer's group last week, there was a story that contained a jack-in-the-box element. It actually wasn't a creepy story, but a literary one.

Anyway, at some point, the question was raised, "When were jack-in-the-boxes first sold?" So we, being children of the internet age, looked it up. I expected the answer to be somewhere around the 1930s. Oh how wrong I was!

The origin of the jack-in-the-box dates back to the 14th century, and a man named Sir John Schorne. He lived in Buckinghamshire, England, and a was great leader and healer in his small village. Folklore says he captured a devil in a boot, and he's often pictured holding the boot with the devil popping out of it. 

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Historical Pictures: A Quiz

So I'm kind of obsessed with historical pictures. (Shocking, right?) Ever since I found the "history" search category on Pinterest, wow I waste a lot of time on there! But I just can't help it! Historical pictures are just so fascinating! 

So, for today I've devised a quiz. These are early or childhood pictures of famous people throughout history. They're all people who did great things, whether good or questionable. 

Try and guess who they are. Post your guesses in the comments! I'll post the answers tomorrow!

It's one of those things where it's kind of hard to guess who some of them are, but once you know, you can totally see it in their faces! 

Who do you think these kids grew up to be?

Remember, Citadels of Fire is available for pre-order now! Check it out below if you haven't yet!

In a world where danger hides in plain sight and no one aspires to more than what they were born to, Inga must find the courage to break the oppressive chains she’s been bound with since birth. 

As a maid in the infamous Kremlin, life in 16th-century Russia is bleak and treacherous. That is, until Taras arrives. Convinced that his mother’s death when he was a boy was no mere accident, he returned from England to discover what really happened. While there, he gains favor from the Tsar later known as Ivan the Terrible, the most brutal and notorious ruler ever to sit upon the throne of Russia. Ivan allows him to take a servant, and to save Inga from a brutal boyar intent on raping her, Taras requests Inga to stay in his chambers. 

Up against the social confines of the time, the shadowy conspiracies that cloak their history, and the sexual politics of the Russian Imperial court, Inga and Taras must discover their past, plan for their future, and survive the brutality that permeates life within the four walls that tower over them all, or they may end up like so many citizens of ancient Russia: nothing but flesh and bone mortar for the stones of the Kremlin wall.

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Historical Tidbit: How J.R.R. Tolkien Made Beowulf Famous

Source

Most of us read Beowulf in school, or at least read excerpts and talked about it, right? There are also plenty of film versions of the story available these days.

The story of Beowulf and Grendel is important for many reasons. It represents the first story, mostly passed down through oral tradition, that was also written down. It's also the oldest known fiction written in English. Volumes have been written about this legend and it's importance to our culture, the Anglo-Saxon culture, and literature in general.

Did you know...that it was J.R.R. Tolkien that brought Beowulf to the world's attention?

It's true. Before Tolkien's time, the story of Beowulf and Grendel was very obscure, and used solely as a historical document, rather than a literary pillar or a work of art. No one read it in school back then. No one knew what it was. No one had heard the tale. Tolkien came across it in his research and understood it's import. He brought it to the attention of the Big Wigs at Oxford, begging them to pay attention. 

J.R.R. Tolkien (Source)

He wrote some essays and later a famous lecture known as Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics, in which he begged his colleagues not to dismiss the fantastical elements of Beowulf. He asked them to look at it as a work of art and a cornerstone in the development of many literary forms, including folklore, narrative, and fantasy. His paper became known as the formative work in  Beowulf studies. (Source)

Eventually, his efforts brought the story to the world. He helped people understand that this story was not getting the attention it deserved. That it was a massively important part of our history, and especially in the development of our literature. 

Without Tolkien, most of us today probably wouldn't know a thing about the Anglo-Saxon hero Beowulf, and his battle against the monster Grendel. The text would have remained obscure, as many similar texts do that never see the recognition they deserve.

I gotta say, I've always been impressed with Mr. Tolkien, but after hearing Orson Scott Card tell this story at the LTUE conference, I'm thinking J.R.R. Tolkien was foreordained before birth to bring amazing stories to the world. And boy did he ever succeed!

What do you think of this? How different would the world be without Tolkien's contributions?

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Historical Tidbit: Hedy Lamarr During WWII

Hey Everyone! Happy President's Day!

Source

Before I get to today's historical tidbit, I have a favor to ask. I don't have an exact date, yet, but in the next 2-3 weeks I'm going to be doing a cover reveal for The Botanist, my crime fiction novel which will be out courtesy of Jolly Fish Press early next year. (Press Release HERE.)

I saw the cover for the first time on Friday, and it's awesome! Very haunting!

If anyone's interested in helping me do the cover reveal, I'd really appreciate it! Email me at lkhillbooks@gmail.com and I'll send you the info and exact date. I'd appreciate all the help I can get.

Did you know...

That Hedy Lamarr was a great contributor to the war effort during World War II? 

Source

Hedy Lamarr was a famous actress in old Hollywood. She appeared onscreen with the likes of Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, and Judy Garland, and is best known for her role opposite Victor Mature as Delilah in Cecil B. Demille's Samson and Delilah. 

What most people don't know about her is that she was the co-inventor of what, at the time, was cutting edge technology. During the war, radio-controlled missiles were important to the naval campaign, but could easily be interrupted by jamming the frequency. 

Working with a composer, George Antheil, Lamarr proposed a frequency-hopping, spread spectrum approach. They would use 88 frequencies (because there are 88 keys on the piano) and have the military hop frequencies because monitoring, much less jamming, 88 frequencies would be beyond enemy capabilities at the time. 

After patenting it, this technology was given to the U.S. military, free of charge, to help with the war effort. Unfortunately, due to various objections to the novel technology, it wasn't widely used during the war. It was adopted and used to great effect twenty years later, however, in 1962. 

Publicity Photo, 1930s (Source)

In 1997, Lamarr was given a belated award for her contributions to the war effort. 

Now, the only thing I really know Lamarr from is Samson and Delilah--I sort of grew up watching old, Charleton-Heston-era biblical films--but I'd never heard this about her. She had plenty of problems and interesting situations in her life--don't we all?--but I always find it nice to hear about un-sung heroes. This is especially impressive because it was so difficult for women to do things of major importance during the war. 

Did you know this about Hedy Lamarr? Do you know of any other little-known heroes of the war?

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Historical Tidbit: Horace Greasley in WWII

Horace Greasley     Source

Do you know...who POW Horace Greasely is?

Horace Greasely was an Englishman who fought in World War II and was taken prisoner in France, marched across the country, and held in a Polish prison camp. Greasely, with the help of a ghost writer, began writing his memoirs in 2008 and published them under the title, Do the Birds Still Sing in Hell. 

In the book, Greasley tells of having an affair with a German girl who interpreted for his captors in the prison camp. He claims he sneaked out of the camp more than two hundred times to see her, and then simply sneaked back in. Often, he would bring things back for his fellow prisoners, such as food or radio parts. Eventually he managed to bring the BBC news to 3,000 prisoners daily.

He also claimed to be the unidentified soldier in a famous World War II picture, standing defiantly against Heinrich Himmler. 

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Historical Tidbit--Creepiest, Craziest, Most Tragic Experiment I've Ever Heard Of!

Found this on Pinterest. Read the story, first. See what you think:

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In 1983, a team of deeply pious scientists conducted a radical experiment in an undisclosed facility. The scientists had theorized that a human without access to any senses or ways to perceive stimuli would be able to perceive the presence of God. They believed that the five senses clouded our awareness of eternity, and without them, a human could actually establish contact with God by thought. An elderly man who claimed to have "nothing left to live for" was the only test subject to volunteer. To purge him of all his senses, the scientists performed a complex operation in which every sensory nerve connection to the brain was severed. Although the test subject retained full muscular function, he could not see, hear, taste, smell, or feel. With no possible way to communicate with or even sense the outside world, he was alone with his thoughts.

Scientists monitored him as he spoke about his state of mind in jumbled, blurred sentences that he couldn't even hear. After four days, the man claimed to be hearing hushed, unintelligible voices in his head. Assuming it was an onset of psychosis, the scientists paid little attention to the man's concerns.

Two days later, the man cried that he could hear his dead wife speaking to him, and even communicate back. The scientists were intrigued, but were not convinced until the subject started naming dead relatives of the scientists. He repeated personal information to the scientists that only their dead spouses or parents would have known. At this point, a sizable portion of the scientists left the study.

After a week of conversing with the dead through his thoughts, the subject became distressed, saying the voices were overwhelming. In every waking moment, his consciousness was bombarded by hundreds of voices that refused to leave him alone. He frequently threw himself against the wall, trying to elicit a pain response. He begged the scientists for sedatives, so he could escape the voices by sleeping. This tactic worked for three days, until he started having severe night terrors. The subject repeatedly said that he could see and hear the deceased in his dreams.

Only a day later, the subject began to scream and claw at his non-functional eyes, hoping to sense something in the physical world. The hysterical subject now said the voices of the dead were deafening and hostile, speaking of hell and the end of the world. At one point, he yelled, "No heaven, no forgiveness" for five hours straight. He continually begged to be killed, but the scientists were convinced that he was close to establishing a connection with God.

After another day, the subject could no longer form coherent sentences. Seemingly mad, he started to bite off chunks of flesh from his arm. The scientists rushed into the test chamber and restrained him to a table so that he could not kill himself. After a few hours of being tied down, the subject halted his struggling and screaming. He stared blankly at the ceiling as teardrops silently leaked across his face. For two weeks, the subject had to be manual rehydrated due to constant crying. Eventually, he turned his head and, despite his blindness, made focused eye contact with a scientist for the first time in the study.  He whispered, "I have spoken with God and he has abandoned us," and his vital signs stopped.

There was no apparent cause of death.

Is that not the craziest thing you've ever heard? I've found mixed reactions to it, some of them bizarre, but mostly, I find it to be tragic. 

Here's the thing: the human brain/consciousness/whatever-you-want-to-call-it has some kind of tunnel to the unconscious. It's this tunnel that allows for things like hypnosis and post-hypnotic suggestions. I also personally believe that this has something to do with our "6th sense" whether you believe that to be something intuitive, supernatural, or religious. 

In the bible, there are examples of both good and evil entities using this pathway to communicate with man. Is pathway itself an evil thing? No, I don't believe it is. However, we mere mortals don't understand it, or how to use it, and so really, we just ought not to mess with it at all. 

I do believe that evil spirits and entities that are interested in controlling us use this pathway to get to us, and I think that's what happened to the poor man in the example above. He opened himself up to this path and, without any perception of reality, anything real to ground him or comfort him, he became afraid, and couldn't figure out how to dispel these dark beings. Maybe we need reality to keep away such entities, and so by turning off his connection to the world, it was no longer possible for him to do so. I don' t know. But these evil forces first taunted, then tormented, then overwhelmed him. Keep in mind that when some dark entity tells you not to pray, or that something good like forgiveness doesn't exist, they are doing it to serve their own selfish purposes--most likely to possess or control their victim--and that the exact opposite is actually true. 

As I said, a truly tragic--and yes, very creepy--story. Very interesting, but very sad. Notice how this was not publicized, nor has any such experiment been attempted again. 

What do you think of this story? Did you have an emotional reaction to it? What conclusions do you draw?

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Historical Tidbit: The Madness of Ivan the Terrible

**Quick Announcement: On Wednesday and Thursday of this week Quantum Entanglement, book 2 of Interchron, will be FREE on Amazon. I'll announce it again on Wed, but just wanted everyone a heads-up.**

Did you know...that Ivan the Terrible was both ingenious and insane?

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Ivan technically became Grand Prince of Russia at the ripe old age of three, after his father died. Of course, he was too young to rule then. His mother, Elena, became regent, completely neglecting little Ivan in favor of trying to hold onto political power. When Ivan was eight, Elena died, most likely poisoned by a rival.

Ivan had the first rival to his own power killed when he was thirteen. He also committed his first rape at that age and by then was regularly torturing and killing small animals. 

The thing is, while Ivan was certifiably insane--matching, if not out-doing Vlad the Impaler in terms of nasty ways to kill people, and number of deaths of his own people--he was also a pretty good leader. 

He curtailed the abuses of the nobility, becoming known as a champion of the lower classes, so many of them revered him. Imperialistically, he took Russia from the small, medieval state it was under his father to a billion acre-empire. He was called gronzy, which being interpreted means Terrible, but the word didn't have the same connotation in his time as it does in ours. Back then it meant great, awe-inspiring, or perhaps formidable.

Ivan after killing his oldest son.
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Of course, he also laid siege to one of his biggest cities, Novgorod, for a month, torturing and killing so many of its citizens that the blood in the streets was ankle deep. 

He had them impaled, beheaded, dismembered alive, deep fried, or torn limb from limb. He carried a staff with a sharp end that he was known to spear people with when they displeased him. 

When he became angry with his oldest son, he hit him in the head with an iron bar, killing him instantly. (Picture at right.)

And yet, he's considered by the Russian people to be one of the greatest rulers in their history. He crowned himself Tsar at age seventeen, and was the first ruler to take that title (Tsar is the Russian word for Caesar). To this day, many revere him, despite the violence and devastation he visited on his own people. 

The dichotomy of Ivan's personality is one of the most grandiose and fascinating we have record of. I suppose it goes to show that there can be a fine line between genius and madness. 

My book, Citadels of Fire, is a historical fiction novel set against the backdrop of the reign of Ivan the Terrible. 

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In a world where danger hides in plain sight and no one aspires to more than what they were born to, Inga must find the courage to break the oppressive chains she’s been bound with since birth. 

Even as a maid in the infamous Kremlin, life in 16th-century Russia is bleak and treacherous. That is, until Taras arrives. Convinced that his mother’s death when he was a boy was no mere accident, he returned from England to discover what really happened. While there, he gains favor from the Tsar later known as Ivan the Terrible, the most brutal and notorious ruler ever to sit upon the throne of Russia. Ivan allows him to take a servant, and to save Inga from a brutal boyar intent on raping her, Taras requests Inga to stay in his chambers. 

Up against the social confines of the time, the shadowy conspiracies that cloak their history, and the sexual politics of the Russian Imperial court, Inga and Taras must discover their past, plan for their future, and survive the brutality that permeates life within the four walls that tower over them all, or they may end up like so many citizens of ancient Russia: nothing but flesh and bone mortar for the stones of the Kremlin wall.

What do you think of Ivan's apparently contradictory aspects? Why do you think this has this happened so often historically?

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