I don’t know where the time has gone. It seems it was yesterday that I was getting ready for my book tour to South Boston, VA and Ft. Bragg.
The trip went quite well. Sure there were a smattering of mishaps, but sold books, met a lot of nice people. Was able to have lunch with Chaplain Charlie (he’s the Chaplain who married Bonnie and I almost 20 years ago). We met in Raleigh and caught up on old times. For those of you who don’t know, I named the Chaplain in CSR after him.
In South Boston I had two events. I was at the South Boston/Halifax County Museum on Memorial Day afternoon. That evening I gave a speech to the John M. Jordan Camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. This is the second time I’ve had the honor of speaking at a SCV Camp Meeting. During my speech, I talk about how I originally wanted to write a Christian novel. When I discovered the CSR storyline, I was able to weave Christian testimonies into the Resumption of The War Between The States plot. When I met several SCV members they encouraged me to write the sequel. Through their encouragement and stories, I’ve been able to keep the Christian testimonies in Comes The Retribution, and include many more vignettes that have roots in the original conflict.
In the past two months I’ve also spoken to a high school teacher and a principal about my speaking about the underlying causes of the conflict. In my speech, I don’t take sides. I do point out that President Lincoln was a great man; he really was a “Reluctant Emancipator,” not the “Great Emancipator.” I don’t have time to go into detail today, maybe I’ll cover that in another blog.
Had a good book signing at the Ft Irwin Dust Bowl this week. When I showed up at AAFES Admin, I was informed the unit I thought was completing their training this week, was actually just arriving. So I scheduled another event for 28 – 29 June. I’m hoping that will be very successful, many Soldiers told me they had enough reading material, or they had to wait until the end of the month.
Speaking of adding to the schedule, on Saturday 15 June I’ve scheduled an event at the Santa Fe Trading Company at 15464 7th St, Victorville, CA . I’ll be one of several authors, along with several crafts persons. We’ll be set up from 10 am – 5 pm, hopefully I’ll see you there.
Thanks for your interest,
Jim
James R. Elstad 