Author Interview & Book Giveaway: Betty Bolte on EMILY'S VOW

This week, we're pleased to again welcome author BETTY BOLTE with her latest release,  EMILY'S VOW. One lucky visitor will get a free, signed paperback copy of Emily's Vow - offer available only to US residents. Be sure to leave your email address in the comments of today's author interview for a chance to win. Winner(s) are contacted privately by email. Here's the blurb.

In 1782, the fight for independence becomes personal...

Emily Sullivan’s greatest fear is dying in childbirth, as did her twin sister and their mother. Then she’s thrown in a loyalist prison for her privateering father’s raids on the British, and her accuser--a former beau--promises to recant if she will marry him.

Frank Thomson always loved Emily despite her refusal to return his affections. A patriot spy posing as a loyalist officer, when Frank learns of Emily’s plight, he challenges her accuser to a duel.

Freed from prison, Emily ponders returning the affections of her rescuer--the only man she's ever loved and who married her twin to save the Sullivan family's reputation. But Frank cannot afford to be discovered. For the sake of young America, he must deliver his secrets.

**Q&A with Betty Bolte**

 

 

Where and when does Emily’s Vow take place?

Emily’s Vow is set in Charleston, South Carolina, at the end of the British occupation of that port city. It’s October 1782, the American Revolution is winding down, and the town is anxiously awaiting the departure of the enemy troops from their harbor. Tension is rife as the Britons strip whatever they can from the town before they leave. As a result, it’s dangerous for young ladies to venture from home unescorted, a restriction Emily refuses to adhere to, which lands her in trouble.

Some romances are more about story than historical accuracy. Is it a simple romance or can we believe the historical facts?

It’s very important to me to make sure my history is correct to the best of my ability. To that end, I’ve visited Charleston twice to dig into details not readily available online or in books. Walking the cobblestone streets and knowing the distances between the American Revolution-era houses helps me put myself into the characters’ shoes, so to speak. I also visited Brattonsville, South Carolina, which is a plantation originating from the 1700s. Of course, I’ve also been researching this time period since 2008, and have read dozens of historical works related to the times. I’ve also scoured the Internet for details to specific questions and contacted historians related to other specific questions.

What inspired you to write this story?

While working on my Master’s in English I came across an essay written by Judith Sargent Murray in the late 1700s. The topic was a call for equal education for boys and girls, which started me thinking the genesis for what would eventually become women’s lib and equal rights actually kicked off with the start of America as an independent country. In fact, the ideal of independence became more about individual liberty for everyone (male, female, black, white, etc.) rather than for only the white wealthy landowners. I don’t think most people today realize or remember how deeply profound the impact would be of an independent America.

Is this a standalone story or part of a series or trilogy?

Emily’s Vow is the first of three closely linked stories about three women that kicks off the A More Perfect Union series. These three stories span three months, October through December 1782. Emily is a secret essayist who only wants to avoid death in childbirth by remaining unwed, despite her father’s urging of her to marry Frank. Her cousin Amy is a renowned storyteller who finds herself in deep trouble she can’t talk her way out of while Benjamin tries to rescue her. Their friend Samantha is a healer whose practice is threatened by young doctor Frank’s intention to open a new hospital. Emily’s Vow and Amy’s Choice are available now, while Samantha’s Secret won’t release until early 2015.

What makes this series unusual or unique?

Most informational and fictional publications related to the American Revolution focus on the northern colonies and states, though they often include Virginia too. It’s an interesting fact that the first and last shots fired during the tensions that would become a war were in South Carolina.

Do you only write romances? What’s your next project?

This year I’ve released four novels in two series, but I have been published in nonfiction as well as fiction, and a combination thereof that is an award winning book. Hometown Heroines: True Tales of Bravery, Daring, and Courage won the gold medal from the Children’s Literary Classics organization for gender specific young adult book. It is a collection of 18 short historical fiction stories based on 19 real American girls from the 1800s. Each girl has a landmark in recognition of the event I shared as fiction (to make it more interesting for a younger audience) and includes the biographical details the fiction is based upon as well as the location of the landmarks. I’ve also written books on horse sports and school clubs, as well as using computer software programs. Next I’m working on a series of historical women’s fiction stories. Of course, there will be other stories in the A More Perfect Union series, as well as in my Ghosts of Roseville series, Traces and Remnants.

Learn more about author Betty Bolté

Betty Bolté writes both historical and contemporary stories that feature strong, loving women and brave, compassionate men. No matter whether the stories are set in the past or the present, she loves to include a touch of the paranormal. Get to know her at www.bettybolte.com.

Social Media Links

Website: www.bettybolte.com

Blog: www.bettybolte.com/blog.htm

Newsletter: www.bettybolte.com/newsletter.htm

Facebook: www.facebook.com/AuthorBettyBolte

Twitter: @BettyBolte

Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/bettybolte

Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/bettybolte9

Amazon: www.amazon.com/author/bettybolte

Buy Links

Barnes and Noble: http://bit.ly/1wZML3a

iBooks: http://bit.ly/1DUsvAc

Kobo: http://bit.ly/1t75sMh

Google: http://bit.ly/13Bll94

Excerpt Thursday: EMILY'S VOW by Betty Bolte

This week, we're pleased to again welcome author BETTY BOLTE with her latest release,  EMILY'S VOW. Join us again on Sunday for an author interview, with more details about the story behind the story. One lucky visitor will get a free, signed paperback copy of Emily's Vow - offer available only to US residents. Be sure to leave your email address in the comments of today's post or Sunday's author interview for a chance to win. Winner(s) are contacted privately by email. Here's the blurb.

In 1782, the fight for independence becomes personal...

Emily Sullivan’s greatest fear is dying in childbirth, as did her twin sister and their mother. Then she’s thrown in a loyalist prison for her privateering father’s raids on the British, and her accuser--a former beau--promises to recant if she will marry him.

Frank Thomson always loved Emily despite her refusal to return his affections. A patriot spy posing as a loyalist officer, when Frank learns of Emily’s plight, he challenges her accuser to a duel.

Freed from prison, Emily ponders returning the affections of her rescuer--the only man she's ever loved and who married her twin to save the Sullivan family's reputation. But Frank cannot afford to be discovered. For the sake of young America, he must deliver his secrets.

**An Excerpt from Emily's Vow**

Chapter 1

 "Frank is due to return any day." Emily Sullivan suppressed a shiver and quickened her pace. If asked, she would blame the early evening breeze blowing inland across the Charles Town harbor for her reaction. Frank had once claimed to be a patriot but now had switched his loyalties to serve as a loyalist broadside printer in the occupied town. How dare he even show his face? Did he truly believe in the British cause or did he have such loose morals as to pretend for his own profit? Either way, she'd have naught to do with the man. Her long skirts swirled about her hurried steps. "I'm glad you wanted to walk with me, Samantha. Your company calms me. And of course it's nicer than traversing the distance home from Aunt Lucille's house with my servants."

"Together we'll be safe enough for such a short walk," Samantha McAlester replied, "though I doubt your father will agree given his insistence that you remain at home."

"It is my fault we left the sewing circle later than I intended, but I miss St. Michael's bells chiming the hour. What shall we do without them? The British should pay dearly for stripping our treasured bells from the steeple."

"Come, let's get you home and off the streets." Samantha quickened her pace.

Emily hurried down the sandy road beside her friend, noting the waning sunshine draping shadows across the street. The slap of the waves at the distant convergence of the Cooper and Ashley Rivers beat a syncopated rhythm against the array of ship hulls, large and small, in the protected harbor. Many of the masts bobbing against the darkening sky sported the hated British flag. The losing army had resorted to sanctioned looting of the beautiful homes—those still standing after two years of British occupation as well as fires and bombardments—as booty for the officers and soldiers before they withdrew. She hoped they would leave soon, but nobody knew exactly when the British ships planned to depart. They'd already sent the bells to London along with other pilfered items. In fact, the British officers sought retaliation for the threat posed by the patriots, who had hidden their true allegiance, against the loyalists living in the city. The officers encouraged harassment of the American citizens, which translated into her father, a leading merchant in town, fearing for her safety more than ever. Until the British actually evacuated, uncertainty and fear blanketed the town.

Dragging in a deep breath, unease settled over Emily's frayed nerves at the thought of Frank's return. "I cannot believe Father insists I marry him after all that man has done. Surely Americans have matured enough they wouldn't force a woman to marry. It's 1782, after all. I'm not a child. Why doesn't he understand?"

A seagull glided past, its laughing call bringing a smile to her face. Her enjoyment didn't last long, though. The occupation of the town created fear and disquiet throughout the citizenry. Add in the horror of her sister Elizabeth's fiancé Jedediah dying, leaving her pregnant and in need of a husband. Then Jedediah's brother Frank, the man Emily had secretly cared for, married her sister to keep the child from being a bastard. Emily survived the misery of watching Frank marry Elizabeth only to suffer much more when Elizabeth died in childbirth with Frank away at war. Emily had come to terms with the prospect of raising her nephew, but being forced into marriage with Frank, too? How could life turn and twist with such disregard for her future goals and plans?

Learn more about author Betty Bolté

Betty Bolté writes both historical and contemporary stories that feature strong, loving women and brave, compassionate men. No matter whether the stories are set in the past or the present, she loves to include a touch of the paranormal. Get to know her at www.bettybolte.com.

Social Media Links

Website: www.bettybolte.com

Blog: www.bettybolte.com/blog.htm

Newsletter: www.bettybolte.com/newsletter.htm

Facebook: www.facebook.com/AuthorBettyBolte

Twitter: @BettyBolte

Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/bettybolte

Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/bettybolte9

Amazon: www.amazon.com/author/bettybolte

Buy Links

Barnes and Noble: http://bit.ly/1wZML3a

iBooks: http://bit.ly/1DUsvAc

Kobo: http://bit.ly/1t75sMh

Google: http://bit.ly/13Bll94

Amazon: http://amzn.to/1obL3tT  

Guest Blog: André Jute

This week, we’re welcoming author André Jute whose title DREAMS is the first in his eight-volume COLD WAR, HOT PASSIONS series, focuses on three generations of embattled Russian and American families.  André is here to talk about the novel and offer e-book copies to THREE lucky winners in the following formats: MOBI for Kindle, EPUB for iPad/Nook/etc. or PDF/. The giveaway is open to worldwide visitors. Here's the blurb:

FROM THE STORMING OF THE WINTER PALACE...

In the beginning they were impassioned young revolutionaries risking only own their lives for justice. The prince, the soldier, the peasant and the baroness became the founders of three families, steadfast in love and war, whose generations are enfolded in the sweep of humans and inhumans, inquisitors and victims, the betrayals of friends and family, the show trials of colleagues, the psychiatric tortures of dissidents, that was Russia under the Communists, right up to glasnost, when the fourth generation must answer the question, Was the result worth three generations of tragic suffering and sacrifice?

And the Americans who opposed them for liberty, the patrician Adams family, the refugee Hirches, the redneck Remptons who became political powers in the land, the McQueens who did not count the price of rising from smalltown mid-America to the highest levels of the nation, the Drexlers who had always served their country, the implacable Southern Hubbells who could — and did — threaten Presidents, and the clever Talbots whose shy Joanne married the handsome Russian who was the cleverest traitor of them all.

In his first novel for two decades, a storyteller who has always had a knack with the true history of men and women will touch your heart and thrill your mind with the risks these men and women took with their lives and their families for the ideals they were born to — which some betrayed, and some paid too high a price for in love, even with their lives.

** Q&A with André Jute**

Your huge, varied backlist tells us you can write an exciting story on any subject you choose. So why choose to give over twenty years of your life and career to writing a huge saga about the political rivalry between Russia and America?

As a novelist I don’t moralize. What matters about an idea — communism, capitalism, liberty, responsibility — for the novelist isn't right or wrong but whether his characters believe in it. So, while the political strife between the two great nations was important for almost a century, in that it could have caused us all to die in a nuclear holocaust and certainly shaped the world we now live in, what’s important to the novel and the story, to the writer and the reader, is that the characters believe sincerely in their version of salvation. Their actions arise from their beliefs, and instantly we have conflict and tension. That’s a story! The political strife is the background noise. A family saga by definition is about people. I've just selected people as my characters who happened to change history in a way which affects all of us, and will affect our children and grandchildren.

This isn't the first time you've written a novel about real people who influenced world history, who speak in your novel in their own recorded words. Don’t you find that working with a known outcome dilutes the tension of your story?

No, not at all. You’re right, I like working with accurate historical facts, and my historical characters speak in character and mostly in their own recorded words. But you’d be surprised at how much history is unknown even to educated people. I receive letters from people who’re amazed that nobody saw what I see, even though they were working with the same known facts. As for tension being diluted, it works the other way. The reader knows, perhaps only vaguely, what happened, and after a while realizes that I don’t play games with history, that I honor it. But the reader doesn't identify with the historical events, the reader roots for the character. The reader knows that the historical events against which the character’s story plays out were dangerous, sometimes lethal, to many of participants. The knowledge adds a frisson of expectation and vicarious terror: will the reader’s favorite character be one of the fortunate ones, or one of the victims? As you say, I've done it before, in THE ZAHAROFF COMMISSION, in REVERSE NEGATIVE, and earlier this year in AN ELECTION OF PATRIOTS.

DREAMS is the first volume of eight in COLD WAR, HOT PASSIONS, but already it is clear that the saga isn't just about people at the center of the action in Moscow and Washington in war and peace shaping our world, but about a monstrous decades-long conspiracy to shape our world in a particular way. Are you a conspiracy nut?

I’m far too over-educated and well-read and — it must be said — cynical to be a conspiracy nut. I know for a fact that the world is not shaped by conspiracies but by foul-ups. It is true that COLD WAR, HOT PASSIONS is about a monstrous conspiracy, but it isn't an evil conspiracy, it is a conspiracy for good, for peace. Of course, that doesn't make it any less dangerous and wearing for the conspirators, because their ruthless opponents aren't keen on peace at all. The spread of COLD WAR, HOT PASSIONS, roundabout two thousand pages to record the interactions of the ten intertwined families over 75 years, and the many important female characters, has allowed me to observe the effects of decades of stress and fear on the wives and partners, and the children too. Space and time is really important to this set, if you see it as one story with many branches rather than many self-contained stories set against the same period, which it also is. The standard length “big thriller”, the way I write it anyway, has so much action that you never get a chance to ask, “What happened to the families?” In COLD WAR, HOT PASSIONS there is space to answer the question without ever letting up on the tension.

With so much going on in your story, even if it is eight volumes, how do you manage not to lose the literary class which your novels clearly possess?

Heh-heh. I’d be delighted to lose any pretension to literary quality. I wanted to be a popular entertainer, perhaps tour the clubs as a stand-up comic. Unfortunately, I turned out not to be common enough. But there are advantages to writing for the quality end of the market, where I’m well loved by the cognoscenti. At least I don’t have to repeat myself ad nauseam, write the same book again and again because “your readers demand it”. To take an obvious example immediately to hand, I can take the time and the space lovingly to handcraft and polish an eight-volume family saga, even if it takes more than twenty years.

André Jute is a writer, critic and teacher in fiction, engineering and the arts. His forty-plus books are published in over 300 editions in more than twenty languages. His most recent award winner is the lyrical IDITAROD, a novel of The Greatest Race on Earth , and his current best seller (written with Andrew McCoy) is the controversial literary biography STIEG LARSSON - Man, Myth & Mistress. He lives on a salmon river in Ireland with his wife and son. 

“Wild but exciting. A grand job with plenty of irony.”
- New York Times

Check out these links to more about André Jute

DREAMS, Book 1  of COLD WAR, HOT PASSIONS by André Jute 

Ebooks by André 

CoolMain Press 

André's Blog “Kissing the Blarney” 

André's Website, including his hobbies 

André on Facebook 

André on Twitter 

ROBUST – André’s discussion group that anyone can join 

Wattpad — free stories by André  

HENTY'S FIST 1: GAUNTLET RUN, a FREE serial by Andre Jute, Dakota Franklin, Andrew McCoy 

Excerpt Thursday: DREAMS by André Jute

This week, we’re welcoming author André Jute whose title DREAMS is the first in his eight-volume COLD WAR, HOT PASSIONS series, focused on three generations of embattled Russian and American families.  Join us Sunday, when André will be here to talk about the novel and offer e-book copies to THREE lucky winners in the following formats: MOBI for Kindle, EPUB for iPad/Nook/etc. or PDF/. The giveaway is open to worldwide visitors. Here's the blurb:

FROM THE STORMING OF THE WINTER PALACE...

In the beginning they were impassioned young revolutionaries risking only own their lives for justice. The prince, the soldier, the peasant and the baroness became the founders of three families, steadfast in love and war, whose generations are enfolded in the sweep of humans and inhumans, inquisitors and victims, the betrayals of friends and family, the show trials of colleagues, the psychiatric tortures of dissidents, that was Russia under the Communists, right up to glasnost, when the fourth generation must answer the question, Was the result worth three generations of tragic suffering and sacrifice?

And the Americans who opposed them for liberty, the patrician Adams family, the refugee Hirches, the redneck Remptons who became political powers in the land, the McQueens who did not count the price of rising from smalltown mid-America to the highest levels of the nation, the Drexlers who had always served their country, the implacable Southern Hubbells who could — and did — threaten Presidents, and the clever Talbots whose shy Joanne married the handsome Russian who was the cleverest traitor of them all.

In his first novel for two decades, a storyteller who has always had a knack with the true history of men and women will touch your heart and thrill your mind with the risks these men and women took with their lives and their families for the ideals they were born to — which some betrayed, and some paid too high a price for in love, even with their lives.

** An Excerpt from DREAMS, first in André Jute’s eight-volume saga of Russian and American families COLD WAR, HOT PASSIONS**

PLAN FOR TAKING THE WINTER PALACE

Back at the Smolny, while Dzerzhinsky’s aide went to discover when Trotsky could see them, they went to eat because Nikolai said he did not know when they would eat again. But they were hardly seated when Trotsky himself stormed in. ‘What the devil do you think you are doing, Bibikov, stuffing your face when the Revolution hangs in the balance?’ Trotsky was not a big man but so great was his passion that he fairly jerked Nikolai, at least twice his mass, out of his seat at the end of the bench.

For a moment it seemed as if Nikolai would say something harsh, then he swallowed and gently took Trotsky’s hands from his arm.

‘If you have orders for us, Comrade,’ Nikolai said politely, ‘we are at your service.’

Behind Luki, Larissa said in an undertone, ‘Lenin has been raging like a caged lion all day at the delays, threatening to have the members of the Military Revolutionary Committee shot, every one of them, if they don’t take the Winter Palace before the Soviet meets. He wants to announce victory. Trotsky caught most of it full in the face. He’s hurting.’

Luki reached behind him to squeeze her hand and squeezed her breast instead. She giggled softly in his ear, then cuffed the straying hand hard.

Trotsky’s head turned between them. His eyelids were so swollen from exhaustion that he could no longer move his eyeballs; even the pupils were hardly visible in the slits between the puffed red eyelids. Trotsky was normally a vain dresser, with crisp linen, but now his collar was almost black with the accumulated grime of days without rest or change. ‘Shall I find that my trust in you is misplaced?’ he hissed malevolently.

‘No, Comrade,’ Nikolai said stoutly. ‘We have discovered what you want to know. But if you treat us like children you can, saving the lady’s presence, go fuck yourself.’ He took Trotsky’s lapels in one huge hand and pulled him close. ‘If you’re to command soldiers, remember that we need to eat and sleep or we cannot fight. We are not numbers in your little black books but flesh and blood.’ He let Trotsky go. ‘And people, besides, with pride.’

Trotsky gaped like a fish.

Dzerzhinsky, arriving unnoticed, said, ‘What did you discover?’

Nikolai turned to him. ‘The Winter Palace can be taken with minimum force.’

Anna put bread and tea on the table. Luki told her, ‘Bring us three slabs of dough, about this thick and this size.’ He indicated with his hands.

Nikolai nodded. ‘Then we can show you,’ he said.

They waited in silence for thirty seconds until the dough arrived. Luki cut a strip off the edge of one piece of dough and put it along the edge of the table. ‘The Neva River,’ he said. Anna threw a handful of flour on the table and Luki nodded gratefully to her as he pulled a slab of dough across the flour towards the strip. ‘This is the ground floor of the Winter Palace. Here is the Jordan entrance, the marble one. It was undefended two hours ago. You can go up but the entrance to the government quarters is bricked off.’

These are the best of times, Sergei thought, slap in the middle of a revolution, spying for Lenin’s right-hand men, in the same building as Lenin. His grandmother would never believe it. His grandmother thought Lenin was the Devil.

Luki methodically marked the other entrances that did not lead to the government quarters. Then he said, ‘We used this one, the Saltykov, to find the government. It is guarded both on ground level and on each floor at the stairhead but only lightly. It leads directly to the government. The problem is getting our people across the square under the remaining two canon and the machine guns and the guns of the armored cars.’ Luki drew the square in the flour with his forefinger, then marked the positions of the armaments covering it with dents into the dough representing the Winter Palace.

‘We may not have to,’ Nikolai said. ‘Our comrades are inside, agitating among the troops.’ He told of the women’s low morale and the departure of some of the Cossacks. All this was obviously news to the command.

 ‘Communications in a revolution are not the same as in conventional warfare,’ Trotsky said heavily. ‘As Comrade Bibikov has just observed most memorably.’

Nikolai decided to take that as Trotsky‘s best effort at an apology. He nodded. ‘We would suffer least casualties if we approach through the barracks of the Pavlovsky and Preobrazhensky. None of the entrances on the Winter Canal side are guarded.’

 ‘By god, this a straightforward, workable plan,’ Lenin said.

 Copyright © 2012 André Jute. Published by CoolMain Press.

André Jute is a writer, critic and teacher in fiction, engineering and the arts. His forty-plus books are published in over 300 editions in more than twenty languages. His most recent award winner is the lyrical IDITAROD, a novel of The Greatest Race on Earth , and his current best seller (written with Andrew McCoy) is the controversial literary biography STIEG LARSSON - Man, Myth & Mistress. He lives on a salmon river in Ireland with his wife and son. 

“Wild but exciting. A grand job with plenty of irony.”
- New York Times

Check out these links to more about André Jute

DREAMS, Book 1  of COLD WAR, HOT PASSIONS by André Jute 

Ebooks by André 

CoolMain Press 

André's Blog “Kissing the Blarney” 

André's Website, including his hobbies 

André on Facebook 

André on Twitter 

ROBUST – André’s discussion group that anyone can join 

Wattpad — free stories by André  

HENTY'S FIST 1: GAUNTLET RUN, a FREE serial by Andre Jute, Dakota Franklin, Andrew McCoy