The Seeker, my Shaker book set during the first two years of the Civil War, is on special e-book sale this week for $1.99 or less on most e-book sites. It’s fun having reduced price books to give readers a chance to try one of my stories. Of course, there is always the library too for those who prefer a physical, feel the pages type of book.
Which do you prefer? I like the paper book, but I’ve read some books on my Nook. It’s not bad. Very convenient to carry several books with you. Even a hundred or more. Very easy to download books too. Maybe too easy. But at least that to be read shelf doesn’t take up much room.
So to celebrate the special sale, how about a scene from The Seeker tonight? I enjoyed getting to know my characters in this story. I liked Adam, the artist/illustrator. It was interesting finding out how reporters and illustrators followed the troops to record the battles in drawings. Photography was in its infant stage and while there are photos from the Civil War era, taking those pictures was not an easy process. It took a whole wagon load of equipment and the subjects of the photos had to sit perfectly still for fifteen or twenty minutes while their image was captured. And now we jerk out our phones and snap pictures right and left. Even videos that end up on the news or YouTube. I posted a video on Facebook today that had already been shared a zillion times, give or take a few.
This is a scene from The Seeker after the first battle that Adam sees, the Battle of Bull Run where the Confederates won the day and the Union soldiers retreated in disarray.
Long after Adam returned to his hotel room, the questions with no answers whirled in his head. He tried to push them aside so he could concentrate on getting his sketches ready before Sam Johnson’s man knocked on his door at first light. He didn’t have to have answers, only illustrations. But as he flipped through his sketches, the sounds of exploding shells and men dying echoed in his ears, and he wanted to rip the drawings into a thousand pieces. He shoved aside the scenes of death and pulled a writing tablet toward him.
Dear Charlotte,
You won’t mind if I don’t call you Sister Charlotte, will you? Thinking of you as a Shaker sister will take some time. It appears that how that came to be will remain a puzzle at least for now. Tell me of your life there. It has to be very different from that of a Southern belle, but as I told you at Grayson, even then you were not like most young ladies I have had the pleasure of meeting in drawing rooms across the South.
I realize you have probably not had time to receive my earlier letter, but this night as I sit in the capital city surrounded by a wounded army, I seem to need to put pen to paper again to you. To tell you of the first real battle of the war at a stream called Bull Run near the town of Manassas in Virginia. The Rebels won the day. It appears the Confederates aren’t as ready to be beaten as the Union generals had hoped. I have a sketchbook full of the most horrible scenes of war. My pens seemed to be dripping blood on the paper. I will send you a couple of sketches, but you can see more in Harper’s if the Shakers read such. And it sounded as if they might if they saw their stairways on those pages.
Here in Washington, the generals will meet and the soldiers will be given new guns to replace those left behind on the field of battle. The armies will meet again and I must be there to draw more pictures. It is what I do.
It is good you are in a place where peace can bloom undisturbed like roses in a garden. Tell me of your garden and I will let my hand trace the flowers you see and hope that once the battle smoke clears there will still be flowers to pick in our own personal gardens.
Yours, Adam
He folded a picture of the army lining up for battle and then one of the carriages of onlookers, wagons, and soldiers all vying for a place on the road north as they retreated. Last he picked up a small book where he sometimes jotted bits of scenes to keep the sights fresh in his mind. He drew the bench under the dogwood tree beside Grayson’s veranda. The one where he was sitting when he first saw Charlotte. She would know.
Thanks for reading and if you’re interested in grabbing The Seeker, here are some links.
Amazon
Christianbook.com
Barnes & Noble
Kobo
Always be sure to double check the price before you download to make sure the sale price is still in effect.