Traveling Tuesday: Flushing, New York

Traveling Tuesday: Flushing, NY

Eye of the Beholder, my contribution to the Apron Strings Tea Tales series that will release in July 2026, is set during the 1939 World’s fair which was located in Flushing Meadows, a neighborhood in the north-central section of Queens, one of New York City’s five boroughs (a district that is an administrative unit). With a current population of over 200,000, the neighborhood is larger than the biggest city in New Hampshire where I live!

The idea for the World’s Fair began four years earlier when George McAneny, executive manager at the New York Times and president of the Regional Plan Association, brought a group together to discuss the possibility of an international exposition. With support from Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, the New York World’s Fair Corporation was formed, and McAneny was named president. After much consideration, the Flushing Meadows site was selected because of its size (1,003 acres), central location, and the city already owned 586 acres nearby.

Straddling the Flushing River, Flushing Meadows was mostly wetlands until the 1910s when it was ushed as a dumping ground for coal ashes with the thought to eventually develop the land into a port. With the onset of World War I, plans for the port ceased, however, dumping continued.

As a result, much work needed to be done to prepare the site for the fair including purchasing the

surrounding land and relocating the occupants, then leveling the ash mounds and diverting the river into underground culverts. Beginning in June 1936, four hundred fifty employees worked three eight-hour shifts to rebuild the landscape and excavate to create Meadow and Willow lakes. The lakes were to serve as repositories for excess storm runoff, and the dirt was used as additional topsoil for the park. In 1937, trees were put in to create a natural landscape around the park and along pedestrian walkways.

Using much of the refuse (ash mounds), the road system surrounding and bisecting the park was also improved in preparation of the anticipated thousands of visitors. You may be familiar with some of the streets: Vany Wyck Expressway, Long Island Expressway, and Grand Central Parkway. However, executives must not have given enough thought to the water system because in November 1939, a water main that supplied the area failed. The pipeline had not been built on piling foundations which cause it to sink into the marsh. Oops! Repairs cost more than $50,000. The public transit system was also upgraded and expanded.

Because the organizers knew the fairgrounds would be converted to a park after the event, the landscape architect, Gilmore David Clarke (who designed many of NYC’s parks and public spaces) planned accordingly with 250 acres of lawns, and topiary and deciduous trees. More than one million plants, one million bulbs, 250,000 shrubs, and 10,000 trees were installed. There were also approximately fifty landscaped gardens, as well as fountains and water features.

All in all, about $156 million dollars, a combination of public and private funds, was spent to transform “The Valley of Ashes” into Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.

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A Lesson in Love

He thinks he’s too old. She thinks she’s too young. Can these teachers learn that love defies all boundaries?

Born and raised in London, Isobel Turvine knows nothing about farming, but after the students in her school evacuate during Operation Pied Piper, she’s left with little to do. Her friend talks her into joining the Women’s Land Army, and she finds herself working the land at a manor home in Yorkshire that’s been converted to a boys’ school. A teacher at heart, she is drawn to the lads, but the handsome yet stiff-necked headmaster wants her to stick to farming.

Left with an arm that barely works from the last “war to end all wars,” Gavin Emerson agrees to take on the job of headmaster when his school moves from London to Yorkshire, but he’s saddled with the quirky manor owner, bickering among his teachers, and a gaggle of Land Army girls who have turned the grounds into a farm. When the group’s blue-eyed, blonde leader nearly runs him down in a car, he admonishes her to stay in the fields, but they are thrown together at every turn. Can he trust her not to break his heart?

Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3YHgUb0

Photo credits:

World's Fair Promenade: By FOTO:Fortepan — ID 16945:Adományozó/Donor: Public Domain

Valley of Ashes: By New York (N.Y.). Bureau of EngineeringFairchild Aerial Camera Corporation - NYPL Digital Gallery — Catalog ID (B-number): b13985741, Public Domain.

Flushing Globe: Pixabay/nerastudio

Talkshow Thursday: Welcome Donna Wichelman!

Talkshow Thursday: 

Welcome Donna Wichelman!

I'm thrilled to be hosting fellow Heroes, Heroines, and History blogger, Donna Wichelman. Have you read her books? They're fantastic! Draw up a chair and hear about her inspiration and research.

How Staying True to History and Culture Gives Authenticity to Your Novel

My appreciation for history developed in childhood, because my parents traveled across the United States and Canada almost every summer to visit family. Even then, our travels sparked my imagination. As an adult, I’ve continued to find fascination in developing stories from learning about a place’s history and culture. I conceived A Song of Deliverance while standing on a crest overlooking the Atlantic Ocean near Dingle, Ireland and envisioning a poor woman in nineteenth-century Ireland destined to emigrate to America. This inkling of a story birthed a full-length novel that I needed to flesh out when I returned to Colorado, because only through research would history make the story come alive on the page.

Research is the backbone of historical fiction and lends authenticity to the story. An author may have developed a lovely romance between two people or an exceptional plot line during the Victorian era. But the story falls apart if the language doesn’t ring true to the people of that time or if the mining technology, as in A Song of Deliverance, is too sophisticated for the period.

It’s essential to ensure the details of place, setting, people, and culture stay as true to the period as possible. I spend several weeks sifting through source materials and continue researching throughout the writing phase. If a reader looked at my first draft of A Song of Deliverance and compared it to the book as it appears today after its release, she would notice the differences in language, cultural norms, and the historical people who populated the town in 1870s Georgetown, Colorado.

Several years ago, I realized that every story concept I developed had some component of history in it.

Courtesy Colorado Women's Hall of Fame

Even the two romantic suspense novels in my Waldenisian series, indie-published in 2015 and 2018, contain a mega dose of history about the pre-reformation Christian sect. But I didn’t want my stories to be dull and dry textbooks. I wanted them to weave history and faith into stories of intrigue and redemption to give substance to the story. The real-life story of Clara Brown stands out as bringing such a character to life.

As a formerly enslaved woman, Clara Brown’s owner released her at his death before the Civil War. She came to Colorado in 1859, saved the earnings from cooking, laundering, and birthing babies, and invested in local mines. People knew her as “Aunt” Clara for her Christian charity. Clara was inducted into the Colorado Business Hall of Fame on January 27, 2022, for being the first black woman entrepreneur in Colorado. Her character influenced the woman I created in my book, Cecelia Richards, whose wisdom and faith shone a bright light on my protagonist Anna Sullivan’s life.

I set out to make A Song of Deliverance more than a story about one poor Irish woman’s road from rags to riches. Anna’s story is about finding the faith and courage to persevere despite the most tragic circumstances and discovering God has never been farther than a hair’s breadth away. As Anna’s formerly enslaved friend Cecelia says at one point in the book, “I reckon we all got shackles we need to get freed from to get by in this world.” This essence is what author and theologian Jerry Sittser calls the “spirit of the story.”

Pixabay/congerdesign

Recently, I’ve become fascinated by a genre called slip-time, where two timelines with two protagonists weave together through a common thread. Many of the books I’m currently reading are slip-time, because I have a World War Two slip-time project in the development stages.

Books I’m reading include The Legacy of Longdale Manor, a Carol award winner by Carrie Turansky; Catching the Wind, a Christy finalist by Melanie Dobson; and Whispers From Yesterday, winner of the 2000 Christy Award by Robin Lee Hatcher. I’ve also read Book Four in Amanda Cabot’s historical romance Sweetwater Crossing series, One Special Christmas, and Crystal Caudill’s recent Christy award-winning novella, Star of Wonder.

About Donna:

Weaving history and faith into stories of intrigue and redemption grew out of Donna’s love of travel, history, and literature as a young adult while attending the United World College of the Atlantic—an international college in Wales, U.K. She enjoys developing plots that show how God’s love abounds even in the profoundly difficult circumstances of our lives. Her stories reflect the hunger in all of us for love, belonging, and forgiveness in a world that often withholds second chances.

Donna received her master’s degree in mass communications/journalism from San Jose State University and became a communications professional before writing full-time. Her short stories and articles have appeared in inspirational publications. She has two indie-published Christian romantic suspense novels in her Waldensian Series, Light Out of Darkness, Book One, and Undaunted Valor, Book Two. Her Gilded Age historical romance, A Song of Deliverance, just released on December 3, 2024

Donna and her husband of forty years participate in ministry at their local church in Colorado. They love spending time with their grandchildren and bike, kayak and travel whenever possible.

About A Song of Deliverance

Born into the Irish system of land-holding that favors the moneyed class, Anna Sullivan has no dowry and no chance of marrying the man she loves. Poor and heartbroken, she flees Ireland to tend to Uncle Liam’s house in Colorado and take on her deceased aunt’s sewing business.

But when Anna arrives in Georgetown, she discovers a mine disaster at the Singing Silver Mine has killed her uncle. Orphaned and destitute again, she gathers her faith, courage, and ingenuity to establish a life in the community. Only one person stands in her way—the mine’s owner.

A wealthy, grief-stricken widower of European nobility, Stefan Maier threw his energies into making his mark as a silver mining baron in Colorado when his wife and child died at sea, emigrating to America. Now, everyone blames him for the mine disaster that killed nine men. But how does he convince the lovely and opinionated Irish woman of his innocence?

Will Anna’s heart soften towards Stefan? Will Stefan prove himself worthy of Anna’s affections? Each will have to risk everything to attain what they want and need most—love.

 
Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4fKJ2As

Connect with Donna:
• Website: http://www.donnawichelman.com
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DonnaWichelmanAuthor
• Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/donna.wichelman
• X: www.x.com/DonnaWichelman
• Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/donna_wichelman

Wayback Wednesday: Take a Journey to 1914

Wayback Wednesday: 

Take a Journey to 1914

Love and Chocolate is set in 1914, a time when the world was in a turmoil, but modern conveniences and inventions never imagined made people’s lives easier. In America, Henry Ford’s Model T vied for space with horses and carriages. The telephone had been invented, and nearly every business installed one. Radio technology was in its infancy, but there were broadcasts to listen to.

Eleven years had passed since the Wright brothers historic flight at Kitty Hawk, and aviation had come into its own. In January 1914, the first commercial flight took off from Petersburg, Florida and landed in Tampa twenty-three minutes later. Races and record-setting events abounded as men and women took to the air to test their mettle. Many of the larger nations had developed air power, and by the time World War I erupted in July, zeppelins and bi-planes were part of battle strategy.

Fashion changed dramatically, allowing women less restrictive clothing without corsets, and

Lily Absinthe

significantly less fabric with higher hemlines. The “empire waist” style returned, and fashions based on “Orientalism” emerged. The hobble skirt had come and gone, a skirt so narrow at the bottom, it made walking difficult. Even though the US didn’t enter the war until 1917, American women were affected by the changes in European fashion that included tunics and long uniform-like jackets.

Thanks to advances in chemistry, the use of gases gave rise to the first electric refrigerators - kicking “iceboxes” to the curb. Air conditioning units came next to those located in the South and Southwest regions of the U.S. Another gas that changed the face of America was neon when French inventor Georges Claude figured out how to store it in glass tubes to create lighting. Advertising would never be the same.

Suffragism continued to gain momentum, and in March the Senate put forth a constitutional amendment to grant women the right to vote, but the measure fell short of the required two-thirds by eleven votes. In October thousands of men and women marched on Cleveland in support of a bill to amend the Ohio constitution and give women the right to vote. The war, during which women served in place of men and proved they were just as capable, helped the suffragist cause with more and more individuals getting onboard.

________________

Love and Chocolate

She just needs a job. He wants a career. Is there room in their hearts for love?

Ilsa Krause and her siblings are stunned to discover their father left massive debt behind upon his death. To help pay off their creditors and save the farm, she takes a job at Beck’s Chocolates, the company her father despised and refused to supply with milk. Then she discovers her boss is Ernst Webber, her high school love who unceremoniously dumped her via letter from college. Could life get any more difficult?

A freshly-minted university diploma in his hand, Ernst Webber lands his dream job at Beck’s Chocolates. His plans to work his way up the ladder don’t include romantic entanglements, then Ilsa Krause walks back into his life resurrecting feelings he thought long dead. However, her animosity makes it clear she has no interest in giving him a second chance. Can he get her to change her mind? Does he want to?

Purchase Link: https://books2read.com/u/mdQerZ

Wayback Wednesday: More Inventions from the Progressive Era

Wayback Wednesday: 

More Inventions from the Progressive Era

Last week I introduced several inventions that patented during the two decades that comprise the Progressive Era, a time period of great social activism, political reform, and technological advances. Here are a few more items that came to fruition between 1900 and 1929:

• Disposable Safety Razor: Most folks living in New England are quite familiar with King Camp Gillette, a traveling hardware salesman who invented the double-edged, disposable safety razor attached to a re-usable razor handle because of the multi-million-dollar company that bears his name and has sponsored the professional football team. Gillette applied for a patent in 1901, and it was granted in 1904.
• Air Conditioning: I had no idea A/C was invented this early in history. Willis Carrier (recognize the

  

  Pixabay/Lucio Alfonso

  name?) actually created his system in 1902 to address quality problems at a Brooklyn printing plant, Sackett-Wilhelms Lithographing and Publishing Company. Humidity and heat were making papers stick together.
• As an HR professional, much of the paperwork that I dispose of gets shredded because of its confidential nature. This handy device is credited to inventor Abbot Augustus Law of Horseshoe, New York. His patent for a "waste paper receptacle" to offer an improved method of disposing of waste paper received a U.S. patent on August 31, 1909.

• 

  Pixabay/Dimitiry

  Binder Clip: Another office product many of you are familiar with was invented in 1911 by Washington, D.C., resident Louis E. Baltzley to help his father, Edwin, a prolific writer and inventor, keep manuscripts in order. The original design was modified five times, but the essential mechanism has never changed.
• Masking tape was invented in 1925, by Richard G. Drew, an employee of the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company (3M). He filed U.S. patent #1,760,820 on May 28, 1928, and was issued to him on May 27, 1930. You may remember another 3M invention: the post-it, that was the result of a mistake.
• Kool-Aid: Invented in 1927 by Edwin Perkins of Hastings, Nebraska who had come up with a a method of removing the liquid from a drink called "Fruit Smack." He re-packaged the powder in envelopes and called it "Kool-Ade."

_____________________

Love and Chocolate

She just needs a job. He wants a career. Is there room in their hearts for love?

Ilsa Krause and her siblings are stunned to discover their father left massive debt behind upon his death. To help pay off their creditors and save the farm, she takes a job at Beck’s Chocolates, the company her father despised and refused to supply with milk. Then she discovers her boss is Ernst Webber, her high school love who unceremoniously dumped her via letter from college. Could life get any more difficult?

A freshly-minted university diploma in his hand, Ernst Webber lands his dream job at Beck’s Chocolates. His plans to work his way up the ladder don’t include romantic entanglements, then Ilsa Krause walks back into his life resurrecting feelings he thought long dead. However, her animosity makes it clear she has no interest in giving him a second chance. Can he get her to change her mind? Does he want to?

Pre-order Link: https://books2read.com/u/mdQerZ

Wayback Wednesday: Inventions During the Progressive Era

Wayback Wednesday: 

Inventions from the Progressive Era

The Progressive Era in the United States encompasses the two decades from 1900 to 1929 and was a period of sweeping social activism and political reform across the nation. Per Wikipedia: “Progressives sought to address the problems caused by rapid industrialization, urbanization, immigration, and political corruption as well as the enormous concentration of industrial ownership in monopolies. Progressive reformers were alarmed by the spread of slums, poverty, and the exploitation of labor.”

President Theodore Roosevelt was a leader in the Progressive movement and promised trust-breaking, regulations in the railroad industry and pure food and drugs. Conservation was one of his major focuses, and he established national parks, forests, and monuments. Other well-known progressives include author Upton Sinclair, journalist Ida Tarbell, social worker and reformer Jane Addams, and suffragist Susan B. Anthony.

Technological advances and inventions played a large role during the era with many items still in use today:

• A nickel-zinc battery is a type of rechargeable battery that may be used in cordless power tools,

  

  Pixabay/Thomas

  cordless telephones, digital cameras, etc. In 1900, Thomas Edison filed U.S. Patent #684,204 for the nickel-zinc battery, and it was issued on October 8, 1901. Today’s nickel-cadmium rechargeable battery is very similar with slightly less voltage.
• Fly-swatter: This one surprised me in that I thought it would have been invented long before 1900. The first modern fly-destruction device was invented in 1900 by Robert R. Montgomery, an entrepreneur based in Decatur, Illinois. On January 9, 1900, Montgomery was issued U.S. patent #640,790 for the "Fly-Killer."
• A windowed envelope is a conventional envelope with a plastic window to allow the recipient's address to be printed on the paper contained within. Calling it the "outlook envelope", Americus F. Callahan of Chicago was the first to patent the windowed envelope. U.S. patent #701,839 was filed on December 9, 1901, and issued on June 10, 1902.
• 
  The airplane was invented by Wilbur and Orville Wright of Dayton, Ohio, who made the first powered and sustained airplane flights under control of the pilot in the Wright Flyer on December 17, 1903, in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
• Perhaps mundane, but very important, nonetheless, the flushometer, or royal flushometer is a water pressure system that uses an inline handle to flush toilets and urinals The flushometer is still in use today in homes and public restrooms around the world. The flushometer was invented in 1906 by American businessman and inventor William Elvis Sloan.
• Do you use an electric blanket? The first electric blanket was invented in 1912 by American physician Sidney I. Russell. This earliest form of an electric blanket was an 'underblanket' under the bed that covered and heated from below.
• Traffic circles (AKA cloverleaf interchange) was first patented in the United States by Arthur Hale, a civil engineer in Maryland, on February 29, 1916.

_____________________

Love and Chocolate

She just needs a job. He wants a career. Is there room in their hearts for love?

Ilsa Krause and her siblings are stunned to discover their father left massive debt behind upon his death. To help pay off their creditors and save the farm, she takes a job at Beck’s Chocolates, the company her father despised and refused to supply with milk. Then she discovers her boss is Ernst Webber, her high school love who unceremoniously dumped her via letter from college. Could life get any more difficult?

A freshly-minted university diploma in his hand, Ernst Webber lands his dream job at Beck’s Chocolates. His plans to work his way up the ladder don’t include romantic entanglements, then Ilsa Krause walks back into his life resurrecting feelings he thought long dead. However, her animosity makes it clear she has no interest in giving him a second chance. Can he get her to change her mind? Does he want to?

Pre-order Link: https://books2read.com/u/mdQerZ

Release Day! Love and Chocolate

Release Day: Love and Chocolate!

Love and Chocolate was partially inspired by Milton Hershey and his rise to fame in the chocolate industry. Set in 1914, the story follows a family of German-American siblings in Wisconsin as they try to navigate their lives after the death of their beloved father.

Love and Chocolate: Book 1 of the Chocolate Chronicles

She just needs a job. He wants a career. Is there room in their hearts for love?

Ilsa Krause and her siblings are stunned to discover their father left massive debt behind upon his death. To help pay off their creditors and save the farm, she takes a job at Beck’s Chocolates, the company her father despised and refused to supply with milk. Then she discovers her boss is Ernst Webber, her high school love who unceremoniously dumped her via letter from college. Could life get any more difficult?

A freshly-minted university diploma in his hand, Ernst Webber lands his dream job at Beck’s Chocolates. His plans to work his way up the ladder don’t include romantic entanglements, then Ilsa Krause walks back into his life resurrecting feelings he thought long dead. However, her animosity makes it clear she has no interest in giving him a second chance. Can he get her to change her mind? Does he want to?

Purchase link: https://books2read.com/u/mdQerZ

Talkshow Thursday: Welcome Back, Shannon McNear!

VIRGINIA by Shannon McNear

What was your inspiration for the story?

I took the most commonly known myth surrounding Virginia Dare—the legend of the White Doe, which came from a poem written by Sallie Southall Cotten in 1902, and put my own spin on it.

What sort of research did you do for your story, and was there an exceptionally interesting tidbit you knew you had to include?

I studied the Tuscarora people—their language, what we know of their customs and history—and the Spanish exploration of what is now the southeast United States. After focusing on the eastern Algonquian-speaking people for the last three stories, I knew I wanted to branch out and study those who were considered mysterious but definite enemies—and to include the Spanish element. But the tidbit that seemed hardest to work in—but that I HAD to use—was the Tuscarora’s use of “Indian hemp”—what we know as common milkweed—in fiber arts, both as cording and eventually textiles. It’s actually where the original name of the tribe, the Skaru:re (sgah-ROOO-rah) comes from.

Tell us about your road to publication.

I’ve been writing stories since I could first string sentences together in third grade. Eventually started my first novel at age 15—then rewrote that one about 20 times in as many years. I submitted it to various editors and even made honorable mention in a contest once (this was back in the day when you had to mail the entire typed-out manuscript and then wait months, even years, for a reply). Eventually I took a few years off from writing fiction while my older kids were small. When my youngest son was a baby, a friend asked me to accompany her teen daughter to a writing conference for homeschoolers, put on by Stephen Bly and Nancy Rue. Steve’s approach to story and writing intrigued me, and after several months of reading his work (he wrote Christian westerns—absolutely wonderful stories!), I started feeling the nudge to pick up my own again. I had to pray hard over that, since I had a houseful by this time and was expecting again! But the Lord made it clear I was to take that step of faith. So that was about 2003. I attended my first writer’s conference (Writing for the Soul in Asheville NC) and started applying myself to really learning the writing craft. I finished six more novels before the Lord popped open the door to publication through a dear friend of mine—Elizabeth Goddard, who at the time wrote for Barbour in their Heartsong Presents line, and who encouraged me to respond to a call for submissions for “pioneer Christmas” stories. That led to my first novella contract in 2012. So I tell people that from the time I started my first novel, the Lord made me wait 30 years to be published. 😁 A long road but the waiting on Him was absolutely worth it!

If your book is part of a series: Did you set out to write a series? Why did you decide to write a

Pixabay/Georgia Evans

series?

Originally I thought I had two, maybe three stories in the series, max. My editor at Barbour had invited me to consider the concept of the Lost Colony … and these were the characters who introduced themselves to me as I was researching and brainstorming. 😊

Why do you write in your particular genre?

I love breathing new life into history and making it fresh and relevant for the modern reader. To show how human struggles of the past relate to our lives now, and to current events.

How does/did your job prepare you for being a novelist?

I love this question—because the hardest job I’ve ever loved (to borrow that old Army slogan) is being a mother—and particularly a mother of many. I’ve given birth nine times (six of those at home), learned human nature in a uniquely hands-on way, and in all of it my children have taught me more about the Lord and His love, mercy, and grace than I feel I’ll ever teach them.

What are common traps for aspiring writers?

To get so caught up in perfecting a sentence that you miss the overall picture in the story. It took me forever to learn the infamous GMC—Goals, Motivation, and Conflict, and how they drive the story. Also, in this day of quick and easy self-publishing, to publish before the story—or writing—are really ready. Take the time to learn your craft! Don’t be afraid to seek hard feedback! (Entering contests can be a great place to find some.)

What writers or books have influenced you? What was your favorite childhood book and why?

I combined these two into one because they have similar answers for me. Early on, I loved the Little House books and Misty of Chincoteague—those two tie for favorites. Both imprinted me with a love for historical fiction (especially Little House—oh, and it had to be the books!). Later came Tolkien and Lewis—especially the latter. I love his Space Trilogy, and devoured his nonfiction works. (I remember reading Mere Christianity in high school … such a nerd.) I also loved Mary Stewart and Georgette Heyer, and many others that my mom had collected. Oh, and Alexandre Dumas, The Three Musketeers.

What books are on your nightstand right now?

I’m working my way through Watership Down, an old favorite I haven’t revisited in many years, and Lightning Strike, a mainstream crime drama by William Kent Krueger. He’s a newish author to me. In Christian fiction, next up is Darkness Calls the Tiger by Janyre Tromp and The Rose and the Thistle by Laura Frantz.

About Virginia

The White Doe of the Outer Banks Grows into Womanhood

Return to the “what if” questions surrounding the Lost Colony and explore the possible fate of Virginia Dare--the first English child born in the New World. What happened to her after her grandfather John White returned to England and the colony he established disappeared into the mists of time? Legends abound, but she was indeed a real girl who, if she survived to adulthood, must have also become part of the legacy that is the people of the Outer Banks.

In the spring of 1602 by English reckoning, "Ginny," as she is called by family and friends, is fourteen and firmly considered a grown woman by the standards of the People. For her entire life she has watched the beautiful give-and-take of the Kurawoten and other native peoples with the English who came from across the ocean. She's enjoyed being the darling of both English and Kurawoten alike--but a stirring deep inside her will not be put to rest.

One careless decision lands her and fellow “first baby” Henry Harvie, along with their Kurawoten friend Redbud, in enemy hands. Carried away into Mangoac territory, out of the reach of Manteo and the others, she must learn who she truly is—not only the daughter of Elinor and Ananias Dare but also a child of the One True God, who gives her courage to go wherever the path of her life might lead.

Connect with Shannon:
Website: http://shannonmcnear.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ShannonMcNearAuthor
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shenandoahdawn/
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/shenandoahdawn/
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6880909.Shannon_McNear
Bookbub: http://www.bookbub.com/profile/shannon-mcnear
X / Twitter: http://twitter.com/shenandoah_dawn
Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B00BK9VRZ2

Wayback Wednesday: The Progressive Era

Wayback Wednesday: The Progressive Era

Taking place from 1901-1929, the Progressive Era in America somewhat parallels the Edwardian Age in England, but rather than the result of trends set by a monarch, the time period was the result of the desire for furthering social and political reform, curbing political corruption caused by political machines, and limiting the political influence of large corporations. Rapid industrialization, urbanization, and immigration had created the “haves” and the “have-nots.” Slums, poverty, and worker exploitation were rampant across the nation, and monopolies had a tight grip on nearly every industry.

Numerous movements attempted to solve perceived social, political, and economic problems through scientific methods, protecting the environment, and subjecting businesses to copious regulations.

Corruption and “undemocratic political machines,” as one source put it, were targeted by reformers. The

establishment of primary elections, direct election of senators (rather than by state legislatures), referendums, and eventually the right of women to vote brought about much needed change, but not enough.

Monopolies were headed by rich, powerful men who bought politicians and other influential individuals. In an effort to promote fair competition, Progressives pushed antitrust laws and advocated for new government agencies with the responsibility of regulating industry.

At this time magazines experienced a surge in popularity as their prices fell and they began to cover corruption in politics, local government, and big business, known as muckraking. These muckrakers exposed social and political wrongdoing. McClure’s is one of the more well-known of these magazines. At the same time, authors, such as Upton Sinclair, were also addressing the situation. His 1906 novel, The Jungle, attacked unsanitary and inhumane practices in the meatpacking industry. The outcry from his readers prompted the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act passed.

Interestingly, the number of rich families increased significantly, from 100 or so millionaires in the 1870s to 16,000 by 1916. Steel magnate Andrew Carnegie led a host of them to a lifestyle of philanthropy, saying they owed a duty to society. During the time, hundreds of millions of dollars were bestowed or bequeathed to colleges, hospitals, libraries, museums, and other organizations aimed at improving the lives of “everyday people.”

_________________

Love and Chocolate

She just needs a job. He wants a career. Is there room in their hearts for love?

Ilsa Krause and her siblings are stunned to discover their father left massive debt behind upon his death. To help pay off their creditors and save the farm, she takes a job at Beck’s Chocolates, the company her father despised and refused to supply with milk. Then she discovers her boss is Ernst Webber, her high school love who unceremoniously dumped her via letter from college. Could life get any more difficult?

A freshly-minted university diploma in his hand, Ernst Webber lands his dream job at Beck’s Chocolates. His plans to work his way up the ladder don’t include romantic entanglements, then Ilsa Krause walks back into his life resurrecting feelings he thought long dead. However, her animosity makes it clear she has no interest in giving him a second chance. Can he get her to change her mind? Does he want to?

Pre-order Link: https://books2read.com/u/mdQerZ

Movie Monday: Ladies Courageous

Movie Monday: Ladies Courageous

When I’m researching an era, I immerse myself in the media that would have been available to my characters at the time. For my Old West books, I read novels, newspapers, magazines, and catalogs that were published before or during the year my stories are set. For my WWII books, I can expand my media to include movies and radio programs.

During my research for Love at First Flight, I stumbled on a 1944 war movie called Ladies Courageous, a fictionalized account of the Women’s Auxiliary Ferry Squadron (that would later be merged with the Women’s Flying Training Detachment to create the Women Air Service Pilots program. According to several sources, the film is based on Virginia Spencer Cowles’s 1941 novel Looking for Trouble. However, the WAFS didn’t go into operation until 1942. Other sources indicate the film is an á-clef story (a name describing a real person behind the façade of fiction) of Jacqueline Cochran and Nancy Harkness Love, the women behind the two organizations.

Born in Brattleboro, Vermont in 1910l, Virginia’s journalism career began as a gossip columnist for

Public Domain

Boston and New York newspapers. She expanded into fashion and society, but when the Spanish Civil War began to bubble up, she packed her bags and headed for Spain in 1937, determined to make it as a war correspondent.

Different from most reporters covering the Civil War such as Ernest Hemingway and Martha Gelhorn, Virginia wrote articles from both sides for the Daily Telegraph, Sunday Times, and Hearst newspapers, including an interview with Pepe Quintanilla, the chief executioner of Madrid. She eventually left Spain and traversed Europe, moving between Russia, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Finland, and France. After the fall of France, she went to England where she landed on the first day of The Blitz, allowing her to report the entire Battle of Britain. She later covered the North African Campaign, then Italy and France in 1944 and 1945.

Ladies Courageous stars Loretta Young, Geraldine Fitzgerald, and Diana Barrymore (yes, those Barrymores) and tells the story of the Women’s Auxiliary Ferry Squadron. The plot seems more “Hollywood” than war propaganda with impetuous female characters, dashing male pilots, and intrigue. Toward the end of the movie, a general notifies the women about the merge that will create the WASPs, an event that didn’t occur until July, 1943. The dialogue is good, and the plot moved along at a good pace. It was interesting to watch the film thinking about people in the 1940s for whom commercial air travel would have been a luxury, let alone the opportunity to take flying lessons. Might be similar to us thinking about going to the moon.

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Love at First Flight

Can two people emerge from the clouds of past hurt to find a silver lining of love?

Evelyn Reid would rather fly than do anything else, so when war engulfs the U.S., she joins the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron. One of the program’s top pilots, she is tapped for pursuit plane training...the dream of a lifetime until she discovers the instructor is her ex-fiancé, Jasper MacPherson.

Collecting enough points to rotate stateside, fighter pilot Jasper MacPherson is assigned to teach the WAFS how to fly the army way. Bad enough to be training women, but things take a turn for the worse when his former fiancée shows up as one of his students.

Purchase Link: https://books2read.com/u/3JoYNX

Fiction Friday: Research for Love at First Flight

Fiction Friday: Research for Love at First Flight

Pixabay/Steve Buissinne

Long before I was a professional writer, I was a research nerd. I did and still do love looking up information and chasing rabbit trails. Before the invention of smartphones, I carried a notepad in my purse on which I could jot down names, places, events…anything I stumbled on when we were out. What I love best (after texting with my siblings) is using my phone on the fly to research something.

My husband rolls his eyes, but in a laughing manner, because he’s the one who usually prompts me when we’re somewhere and here about something we’re not familiar with. He’ll often use sports writer Warner Wolf’s catchphrase, “Let’s go to the videotape.” (Which is now digital in all probability!)

Anyway, Love at First Flight was published in September 2020 which meant I was conducting my

Courtesy of 
Texas Tech Univ.

story research just as the pandemic surfaced. Definitely bad timing! As any student knows, primary sources are the best which include autobiographies or memoirs, letters or diaries, articles written by an individual who experienced the event, maps, and sound recordings, etc. As part of my research, I had planned to visit the National WASPS WWII Museum located in Sweetwater, Texas, but in March 2020 travel was heavily curtailed, so I was stuck researching from my desk.

Fortunately, there are quite a few autobiographies and memoirs written by former pilots of the Women Air Service Program, and I was able to get my hands on them. Another fantastic resource was a video I obtained from the Wright Museum of WWII called Women of Courage which featured interviews. I also found video clips of news interviews and documentaries that included interviews with these stalwart women.

WikiImages

Many years ago, a fellow writer managed to secure a ride in a B-25 (or was it a B-29?) while researching her book. I had hoped to do the same so I could experience the sights, sounds, smells, and rolling stomach (!) of my characters. Instead, I found a fabulous YouTube video that took me into the air in a Vultee BT-13 Valiant that was lovingly (and sometimes not so lovingly) referred to by trainees as The Vultee Vibrator.

Maybe someday I’ll be able to hitch a ride in a vintage plane, but meanwhile, you and I can enjoy this virtual flight:

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Love at First Flight 

Can two people emerge from the clouds of past hurt to find a silver lining of love? 

Evelyn Reid would rather fly than do anything else, so when war engulfs the U.S., she joins the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron. One of the program’s top pilots, she is tapped for pursuit plane training...the dream of a lifetime until she discovers the instructor is her ex-fiancé, Jasper MacPherson. 

Collecting enough points to rotate stateside, fighter pilot Jasper MacPherson is assigned to teach the WAFS how to fly the army way. Bad enough to be training women, but things take a turn for the worse when his former fiancée shows up as one of his students.

Purchase Link: https://books2read.com/u/3JoYNX

Traveling Tuesday: Sweetwater, Texas

Traveling Tuesday: Sweetwater, Texas

Located forty miles west of Abilene, Texas and almost “smack-dab” in the center of the state, Sweetwater, Texas became a hub in aviation only eight years after the industry began. According to a paper I found on the University of North Texas website, by the 1920s, the tiny town was regularly visited by many famous aviators. In 1928, seeing potential, local businessmen raised money to construct a municipal airport. Funds came quickly, and the airport was finished and dedicated in August 1929.

In 1940, the town was notified that Sweetwater was being considered for use in the government’s expansion of defense efforts. Receiving nearly $200,000, the town purchased additional acreage and improved the facilities. The first trainees were fifty Canadian cadets headed for England’s RAF. In 1942, over 800 Americans arrived for training and graduated the following year.

Jacqueline Cochran, a world-renowned pilot, had been working for months to create a women’s

National WWII Museum

program similar to that of Britain’s Air Transport Auxiliary. She initially tried to use Hughes Air Field in Houston, but for many reasons was unable to develop a school that met her requirements. Finding Sweetwater, she quickly made arrangements, and by February 1943 Avenger Field was an all-female installation except for a few male instructors and other officers.

Slightly more than eleven square miles, Sweetwater is considered semi-arid, which is to say it’s a dry area, but not as dry as the desert. Average annual rainfall is thirty-five to forty days. Winter average temperatures are in the 60s, and summers are scorching with June, July, and August typically seeing temperatures in the mid- to high-nineties! I would imagine that many of the women who arrived had never experienced this kind of weather.

Thanks to the railroad and airfield, Sweetwater’s population exploded from just over 4,000 in the 1920 census to almost eleven thousand by the 1930 census. The women who arrived came from all walks of life. Some would be disappointed at the “small” size of the town, while others would be overwhelmed by its stretch of land and five-figure population. Of the 25,000 women who applied for flight training, 1,830 were accepted, 1,075 of whom earned their wings, which meant 756 women trudged to the train station and boarded a train for home, leaving the dusty town behind.

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Love at First Flight

Can two people emerge from the clouds of past hurt to find a silver lining of love?

Evelyn Reid would rather fly than do anything else, so when war engulfs the U.S., she joins the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron. One of the program’s top pilots, she is tapped for pursuit plane training...the dream of a lifetime until she discovers the instructor is her ex-fiancé, Jasper MacPherson.

Collecting enough points to rotate stateside, fighter pilot Jasper MacPherson is assigned to teach the WAFS how to fly the army way. Bad enough to be training women, but things take a turn for the worse when his former fiancée shows up as one of his students.

Purchase Link: https://books2read.com/u/3JoYNX

Wartime Wednesday: WASPs, but Not the Kind You Think

Wartime Wednesday: 

WASPs, but Not the Kind You Think

National Archives

By 1942, in just about every industry in the U.S., men were in short supply. They were either working in defense jobs or serving in one of the Armed Forces. In late September of that year, two civilian organizations formed that tried to fill the void in the aviation field. The Women’s Flying Training Detachment (WFTD) and the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS) were employed to fly military aircraft under the direction of the U.S. Army Air Force. Members of these organizations were Federal civil service employees, not military personnel.

 
The following year, the WFTD and WAFS were merged to form a

Photo: National Air and
Space Museum

paramilitary organization called Women’s Air Service Pilots (WASP). By the end of 1944, when the WASP program was disbanded nearly 1,100 women had ferried planes, towed targets, transported equipment and non-flying personnel, and flight-tested aircraft. Thirty-eight of these pilots lost their lives (11 in training, 27 on active duty), but because they were not part of the military it was the family’s responsibility to pay to ship the victim home. Often members of the girl’s unit would collect money on behalf of the family. During their two years of service, the WASPs flew sixty million miles and delivered 12,650 aircraft of seventy-eight different types.

 

Author Photo

Early on, the WASPs decided they needed a mascot. They turned to Walt Disney and asked permission to use Roald Dahl’s (of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory fame) illustration from his first children’s book, The Gremlins. The book had been written as a promotional piece for a full-length Disney movie that was ultimately never produced. “Fifinella” was a female gremlin who wore yellow slacks and cap, red blouse, and high-top boots, black gloves, and blue goggles. She also sported a pair of wings. Patches were custom-made, and colors varied.

Fifinella showed up everywhere: WASPs jackets, their monthly newsletter, and in many variations on the nose of many a bomber. Dahl went on to draw other gremlins for Warner Bros. that were used in several WWII cartoons, some of which featured Bugs Bunny.

Have you ever seen Fifinella?

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Love At First Flight

Can two people emerge from the clouds of past hurt to find a silver lining of love?

Evelyn Reid would rather fly than do anything else, so when war engulfs the U.S., she joins the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron. One of the program’s top pilots, she is tapped for pursuit plane training...the dream of a lifetime until she discovers the instructor is her ex-fiancé, Jasper MacPherson.

Collecting enough points to rotate stateside, fighter pilot Jasper MacPherson is assigned to teach the WAFS how to fly the army way. Bad enough to be training women, but things take a turn for the worse when his former fiancée shows up as one of his students.

Purchase Link: https://books2read.com/u/3JoYNX

Wartime Wednesday: Remember Pearl Harbor

Wartime Wednesday: Remember Pearl Harbor!

More than two years had passed since the war began in Europe when the Japanese bombers arrived in the skies above Pearl Harbor at 7:48 AM local time. An hour earlier the Wickes-class destroyer USS Ward attacked and sank a midget submarine near the entrance of the harbor. The sub’s periscope had been spotted above the water by the minesweeper Condor which alerted the crew on the Ward. The sub’s unconscious pilot, Kazuo Sakamaki, would later surface and be taken prisoner, spending the remainder of the war as a POW. Unfortunately, the incident would fail to put the base on full alert.

Japan depended on supplies from the United States, namely oil, to support their naval forces, but the Tokyo government began to look elsewhere and targeted Southeast Asia which is rich in minerals and oil. America’s foreign policy in the Pacific centered on support for China against the aggression of Japan, thus creating potential conflict. The U.S. extended a loan to China in 1938. The following year, America terminated the 1911 Treaty of Commerce and Navigation with Japan. Twelve months later, the export of materials “useful in war” to Japan was restricted. After Japan occupied Indochina and entered into an alliance with the Axis powers of Germany and Italy, the U.S. severed all commercial and financial relations with Japan, froze Japanese assets, and declared an embargo on shipments of petroleum and other war materials.

Meanwhile, the argument between isolationists and interventionists continued about the war in Europe.

In January 1940, 88% of U.S. citizens opposed the idea of getting involved in Europe. However, in September of that year, 52% felt America should risk war to help the British. By April 1941, the number had risen to 68%. Both ideologies became moot on December 7, 1941.

Unmoored from its berth in Battleship Row, the USS Nevada attempted to thwart the attack by heading to the harbor entrance. Repeatedly hit by bombs and torpedoes, the ship beached itself on Hospital Point, however, gunners managed to shoot down three of the Japanese Zeros. A few Army P-40 and P-36 pursuit planes were able to get airborne, some from the untargeted airfield at Haleiwa on Oahu’s northern coast. It is thought they managed to take down almost a dozen enemy aircraft.

By the end of the attack, forty-two of the one-hundred-twenty-six planes on the ground were destroyed, forty-one were damaged, and forty-three remained fit for service. More than one hundred eighty aircraft were destroyed. Within thirty days of the attack, 134,000 Americans enlisted in the military.

Printed on matchbooks, war bonds, license plate toppers, signs, plates, handkerchiefs, games, playing cards, flags, posters, buttons, cardboard shields, envelopes, and more, “Remember Pearl Harbor” became a rallying cry. During the week following the attack, Sammy Kaye and Don Reid penned the march, “Remember Pearl Harbor.” A few days later, the song was recorded, then released on January 17, 1942. Within two weeks, the song was number seven in sales and peaked at number three on the Billboard singles chart. By January 1942, Kaye had donated $4,000 from the song’s royalties to Navy relief funds.

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War’s Unexpected Gift (A Merry Heart Anthology)

Love and war don’t mix. Or do they?

Eager to do even more for the war effort, nurse Gwen Milford puts in for a transfer from a convalescent hospital outside of London to an evac hospital headed across Europe. Leap-frogging from one location to the next, nothing goes as expected from stolen supplies to overwhelming numbers of casualties. Then, there’s the handsome doctor who seems to be assigned to her every shift. As another Christmas approaches without the war’s end, can she find room in her heart for love?

Purchase Link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CL5MC75Y