Wayne Turmel – Gritty stories from the forgotten corners of history.

Two Prize-Winning Novels, One Author: Jillian Forsberg

When I won the American Book Fest award for The Deserter, I was pretty full of myself. Along comes Jillian Forsberg who wrote two novels, one of which was a finalist for general Historical Fiction, The Rhino Keeper. The other, The Porcelain Menagerie, was a finalist. Despite being a big-old showoff, I interviewed her anyway. Her books are fascinating tales that aren’t retelling of the same old stories.

Okay, Jill. Tell us about the wonder that is you.

I’m a unique soul for sure — I have a master’s degree in public history from Wichita State University and worked in museums for years, but went back to my college job in the bridal industry and now own a bridal store. I exercise my history brain with historical fiction novels. I’ve often compared the landscape of my brain to a old-school library. Think marble floors and rich wood card catalogs, which, for me, contain everything from wedding dresses to 18th century royals. I have always had a fascination with historical animals, artifacts, and ordinary people. I’d say I live a pretty fulfilling life!

Now tell us about your book (s!)

THE RHINO KEEPER is about the first animal celebrity: an Indian rhino named Clara who travelled 18th century Europe with a Dutch ship captain. She became a sensation, but also became a really important moment in animal history. People learned how to care for rhinos in captivity and her legacy continues today in art, animal husbandry manuals, and in capturing the imagination of people who stumble upon her unique story.

THE PORCELAIN MENAGERIE is a companion to THE RHINO KEEPER — Clara went to

a porcelain factory in Germany to be turned into a figurine. In doing research on Meissen porcelain, which is still in operation today, I became obsessed with the fact that porcelain was more valuable than gold, that artists were held captive to produce for a mad king, and that a 10th century castle was the factory in which they worked. I was struck, too, that the porcelain artist Johann Kaendler has one or two images of his likeness and yet even today is considered the finest porcelain sculptor in history, nailing the details of peoples likenesses in astounding detail. I simply had to know more about him, and a novel emerged.

What is it about that time period you found so fascinating?

The 18th century is a time of absolute contrasts: royals are more wealthy than ever

before, yet common people are waking up and realizing that they, too, deserve a piece of the pie. By the end of the century, dozens of revolutions sprang up around the world. I truly love the art and grandeur of the century, mixed with the raising of fists and torches. I write about the early to mid-century period, which I think are overlooked in fiction. There aren’t many novels that take place in 1710, especially in Germany, nor in the 1740s on a wild road trip with an animal. But truly, both novels were must-writes (and hopefully to this audience, must-reads) because I had too many unanswered questions and my imagination would not leave a rhino or a one-eyed lion alone.

I get wanting to write about something that hasn’t been done to death. That’s what is behind most of my historical fiction as well. What are your favorite scenes, since you have two books to talk about (and sell)?

In THE RHINO KEEPER, my favorite scene is when the Dutch ship captain Douwe Mout van der Meer sees Clara the rhino for the first time. He is awe-struck. In THE PORCELAIN MENAGERIE, my favorite scene is when a shipwreck is revealed to hold more than just devastation.

Where can we learn more?

My novels are both published through History Through Fiction, an amazing independent publisher of historical fiction. You can order signed copies from my website: https://www.jillianforsberg.com, and they’re available wherever books are sold. I’m on social media @jillianforsberg on all platforms.

Okay, it only one ONE American Book Fest award, but it’s still a damned good read. Check out The Deserter- a Tale of the Foreign Legion. “Wayne Turmel’s The Deserter manages to feel both old fashioned and strikingly original. While it possesses qualities of the adventure tales of old—whether that be those of daring from Scott and Cooper or stoical Hemingwayesque figures or most directly P.C. Wren of Beau Geste fame with even a bit of T.E. Lawrence. “– Michael Harnett, author, Windmill Bluff

The Creature of Secret Sorrows with Dianne L Hagan

I have lived in America now for 35 (Jeez, really?) years. I do love this country but I’m not blind to history–it’s the curse of the writer and history nerd in me. Being white, male, of a certain age and generally benign, I have not suffered much unless you count having to watch the news without going all Howard Beale. That’s not the case for everyone. Enter Dianne L Hagan and her award winning novel, Creature of Secret Stories. She is a finalist in the American Book Festival awards, Horror: General and Mystery/Suspense: Multicultural and Diverse.

Dianne, you’ve been writing a while. Tell us your story, then tell us about your story. (You know what I mean.)

In January 1976, freshman year of college, I met Ronald Hagan and knew within five minutes that he was the man with whom I would share my life. Young and naïve, I was not prepared for how the world would view us as a couple. You see, I’m white and Ronald is Black. Our love for one another, and our determination to stay together, started me on a journey of learning about race in America from one of the most intimate seats in the country. It shaped who I became as an adult and as a writer who is willing to share our stories as testimony and as a way of understanding the long reach of our country’s history.

I’ve published two memoirs. The first, Another Day in Post Racial America: To the Mothers of the Black Lives Matter Movement, With Love, was named one of the best Black Lives Matter books of all time by BookAuthority and was a semi-finalist in the North Street Book Prize 2020. American Dreaming: A Memoir of Interracial Love, Estrangement, and Race Equality won an Honorable Mention in the 29^th Annual Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Awards. My multicultural mystery series, A Cadence Mystery, is the winner of six Literary Titan Book Awards, and seven finalist awards from the American Fiction Awards. Creature of Secret Sorrows (A Cadence Mystery, #7) the newest book in the series was named a finalist in two categories in the 2026 American Fiction Awards: Mystery/Suspense: Multicultural and Diverse and Horror: General. I’m currently working on book 8 of the series. The series focuses on the small town of Cadence, New York, where the past doesn’t stay buried. It awakens and demands justice.

So tell us about book #7

In Creature of Secret Sorrows (A Cadence Mystery #7), Randy Nichols, a retired geology professor, goes missing. While searching for him, Marian Greene stumbles upon a horrific murder scene reminiscent of a bygone dark era in American history. A family relic, twice stolen, is returned and found to be cursed, altering perceptions and causing suspicion among close friends. And then things turn really bad when a creature that should only exist in Ghanaian folklore taunts police officers.

When the FBI arrives and takes charge, Police Chief George Powless is more determined than ever to solve the case, even if it means using methods that are far outside the usual police procedures and protocols.

As with all the books in the series, Creature of Secret Sorrows blurs the line between a police procedural and the supernatural.

It’s pretty obvious, given your personal stake in it, but what about the story interested you?

All the books in the series explore how the past, if left unresolved, has a stranglehold on the present. This book is no different. The dark chapters in American history still have an impact on our identity as a country today.

Cadence, New York, a fictional town in the Finger Lakes region, founded in 1789 on sacred Seneca land, is a multicultural utopian community governed by the Onondaga principles of respect, collaboration, and equality. Since its founding, the town has been besieged by haters, and after a race massacre in 1921, went into hiding for 100 years with the hope that the rest of the country would evolve. The series opens in 2021 at the close of that 100 years of waiting. A running theme of A Cadence Mystery is that long-buried secrets aren’t truly buried. They are simply waiting for the right convergence of people and events to reveal themselves. And once revealed, they demand acknowledgement, reclamation, and reparative justice. And the final theme is that the strength of community, found family, and human resilience can carry us through the worst of times. Readers who like mysteries that go beyond police procedurals, are character-driven, and that deal with both historical and current social justice themes and/or supernatural influences will enjoy the series.

What’s your favorite scene?

Toward the end of the book, Junee, a root worker (a spiritual practitioner) from New Orleans, and Wilson Woodrow, one of the series regulars, goes to one of the Cadence family cemeteries to gather soil for use in a spell to break the curse of the family relic. Wilson has only recently settled in Cadence after a life of wandering because he has always been haunted by his best friend Joey’s death during a drunk driving accident when they were teens. Junee nearly floats through the cemetery, joyfully greeting spirits, while Wilson is weighed down by guilt and regret. That is, until Joey appears. I loved writing this scene, bringing the visual and sensory details of the cemetery to the page and the difference between Junee’s and Wilson’s response to this sacred place where the line between life and death is blurred

Where can we learn more about you and your work?

Goodreads

Facebook

The Cadence series on Amazon

DiannelHaganauthor.com

Speaking of the American Book Festival Awards:

The Deserter- a Tale of the Foreign Legion is the 2026 American Book Fest winner for Adventure/Historical books. You can read about it here.

If you haven’t read it yet, what’s keeping you?

Mesopotamian Historical Fiction with Ellen Rachlin

I know what you’re thinking: Not another book about a Mesopotamian princess with literary ambitions! I love histfic that covers time periods that aren’t overdone and this one qualifies. Plus it’s an American Book Fest Finalist.

Ellen tell us about yourself.

I’m the author of the historical fiction novel Enheduanna’s Song From the Sands (Histria Fiction) and five poetry collections. My most recent collection, Permeable Divide, received the IBPA Benjamin Franklin Silver Award and was a finalist for other awards. My other poetry collections include Until Crazy Catches Me, Captive to Residue, Waiting for Here, and At the Big Bang Resort (Red Hen Press, March 2027). My writing has appeared widely in journals, anthologies, and books. I spent my career in financial services, and along the way, authored textbook chapters for Wiley and McGraw Hill, along with journal articles on investing and finance. Outside of writing, I’m a Taekwondo grandmaster, an enthusiastic Latin dancer, and a lifelong learner of mathematics and science.

Enheduanna isn’t the most familiar historical character. What’s your book about?

Enheduanna’s Song From the Sands tells the story of Enheduanna, the world’s first named author and the daughter of Sargon the Great, who forged history’s first empire in ancient Mesopotamia. Chosen to become high priestess of the moon god in the sacred city of Ur, Enheduanna must navigate political intrigue, a vengeful rebel, family loyalties, and the demands of the gods as uprisings threaten the empire. Drawn into the underworld in search of answers, she struggles to discover her own voice while confronting forces that seek to destroy her. Inspired by history and mythology, the novel brings to life the extraordinary woman whose poetry has echoed across more than four millennia.

What is it about that time period or character that appealed to you? What are the roots of the story?

I encountered Enheduanna by chance. I was reading about her father, Sargon the Great, who was the world’s first emperor. Then I noticed one of his children‚ a daughter, had a brief description attached to her name: “the world’s first named author”. I had to discover what she wrote and how she earned this title. I was stunned that the world’s first was a woman. Then I found these remarkable hymns and the controversy over whether she actually wrote them. I felt that the most moving of the works attributed to her was The Exaltation of Inanna, or Ninmešarra, which survives only in incomplete form. In that hymn, a woman identified as Enheduanna pleads to the god, Inanna, to restore her as high priestess of Ur after being brutally forced into exile. This opened a world of mythology that I hadn’t known before. These gods shaped Enheduanna’s survival, identity, and happiness. The other works are similarly captivating.

Enheduanna inspired me. Here was a woman who either wrote these memorable hymns or inspired them. This was during a time when women had little agency. Usually only great men in this time period had epics and legends about them while great women were less visible in the surviving records. I couldn’t stop thinking about her life as it might have been. To me, this was a woman who leaps out of deep history and refuses to be forgotten. She deserves to be remembered. It also puzzled me why ancient Mesopotamian literature had been overlooked compared to ancient Greece and Rome. That realization made me want to write this novel even more. I wanted readers to discover that literature began in Mesopotamia, and that a remarkable woman whose voice still speaks to us today was part of that lineage.

What is your favorite scene in the book? I know that’s an unfair question.

I can’t tell you my favorite scene in the book because it comes at the end and with spoilers. And it isn’t conventionally satisfying, but I found it emotionally satisfying to write. But next, after that, my favorite scene comes after a brutal experience when Enheduanna finally enters the city-state of Ur as the high priestess. She is young and determined to be feared as she believes this is the best way to protect herself. She dresses in full ceremonial garments and refuses to meet anyone’s eyes. She lets the citizens look at her, take in her appearance, daring them to see not merely a young woman but their high priestess and a force they must respect.

Where can we learn more about all your impressive work?

My website EllenRachlin.com

My book at Simon and Shuster

Amazon

Goodreads

Instagram @ellenrachlin

I just found out that The Deserter- a Tale of the Foreign Legion is the 2026 American Book Fest winner for Adventure/Historical books. You can read about it here.

If you haven’t read it yet, what’s keeping you?

The Deserter is the ABF Historical Adventure of the Year!

Among all the spam and hustles sent to authors, it’s easy to skip the good news. I just found out that The Deserter- a Tale of the Foreign Legion is the 2026 American Book Fest winner for Adventure/Historical books. You can read about it here.

If you haven’t read it yet, what’s keeping you?

Golden Spurs with Clive Hart

So much of my love of historical fiction comes from a mild obsession with medieval knights and battle. The Lucca Le Pou Stories started with my desire to write about the Crusades and the Orders that fought there. So, when I found a new series about a young man who becomes a fighting knight, well….

Clive Hart’s new series, The Legend of Richard Keynes is a beauty starting with the first book, Golden Spurs. Here’s my chat with him.

So, Clive, ( the most English name ever) tell us about yourself.

Writing historical fiction was a side effect of a life choice, a choice which meant I unintentionally did all my research before I put pen to paper. My journey began when I watched a medieval joust, and being enthralled by it, I thought I’d give it. However, it turns out that learning to ride well enough to do so well was not a one-hour-a-week thing, so I picked up my life and moved it next to the stables of the company which had put that first joust on, in order that I could ride every day. A little over a year later, I was jousting for that company, Historic Equitation, and learning for myself more about the medieval world than I had expected. My first foray into writing came with the non-fiction work The Rise and Fall of the Mounted Knight, into which I poured everything I had learned both from reading medieval accounts and trying things out myself. After completing that work, I turned to fiction and set about writing Golden Spurs.

I get that. For a while in LA I took fencing lessons- it wasn’t pretty- and look where that led. What’s the book (and series) about?

Golden Spurs follows the adventures of Richard, a young man in a noble household in the Midlands of England, who suffers from a betrayal which splits open his family. Cast out on his own, he must flee from those who seek to kill him, and then rebuild his life. Richard makes some friends along the way, none of whom are perhaps that reliable, but they’re better than nothing. His most trusty companion is his horse, a stallion with a yellow coat and a penchant for chewing things he isn’t supposed to. Richard finds himself at the household of a famous Norman knight, where he learns the martial skills he needs if he himself wishes to earn the symbol of knighthood, a pair of golden spurs.

The book is a coming-of-age story, but also a tale of a young man who finds the world to not be quite what he expected. Richard’s story continues through the remaining books of the series, where he pursues those who wronged his family across medieval Europe and to the sun-drenched Holy Land, where a final reckoning awaits.

What is it about that time period or character that appealed to you? What are the roots of the story? Coincidentally, it is only about 30 years before Lucca’s tales in the Holy Land.

The story begins in 1166, a period when knights are transitioning from paid-for-soldiers to landowners, and Europe is forming the countries as we know them now. It’s a fascinating period where personal loyalty counts for far more than national pride, and peace is maintained only by the sword and the lance. I picked the period because it allowed Richard to meet England’s greatest knight, William Marshal, as a youngster, and because it would allow a book in the series to be set in the tournament scene. The 12^th century tournaments were mock battles between two sides (sometimes of thousands) ranging across tens of square miles of countryside. This era of tournaments is one of my most favourite areas to read about, and indeed ride in. I enjoy jousting without a barrier between the horses, with many knights riding at the same time, and this controlled chaos is what drew me to 1166.

Unfair question: what’s your favorite scene?

Answering this took a while because each scene plants something which reappears in later books, but my favourite is one of the first. While Richard is fleeing those who tore his life apart, he is trapped in a dead-end alleyway by his assailants and faces certain death. But those assailants made a mistake, during the chase they knocked a man and spilled his beer, and this man is so enraged he follows them and comes to Richard’s aid. This small moment is the moment Richard’s life changes, because his unintentional and rather rude saviour will become his greatest friend.

How can we learn more about you and your work?

You can find Golden Spurs here on Amazon:

And follow me on Facebook under “Clive Hart – Author” and Instagram under “clivehart85”.

Top 5 Characters I Want to Write About But Don’t Have the Nerve (and 1 I’m Writing Anyway)

When I wrote my first novel, The Count of the Sahara, it was because I became utterly obsessed with a real-life character. Byron de Prorok was the most fascinating human I’d come across in a long time, and yet, I didn’t know a single person who had ever heard of him.

In fact, if it wasn’t for archivist Michael Tarabulski (blessings be upon him), I wouldn’t have found the chutzpah to write the book. Frankly, nobody else on the planet seemed to care about this complicated, brilliant, talented, self-destructive, and infinitely infuriating guy. He was, quite literally, the stuff that great stories are made of.

Maybe because I didn’t know any better, I decided I would be the one to tell his story. I figured since nobody else cared, who would I tick off if I failed? The Count of the Sahara made its way into the world and kick-started my historical fiction career.
Since then, my filing cabinet has filled up with real-life people who would make incrediblenovel protagonists.

The problem? Sometimes I look at their actual lives and think: I don’tknow if I’m writer enough to pull this off. In the case of people from different backgrounds or genders, is it my story to tell?

Here is a list of five characters you probably haven’t heard of, all possessed of absolutely jaw-dropping backstories. In my fevered imagination, I would love to chronicle their lives, or at least some of the cool stuff. In reality, they intimidate the hell out of me.

Sir Richard Francis Burton Swordsman, linguist (fluent in 27 languages and dialects), explorer, minor pornographer, and a world-class pain in the ass to everyone who ever knew him—except for his fiercely loyal, wildly co-dependent wife, Isabel. He’s a biographical mountain that I’m still afraid to climb. How do you do justice to the guy you wanted to be when you grew up (without the being a complete A-hole part?)
Florence Baker (And her husband, Samuel, but damn… Flo.) Born in Transylvania, she was orphaned and sold into the Ottoman slave trade, only to be purchased by a naive, wealthy English noble who originally just wanted to save her from a grim fate. She eventually married him and accompanied him to Africa on one of the most dangerous, insane missions ever conceived: to follow the Nile backwards, from its mouth to its source. Badass women are my kryptonite. Speaking of which…
Kate Warne In 1856, a 23-year-old widow walked into the Pinkerton Detective Agency and demanded a job. She became America’s first female detective. Her career was a masterclass in espionage; in fact, it was her literal clothing that Abraham Lincoln wore when he disguised himself as a woman to escape the infamous Baltimore Murder Plot.
Thomas-Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie Known in his day as the “Black Hercules,” he was the father of the much more famous author Alexandre Dumas. Born to a French nobleman and an enslaved Black woman in Haiti, he rose to become the first person of color to command white troops in the French Army. He fought for (and then famously feuded with) Napoleon, and spawned two generations of France’s greatest literary dynasty.
Hiroo Onoda A Japanese intelligence officer so unyielding in his loyalty to the Imperial cause that he spent 29 years holding out in the jungles of the Philippines. He refused to believe WWII was over or that Japan lost. The crazy bastid didn’t surrender until his former commanding officer personally flew out to relieve him of duty in 1974.

The One I’m Writing Anyway… Vlad Tepes Dracul Yes, Vlad the Impaler.

Now, let’s be clear: this is NOT a vampire story. (Sorry, Johnny Lycan fans!) My new project is Vlad-adjacent. it asks a story that may or may not be relevant to today’s political situation: how far will a human being go before passion becomes power, power becomes madness, and what is it truly like to be trapped in that terrifying person’s orbit when it seems they’re your only choice for your country’s survival?

Over to You:
Which of these five historical wildcards floats your boat the most?
Who would you want to see get the full novel treatment next?
Let a brother know in the comments below!

The Deserter- a Tale of the Foreign Legion, is “a remarkable, thoroughly researched, gripping tale. A two-fisted adventure set in the African desert.” Available in paperback anywhere, and on Kindle. While it doesn’t necessarily have a famous character, it is a kick-ass tale of the Legion at its peak.

A Thirteenth Century Bad@#$ Woman with Rachel Elwiss Joyce

In promoting a book, you come across a lot of great writers. Some are begging you to help them, some are the beggars. You know what I mean. When promoting The Deserter, I was graciously hosted by Rachel Elwiss Joyce, who is an excellent author in her own right. Because Mama raised me right, I’m returning the favor and talking about her excellent book, The Lady of Lincoln.

So, Rachel. Tell us about yourself.

I’m Rachel (Elwiss) Joyce, a newly retired scientist and newbie British historical fiction author who, following the type of fiction I’ve loved since I was a teenager, seems to have fallen down a very deep medieval rabbit hole and isn’t quite sure she’ll ever crawl out again (although I do plan to expand the conventional definition of medieval/ middle ages to include the Saxon and Tudor eras).

My current obsession is the formidable twelfth- and thirteenth-century noblewoman Nicola de la Haye, who defended Lincoln Castle during two wars and held the position of castellan for nearly forty years. I first heard about her when visiting Lincoln Castle’s Magna Carta exhibition during a COVID-19 enforced ‘staycation’. I’d never heard of her, but I should have, because if it hadn’t been for her, we (the English) may well have ended up with a French King. Chroniclers barely mentioned her (she was a woman, so it was amazing they mentioned her at all!), yet she played a crucial role, on more than one occasion, in the survival of the English crown. Discovering her story felt a bit like finding a missing piece of history that had been hiding in plain sight.

When I’m not writing, I’m usually researching for my novels, wandering around old castles, cathedrals, and ruined abbeys (and dragging my husband and two adult children with me), walking my dog, Griffin, or catching up with stories in novels, TV and film.

What is the book about?

Lady of Lincoln is the first novel in a trilogy about Nicola de la Haye, the woman who held Lincoln Castle for the Angevin kings during one of the most turbulent periods in English history.

The story begins when Nicola is a young woman whose father refuses to believe a daughter can inherit and defend his lands without a husband. Through two marriages, political intrigue, rebellion, and war, Nicola learns to survive, and unusually to thrive and command in a world where power belongs almost entirely to men.

In the second book, due out in the autumn, she will play a pivotal role during the time when Richard the Lionheart goes on crusade, and the kingdom starts to fall apart.

Decades later, during the period of Magna Carta and the great rebellion against King John, she defends Lincoln Castle against rebel barons and a French invasion army. By then she is nearly seventy years old—but still refusing to surrender. That period is covered in the third nove in the series—Lady of England—that is due out in early 2027.

Hers is a story about resilience, power, loyalty, and what it means to hold your ground when the world expects you to step aside.

What was it about the period and this character that drew you (although I can guess)?

The late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries are one of the most dramatic periods in English history—rebellions, crusades, Magna Carta, and a full-scale French invasion. Yet when you look closely, you find women quietly shaping events in ways that are rarely acknowledged.

Nicola fascinated me because she wasn’t simply a noblewoman watching history happen. She commanded a major royal fortress, negotiated with kings, and was trusted with enormous responsibility at a time when women were rarely allowed any formal power.

Once I started digging into the history, Nicola’s story practically demanded to be told.

Totally unfair question, but what’s your favorite (or favourite) scene in the book?

One of my favourite scenes comes near the beginning of the story, when Nicola secretly trains a young squire to ride in close formation with a lance.

It completely captures her character. He was being bullied because he hadn’t mastered all the skills, and she wants to put it right. She’s grown up watching the world of knights and warfare from the sidelines, and although she’s not expected to take part, she understands it well, and in that scene she steps across the boundary that society has placed around her.

It’s also the moment when you realise Nicola isn’t going to accept the limits other people place on her life.

Where can we learn more?

Readers can find Lady of Lincoln on:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DQQKQ87L

Universal Booklink: https://books2read.com/u/4980nW
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/213742243-lady-of-lincoln

Website: https://rachelelwissjoyce.com
Twitter/X: https://x.com/RachelElwJoyce
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/racheljoycehello/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RachelElwissJoyceAuthor

How A Genre I Don’t Read Made Me a Better Historical Fiction Writer

“The author skillfully introduces characters that heighten the sense of foreboding, ” Historical Fiction Reviews

” …meticulous research and attention to detail. The descriptions of the Algerian towns, the forts, life in the French Foreign Legion drop the reader right into the action.” Jeanie B Roberts

” This story has a vividly authentic feel to it. It reads something akin to a novel by Alexander Dumas or Victor Hugo.” Mike Kerr

How does a Canadian guy from the rainy, green Pacific Northwest create a world of sand, heat, and the scents and sounds of men trapped together in quarters too close? Science Fiction, of course.

Admittedly, that’s a leap! Let me explain. I recently posted an interview on the Archaeolibrarian blog about this, so if you want to read the original version, you can find it here.

If you’re interested in hearing me talk more about this, I’ll be at the Clark County Library on March 9 at 630 PM to talk about “Putting the STORY in History- How Writers Turn Dry Facts into Compelling Fiction.”

And so it begins:

Historical fiction readers are a picky bunch, God love’em. They demand good stories, rich characters, and they also want to learn a little something about the time period in question. Even if it’s a genre or era they read a lot about, if you can’t give them something new about General Lee’s camp or the material of Lady Uppercrust’s pinafore, they are unlikely to be satisfied.

Just a warning to writers. Get the facts right, especially guns and horses. For some reason, weapon enthusiasts and horse people are the most likely to hunt you down and tell you in great detail how you screwed up. But put in too many details and the non-obsessives out there will tap out.

This makes it hard on those of us just trying to tell good stories. We need to do all the stuff other authors do while having to get the facts straight and keep the story moving. This is a tricky balancing act.

Not to brag (okay, a little. I’m proud of the book), but the kindest reviews of The Deserter talk about the details. They like the way you can almost feel your mouth go dry, or smell the bunkhouse (ick), or feel tallow sink into cuts on your hands as you prepare mule tack. (Just read the book, it’s a thing.) Many of my fellow writers ask how I get the details to be so evocative without sinking into a Tom Clancy technology porn data dump. The answer might surprise you.

I do not read a lot of Science Fiction. Much of it drives me crazy; I don’t understand most technology, and if a character name has two apostrophes in it, I’m out. But in my writers group, I am forced to read all kinds of work, and I found a lesson in sci-fi that has really helped my historical writing: world-building.

In science fiction, you take people somewhere they’ve never been and try to make them feel situated so the story can take place. It’s easy to either not explain enough, in which case the reader can be confused, or to data-dump details that no human can possibly remember a hundred pages later. The right amount of information, context and detail at the right time makes all the difference.

The same is true when writing history with one big exception. People know a lot about certain time periods. You can’t just give the Romans laser beams or the British East India Company oxen to ride. Even if most people aren’t overly familiar with the period, as in the case of the French Foreign Legion in Algeria, they know what the world was like in 1908, and most of us have met French people.

So you need to get the facts right. But how do you strike the right balance of detail and world-building? The balance is fairly simple. You simply ask, “Does the audience need to know this right now to understand the story?” That’s a surprisingly effective way to give them what they need. It’s also why a simple book has three boxes of research in my office- the author learns a lot that they never share with the reader. Buy me a beer sometime, I’ll be happy to tell you all about it.

The second, and maybe most important thing about historical world-building is creating a sensory experience. Someone once told me that people have five senses, but we only write with one or two. Clearly, we can visually describe something like a green car. But what does it sound like? Is the engine purring or is it chugging like it’s about to die? Does the interior smell like pine air freshener or week-old McDonalds?

Good science fiction gives us a world we may have never experienced, but can instantly understand. The same is true when writing history.

I hope that readers of The Deserter get a sense for what it’s like to be in the desert, or ride a mule, or get punched in the nose. When you read it let me know.

My addition to the Legion oeuvre is The Deserter- a Tale of the Foreign Legion. “A gritty, well-researched historical thriller that revives the classic Foreign Legion adventure with confidence and control.” Author Glow.

The Mack Daddy of all Foreign Legion Films- Frank Thompson

As you know, The Deserter is my latest novel, and it’s set in the French Foreign Legion. It’s hard to remember that there was a time the Legion was at the forefront of pop culture- books, and especially movies. The Mack Daddy of all of them was Beau Geste. In doing research, I came across someone whose fascination with film, and Beau Geste in particular, led to The Compleat Beau Geste. To thank him for his kind support of my book, and to let you know a bit more about him, I give you Frank Thompson.

Okay, Frank, who are you?

I now identify myself primarily as an author and film historian. I’m currently finishing up my 47^th book, most of which have been about movies. I’ve written about directors – two books on William A. Wellman, one on Robert Wise, one on Henry King – and a couple on what were then new films, such as The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) and The Alamo (2004). In fact, for my sins, I’ve written five books about the Alamo and have produced, written, or been otherwise connected with several documentaries on the subject. I also have a close-up in the 2004 film, although claims that this is why the film didn’t do well at the box office are just hurtful.

But, like many people, I guess, I could have ended up going in several other directions. I studied arranging and composition at Boston’s Berklee College of Music, was in a comedy/improv troupe for 4 years in Chicago, worked in non-theatrical film distribution (when there was such a thing) in Chicago and Atlanta, and performed as a singer-songwriter for a while. Moving to Los Angeles in 1992, I worked for several years on television, including ten happy years writing for American Movie Classics – again, when there was such a thing.

Yes, AMC was about movies like MTV used to be about music. Why would you write a whole book about Beau Geste and its offspring?

Beau Geste constitutes my origin story as a film historian. When I was 12 years old, I happened to see the last half of Wellman’s 1939 film version on TV. I was enthralled by it and my mother told me it was based on a book. The next day, I went to the school library and, sure enough, there was the novel by P. C. Wren. Even better, it was illustrated with movie stills – but not from the movie I had just seen. These were photos from the 1926 version starring Ronald Colman. I then read every book I could find on silent film – which, in South Carolina in 1965 was not easy – mostly hoping only to find more pictures from Beau Geste. But along the way, I became fascinated by all aspects of silent cinema, even though I had literally no access to the films themselves.

That changed when I got to Boston to attend Berklee. At that time, the city had – I was told – half a million college students. There were not only great repertory and classic film theaters everywhere, but every college had movie screenings pretty much every day of the week. I finally got to see 35mm and 16mm screenings of silent films, foreign films, and experimental cinema. A whole new world of movies opened up to me.

Following the Beau Geste trail led me to start researching Wild Bill Wellman and he was the subject of my first book, published in 1983. In 2018, my late friend John Andrew Gallagher and I published a mammoth, lavishly illustrated limited edition book about him: Nothing Sacred: The Cinema of William Wellman.

In 2020, just a couple of weeks before COVID lockdown, I went to L.A. to record audio commentary for the new Blu-ray of the 1939 version with William Wellman Jr. Then, in 2026, I recorded a commentary track for the Blu-ray of the restored 1926 film. I was flown to L.A. to attend the premiere of the restoration on the last night of the TCM Festival. TCM’s Jacqueline Stewart and James Mockoski – who, with Robert A. Harris, restored the film – introduced it. James asked me to stand up for a round of applause and said, “What Kevin Brownlow is to Napoleon, Frank is to Beau Geste.” Not even remotely true but gratifying in the extreme.

It was during lockdown, when I couldn’t leave the house, that I decided to pull together my considerable research on all things Beau Geste and write a book about all of it – not only movies but stage, television, comic books, toys, and so much more. Although I had a pretty vast archive, it still took another two years of research and writing before I completed The Compleat Beau Geste. Available, if I may be crassly commercial, at Amazon.

What do you think the fascination is with the Legion? Why do the stories still resonate?

I don’t know if I can answer that. I do have a few friends who have a deep interest in the Legion and there seem to be pockets of enthusiasts around the world, for example, the terrific blog Mon Legionnaire which highlights fiction about the Legion, primarily the great stories from the pulp magazines. And, of course, I know of a wonderful new novel, The Deserter, which I read with genuine delight although the author’s name escapes me.

I love all versions of the story but was excited to hear about the restoration of the original silent film.

I provided no real assistance to the restoration of the 1926 Beau Geste, although Harris and Mockoski were kind and generous enough to keep me in the loop throughout the process. They would send me scenes as they completed them, and I don’t have to tell you how excited and grateful I was throughout. For decades, I have been pleading with archivists to restore this important film. For some reason, the general belief was that it was protected and in good shape. It was neither. Harris and Mockoski pulled prints from all over the place to make a complete version – or as complete as possible – and the result is beautiful. I guarantee you that no one under the age of 100 has ever seen it look like this.

I was honored to write an essay on the film for the San Francisco Silent Film Festival’s program book. That piece was turned into a booklet which is enclosed with the new Blu-ray. Sixty years after my journey to Fort Zinderneuf began, this is a happier destination than I ever expected.

What’s next?

My latest book is on the filming of Thunder Road (1958). I have a fascination with movie locations – did I tell you that I made seven trips to the California desert where the first four Beau Gestes were filmed? – so when my wife and I moved to Asheville, North Carolina in 2015, I immediately began researching the film history of the area. In 2017, I published Asheville Movies Vol. I: The Silent Era and I have other related books planned. I decided to ignore chronology and go straight to Thunder Road because I live within a few miles of every place where it was filmed and there are still local people who remember the filming and who have given me priceless information.

So, that random viewing of the last half of Beau Geste in 1965 continues to lead me down unexplored roads and it will until, I guess, I’m propped up in my embrasure, awaiting my Viking’s Funeral.

My own addition to the Legion oeuvre is The Deserter- a Tale of the Foreign Legion. “A gritty, well-researched historical thriller that revives the classic Foreign Legion adventure with confidence and control.” Author Glow.

An AI Thriller from a Pair of Actual Writers

It should be obvious I’m a big fan of switching up genres in my writing. Turns out I’m not the only one. Deb Heim and Ross Hightower usually write excellent epic fantasy like The Spirit Song Trilogy, so it was a bit of a surprise to see their latest work is a Sci-fi, urban fantasy mashup called Descartes’ Demon (available February 7). It’s hard enough to make a switch like that when it’s just you. But when there are two of you???? I don’t even get along with myself when writing.

Okay, you two. Tell the folks who you are.

Deb: I used to call myself a guerilla gardener/almost a writer, but now I am willing to call myself a writer. At first glance, my life followed the pattern of our generation – school, (grad school), marriage, house, family, work, more work, moving, more moving, and now retirement with a pension. (I am quite distressed that our two children don’t even have the option of that pattern.) One day Ross talked about how thrilling his life was, especially his torrid love affair. It took me a beat to realize he was talking about me. And now we are on our next great adventure as writing partners.

Ross: It may seem odd that I ended up becoming a writer late in life. After all, I was a chemical engineer (briefly) and a professor of information technology for many years. Neither of those professions seems especially compatible with writing fantasy. But, in fact, I find one of the things I like most about my technical jobs is the same thing I enjoy about writing. Writing is about solving puzzles. Putting the pieces of a plot together. Deciding how characters with different personalities respond to one another. It makes my mind purr. I feel fortunate for many reasons. Having a partner in Deb who I swear I’ve known in previous lives, is the most important. But finding my passion in writing is right up there.

Lord, you two are adorable. So what’s the book about?

When cybersecurity wiz Nik breathes life into Nicola—a deepfake AI sculpted in the image of Alix, his favorite person in the world – it was just a little cyber experiment. When one of his contractors is found dead and intern Kate goes missing, the stakes turn deadly.

A black hat cracker styling himself “The Technician” hacks into his cyber-security company. Shadowy cyberpunk icon “The Vulture” sends cryptic messages to his best programmer. A ruthless oligarch schemes with his partners to wrest control of the company he started. Supernatural figments occupying NYC like paranormal vagabonds seem to know what’s going on but are no help at all. And big thugs with Russian accents keep turning up like bad pennies.

With everyone scrambling to gain control of his creation, Nik and Alix set out to contain what he unwittingly unleashed. When one of his contractors is found dead and intern Kate goes missing, the stakes turn deadly. Of course, the only police detective who believes them has been forced to resign, but her cyber-sleuth girlfriend “The Bloodhound” is on the case. Can they find Kate before The Technician finishes her off? Will they ever get rid of those lurking Russians? And can Nik put the cybernetic genie Nicola back in the virtual bottle or will she escape into the digital wild?

It takes a lot to switch genres. What are the roots of this story?

Ross is a retired IT professor who ran a large data center and did his early academic work exploring AI, so this felt like a great space to explore as an author. He started out trying to write a basic, snappy thriller that was easier to market, but once the characters in the book started asking questions about the nature of reality and consciousness, all bets were off. He has an artist’s soul, so he had to let the story go where it was going to go. At some point, a paranormal/supernatural element of the story popped in and then became a focal point of the plot. And to be perfectly honest we wanted to write a contemporary series as an excuse to travel around the world for research.

I’m guessing that, like me, you read in many categories and genres. Who do you enjoy?

Ross and Deb both lean toward classic epic fantasy (Rothfuss, Sullivan, Wexler, Tolkien), but since we started a “Firkins and Fantasy” book club at our local brewery, we’ve had the pleasure of reading authors we wouldn’t have found otherwise – NK Jemison, Roanhouse, Choo, Novik, El-Mohtar. Urban fantasy, re-imagined fables, historical fantasy. Having spent too many years in Florida, we are both big fans of Carl Hiaasen and Tim Dorsey. AND we are actually big Wayne Turmel fans – Deb has read all the books in the Werewolf PI series. The snappy dialogue and surprising, poignant moments between the characters were some of the elements that inspired us for our first foray into urban fantasy.

Sucking up is unnecessary, and I’m not taking responsibility for your cynical foray into urban fantasy! Where can folks learn more about the two of you?

Website https://rosshightower.com/

Contact/newsletter page https://rosshightower.com/contact/

Ross’ Goodreads page Amazon page Bookbub page

Deb’s Amazon page Bookbub page

Our FB page https://www.facebook.com/QuizzicalSpirit/

Instagram @quizzicalllc https://www.instagram.com/quizzicalllc/

BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/quizzicalllc.bsky.social

And speaking of genre-hopping, my return to historical fiction is available now.

The Deserter- a Tale of the Foreign Legion, is “Beau Geste if it were directed by Sam Peckinpah”, a two-fisted adventure set in the African desert. Available in paperback anywhere, and on Kindle.