Historical Fiction

To many purists the existence of this category of literature is an affront; history is fact, fiction is make-believe – and never the twain shall meet – therefore, to these folks, the very term historical fiction is oxymoronic. Frankly, I think life’s too short to care, and people who do need a hobby. To me, historical fiction is simply fiction set in the past. As a writer and student of history, I find this a very rich and verdant field from which to glean. My first foray into the genre, Silence the Dead, was done on commission and digs deeply into three fertile locales – Ireland, Pennsylvania, and New Mexico – in a story that spans the last three decades of the 19th Century. I had three months to plot, research, and write the book and, in the course of that time, churned through these regions and their histories turning up gold, potatoes, and coal in mixed measure. What fun! For sample chapters, CLICK HERE.