ON THE WINGS OF FREEDOM

 I recently wrote about my ancestor, William Blackwood, who was a publisher and editor. In the last few years, I have done more editing and publishing than writing. I love helping others achieve their dreams of being published authors. In the next few weeks, I will share with you some of the wonderful books I have been privileged to work on. (I help the writers I work with to self-publish their books so they have total control over them.)

One of these books is On the Wings of Freedom.

I was recommended to first-time author Malanna Carey Henderson as an editor. (These days, most of my editing is done for people on the recommendation of others.)

The book contained a McGuffin—a bird in flight carved out of bone. (McGuffin is a term coined by Alfred Hitchcock for an object that serves as a trigger for the plot. Think of the blackbird statue in The Maltese Falcon.) Strangely, I had one! My dad had sent it to my mom when he was in the service in WWII. It had a letter in its mouth, but Larry assured me he could remove it digitally.

This felt like a sign that I should work on this book. I also liked the theme and plot.

Because we write historical fiction, I was well-aware that readers of the genre will destroy an author in reviews if they get anything wrong. Unfortunately, I discovered quite a few things in this manuscript that were inconsistent for the period. Thank goodness, Malanna was willing to do the necessary research—and rewriting—to make it correct.

During the writing process, I mentioned the carved bird to my daughter. “I have one, too,” she responded.

Shortly afterward, we went to visit her, and she showed it to me. It had been with my mother-in-love’s jewelry. Neither she nor I nor Larry knew whose it was originally. I really loved this one. It was in full flight and precisely the image Malanna had described.

Larry liked it, too and used it for the cover.

When the book was published, my daughter said I could send the original bird to Melanna to be used for whatever purpose she chose. Mine will go to my daughter, and she will know the story behind it.

This is the synopsis of the story:

Born free in New York City, Carrie Bennet is unprepared to hear the family secrets her ailing mother, Sarah, reveals. An educated woman who has led a sheltered life, Carrie travels south to fulfill her mother’s dying wish―to free her grandmother from slavery. Circumstances set her on a perilous path that jeopardizes her freedom and leads to a charge of murder. Fearing she’d never get a fair trial, Carrie travels north on the Underground Railroad and joins Harriet Tubman. As her life hangs in the balance, Carrie fights an unjust judicial system as she struggles to deny a forbidden love.

Malanna Carey Henderson has written and produced ten plays which have been performed in Brooklyn, New York; Culpeper and Fredericksburg, Virginia. For the past two years, she has worked with members of the Friends of the Wilderness Battlefield, Shiloh Baptist New Site, the United Methodist Church, and St. George’s Episcopal Church to produce vignettes under the title: Untold Stories. These vignettes focused on little-known historical events featuring the contributions of African Americans as spies and military heroes to celebrate Black History Month. The one-act plays included To His Excellency George Washington, Camp Casey, It Was a Matter of Pride, Democracy is a Weapon, Secret Codes and The Pension Office.

In 2009, she won first place in the One-Act Play Festival sponsored by Stage Door Productions for The Eclipse. She won a first-place award sponsored by the Tulsa City County Library for A Question of Color.

A native Detroiter, she earned a Masters of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing from City University of New York, Brooklyn Campus and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Liberal Arts from the University of Detroit.

On the Wings of Freedom is her first novel. She lives in Fredericksburg, Virginia with her wonderfully supportive husband.

Malanna as a Civil War reenactor

I hope you will give the book a try. I’m sure you will enjoy it as much as I have!

I will continue to share some of the wonderful, but little-known, books I have been privileged to have worked on.

Trail to Glory - The Real Story

When I started trying to locate all of Marilyn Meredith’s books, I discovered several I didn’t know about. One was Trail to Glory: One Family’s Journey West. This historical novel is based on the journey of her maternal ancestors. Some of the incidents in the book are based on family legends. After reading this exciting book, I wanted to know what was true and what was fiction. Marilyn agreed to answer my questions. Next week, she’ll do the same for Two Ways West, the story of her paternal family’s journey.

Thanks for giving me (and my readers) the “inside scoop” on this book.

I have to ask about Half-face. He was one of the most memorable characters in the book. I so want to think he is based on someone the family actually knew. Was he?

Sorry, no. Made him up. Needed an exciting scene and he filled it and then went on to be even more important a bit later.

Was William actually killed as depicted in the book (no spoilers)? This is one of the most haunting scenes.

I have no idea. Much of the early part of this “fictional” historical saga was based on things I learned about when I researched what was going on during that particular time in that place. Some family members thought it happened.

Although the book says the older girls were given to a neighbor to raise, you told me they were adopted by three other families. Did they stay in touch with the rest of the family? Did they live nearby? (BTW, I have instances of this same thing in my own family. When my great-grandmother died, some of her children were raised by relatives, and one of the older children raised the younger ones. When my grandmother died, this same sister took her three children.)

In the beginning the neighbor took the girls, and she was the one who changed their names. Again, I wrote this book so long ago I don’t really remember all the details.

Did Ethel actually suffer injury during her birth? Did she really endure such tragic losses? Did she really raise her sister’s child?

No Ethel didn’t suffer the injury—I borrowed it from what happened to one of my cousins. And yes, she did suffer the tragic losses in the story. She did raise her sister’s child, but I made up some of the details surrounding what happened. It seemed like it could have been what transpired.

You wrote a beautiful—and fanciful—account of what might have happened to Wilhelmina. You said the family had other theories. What were they?

My mother always said Wilhelmina was stolen by gypsies. I couldn’t find any history of gypsies in the area during the time period.

Did Will actually stay in touch with the family when he disappeared, or did he just vanish? Did you write his story to have some closure?

Will did keep in touch with the family, but the story about him I made up. No one could remember much about him.

I know you were descended from Desdemona (Minnie). Did she really hate her nickname so much? (My own grandmother’s birth name was Mary Ann, but she was always called “Minnie.” This is the name on her headstone.)

Desdemona (Minnie), my great-grandmother, did not like her name. I got to meet my great-grandmother when she came to my fifth birthday party (I have a photo of her there), and we spent a Christmas in her home. I don’t remember much about either occasion.

I know losing children during childbirth and shortly afterward, as well as from illness and accidents was quite common. Did your family really suffer all these losses?

Yes, because that was the information I got from the genealogy and what my mother and aunt remembered from family stories.

Congratulations to your sister for all her hard work in tracking down the multitude of family members! I do a lot of genealogy as well. Before Ancestry.com it was a labor intensive pursuit. I’m grateful for the pooled information now available online.

She did it back in the days of using the census, birth, marriage, and death certificates. I wonder if she did it again using Ancestry.com if she’d find out more information.

For the other book, I looked up a character when you didn’t have the name of his wife—and I found her! So, I suspect even more information is now available.

Next week, we’ll look at the truth of Two Ways West.

About Ichabod Wolfe

Today my guest is Frank Fiordalisi, the author of Ichabod Wolfe. I asked Frank to share his inspiration for his debut novel, Ichabod Wolfe. Welcome, Frank.

Writing Ichabod Wolfe

American history fascinates me. The most critical times in bygone days serve as signposts and testament to the courage and character of our nation. The Civil War may have started when Fort Sumter was fired upon in 1861, but war began years before. The rapid westward expansion of the country had a monumental effect upon the politics of slavery and states’ rights. While policies were argued in Congress, guerilla-style battles raged between slave and free states. The Kansas-Missouri border conflict became the prelude to the War Between the States. Actions taken by passionate men resulted in what historians refer to as “Bleeding Kansas.”

Ichabod Wolfe is set in those times. The exploits of men like William Quantrill, “Bloody Bill” Anderson, John Brown, and the Jayhawkers fill the pages of nonfiction and fiction alike. They tell of violent and often heroic deeds. But what was it like for the non-political farmers and shop keepers who wanted peace, security and better times for their children?

I didn’t sit down to write a “western novel.” Rather, I began to write a fictional story of a thirteen-year-old orphan who happened to live in Kansas in 1860. Ichabod Wolfe led me farther west, and the story became a western. The protagonist’s decision to follow the Santa Fe Trail in order to seek his fortune caused me to doubt his wisdom. However, like a pair of new Levis, it became more comfortable in time. Ichabod Wolfe is a story of success in violent times, rather than heroics.

Nothing changes with the passage of time. The same emotions and needs drive us now as they did our ancestors. We all desire success, recognition, someone to love, and for love to be returned. We all live with failures, regrets, guilt, and rejection, as did Ichabod Wolfe. He was a good man living in violent times. That is who he was and that is how I tried to tell his story.

Frank Fiordalisi was born in NYC and attended St. John’s University where he received a B.S. degree in Pharmacy. After teaching high school science, he returned to the practice of retail pharmacy. He later moved to Miami, Florida and joined the Miami-Dade County Police Department, where he served in a number of assignments, retiring as a Detective Sergeant after twenty-nine years of service. He has a daughter, Jacqueline, and a son, Francis. He currently lives with his wife, Christine, in Gainesville, Florida.

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Frank-Fiordalisi/e/B01BTDSD1Y