When a Historical Writer’s Research and Re-enactors Meet

Saturday I went to an event called Waterford Heritage Days in Waterford, Pennsylvania. At this event they demonstrated the ways that the Indians and early settlers used to do things. Three blacksmiths were there as were groups of various re-enactor groups. One of those groups was the 8^th Pennsylvania regiment of the American Revolution. What made this group particularly interesting to me was that I researched them and presented them in the third novel in the Locket Saga: A Coward’s Solace. I enjoyed talking with the re-enactors, especially one named Mark who was an older gentleman.

The (the original, not the re-enactors) 8^th Pennsylvania Regiment was formed in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania and if you remember was at Valley Forge and went to Fort Pitt where the first American treaty with the Delaware (or Lenape). My main characters went with them to Fort Pitt.

We shared a lot of information back and forth. It was as though we were talking about old friends that we knew. I remember when we were talking about Ebenezer Denney. He said he had only read about Denney in a book that he had read. I furnished details about his life because I researched him for my most recent book-Sailing under the Black Flag. He didn’t know that as a young boy he had been at Fort Pitt and hand taken a message to Carlisle about Indians attacking. He also did not know that Denny had, for a short while, been a member of the crew of a privateer before joining the army. Mark told me that Denney had been the first mayor of Pittsburgh and I learned from someone else that Denney had been the one who laid out the streets for Waterford.

Denney had not been mentioned in A Coward’s Solace, and he had a cameo role in Sailing under the Black Flag, but you’ll see him again, I assure you in my next book: In the Shadow of the Millpond. If you didn’t know, Sailing Under the Black Flag just came out in paperback and on Kindle and, if you haven’t read A Coward’s Solace, what are you waiting for?

If you would like to learn more about the 8th Pennsylvania Regiment of the American Revoultion, check out their webpage at http://mtbumc.org/8thpa1776/index.html

Emails to Booksellers

A couple of weeks ago I bought a list of 800 plus independent booksellers around the US. This list included the name of the contact person, phone number, the email address, and state where the bookseller was located, but that was all. It didn’t mention any specifics so I would have to contact the book sellers to find out more information before I would be able to approach them about buying my books. In my first email, I will have to ask the process this bookseller uses to obtain books and I wanted to know how I might be able to help them sell my books.

So far the email I have sent out has not reaped any results, but I still have some more to send. If I still don’t get any results, I will try again. 

 

As Author Cygnet Brown, Donna Brown  has  published  several nonfiction books including Simply Vegetable Gardening: Simple Organic Gardening Tips for the Beginning Gardener, Using Diatomaceous Earth around the House and Yard, and Help from Kelp.

She is also the author of historical fiction series The Locket Saga. which includes When God Turned His Head and Soldiers Don’t Cry, the Locket Saga Continues, and, A Coward’s Solace, Book III of the Locket Saga,  Book IV of the Locket Saga: Sailing Under the Black Flag is also on sale now!

.For more information about Cygnet Brown and buy her books, check out her website at http://www.cygnetbrow.com .