Riversong, A Romance of the Missouri

During the Civil War, Missouri was the only state that had a star in both flags - Union and Confederate.  It was a slave-holding state, but chose not to secede from the Union.  Missouri was caught between two very different views of America and two armies.  Making matters worse were the guerrilla bands who tore up the countryside, sometimes in the name of one side or the other, more often taking advantage of the times to raid homesteads and steal whatever they could carry away.

By 1864, the Confederate Army had been pushed out of Missouri. Soldiers had buried their gray uniforms and had begun to construct new lives among the wreckage.  For many men, the West seemed like a good place to start over.  St. Louis was also the jumping off point for people going to new homesteads upriver or seeking their fortune in the goldfields in Montana.  And the best way to get there was up the Missouri River by steamboat. . .

River Song, a Romance of the Missouri

Photo - Murphy Library,
University of Wisconsin

I'm happy to announce the publication of my second novel. It is now available on Amazon Kindle.

I hope you enjoy it.  Feel free to comment on this book, I'd love to have your feedback. Below I've given a short description:

Missouri was deeply divided during the Civil War. Although it  was a slave-holding state, it did not secede from the Union.  Missouri sent men to both the Union and the Confederate armies.  Both flags contained a star for the state.  Guerrilla warfare and raids made under the guise of war, pitted neighbor against neighbor and blurred the line between soldiers and brigands. 
 

But Lydia McKenzie, a soldier’s daughter, knew the difference.  She saw her only brother killed by marauders attacking the family homestead.  For Lydia, overwhelming grief turns to anger and a half-formed plan to find the man who led the attack, a man named Anderson. When she discovers that he is headed up the Missouri River to the newly discovered gold fields of Montana, she decides to follow him.

As luck would have it, her cousin, an Indian agent, is about to leave St. Louis by steamboat to deliver annuities, promised by treaty to a band of Sioux upriver.  Lydia persuades Ned to let her go with him, on the pretext of visiting some old Army friends of her parents, stationed at Fort Randolph, on the upper Missouri. 

When we first meet Lydia, she is walking into the Prairie Belle Café and Tavern, a somewhat disreputable establishment near the levee in St. Louis.  After a few minutes, a fight breaks out in the tavern behind the café.  A steamboat captain rushes to intervene and protect his crew.  As he passes her table, Lydia hands him a bullwhip that she pulls out of her carpetbag. 

"Here," she said, handing it to him briskly. "Use this. It's more effective for what you need to accomplish in there. I imagine you know how to use it.” She certainly hadn't meant to get involved in this, and wondered why in the world she had. Then she met his eyes.  Yes, this man would certainly know how to use a bullwhip.

And, so begins her journey up the “vast, wild” Missouri River.

Hi everyone, I posted a new episode to my podcast, Marcia Fosters Podcast. Please click the link below to view it. http://mfoster110.podomatic.com/entry/2011-03-07T20_29_32-08_00 See you there! - Marcia

Journey of a Writer into Authorship

Back in the Day

I'm excited about having been published on Amazon Kindle.  Actually, getting published is a milestone for any writer who aspires to be an author.  In my case, it was a long time coming.  Writing Fighting Chance, a Novel of the Wyoming Territory, began when my daughter could still be persuaded to take a nap.  Now, my sweet child puts her own baby down for naps.

War and Peace probably didn't take as long to write, but, unlike Tolstoy, I had a day job and no servants.  It's been a wonderful journey, all the same!

I'm also learning from other writers, and exploring their blogs to see how they publish and market their books.  An interesting blog I found today is On Writing and (sometimes) Publishing.