And Now For Something Completely Different - 1800's Texas Hill Country Germans With Firearms - A Boo
My reading slush pile normally consists of new Science Fiction. I have favorite authors, whose works I'll buy sight unseen, other authors whose works I'll check out before buying, and authors I haven't encountered before, whose works I'll check out in more detail before taking the plunge.
Unfortunately, the publishing business is not in great shape these days, thanks largely to its own self-destructive practices. Publishers want guaranteed blockbuster hits each and every time, so they're unwilling to take any risks whatsoever on anyone that isn't an established blockbuster author. That's just plain unsustainable.
A friend has two excellent published SF novels to her credit, but as good as they are, they weren't blockbusters. She finally gave up on trying to sell her third novel, which I would very much love to have bought and read. It's a self-defeating business plan on the part of the publishing industry. They no longer nurture and promote promising authors like they used to. Where is all the future blockbuster talent going to come from, then, if they no longer tend the garden of authors? Good question. Luckily, technology has come to the rescue of voracious readers and authors struggling to get into print.
Enter BookLocker and other print on demand publishers - a new way for authors to get published, totally bypassing the established and stagnant publishing empires. New authors now have a way to get their books in print and distributed through online retailers like Amazon.
I've been reading one author's blog for several years. She's a retired USAF SGT, writing as Sgt Mom, who while serving, found herself pregnant and chose to raise her daughter by herself, keeping her at various duty posts when she could. She took her daughter around Europe in what she calls her VEV - Very Elderly Volvo - exposing her to the delights of different cultures, foods, art, people and sights. Her daughter grew up to join the Marines and serve in Iraq. She has a lot of real world experience.
Under the pen name Celia Hayes, Sgt Mom wrote a little autobiography called Our Grandpa Was An Alien, published through Booklocker. The production was somewhat amateurish and the print quality in my copy wasn't very good either. Still, it was good reading and good practice for her. I bought a copy as a show of support to her effort, and I enjoyed it.
Her next book was called To Truckee's Trail, the true story of the Stephens-Townsend party of 1844, the first wagon train to cross the Sierra over what became known as the Donner Pass, later made famous by the misadventures of the Donner party. This is a fascinating story, as they encountered many of the problems faced by the Donner party, but dealt with them much more successfully. She wove a great tale based on journals kept by several of the party and interviews with some of them in California much later. It's a little-known tale, and very good reading. I was interested in the subject, and once again I bought a copy as a show of support. The writing, editing, and production were all much improved. I really enjoyed the book and I learned a lot.
Which brings me, finally, to the point of this entry, her latest offerings. She and her daughter live in San Antonio with their assorted menagerie, and she enjoys traveling around and learning about any area she finds herself in. She started doing some research on the area and became fascinated with the German immigration to the Texas Hill Country around Fredricksburg in the early 1800's. Her research evolved into a trilogy. I don't much care for short stories, I like novels much better, but I really love trilogies. There's so much more space for character and plot development. But I wasn't sure about hers. I couldn't see myself getting interested in reading about a bunch of Germans in the 1840's, but I bought the book anyway. In fact, I preordered it and got autographed copies. They sat for awhile as I continued my normal Science Fiction habit. Then my slushpile ran dry, and the New SF shelf at the local Left Wing Commie Bookstore had nothing I was interested in buying that I hadn't already bought, and in fact seemed mostly to consist of Fantasy, which I understand is the Big Thing these days, but something that mostly bores me.
So I reluctantly picked up the first book in the Adelsverein Trilogy, The Gathering. Some background on the history. The Mainzer Adelsverein (Noblemen's Society) was formed in Germany by a bunch of noblemen trying to make some money and ease the population pressure in Germany by recruiting settlers and transporting them to Texas to settle lands the Verein had scouted out and purchased. The effort was a financial failure, but there's a strong German presence in the area to this day as a result. It's something I knew absolutely nothing about.
The trilogy follows a fictional family from Germany as they cross the Atlantic and participate in the founding of Fredricksburg and move on to build up their own farm, where they face the beginning of the Civil War and the way it tore up the fabric of their society. Most of the characters in the story are fictional, but many real people show up as well - Sam Houston, Jack Hayes, famed Texas Ranger Captain, who left for California when he saw the Civil War clouds on the horizon and foresaw how Texas would tear itself apart, John Meusebach, a German Baron, who was the first actually competent head of the Verein operation in Texas and later a Texas Senator, and Charlie Nimitz, who built the first hotel in Fredricksburg (and the first brewery!) and was the grandfather of Adm. Chester Nimitz. In reading some of the Wikipedia articles, I was struck with how dry they were - lots of names and places but no indication about what kind of people any of them were. The people were just lists of names. Her books bring them to life.
In short, I got ensnared. I couldn't believe how much her writing had improved, along with both the editing and production values. I inhaled The Gathering, as it's the shortest (each book is larger than the last) and I'm now somewhat stalled out in the middle of the second book, The Sowing, due to time pressures. I want to take my time and savor it, so I won't pick it up unless I have some time to spend with it. Time constraints or not, every time I pick it up, I don't want to put it down again. I keep staying up much too late. I've found I care about the people she's brought to life.
The long and the short of it is that if you like 1800's history, if you live in or feel an affinity for Texas, especially the Hill Country, this trilogy is for you. She's done a lot of research, and it shows. Her comments on the Colt Paterson No. 5 revolver, for example. It's little things like that that help give life to the society in which her story is set. In that sense, her work is very much like the wonderful Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series - extremely well researched, with all those small details helping to make the settings come alive. I like the history, but I like the characters even better. They've become very real to me. She has a gift. I now have the urge to drive to Texas and spend some time visiting the Verein's stomping grounds.
Which is a very long introduction, I suppose. It's The Adelsverein Trilogy. Forget your bland mass market "blockbuster" pablum from the Evil Publishing Empires. This is early, gritty Texas. A Sea Voyage From Hell. The Hill Country. Plucky Germans. Feisty Mexicans. Bloody Goliad. Comanches. The Civil War. Death. Buy All Three. Read Them. You won't regret it!
One hint. If you have a hard time keeping track of who is who - this is a large family - there's a chart in the back of the last book, The Harvesting. Peeking is fair ;)