Here’s a review of my short story collection, Stories of the Confederate South, that was published in a local magazine, Louisiana Road Trips, and on Amazon.

Those who consider themselves to be “politically correct” might mistakenly overlook Stories of the Confederate South. But Rickey Pittman is such a talented writer, that to read this collection of stories may cause a total shift in perspective and opinion about the southerners of the Civil War. I consider myself to be a Southern “liberal,” so have always been unquestioningly offended by symbols of the Confederacy, such as its controversial flag and the song “Dixie.” Those symbols embodied racism to me. The history books teach us that the Civil War was only about slavery and lead us to believe that all southerners were cruel slave owners and all Northerners benevolent abolitionists.

Stories of the Confederate South kills these sacred cows and makes the politically correct question our opinions and beliefs. The history books don’t tell us that General Lee was against slavery or that General Grant owned slaves until 1864. Who knew that there were more free blacks in the South than in the North, and that some were even wealthy?

Rickey Pittman writes these stories of the Confederacy from many perspectives, male and female, old and young about the actual people and types of people that need to be remembered. The diversity adds a variety that is missing when the South comes to mind. The powerful narrative, “The Taking of Jim Limber,” told from the perspective of a Yankee soldier, recounts the little known true story that Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy, adopted a six-year-old, free black boy into his family and raised him as his own. During the Civil War, Federal Troops violently invaded the Davis home and took little Jim Limber from his loving adoptive family. He was abused by the Federal soldiers and taken on tour like a circus animal to be displayed as the beaten slave of Jefferson Davis. After receiving orders from Washington that the cruel side-show must stop, young Jim Limber was taken into the swamps by two generals and mysteriously disappeared. This story, as well as all the others ends with a powerful gut-level punch that makes you pause and reflect before eagerly reading the next story.

Pittman’s female characters make us realize that the Civil War was also a war against the women of the South, who were left behind to provide for and defend their families and homes from the Federal troops and the atrocities that accompany every war.
Stories of the Confederate South shows us how the Civil War changed everything including our views on the role of government and the power government can have.
Pittman successfully avoids stereotypes that have come to be associated with the Confederacy and Civil War. Stories of the Confederate South is a collection of powerful narratives that can change a lifetime of beliefs. Rickey Pittman is not just “whistling Dixie.”

Here is a recent review of my new children’s book that I found on the book’s Barnes and Noble and Amazon pages:

Destroying Stereotypes: A Review of Jim Limber Davis: A Black Orphan in the Confederate White House

Looking at the winners of the Caldecott and Newbery Medals, I notice that many of the winners are children’s books that deal with serious subjects in an entertaining way. Books dealing with subjects such as autism, 12 Step Programs and endangered species have won medals recently. These are books with stories that need to be told.

In Jim Limber Davis: A Black Orphan in the Confederate Whitehouse, Rickey Pittman tells a story that needs to be told. It is the story of a little known figure in history, a young African-American boy during the Civil War who was adopted by the family of Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy. Reading this book will spark discussion with your children about the Civil War, but the skillful writing of Rickey Pittman and beautiful illustrations of Judith Hierstein give us a perspective that is not northern or southern, but human. It’s a story about a time when the country was divided over slavery, but there was racial harmony in the last place the history books would have us suspect, in the home of the President of the Confederacy. The book begins:

“Jim Limber Davis was only five years old when his mother and father died from fever, and he was placed in the care of a relative in Richmond. Jim’s guardian was a cruel man. He often whipped him for the smallest mistakes and sent him to bed without supper.”

The story continues to tell how one day when Jefferson Davis’s family was riding through the city in a carriage, Varina Davis, Jefferson Davis’s wife, saved a young boy being beaten in the street. She rescued the child and brought him home to the live with the family in the Confederate White House.

Although the story takes place over 130 years ago, the message is quite modern, as my eight year old daughter pointed out. When asked the message of the book, she said “It’s love and friendship that matters, not skin color.” My daughter understood the message of racial harmony, something she can apply in her daily life, while also being educated on the Civil War, an important, but rarely discussed event in history. Another modern theme she pointed out was “All sorts of people can make up a family. They don’t even have to be related to have love.” which is really applicable in this era of the blended family. In Jim Limber Davis: A Black Orphan in the Confederate Whitehouse both author and illustrator push us to throw out old stereotypes about the North and the South, and realize that we are all connected.

My children’s book, Jim Limber Davis: A Black Orphan in the Confederate White House is in and can be ordered online! I really do think this is a story that needs to be told.  Please share it with your friends who have children. You can’t go wrong when you give a book as a gift.  A book will always have attached memories. The holiday and birthday gifts that I most value and cause me to think the most about the person who gave it are certain books on my shelf.  Also, giving books is an act that promotes literacy.

Go to this link and check out my new children’s book:

http://www.pelicanpub.com/Press_Release.asp?passval=9781589804357&title=Jim%20Limber%20Davis:%3CBR%3E%20A%20Black%20Orphan%20in%20the%20Confederate%20White%20House

Here is a short summary of the book that Pelican included on the page: Jim Limber Davis was rescued from an abusive relative by First Lady Varina Davis when he was only five years old. Jefferson and Varina Davis then became his legal guardians and Jim lived with them in the White House for several years, enjoying life as a member of their family.

When the Union Soldiers invaded Richmond, Virginia, and captured Jefferson Davis, they also kidnapped Jim Limber. Soon after his capture, cruel rumors spread that Jim Limber was Jefferson Davis’ slave. After the Civil War, Jefferson Davis tried to locate Jim, but he was never found.

This true story shows how Jim Limber was accepted as one of the Davis’s own children and reveals their love for him. Although Jim’s whereabouts after the war still remain a mystery, this story offers an example of compassion during this complex time in our nation’s history.

We writers must be crazy to want this life we’ve chosen. I rose at 5:00 a.m. and left the house by 6:15. I arrived in Jefferson around 9:00, and was given a table. I shared the table with a beautiful young author, Elizabeth Ashley Richardson. She was promoting her first children’s book, The Puppy and His Bone. I scanned her book, and the story is one that promotes friendship. A valuable life-lesson for children. The artwork was of superior quality. I would encourage you to take a look at her book. Elizabeth is also an actress, and just bubbling over with creative ideas. She’s just moving back to Louisiana from Indiana.  She thinks she’ll end up in Shreveport. You can see her book here: http://www.amazon.ca/Puppy-Bone-Elizabeth-Ashley-Richardson/dp/1425986536/ref=sr_1_7/702-4478033-6395211?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1178416465&sr=1-7

We were the only two authors Kathy Patrick had with her today at her Beauty and the Book Salon. The crowds were good for the festival, but the crowd-flow was rather thin and things were slow where we were. I wished a few times I had brought my laptop so I could have been working on something, or sharing some of my writing with Elizabeth. Nevertheless, we both made enough sales to pay our gas for the trip and both of us made many contacts. Also, I was able to set up some future music, speaking, and writing opportunities. When I don’t lose money, make a new writing friend, and set up future opportunities for my writing business, I’d have to say it’s been a good day, though it’s been a long one.

Last night, I finished Vicki Hendrick’s book, Cruel Poetry. Wonderful read. She is indeed a master of the noir genre. One reviewer called her, “the high priestess of neo-noir.” The novel is a little disturbing though: One of the main characters especially rattled me. His name was Richard, he was a poet and professor, and his life disintegrates after he falls hopelessly in love with a redhead. (Egad!)

Today, I have much writing business to attend to and a writing contest I want to enter. Of course, there are also chores I must attend to in order to keep my household running.

Tomorrow, I’ll have a long day. I’m off to Jefferson, Texas for that city’s Historical Pilgramage: Home Tour and Spring Festival. There’s a lot going on at this festival, and the crowds should be really good. Some of the events include, The Diamond Bessie Murder Trial play, the Battle of Port Jefferson Civil War Reenactment, a parade in downtown Jefferson, a Civil War Ball on Saturday night, and a long list of other things to do. I intend to visit the Gone with the Wind Museum there if I get the time and chance. For more information on this festival, you can go to this link: http://www.theexcelsiorhouse.com/tour.htm
I’ll be in Confederate uniform on Main Street and setting up a table to sell some books (Stories of the Confederate South) at Kathy Patrick’s salon, Beauty and the Book. Though not in my hands, I intend to promote my new children’s book, Jim Limber Davis: A Black Orphan in the Confederate White House. It has been printed and should be available beginning today from Pelican Publishers. Some good news: Pelican informed me that hundreds of copies of my children’s book have already been pre-sold! Pelican has also agreed to publish Stories of the Confederate South. I’ll be transferring the publication rights to Pelican sometime this month.

Camp Ford: A Prisoner of War Stockade at Tyler Texas

Ironically, after reading Kantor’s Andersonville, I discovered the existence of another prisoner of war camp, Camp Ford, within easy driving distance. It is located four miles northwest of Tyler, Texas, just off Loop 271. On my way to visit my parents in Kemp, Oklahoma, I stopped and checked it out. The marker at the site says:

Camp Ford

On this site during the Civil War was located Camp Ford, the largest prisoner of war compound for Union troops west of the Mississippi River, named in honor of Col. John S. ‘Rip’ Ford who originally established a training camp here in 1862. It was converted in the summer of 1863 to a prison camp.

It first consisted of four to five acres enclosed by a stockade sixteen feet high. In the spring of 1864 following the Confederate victories at Mansfield, Louisiana and Mark’s Mills, Arkansas the enclosure was doubled to accommodate the large influx of prisoners. Approximately 4700 Federals were confined here during this period. This overcrowded condition was somewhat relieved through a series of prisoner of war exchanges between the North and the South.

Union soldiers representing nearly one hundred different regiments plus sailors from gunboats and transports were confined here. In addition there were imprisoned Union sympathizers, spies, and even Confederate deserters.

The prisoners constructed their own shelters ranging from log huts and burrows called “shebangs” to brush arbors and tents made of blankets. A spring located about 100 yards southwest of this marker furnished an ample supply of good water. Their meager rations, essentially the same as that of their guards, usually consisted of beef and corn meal and were sometimes supplemented by vegetables purchased from nearby farms.
Although escape attempts were frequent, very few were successful due to the long distance to Union lines and the difficulty in eluding the tracking hounds used by the Confederate guards.

Even though conditions were primitive it compared favorably with the other Civil War prison camps. Camp Ford continued to serve as a prison until the surrender of the Trans-Mississippi Department in May, 1865. It was later destroyed by Federal occupation troops.

You can read more about Camp Ford here:  http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/ford/index.html

MacKinlay Kantor’s novel, Andersonville, won the 1956 Pulitzer Prize. A friend, knowing my interest in the Civil War, gave me the novel a few weeks ago. Expecting the worst and expecting the usually heard information on Andersonville and the treatment of prisoners of war there, I plowed into it. I was surprised to find a balanced novel that uses a Southern protagonist and that reflects decades of research.  Unless the reader allows them to slip by, the historic facts in the novel help tell the real story of Andersonville. For example, the novel reveals how Wirz really did try his best in an impossible situation, how the Northern leaders refused to allow prisoner exchange, even when our representatives pointed out to them how the South could not adequately take care of so many prisoners, and how the thugs among the Northern prisoners victimized the Union soldiers far more than their jailers.  The characters who walk through the novel’s 760 pages represent nearly every strata of American society during the Civil War, making the novel to be a panorama of our nation.

Kantor’s writing style reminded me of Cormac McCarthy—it is intense, with vivid interior and exterior realism.  If you want to know the facts of Andersonville you can find them elsewhere, but if you want to experience Andersonville from both a Southern and Northern perspective, you need to read this novel.

I love Shakespeare’s sonnets. Every one of them written in perfect Elizabethan rhyme scheme in perfect iambic pentameter. Which is your favorite sonnet? Here’s Sonnet 29 that has always meant a lot to me, more so these days for some reason.

When in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf Heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself, and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featur’d like him, like him with friends possess’d,
Desiring this man’s art, and that man’s scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least:
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee,–and then my state
(Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven’s gate;
For thy sweet love remember’d such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings’.

I found the sonnet online here: http://www.albionmich.com/inspiration/whenindisgrace.html

I was looking through some old poetry and thinking about how the biographies of some writers I’ve read revealed that they had tendencies to self-destruct. I found this poem I wrote years ago and decided to post it today.

The Saboteur

I am a saboteur.
I know how to derail things,
Lose things, waste things,
And generally screw up.
I juggle knives with amazing ineptness.
I try to dance with nitroglycerin and
Play Russian Roulette with one empty chamber.
I fight with the sun in my eyes.
I can pull the grenade pin and
Then change my mind.
I have cut the wrong wire!
My training has been
Brutal but effective.
I am one you should fear.
I am a  saboteur.

I’ve been listening to Evanescence again today. This song from the Evanescence CD Fallen has been replaying through my head all afternoon while I was doing yard work, so I thought I’d post the lyrics in today’s blog.  Amy Lee has such a fantastic lyric writing ability.  This is a song of despair, a cry for deliverance. I think a movie could be written based on it. I found the lyrics here: http://endor.org/evanescence/lyrics.asp?Submit=View+Lyrics&AlbumID=4&SongID=33
Tourniquet

i tried to kill the pain
but only brought more
i lay dying
and i’m pouring crimson regret and betrayal
i’m dying praying bleeding and screaming
am i too lost to be saved
am i too lost?

my God my tourniquet
return to me salvation
my God my tourniquet
return to me salvation

do you remember me
lost for so long
will you be on the other side
or will you forget me
i’m dying praying bleeding and screaming
am i too lost to be saved
am i too lost?

my God my tourniquet
return to me salvation
my God my tourniquet
return to me salvation

my wounds cry for the grave
my soul cries for deliverance
will i be denied Christ
tourniquet
my suicide