Book Signing News:

As I feared, Saturday was a stormy day in Fort Worth.  Thunder had awakened me before dawn, and it continued with heavy rain through the day. Thankfully, the ice didn’t reach us. In spite of the gloomy day, I had a great signing at the Texas Civil War Museum. I met some people that I’m sure will be my friends from now on.  I stayed at the museum all day–from 9:00 a.m. till 5:30 p.m. I was using the day as a fund raiser for the museum, which I believe to be the finest Civil War museum I’ve ever seen. The museum is also now carrying my books.  While driving back to my room, I saw the biggest and most beautiful rainbow I’d ever seen stretched across that wide Texas sky. I felt as if God were smiling on me. It was truly an existential moment.  Here are some of the highlights of the day: I met and talked with several Civil War reenactors. The 37th Texas was prominently there.  They came in Federal uniforms while others from other areas came as Confederates. If you are interested in reenacting, you should check them out. Here is their website:  http://www.37thtexas.org/ I also met people who loved Scottish and Irish music (I did perform with my guitar too), men and women who give Living History programs (related to the War Between the States), several women from the United Daughters of the Confederacy, tourists visiting Fort Worth from up north, and docents and library staff. I talked all day, and must have gotten ideas for a dozen stories. As usual, the people who love to study the War Between the States are walking encyclopedias of knowledge and they never fail to teach or tell me something that rattles me or surprises me.

At the Kimball Art museum this weekend, I obtained a book: Saints: A Visual Guide. The book contains visual art depicting each of the saints, as well as a condensed saint-biography and legends associated with it. Of the 4,500 saints listed in religion, this book covers 130. It is absolutely fascinating. There must be thousands of writing ideas in its pages. From this book, I can learn each saint’s history, symbols, and importance. Many of them, I’ve never heard of, and many of them I think will make good models for modern characters. This will be a rich study, and I’m sure I’ll post details from time to time on them.