Guest Author Deanna Klingel with Giveaway

PLEASE JOIN ME IN MY COZY DEN AND WELCOME AUTHOR DEANNA KLINGEL AS SHE TALKS ABOUT HER LOVE OF HISTORY AND SHARES SOME INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT HER NEW RELEASE

 

I love history. All of it. The good, the bad, the beautiful and the ugly. When writing historical fiction or nonfiction, I try not to indict. I try to understand the time and the place. Like Anne Frank, I believe people are basically good, even when they aren’t. I think most people do the best they can with what they have and what they know at the time. We can’t do more than that.

I believe we need to commemorate, not celebrate, our history so we don’t forget it and make the same mistakes. Knowing and understanding history helps us move forward where we can make our own new mistakes to help those yet to come.

My newest historical release is The Mysterious Life of Jim Limber. Jim Limber was a little boy, a freed child, who was being abused in Richmond, Virginia in 1864. Varina Davis, wife of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, rescued him and took him home to live in the nursery with the Davis children. Not as a slave or servant, but, as the children said, as a “near brother.”

Whatever I may have thought I knew about the Davises prior to doing the research for this book, I had to put it all away and start over. There was so much more than history books tell us. Yes, he was a slaver. But why did he sign legal guardianship papers to care for this child until he was eighteen? Yes, he was a Confederate soldier. And he crawled on the floor under his desk to play with his children who rode on his back, while his body ached with neuralgia. He watched men die in battle but he knelt beside his baby’s cradle, wept and sang.

Varina Davis was a wonderful writer. In her late life as widow, she supported herself writing for magazines. It was her diaries, journals and intimate letters I studied at the Museum of the Confederacy that gave me a daily account of Jim Limber for fourteen months; what he wore, how he talked, games they played, and how she protected all her children.

Jim Limber was with the Davises when they fled Richmond in 1865. He was with them when they were arrested in Georgia. The mystery of Jim Limber is where did he come from? What became of him?



Book Title: The Mysterious Life of Jim Limber

Author: Deanna K. Klingel

Publisher: Progressive Rising Phoenix Press LLC

Release Date: March 26, 2015

Genre: MG/YA Historical

Single Release

 

 

The Mysterious Life of Jim Limber is targeted for Middle Grade/Young Adult. The format is unusual. The first third of the book is biography of Jim Limber, for fourteen months. The middle third is historical fiction, what this author thinks might have happened through adolescence. The final third is a choose-your-own ending. Or, better yet, write your own ending. Based on what you’ve learned about Jim Limber, what do you think became of him; who did he become?

Jim Limber isn’t the first historical conundrum, surprise or unsolved mystery. But the personal side, the human issue, is most often found not in history books, but in historical fiction, where readers learn compassion, empathy and forgiveness for human weakness in times gone by. It’s my favorite thing to write, and my favorite way to learn history.

Giveaway Details:

Deanna is offering one free copy of this very interesting new book, in paperback form, limited to the Lower 48 US States. To enter, leave a comment below with your email contact information (e.g. you [at] 123xyz [dot] com)  If you feel creative, you can write your ending to Jim Limber’s story, but it’s not required to enter. Just sounds like fin.  Contest runs from today, April 7, through next Monday, April 13, at midnight Central Time. Winner will be drawn through RANDOM.ORG on Tuesday, April 14 and notified via email.

Buy Links:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-mysterious-life-of-jim-limber-deanna-k-klingel/1121489761?ean=9781940834528

http://booksbydeanna.com/the-mysterious-life-of-jim-limber.html

 

You can find Deanna at the following:

Facebook: Deanna K. Klingel

Blog: http://booksbydeanna.com/blog-selling-books.html

Website: www.booksbydeanna.com

Email: deannaklingel@yahoo.com

Thanks, Deanna, for agreeing to be a guest on my blog today. I’d love to have you return when you have another book to promote.

God Bless!