Monthly Archives: May 2015
Water a Flower Day…and Antietam remembered
Flowers are God’s promise of a better tomorrow…especially when they bloom where so many soldiers perished at the bloodiest battle of the Civil War.
Antietam.
Today is Water a Flower Day. These gorgeous flowers blooming at Antietam Creek gives us hope where they was nothing but heartache and death and…no, I’ll let the hero in LOVE ME FOREVER, my Civil War Time Travel Romance, tell you what happened that day…
Major Flynt Stephens:
Antietam
Sharpsburg, Maryland
A Union Army battlefield hospital
September 17, 1862Major Flynt Stephens hated this time of day. Soon twilight would descend over the white hospital tent like a greedy devil waiting to claim the men he couldn’t save. For hours, he labored on the wounded, his hands cutting, sawing, suturing. His skill diligently needed to put these men back together, God willing. The long line of wounded and dying hadn’t stopped since the shooting ended. A new patient was brought in every few minutes and laid down on the blood stained operating table—a door ripped from its hinges and laid across two barrels. His eyes narrowed. Surely, there’d be an end to it. And if there wasn’t? Could he go on?
Yes. As long as I can still see by candlelight.He continued his work, cutting away the soldier’s bloodied sleeve, stripping away the ripped fabric, pieces of skin sticking to it. Frustration stretched his nerves taut, his fingers digging into the wound, afraid of what he’d find.
The incessant, loud flapping of the red flag outside the tent echoed in his ears as he worked on his patient. Loud, haunting sounds taunting him, whispering to him that their souls had moved on to a better place.
Leaving their shattered, torn bodies behind.
He wondered if the poor bastards weren’t better off, far away from this rotten hellhole of pain and suffering. Here they could still feel the pain.
But not this boy.
Saying a silent prayer, Flynt closed the young private’s eyelids. He was at peace now. The boy wasn’t more than seventeen. His abdomen split open by a screaming minie ball, his right arm shattered, the bone in his right leg splintered open by the lead. Infection had set in, probably from skin and dirt and bits of clothing the bullet carried into the wound.
He laid aside the small bowl containing the pain killing morphine used to dust into the wound. He wouldn’t need it now. The boy was lucky he was spared the horror of losing both an arm and a leg. He was brought in too late to save him. That made him angry. So many young lives taken.
He shook his head in disgust. The survival rate dropped to half so long after the battle ended. Still, from early daylight till dark he worked to put together what other men ripped apart with their canon balls and lead bullets.
Flynt clenched his fists when he dipped his hands into the water basin, the slime and blood sticking to his fingers. Damn that nurse. He asked for clean water, not this putrid mess. He firmly believed filth lessened a man’s chance of survival.
Agitated, he reached for a small bar of brown soap. It slipped onto the dirt floor.
He cursed.
“Fresh water, Nurse,” he called out, “and more soap.”
The dowdy, older woman grumbled and fussed about changing the water. Straight from the creek it was, she protested. Flynt ignored her complaining. He didn’t know which was worse. What man did to his fellow man on the battlefield—tearing apart limbs, slashing flesh, breaking bones—or what he did in the operating room.
His job was to amputate what was left.Without anesthesia.
They’d used up the last of the chloroform. No telling when fresh supplies would arrive with the Union Army retreating to high ground. Word reached him that Lee was withdrawing his Army of Northern Virginia across the Potomac, but not before inflicting more casualties. From what he could tell, Union losses were running twice the number as Confederates.
He watched with a heavy heart as two soldiers removed the boy’s body. As long as there was breath in each man brought before him, Flynt would strive to save his life. Yet so many times he failed. It was becoming harder for him to live with that. Thank God the fighting had stopped at Antietam, but already they were calling it the bloodiest day of the war. No one knew for sure how many casualties. More than twenty thousand, he heard.
Twenty thousand.
Tiny shivers inched up and down his neck. That was more than the entire population of Falmouth, where his home stood. Rosebriar. A fine Southern plantation. Flynt grew up in Virginia, but unlike his beloved General Lee, he volunteered for service in the Union Army. His conscience dictated he serve his country.
How could he refuse?
Flynt had received his medical training at Princeton. There the course to become a physician stretched out to two years, unlike most medical colleges that required less than nine months of schooling. Afterward he worked in a hospital in Washington City for a few years, studying and observing the latest ideas in medical research. During his time up North, he saw firsthand how the country worked and he found pride in that. But it was his father, a longtime judge in Stafford County, who gave him the assurance his thinking was right.
“The Union must be preserved at all costs,” he told his son before he died.
Was it only a few months ago Flynt received his commission as surgeon of his regiment, taking the oath through the window of a departing rail car?
Was it? When would this bloody war end?
It was a question that haunted him every day.
“The next man is ready, Major.”
Flynt nodded. The stretcher bearers laid down a soldier who’d seen his share of battles, his eyes big and wide. The man shook, making odd sounds, wheezing, and then coughing up blood.
He got to work, but he never got used to it.
Never.
She wore gray.
He wore blue.
But their love defied the boundaries of war.
And time.
LOVE ME FOREVER is a Kindle Scout selection and will be published soon!! You can read the first 5,000 words HERE. You’ll meet both my heroines and both my heroes in the excerpt. It’s a saga of love and romance and war. Believe me, I walked every road, fought every battle with my characters, even walked around in a hoop skirt to “get it right.”
This is a book of the heart…any questions? Please ask!!
Thanks for stopping by.
~Jina
Memorial Day and the Civil War…where it all began
Did you know Memorial Day was first observed on May 5, 1868? Three years after the Civil War ended, a day was set aside to honor the fallen soldiers…a day in May when the flowers would blossom. The scent of roses and magnolias and morning glories filling the air…their proud stalks reaching up to the heavens to honor the men and women who paid the ultimate price…a moment of thanks for their sacrifice.
I’m so pleased my Civil War time travel romance LOVE ME FOREVER has been selected for publication by Kindle Scout. I’ve tried hard to tell the story of one family during the War Between the States and how it affected a modern young woman who travels back in time…
She wore gray.
He wore blue.
But their love defied the boundaries of war.
And time.
LOVE ME FOREVER is on Kindle Scout — you can read the first 5,000 words HERE. You’ll meet both my heroines and both my heroes in the excerpt. It’s a saga of love and romance and war. Believe me, I walked every road, fought every battle with my characters, even walked around in a hoop skirt to “get it right.”
This is a book of the heart…any questions? Please ask!!
Thanks for stopping by.
~Jina
Tick…tock…working over the holiday on “Love Me Forever”
…to finish a final go-through on my Kindle Scout book LOVE ME FOREVER
I’ve laughed and cried and cheered with my characters…be back soon with an update!
She wore gray.
He wore blue.
But their love defied the boundaries of war.
And time.
LOVE ME FOREVER is on Kindle Scout — you can read the first 5,000 words HERE. You’ll meet both my heroines and both my heroes in the excerpt. It’s a saga of love and romance and war. Believe me, I walked every road, fought every battle with my characters, even walked around in a hoop skirt to “get it right.”
This is a book of the heart…any questions? Please ask!!
Thanks for stopping by.
~Jina
I Remember Mama and Apple Pie Day
Going over my Kindle Scout book LOVE ME FOREVER trying to make it as perfect as possible before submitting the Final m/s for copy edit…keep you updated on my progress.
Which made me think about my mom and her apple pie on Apple Pie Day. Like the little girl in the graphic, I helped her cut the dough and tried to make the perfect crisscross pastry across the pie. She was an elegant, sophisticated lady like the belle I write about in LOVE ME FOREVER I remember when I was eleven and she took me to a fancy tea in a big antebellum house in Lexington with all the posh ladies. No one defined Southern charm more than she did…
So when my pastry pieces flopped and cracked, she’d always tell me the story of the little turtle who could…who never gave up until she got where she wanted to go…and I’d get there if I just didn’t give up. (She inspired my turtle and the princess story--check out my bio on Kindle Scout for more info.)
So here I am, making my m/s as perfect as I can…and never giving up. Thanks, Mom.
~Jina
She wore gray.
He wore blue.
But their love defied the boundaries of war.
And time.
LOVE ME FOREVER is on Kindle Scout — you can read the first 5,000 words HERE. You’ll meet both my heroines and both my heroes in the excerpt. It’s a saga of love and romance and war. Believe me, I walked every road, fought every battle with my characters, even walked around in a hoop skirt to “get it right.”
This is a book of the heart…any questions? Please ask!!
Thanks for stopping by.
National Twilight Zone Day…and my Time Travel “Love Me Forever”
Who doesn’t love Twilight Zone?
The scary, suspenseful, thought-provoking world of the paranormal according to Rod Serling and his wonderful writers. I love all the stories (now available on DVD), but my faves were the time travels…
So in honor of the fab series, I’ve put together this graphic spotlighting my own time travel with my Kindle Scout book, LOVE ME FOREVER, to be published by KINDLE PRESS.
She wore gray.
He wore blue.
But their love defied the boundaries of war.
And time.
LOVE ME FOREVER is on Kindle Scout — you can read the first 5,000 words HERE. You’ll meet both my heroines and both my heroes in the excerpt. It’s a saga of love and romance and war. Believe me, I walked every road, fought every battle with my characters, even walked around in a hoop skirt to “get it right.”
This is a book of the heart…any questions? Please ask!!
Thanks for stopping by.
~Jina
Military Spouse Appreciation Day…S.W.A.K…a kiss says it all.
S.W. A. K.
Sealed with a kiss.
In the days before digital XOXOs were the norm, a lipstick print on the back of a letter from a sweetheart meant the world to the soldier serving far from home. I’m sure the female servicewomen writing home to their sweethearts SWAKed their letters, too.
The sight of familiar handwriting on a letter was like laying your head on their chest and listening to their heartbeat. And that kiss…it was heaven.
So on this Military Spouse Appreciation Day, let’s not forget those wonderful ladies and men who support their servicemen and women with hugs and emails and cookies and yes, kisses. God bless them all…
============
In my Kindle Scout book, LOVE ME FOREVER, my heroine writes a series of letters to her Union major serving on the battlefront…that was one of my favorite parts of writing this book. An intimate telling of my story as these two characters fall in love with each other by creating a powerful connection with words alone. Awesome.
I’m going over my manuscript one last time…nothing new to report until I hand it in. Here’s the info:
She wore gray.
He wore blue.
But their love defied the boundaries of war.
And time.
LOVE ME FOREVER is on Kindle Scout — you can read the first 5,000 words HERE. You’ll meet both my heroines and both my heroes in the excerpt. It’s a saga of love and romance and war. Believe me, I walked every road, fought every battle with my characters, even walked around in a hoop skirt to “get it right.”
This is a book of the heart…any questions? Please ask!!
Thanks for stopping by.
~Jina
National Nurses Day…and a sexy doctor, too.
I couldn’t resist posting this graphic with the adorable nurse and her patients. Reminds me that nursing was a male profession during the Civil War. Women had to be over thirty and plain…and couldn’t work in the hospitals after dark. Male nurses took over the night shift.
Which presents a problem for the time-traveling heroine in my Kindle Scout book, LOVE ME FOREVER, when she–nah, I can’t give it away, but Liberty Jordan soon finds out when she travels back to 1862 that women had a difficult time proving themselves in a man’s world. Female surgeons or doctors serving on the battlefield were completely out of the question. The Union Army refused to recruit women as physicians.
It doesn’t help that Liberty falls for a handsome Union Army surgeon…Major Flynt Stephens. Mmm…me, too.
Read more below…
She wore gray.
He wore blue.
But their love defied the boundaries of war.
And time.
LOVE ME FOREVER is on Kindle Scout — you can read the first 5,000 words HERE. You’ll meet both my heroines and both my heroes in the excerpt. It’s a saga of love and romance and war. Believe me, I walked every road, fought every battle with my characters, even walked around in a hoop skirt to “get it right.”
This is a book of the heart…any questions? Please ask!!
Thanks for stopping by.
~Jina
I’m in the Pink with LOVE ME FOREVER and Kindle Scout
Spring is in bloom in my garden, so many flowers bursting with vivid colors and evocative scents. When the breeze blows through my office window, I can smell their gentle fragrance. It was a long, cold winter here in my office with many nights spent in front of the computer working on my story, LOVE ME FOREVER. It’s so exciting to celebrate my book being selected for publication by Kindle Press as I see the first buds in my garden reach up to touch the sun.
So what happens next? you want to know.
The next step in the process is to check over my manuscript, cover, etc. before submitting my final .doc to Kindle Scout. Then I will be assigned a copy edit after they check over my material.
I don’t know any writer who doesn’t jump at the chance to give their work another look, make sure it’s the best it can be. You always miss something, so I’m taking advantage of that opportunity. Of course, when you submit to KS, your manuscript must be complete and in terrific shape. This go-round is like the final primping in the mirror before going on that special date.
That’s it for now. I admit I’m having a blast reading my m/s knowing it’s found a wonderful home with Kindle Press. I swear my characters break fourth wall and give me a wink and a high-five and say, “We did it!”
But not without your help.
Thank you again to everyone who nominated LOVE ME FOREVER. I’m still giddy over winning…and boy, would I love to have a slice of that pink birthday cake.
Yummy…
~Jina
She wore gray.
He wore blue.
But their love defied the boundaries of war.
And time.
LOVE ME FOREVER is on Kindle Scout — you can read the first 5,000 words HERE. You’ll meet both my heroines and both my heroes in the excerpt.
It’s a saga of love and romance and war. Believe me, I walked every road, fought every battle with my characters, even walked around in a hoop skirt to “get it right.”
This is a book of the heart…any questions? Please ask!!
Thank you for your support…
~Jina
National Hoagie Day and my hero…
A quick post for a my fave sandwich…the hoagie. Whatever you call it–hoagie, sub, grinder, hero–it’s got everything to love if you’re a sandwich lover.
So here’s to my hero…the hoagie!!
And don’t forget to tell the man in your life he’s your hero, too. I did. After he bought me a hoagie, of course.
~Jina
News: My Kindle Scout book was selected for publication!! Here’s the info:
She wore gray.
He wore blue.
But their love defied the boundaries of war.
And time.
LOVE ME FOREVER is on Kindle Scout — you can read the first 5,000 words HERE. You’ll meet both my heroines and both my heroes in the excerpt.
It’s a saga of love and romance and war. Believe me, I walked every road, fought every battle with my characters, even walked around in a hoop skirt to “get it right.”
This is a book of the heart…any questions? Please ask!!
Thank you for your support…
~Jina
Celebrating Love Me Forever and Kindle Scout on My Sexy Saturday #90
My Sexy Saturday #90!! Click on this LINK or the graphic above to go to Blog Hop List!
Here’s how it works: Lynn Crain heads up this amazing blog every week with a new theme; it’s up to the authors to post 7 paragraphs, 7 words, or 7 sentences. Sexy, of course. Please visit the other authors, too.
From Lynn’s website: “This week’s theme is Sexy Me Down and this is like doubling down in gambling. We’re sure you wonder what we mean but just look up what the term double down means…to double or significantly increase a risk, investment or other commitment. Hmmm…now think about lovers who are committing their all but not quite sure the other is committing the same amount.”
That’s what happens to Pauletta Sue, the secondary heroine in LOVE ME FOREVER, my Civil War time travel romance…she’ll do anything to settle the score with the Yankees who took the man she loves from her.
But first…
=========
Did you ever want something so much you’re stunned when you get it?
I’m still celebrating LOVE ME FOREVER winning a Kindle Press contract. So before we get to this week’s sexy snippet, here we go with the champagne!
From: LOVE ME FOREVER
Then news of his whereabouts arrived by special messenger. Captain Colton Trent was captured, trying to save a man in his regiment from hanging. Two days later, he was killed trying to escape from a Federal prison. He was a spy, they said. No trial, no evidence against him but the captured Yank overcoat he wore and the stuttered words of accusation from a frightened Secesh aiming to save his own hide.
Pauletta Sue knew the truth. It lay in her heart.
Colton knew the danger he faced going in alone, trying to save a Ranger’s life. But that wouldn’t stop him. It was so like him, following his credo of honesty, commitment, and duty. What else did she expect from a man who fought bravely in the surprise attack on Grant’s army at Shiloh? Then attacked a Union supply train belonging to General Grant?
Colton was willing to die for what he believed in.
I, too, am not afraid to die, my darling.
I will do anything to help the South win the war.
Anything. Even sell my soul.
She wore gray.
He wore blue.
But their love defied the boundaries of war.
And time.
LOVE ME FOREVER is on Kindle Scout — you can read the first 5,000 words HERE. You’ll meet both my heroines and both my heroes in the excerpt.
It’s a saga of love and romance and war. Believe me, I walked every road, fought every battle with my characters, even walked around in a hoop skirt to “get it right.”
This is a book of the heart…any questions? Please ask!!
Thank you for your support…
~Jina
Thank you for stopping by…………..and don’t forget to visit the MY SEXY SATURDAY BLOG HOP for this week!
You gotta love My Saturday every week with some fantastic excerpts. Click on this LINK or the graphic above to go to Blog Hop List for more sexy fun!
Powered by Linky Tools
Click here to enter your link and view this Linky Tools list…
Once upon a story... 