What is the quirkiest thing you have ever done? Applied for graduate school (in History, of course) and for Social Security within two weeks, and was accepted for both.
When did you first discover that you were a writer? In fifth grade, when I drew pictures on one side of sheets of paper and wrote stories about them on the other side. The origins of In Wrath Remember Mercy date back to junior high.
Tell us the range of the kinds of books you enjoy reading. I love the novels of Captain Charles King, John Esten Cooke, and Rosemary Sutcliffe. Other than that, I read history: all periods of American History, and Roman Britain and the Dark Ages, fascinating because so little is actually known about the latter.
Yes, I was wondering what books you read about the Dark Ages. How do you keep your sanity in our run, run, run world? I trust in God to bring whatever He wills into each day, and pray to respond gratefully and competently. It also helps to live in a rural area rather than in a city.
How do you choose your characters’ names? By national heritage. For example, Gerhardt Vogelsang is German, while most of the Abercairn folks are Scottish.
What is the accomplishment that you are most proud of? Driving 80 miles per hour through the dark to get my husband to the hospital after an injury.
If you were an animal, which one would you be, and why? An eagle, as in Isaiah 40:31. “They that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles...”
What is your favorite food? The Beef Stroganoff I make.
I love Beef Stroganoff. What is the problem with writing that was your greatest roadblock, and how did you overcome it? Writing too much. I overcame it by cutting out stage directions and some of the secondary characters, and telling the story from a number of first person points of view.
Tell us about the
featured book. In Wrath Remember Mercy is
a dialogue among the main characters and a few secondary ones. During the War
Between the States, part of the Indian Wars in the West, and the latter part of
Reconstruction in
Please give us the
first page of the book.
Gloria Victis! (Latin: Glory to the vanquished!)
“For the principle of State rights and State sovereignty the Southern men fought with a holy ardor and self-denying patriotism that have covered even defeat with imperishable glory.” (Dr. Charles E. Stowe, son of the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, ca. 1900.)
I came to my senses in a dim cell. Hands manacled, head throbbing, dizzy . . . thought I’d vomit. I didn’t! Blood oozing from my head. Couldn’t diagnose any other injuries. How to escape? I ran a finger around the top of my right boot. The skean dhu was gone.
The only light glimmered through gratings in an iron-bound door. Manacles chained to log wall, floor of rammed earth. The guard would be the only weak point . . . .
I must have passed out again.
Rough prodding in the ribs . . . blue . . .Yankees! Brain and skin prickled. Everything in me flamed for attack. I sprang, but the irons caught me mid-way.
One guard startled back. The other jammed his Spencer into my sternum.
“Give up, Reb! You’re caught. Get up slow.” He kept that carbine on me while the scaredy one unlocked the manacles.
Dizziness and headache were less. Under guard, crossing the parade, I was memorizing: log palisade, gates, log cabins, North Star, good cover under the edge of a big cistern lid . . . . Then they nudged me into a stark little room.
“Dismissed.”
Silhouetted by the lamp behind him, an officer rose from his field desk, well over six feet tall. Brown hair, a few silver strands glinting. Beneath level brows, intent brown eyes missed nothing. Moustache, knifed off at the lines around a wide mouth.
“MacLeod!”
“Good evening, Lieutenant Drummond.”
How can readers find you on the Internet? The web site is http://www.InWrathRememberMercy.com There’s opportunity to leave comments, questions, etc. by email: Aquila@InWrathRememberMercy.com
Thank you,
Readers,
here are links to the book.
https://amzn.to/2SrZEYk - Paperback
https://amzn.to/3j9r00j - Kindle edition
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8 comments:
Enter me!!
Conway SC.
Ms. Dooley from Aquila Dhu: For the Dark Ages, I like Lost Gold of the Dark Ages, by Caroline Alexander; A Celtic Miscellany, by Kenneth H. Jackson: The Last Age of Roman Britain, by Edward Foord; anything by Leslie Alcock, and serious studies about King Arthur. If you'd like my Beef Stroganoff recipe, I'll be glad to send it.
This book sounds very intriguing!
Connie from Kentucky
cps1950(at)gmail(dot)com
Connie, I hope you'll finish reading with a greater delight in the triune God who loves us so much, and enjoy all the layers of the plot and the development of the characters' lives.
Aquila, thanks for the book suggestions, and I'd love your recipe.
Dear Ms. Dooley,
I’m writing here instead of posting the recipe as a comment because it might be too long for that format. If you want me to put it in comments, I’ll be glad to.
AQUILA DHU’S BEEF STROGANOFF
You can use steak or stew meat; I use round steak because it’s easier to cut & trim. (We buy beef by the quarter, so I can use any cut.)
Saute one large onion and 1 8-oz. jar of pieces-and-stems mushrooms (drained; reserve juice) in butter on a very low heat for 10 minutes. Stir and turn with spatula and saute for 10 more minutes.
Meanwhile, trim a round steak and cut it into 1-inch wide slices. Turn each slice on edge and cut in half, cross-grain. Cut the slices into 1- or 1 1/2 inch-long pieces. Roll the pieces in seasoned flour. (I use 1/2 cup flour—more if it’s a large steak—and a teaspoon of salt. “To each her own” on seasoning, however.)
Remove onions and mushrooms to a bowl and put floured steak pieces into the same skillet or Dutch oven and brown them. (Depending upon the size of the skillet, you may need to do this in two batches.)
Put meat, onions, and mushrooms in a crock pot or cast-iron Dutch oven. Stir in the reserved mushroom juice and enough water to cover well. Simmer on very low heat, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking, until the liquid is reduced and the mixture resembles very thick gravy, several hours, depending on your cookware and stove. (This is so that when you add the sour cream, it will be more like a sauce than a soup!)
Stir in about 1/2 cup sour cream, or more or less, to taste.
Most people serve it over noodles (any kind you like), but I’ve used it over mashed potatoes or biscuits, too.
I hope you’ll enjoy the dish as much as I do.
Sincerely,
Aquila
P.S. I couldn't make the live mail work, though I do have Mozilla Firefox. Pardon the techno-dunce, please!
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