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BUY Thunder from a Clear
Sky
April
2006
April
1 * Book
Vendor- 1st Annual Southwest Indiana Book Expo at the
Scales Lake Pavilion in Boonville, IN
Book Expo Chairwoman and author Cora Alyce Seaman with
yours truly
I admire Cora Seaman and her
husband, Don- they are trying to build something for the
betterment of historic preservation in Warrick County,
Indiana. Cora, Virginia Allen, and others are trying to
improve the Warrick County Museum. Cora, Don, and the
museum staff decided to organize a book fair in which
regional authors would be invited to meet the public and
sell their books in exchange for a small cut on each book.
If you've never organized a community book fair from
scratch then you don't know what difficulties Cora went
through to get the event off the ground. Cora and the
volunteer staff must be tired, but smiling this morning as
it turned out to be a successful event with a bright future
for the community and the Warrick Museum. I'm sure Cora was
questioned about holding the event at the Scales Lake
Pavilion; a relatively "out-of-the-way" location in
relatively "out-of-the-way" Boonville. However, her vision
has been rewarded. The Pavilion is a beautiful facility
with nothing lacking for authors to enjoy the day. High,
wood-beamed ceilings, plenty of room to spread out, ample
parking, a literal "park-like" setting, and eager
volunteers ready to help everyone in any way they could. A
success story is brewing for the Warrick Museum.
The event was
also a good day for me. By my count, thirty-nine books went
through the register. This was more than I sold at the
Sturgis Book Fair last October. I'm still in awe of how
people are taking to the book. I was constantly busy. A
nice newspaper article advertising the book fair was
published on March 30 in the Evansville Courier.
The article featured Thunder From a Clear Sky.
Many people came to the event looking for my book, and I'm
grateful. Profits from my sales at the event will be
donated to the Warrick County Museum.
For those who
don't know much about Warrick County, Indiana, it is the
county where Newburgh is located. On the day of the raid
Dr. Tilman slipped away from events at Newburgh and rode a
horse to Boonville to get help in thwarting Adam Johnson's
raid (although Tilman thought Johnson was Rebel raider John
Hunt Morgan at the time). Hundreds of people from Boonville
and the surrounding countryside mobilized that afternoon
and poured into Newburgh- willing, but too late.
April
3 * Guest
Speaker- Turning Pointe Book Club,
Evansville, IN
I had the great pleasure of
being a guest at today's meeting of the Turning Pointe Book
Club. The club had selected my book as one of their reading
projects this year and they invited me to be part of the
book discussion- I loved it. Everyone was absolutely
wonderful to me. Pat Bryan, a friend of mine for 15 years,
called a few months ago and invited me. I thoroughly
enjoyed myself. I'm a bit of a wind up toy- if you want to
talk about the Civil War in Indiana and Kentucky all you
have to do is ask and I'm off and running. I answered some
questions and then discussed a few things I had learned as
a result of the book. There was no set speech. I just
shared whatever came to mind. Its getting hard for me to
find new words to express how grateful I am that people are
taking to the book. The Turning Pointe Book Club is a great
organization- generous, funny, interested (and interesting)
people. Honestly, I wasn't prepared for how welcoming they
were. My thanks to them for having me.
April
11 * Guest
Speaker- Tri-State Genealogical Society Annual Dinner
Meeting, Evansville, IN
Last October I had the pleasure
of starting my journey with the Tri-State Genealogical
Society. I met Barb Manzi of the TSGS at her place of work.
We started talking about things and before I knew it she
invited me to attend the Annual TSGS Seminar as a book
vendor in October 2005. I knew nothing about the TSGS or
genealogy. Although you can read the October 1 write-up in
my 2005 diary on another page in this website, I was so
glad I went. Not only did I meet dozens of welcoming,
outgoing, dedicated people from the TSGS, but I sold a lot
more books than I thought I would. I met Lawrence Skelton
at the October seminar and he sent me new information on
Paul Marrs who piloted the invasion of West Franklin,
Indiana, by Johnson's men in November 1862. Lynn Martin and
I talked about the 2006 Annual Dinner at the October
meeting.
Anyway, back to
the meeting. I arrive at Sirloin Stockade in Evansville and
I'm a little apprehensive. It seems like an open restaurant
and there weren't many people there when I arrived at
5:30PM. I worry too much. I was welcomed immediately, sat
down at a table, and just started talking to folks. I was a
little nervous so I didn't eat. I make myself less nervous
and find out what the crowd wants to hear by going around
to several tables before I go on (I remember talking to
Claudette Pfingston). Its a great group of people at the
TSGS. Everyone I talked to treated me like I had been a
member forever. I lost track of time and suddenly, a few
announcements, and then I'm on. As I said, I don't know
much about genealogy, but I think people enjoy genealogy
because they love the search, they love learning about
people, and maybe they find a little of themselves in the
process. So, I decided to talk about two people in the
Newburgh raid- Elliott Mefford and Adam Johnson. I can't
remember what I said. I just let my passion show. I think I
talked too long. I always look at my watch too late in the
game. Everyone seemed to like it. There were about 40
people present and I sold 22 books. All the profits will be
returned to the TSGS as my thanks for inviting me. My
special thanks to John West who quickly provided me with
the pictures and the permission to use them.
I can tell you
this- if you want to get involved in genealogy, or even
history in the tri-state region, the Tri-State Genealogical
Society at Willard Library, Evansville, Indiana, is the
gold standard. They will help you, teach you, and make you
grateful you got to know them. I am.
April
19 * Guest
Speaker- Indiana Historical Society,
Indianapolis, IN
April 19 was a strange day. The
first thing I discover, almost too late in the game, is
that Indianapolis is one hour ahead of Evansville. Usually
this is not the case in summer, but this year, it is. In
Indiana, you can never tell for sure what time it is. On
the way up to Indi (a three hour drive) I discover that I
have a screw imbedded in my tire, but it doesn't seem to be
deflating it. I manage to get to Indi in time, but instead
of giving a lunchtime speech on the ground floor of the
historical society building near the cafeteria (where all
the people are and where these speeches are usually given)
the speech is to be given on the fourth floor in the
boardroom. There is a life-size statute of Lincoln in the
room watching over my shoulder the whole time.
Because
no one knows me in Indi, there was a relatively small group
present for my talk- maybe 20 at most. Nevertheless, it is
an enthusiastic crowd and everyone seems to enjoy it. I
signed a few books afterward and then spent the afternoon
doing some research. I found out a few additional tid-bits
about the raid, including what the Newburgh Home Guard
uniforms looked like. In all, it was a good (but long) day.
The Indiana Historical Society is an absolute first rate
organization.
April
29 * Book
Vendor- 1st Annual Barnes and Noble Author Fest 2006,
Evansville, IN
Author Mike Whicker with yours truly
I was invited to the 1st Annual
Barnes & Noble Author Fest in Evansville by Marianna
Mudd last October. As I've said before, there isn't a
harder working bookstore manager around. Marianna is always
thinking of ways to get people to come into the store and
read. There were 55 authors at the event and I was
fortunate enough to meet many of them. The author next to
me at my table was Rick Reed who was co-author of a book
entitled Blood
Trail. We had a great time talking to each
other and Rick is a wonderful guy. My good friend Don
Johnson came by and took a few pictures (of which the one
above was culled for this page). I also met Bryan Bush who
was one of the authors of the collection entitled
Kentucky's Civil War
1861-1865. Most importantly, I got to meet Mike
Whicker, author of Invitation to Valhalla.
Mike has been my unofficial mentor for months. We've
emailed and talked on the phone, but we'd never met until
this event. It was an honor for me. I know Mike has done a
lot for Evansville and I was glad to add my thanks to
everyone else for what he has done.
I
know there was good publicity for the event and the authors
were well taken care of. It was an OK crowd. I tried to
talk to nearly everyone who passed by and sold about 20
books. Events like this need to build, so I look for a
growing success in the years ahead.
