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Tag Archives: historical fiction
Visions of Today and Yesterday
I feel like I live in two worlds. I recently bought a pear tree (note to self: buy a partridge) and needed to drive slowly along the back roads on the way home. My route took me through the small town of Clayton, Indiana, and my double-vision kicked in. Clayton is a country village a few miles south of the county seat, which is a slightly larger town. The historic homes along Clayton’s main road invited me to slow down and enjoy the sights – spreading shade trees, lovely flower beds, and a woman mowing a yard. Juxtaposed against this, I could also envision women in long skirts and sidewalks walking of boards. Families would have hitched a wagon and taken regular trips into Danville for supplies. The Presbyterian Church has been around since the 1830s, and descendants of the original settlers probably still worship there. Farther on, country roads … Continue reading
11-22-63: Historical Time Travel from Stephen King
I’m not usually a Stephen King fan. I think he’s a powerful writer, and I love his memoir/writing book, On Writing, but I’m just not into horror. I read Carrie long ago and that was quite enough for me – until I came across the Langoliers, which was wonderfully eerie but not horrific. So when 11/22/63 came out, I was intrigued. I love well-written historical novels, and I love time travel. Add a serendipitous visit to the library where it was on the shelf instead of on hold for another reader, and I had to grab it. The premise is that there’s a portal in the back of an old diner, and Jake (a high school English teacher) is invited by his old friend to use it. Someone has to go back and stop Kennedy’s assassination, and the friend can’t try anymore. Jake doesn’t want to, but when the friend … Continue reading