Whatcha Talkin' About Willis? Only Ginger Simpson Can Explain.

Happy New Year, Everyone!  As we start another attempt at dieting, saving money or whatever resolutions you made, I've decided that better promotion of my work is going to be my goal...so, to that end, I'm sharing a post from my own blog with you.  I love Ellie and Ty and the tension they create between themselves.  I hope you'll want to find out more...in the meantime, here's a little history:

 

With the help of Books We Love, I decided to re-release the book that was voted best historical romance of 2009 by Love Romance Cafe.  What debuted as Sparta Rose has now become Ellie's Legacy because I definitely thought the story was worth an attempt to garner more readership.  The one thing that surprised me the most when I promoted the book as a "Western" historical romance, was finding out that anything on the east side of the Mississippi river is not considered a western.  Dang!

But then, I was recently reading this wonderful book The Politically Incorrect Guide to The South (and Why It Will Rise Again) by Clint Johnson, and I pretty much felt vindicated in having my story take place in Tennessee and still consider Ellie's Legacy a western-themed novel.

Now please note that all of my references here are attributed to Mr. Johnson who, I must say, wrote a very compelling and moving history of the South.  I learned a lot from this book, especially discovering that the western expansion of the United States is due largely to 140 southerners who had "adopted" God's will that the United States spread from ocean to ocean.  The period of time was between 1830 and 1850, and of the six presidents who served during this period, five were from the south.  The following details were provided by Mr. Johnson's research:

In the mid 1840s - Georgia-born John C. Fremont and Kentucky-born Kit Carson headed explorations of the west, mapping and exploring routes to encourage settlers to travel of California and Oregon.

The Mexican War (1846-1848) was led by Virginia-born generals Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott.  The president at the time was James K. Polk who hailed from North Carolina and Tennessee.

After the Mexican War, The Gadsden Purchase, made by South Carolinian, James Gadsden, acquired portions of Arizona and New Mexico to hopefully allow for a cross-country railroad stretching from the south to California.

Had not these brave souls from the south had the chutzpah to explore uncharted lands, unlike New Englanders who wanted to limit the size of the Union, we might never have realized life in the old west as we know it.  As Mr. Johnson states, in this case,"we would not have been a United States stretching from 'sea to shining sea.'"

So, I'm quite proud my ranch foreman, Tyler Bishop is patterned after the Stetson-wearing, rope-tossing cowboys of the west.  I can guarantee, if you read the book, you won't see much difference between Tennessee pride and that of those who settled in the areas we recognize from TV cowboy and Indian sagas.  In fact, if you read a lot of historical novels, you might recall that the lion's share of wagon trains began in Missouri with folks headed for Oregon and California.  They don't call "it" the "Oregon trail" for nothin'. 

There are so many things I didn't know about the south...  Little things like: Fourteen of the nation's top Ivy League schools are in the south, and since the inception of the Miss America pageant in 1921, one-third of the winners have been southern. Slavery was not legalized in the south, and the Confederate battle flag is symbolic of Christianity, modeled after St. Andrew's Cross (seen in Scotland's national flag and in the Union Jack of Great Britain.)

 I was born and raised in California, but since moving to Tennessee, I've come to the conclusion I was meant to be here.  Pride, honor and faith is alive and well in the south.

By the way, if you'd like to check out my work, please visit my website where I have all my books featured, along with videos/blurbs. I'm happy to say I'm still alive and kicking, and as long as I am, I'll keep pumping out western historical novels. I'm currently working on two historicals...Yellow Moon and The Well.  Yep...it means a lot of research, but I'm learning as I go.  Oh, and my BWL page is http://www.bookswelove.com/gingersimpson.php.  Note from Ginger....I finished Yellow Moon and will be submitting it soon.

Special thanks to my friend Ronnie Brown who loaned me The Politically Incorrect Guide to the South by Clint Johnson, and again to Mr. Johnson for letting me in on his southern knowledge.  Loved it!

Lady Sippington requests the pleasure of....by Sheila Claydon

As I promised, today I'm going to introduce you to Lady Sippington. I met her in Sydney where she was visiting family and I very quickly learned a lot about her.

She lives in Sippington Mansion which is a grand old house with more rooms that Lady Sippington knows what to do with. She says it's a big house for just one person but she does her best because she believes in looking after things. She also has a maid, Miss Chambers, not because she needs looking after because she's quite capable of taking care of herself, but because she believes in traditions, so Miss Chambers keeps the house tidy and makes the tea.

Tea, you see, is Lady Sippington's raison d'être. She knows a lot about tea - how to pour it (right hand on the handle, left hand holding the lid), how to hold it (pinch the teacup handle with finger and thumb and it's pinkie down not pinkie up), and how to serve it (with finger sandwiches, scones and an assortment of delicious cakes on a tiered stand). She can even tell a person's character by the tea they drink. She says a person who likes a strong breakfast blend is steadfast and reliable whereas romantic and creative people choose Earl Grey, and someone who orders extra strong tea with lemon can be stubborn and demanding. Of course I don't know if this is true but you don't argue with Lady Sippington. I mean how can you argue with someone who knows precisely how to serve and eat a scone.

Apparently you have to place the scone on your plate, then break off a piece and apply the cream by turning the spoon over and moving it slowly downwards. You then take the jam spoon and drop the jam on top of the cream.

She knows so much about the different types of tea too. Just recently, when she was hosting afternoon tea at Neiman Marcus White Plains, she happily conversed about Jardin Bleu, Gout Russe, Vanilla Decaffeinated, Green Yellow Lemon, White Anji, Chamomile and even Nutmeg Chai Latte, as well as Breakfast Tea and her beloved Early Gray. I had no idea there were so many and she tells me there are a whole lot more.

I could talk about Lady Sippington all day without doing her justice, so I'm going to let you find out all about her for yourself. You can find her at http://ladysippington.com, where she gives advice about tea and some recipes too if you are interested in serving a real English afternoon tea. If you live anywhere near White Plains, New York of course, you may be able to take tea with her at Mariposa, where she hopes to make it the best teatime experience in Westchester.

With thanks to Nina Daryanani, a tea loving English girl living in New York.

Books We Love New Releases from Ginger Simpson and Killarney Sheffield

Yellow Moon by Ginger Simpson

Yellow Moon, a Lakota maiden, accompanies her family to the Sun Dance and becomes promised to a Santee warrior who’ll soon be chief. While accompanying Thunder Eyes’ clan back to his tribe, she and the other women are stolen by the Crow, and while in Plenty Coup’s camp is told she’ll become his second wife rather than be a slave. She finds friendship and help at the hands of his first wife, a Cherokee captive called Pretty Shield. 

When Thunder Eye’s comes to rescue his betrothed, she begs him to take her newfound friend along, and the two women eventually become sisters-in-law. When the Crow come to extract their revenge, fate changes their destiny in a big way. 

 

Available Now

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00S3V102K

 

 

Rags to Romance by Killarney Sheffield

 

Finny Donelly is not lady-like, in fact she isn’t a lady at all, she was born in White Chapel, the slums of 1858 London. When Devon Dowell, an adventure seeking lord stumbles upon her he figures she is sure to teach his overbearing, society climbing stepmother a lesson about meddling in his affairs. He couldn’t be more wrong. When Finny collaborates with Lord Dowell’s sister to win his love he gets more adventure than he bargains for. Can the scrawny girl in rags really be his dream lady? 

Available January 31 from Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00S6LH5ZI