A warm welcome to author Marie Sexton joining us today here at Love Bytes

Welcome Marie 🙂

Falling Down the Research Rabbit Hole

Hi, everybody, I’m Marie Sexton, and I’m here today to talk about my new release, Winter Oranges.

One of the questions I keep expecting to be asked about Winter Oranges is why I decided to make Ben from the south. Having been born in 1840 and imprisoned in his magical jail since 1861, his history was all tied up in the Civil War. So why would I choose to make Ben’s family not only southern, but slave owners as well?

The simple reason, to be honest, is research. I don’t know if I’ve ever had so many interesting links bookmarked after writing a story. I had to research the origin of snow globes, conscription during the Civil War, treatment for asthma in the 19^th century, cursed antiques, acting techniques (especially with regard to sex scenes), the stages of sleep, Christmas traditions and ski resorts in and near Coeur D’Alene, and how many steps equaled a mile.

I originally planned to set Winter Oranges in West Virginia. I’m not really sure why. I think it was mostly because it was far from Hollywood. Also, I knew the story began in the fall, and I knew West Virginia would be particularly beautiful that time of year. So my Civil War research began there. I later moved the story to Idaho, because I needed Dylan to be able to get back and forth from California in a relatively short amount of time, but by that time, I’d found enough fun tidbits about the south during the Civil War era that I didn’t want to change Ben’s background. (Not to mention that the farther the globe was from Ben’s birthplace, the more believable it was that he’d never before encountered any of his sister’s descendants.)

One of the first things I discovered in my research was that our view of the Civil War, from the cushy comfort of the 21^st century, is rather skewed. Now, on some level, I knew this already – I do have a degree in history, after all, although my course of study was Cold War, not Civil War – but it wasn’t something I’d thought much about in years. But between research for Winter Oranges and reading Lyndsay Faye’s Timothy Wilde series (which is amazing, by the way), I became a bit obsessed with a few key points.

1. Not all northerners were anti-slavery.
2. Not all southerners were pro-slavery.
3. Only about one-third of all southern households owned slaves.
4. Of that one-third, 88% owned fewer than twenty slaves, and nearly half owned fewer than five.
5. (source: http://civilwarcauses.org/stat.htm)

Now, this should in no way be construed as me saying that slave ownership is okay as long as you only own a few. I am NOT saying that! I’ve been afraid to write this blog post at all for fear people would claim I’m trying to justify slavery. NO! Rest assured, I believe wholeheartedly that slavery is 100% wrong, no matter the circumstances. My only point is to say that here and now, in the 21^st century, our perception of the Civil War has become a bit simplistic. We tend to equate “southerner” with “evil plantation owner,” and “northerner” with “goodhearted abolitionist,” but those are gross generalizations. There were plenty of southerners who were against slavery, and plenty of northerners who were perfectly happy to let it continue. And while the moral dilemma of slavery is quite simple (it’s bad!), the political implications at the time were complex enough to literally tear our country apart.

In the end, I chose to make Ben from Tennessee because it was a state that was as divided over the issue as our country eventually became. (Even though they ended up siding with the south, the eastern portion of the state was heavily pro-Union). And despite our desire to believe that all northerners were enthusiastic in their anti-slavery campaign, the truth is, desertion was a far bigger problem for the Union army than it was for the Confederates.

(source: http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=265)

(source: http://www.civilwarhome.com/desertion.htm)

One of the most interesting things I found in my research was how Thanksgiving actually became a Civil War issue. After all, there was no way I could write a story that started in the fall and ended on Christmas without also including Thanksgiving. But once again, my degree in history (or, to be more accurate, my memory of what I learned while earning that degree) failed me. Of course I knew that the whole “the settlers and the natives settled down for a lovely meal together” was crap. But beyond that? I honestly couldn’t remember a damn thing.

Thank goodness for Google!

Even now, there’s some debate as to what can or can’t be called the first Thanksgiving, but one thing we know for certain is that it wasn’t an official holiday before the Civil War. By the 1840s, the idea of Thanksgiving had spread (although it was often celebrated on December 31, rather than in November), but it wasn’t a national thing. It varied from state to state, year to year. Once hostilities between the north and south began to escalate, the south mostly thought of Thanksgiving as a something those damn puritan, Yankee abolitionists had thought up to force upon poor, innocent Southerners. It wasn’t until 1863, at the height of the Civil War, that Abraham Lincoln issued a statement declaring a nation-wide day of Thanksgiving, and “entreating all Americans to ask God to ‘commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife’ and to ‘heal the wounds of the nation.'”

(source: http://www.history.com/topics/thanksgiving/history-of-thanksgiving)

Well, as you can imagine, the South wasn’t too crazy about anything Lincoln proposed, Thanksgiving included. In 1873, the Alexandria Gazette reported, “The President’s Thanksgiving Day was observed here only partially, all the grafts of New England custom upon a Virginia stock having so far found but moderate growth.” It wasn’t until late in the 19^th century that the south finally decided Thanksgiving might be fun after all (even if it was Lincoln’s doing). (It should be noted, Lincoln didn’t proclaim Thanksgiving a national holiday for all time. He merely set a precedent of declaring a day of Thanksgiving at the end of November, which every succeeding president has continued. And Lincoln did so at the urging of Sarah Josepha Hale, best known as the author of Mary Had a Little Lamb. She was the most outspoken proponent of Thanksgiving. Check out the link below for a great article on the subject.)

(source: http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/11/history-southern-thanksgiving.html)

So, having babbled on for a while, the question remains: why is Ben from the south? Because I fell down the research rabbit hole! Hopefully, once you’ve read Winter Oranges, you’ll think it was worth it. 🙂

About the Book

Jason Walker is a child star turned teen heartthrob turned reluctant B-movie regular who’s sick of his failing career. So he gives up Hollywood for northern Idaho, far away from the press, the drama of LA, and the best friend he’s secretly been in love with for years.

There’s only one problem with his new life: a strange young man only he can see is haunting his guesthouse. Except Benjamin Ward isn’t a ghost. He’s a man caught out of time, trapped since the Civil War in a magical prison where he can only watch the lives of those around him. He’s also sweet, funny, and cute as hell, with an affinity for cheesy ’80s TV shows. And he’s thrilled to finally have someone to talk to.

But Jason quickly discovers that spending all his time with a man nobody else can see or hear isn’t without its problems—especially when the tabloids find him again and make him front-page news. The local sheriff thinks he’s on drugs, and his best friend thinks he’s crazy. But Jason knows he hasn’t lost his mind. Too bad he can’t say the same thing about his heart.

 

Winter Oranges is one of Riptide’s 2015 charity titles.

Twenty percent of the proceeds from this title will be donated to the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender (GLBT) National Help Center.

Founded in 1996, the GLBT National Help Center is a non-profit organization that provides vital peer-support, community connections and resource information to people with questions regarding sexual orientation and/or gender identity. Utilizing a diverse group of GLBT volunteers, they operate two national hotlines, the GLBT National Hotline and the GLBT National Youth Talkline, as well as private, volunteer one-to-one online chat, that help both youth and adults with coming-out issues, safer-sex information, school bullying, family concerns, relationship problems and a lot more.

To learn more about this charity or to donate directly, please visit their website: http://www.glbthotline.org/

Buy Links:

Riptide Publishing

Amazon

Marie Sexton lives in Colorado. She’s a fan of just about anything that involves muscular young men piling on top of each other. In particular, she loves the Denver Broncos and enjoys going to the games with her husband. Her imaginary friends often tag along.

Marie has one daughter, two cats, and one dog, all of whom seem bent on destroying what remains of her sanity. She loves them anyway.

Connect with Marie:

• Website: MarieSexton.net
• Twitter: @MarieSexton
• Facebook: facebook.com/MarieSexton.author
• Goodreads: goodreads.com/MarieSexton

To celebrate the release of Winter Oranges, Marie Sexton is giving away two titles from her backlist and a $50 Amazon gift card! Your first comment at each stop on this tour enters you in the drawing. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on December 5, 2015. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. Entries. Follow the tour for more opportunities to enter the giveaway! Don’t forget to leave your email or method of contact so Riptide can reach you if you win!