HISTORICAL FICTION

On Promised Land | The Adventures of Elizabeth Fortune | Kansas Dreamer | Spotted Flower and the Ponokomita | Hammer Come Down


HAMMER COME DOWN: Memoirs of a Freedman


Available in Print and for Kindle and Nook

The 1836 Creek Indian war changes the lives of two young men when an Alabama plantation is destroyed. Devastated by the loss of family and friends, the slave, Jason heads West with his master, Tolin Cobb. In the west, Jason survives various adventures at Fort Laramie, in Independence, Missouri, and in Indian Territory; each shows him different levels of freedom. Through a generous dollop of fate, Jason even finds his true love who had been missing since the Alabama war, making the freedom he attains much more complete than anything he imagined.

"...Hammer Come Down: Memoirs of a Freedman is a powerful tale of an epic journey by Jason Cobb: an undertaking that promises a new beginning and an inauspicious future. Kae Cheatham writes eloquently and delivers a top notch story. –Mike Kearby, author, A Hundred Miles to Water

Peruse more reviews, and read an excerpt at the Hammer Comes Down pages


ON PROMISED LAND


Kindle | Print edition | NOOK

ON PROMISED LAND is set in the 1840s at the end of the Second Seminole War. It details the great American dream of all pioneers who settled the western lands. But these are black pioneers. Black-Seminole: Tru, free-born in the Everglades and recently orphaned; his two younger siblings, Toby and Kate and his teenage Calusa wife, Tall Deer. These stalwart, industrious folk strive and survive in what we think of as the "American Way" even when they aren't recognized as Americans--or Seminoles--or free. Yet they persist.

THE ADVENTURES OF ELIZABETH FORTUNE

This book is available on KINDLE, NOOK, and as a second printing released in August, 2010.

In 1870, Elizabeth Fortune is more spunky than most young women, but those attributes are often a cover for the despair she feels at being without family. Her white mother died when she was five, and her black-Indian father is in the Southwest with the Ninth Cavalry. When Elizabeth's maternal grandfather disowns her, she leaves Oberlin College and heads West. She feels certain that when she finds her father, her life will stop its rough tumble. But her trip produces a variety of hardships, beginning when she runs out of money in Ellsworth, Kansas, which results in her maiming the son of dangerous outlaw leader Gabe Tillison. She must rely on all her personal resources as she escapes Tillison's wrath and travels the Santa Fe Trail toward New Mexico. For a young woman in 1870, that's hard enough, but for someone of mixed American Indian, African American, and Anglo American heritage, it's a challenge that few could manage.

"If you're in the mood for a rip-roarin' Western, one with action and adventure, bad guys so rotten you want to boo out loud, gunplay and getaways, reach for The Adventures of Elizabeth Fortune..." —Great Falls Tribune
"...Sure to appeal to Western fans in general, The Adventures of Elizabeth Fortune has extra interest for anyone into ethnic fiction. Recommended." —S. Ardrian, Fearless Books.com

Peruse more reviews, and read an excerpt at the Fortune pages


This title is available in print, on Kindle, NOOK, and as an audio book

KANSAS DREAMER: Fury in Sumner County

In 1868, very few settlers stopped in southern Kansas. The big cattle drives, so often associated with West, were only a year old. As yet there were no six shooters, no cowboy boots, no barbed wire. But mysticism and divination the were widely accepted. Meet Ellen Hargrove who, recently widowed, has returned home to her family's trading post along the Chisholm Trail. Ellen has always been troubled by psychic occurrences; but now she is challenged by knowledge about murders in her own community. How can she convince Marshal Stamford that what she "sees" is true? Or maybe it isn't. Perhaps Reed Carter, the gambler who is courting her, is more involved in the area cattle rustlings than she thinks. FURY IN SUMNER COUNTY gives authentic details of pioneering and cattle drives and the events are punctuated by turbulent Kansas weather. The true story, however, lies in its mystery, where Ellen not only aids in the criminal capture, but finally comes to terms with her own unique talents.

...Kansas Dreamer: Fury in Sumner County is firmly rooted in the history of the area and is a truly fine read. The main character, Ellen Hargrove, captures the readers' imagination immediately. The well drawn supporting characters, the clear description of the setting and plenty of fast-paced action hold the readers' interest throughout the book. —Anne Holt, Western Fiction Review

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Read the reader's comments, and an excerpt at the Kansas Dreamer pages


Third printing,young-reader book, available in print and for KINDLE and NOOK.

SPOTTED FLOWER AND THE PONOKOMITA

Meet the horse through the eyes of someone who has never seen one! Native Americans of the North American plains are generally depicted as horsemen, but that is only a recent part of their culture. Based on historical facts and legends, this book offers high adventure and accurate information about the 18th century Blackfoot Nation before the horse culture began. The feelings and attitudes of the heroine, Spotted Flower, are skillfully brought in focus as Spotted Flower finds a ponokomita (horse) on the Northern Plains (Montana) in the 1730s. Cautiously she makes friends with the beast and leads it to her village. It's just the right blend of story and fact that will delight younger readers. Engaging cover and illustrations by American Indian artist Louise Ogemahgeshig Fischer bring the story extra life. Excellent for North American Indian studies.

"Spotted Flower and the Ponokomita, has a plot, an idea and a pace suitable to today's young person. Absorbing details about Blackfeet family values and their passion for animals and curiosity about people win the approval of parents and teachers." — Help Books Newsletter
"Set in the northern Plains...this is a well-paced story about an intelligent, resourceful 14-year-old Blackfeet Indian girl. Spotted Flower is able to elude capture and survive hunger and miles of walking to catch up to her people fleeing Shoshoni invaders. She encounters a riderless horse, wounded in a buffalo stampede, and, overcoming her fear takes the animal (which she calls a ponokomita or "elk that works like a dog") to her people so they can use it to rescue her two captured girl friends...Accurate background information has been carefully integrated into a credible and consciously non-sexist piece of historical fiction." —Library Journal

Peruse more reviews, and read an excerpt at the Spotted Flower pages

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