Judging a Book by its Cover

There have been a lot of comments about the cover of Checkmate: Clans and Castles. Eye-catching and unusual, reviewers and contest judges have been keen to connect the dots between all the different elements, leading to this post on the thought that goes into a cover.

The background is a photograph of fire, inspired by the fact that “all of Ulster was burning.” The fires began in Derry, bordered by the River Foyle to the east and County Donegal to the west, set by the last Gaelic Irish King of Ireland, Cahir O’Doherty, and his men at the same time as O’Doherty killed Derry’s Governor, Sir George Paulet.

William Neely and others that had sworn allegiance to King James were a scant group against O’Doherty’s more powerful and numerous forces and as the sun set, Wills asked, “What day is this? I am afraid I do not even know the date.”

The men thought for a moment. “April 19,” Tomas said finally. “A Tuesday, it is.”

They fell silent then, each with his own thoughts, as the last vestiges of the sun descended beyond the horizon. It was odd in a way, Wills thought; he could not recall a single day in which it had not rained. Even on the most beautiful of mornings with naught a cloud in the sky, there was always rain by afternoon. It was the hide of the beast, being on an island such as this with nothing to stop the clouds as they blew over the Atlantic. And it was the reason, he knew, for the varied shades of green; for the forests that sprang back up even after they had been trampled down or burned out; for the lush vegetation that stubbornly grew amidst the rocks and the limestone. And yet on this date—Tuesday, April 19, 1608—as Derry was torched and burned to the ground, not a single drop of rain had fallen to douse her flames.

O’Doherty would rally all of Ulster together, joining clans that had traditionally fought against one another, in a brazen attempt to regain Ireland and drive the English and Protestant Scots from their island, depicted on the cover as soldiers on horseback within the outline of chess pieces:

All of Ulster was burning.

Colonists flooded the tiny settlement of Fort Stewart in the ensuing days; each questioned regarding their village, its inhabitants and possible identification of clans involved. They came from the east and west, north and south, all with the same tale: surprise attacks, civilians ordered out of their homes before they were torched, and men killed when they fought back. They came in overwhelming forces flying flags of a dozen or more clans and in each instance they were urged to return to their native countries. It appeared as if the Irish were expelling the immigrants and there was nothing and no one to stop them.

Some simply passed through on their way to Donegal and a ship to carry them back to their native country. Others were en route to Dublin, where they believed they would be safer. Outside of Ulster, there was unrest but nothing like the uncertainty of attacks and rebellion they faced here.

From the fields, he could watch the water on Drongawn Lough and his eyes would inevitably wander to the land mass on the other side of it; O’Doherty property, it lay like a silent sentinel, waiting, waiting.

The chess outlines were inspired by this scene that included an altercation between Cahir O’Doherty and George Paulet:

Cahir made a move for the sword he carried across his back, but Phelim held him steady. “Not here,” he said, the pressure on Cahir’s shoulder visibly increasing. “Pick your place and time.”

After an awkward moment, Cahir glanced meaningfully at the chess board and said, “You have allowed yourself to become flanked.” With that, he reluctantly shifted his eyes away from Paulet and slowly continued toward the door. When Wills turned back to the bar, he found three mugs waiting and Fergus had joined his side.

“I’ll just be taking these two,” Fergus said, his large hands grasping two mugs.

As Paulet returned to his chair, he shouted, “Serving wench! Where is that disgusting bint? Bring me another ale. Someone has absconded with mine!”

Wills made a move to point out Paulet’s mug but Fergus moved into his line of vision. “Don’t,” he said. “Stay out of it.”

“I am afraid,” Paulet’s chess partner stated, moving his bishop to capture Paulet’s king, “that the ruffian was quite correct. I flanked you, dear George, and now your king is finished. Checkmate.”

Usually, only one of the elements would have been used on the cover: the fire, the men or the chess pieces. But the book is non-stop action and adventure as William Neely seeks to find his fortune and his future in Ulster, only to be caught up in O’Doherty’s Rebellion. The Neely family had originally lived in Ulster, ironically in and around the Inishowen Peninsula that the O’Doherty family ruled for over a thousand years. They left in the 13^th century for Scotland, and William returned in 1608. As O’Doherty’s Rebellion broke out, he had a choice: to remain loyal to King James I of England or switch sides and fight alongside men that might have been his distant cousins.

Watch the book trailer below or on this page: https://pmterrell.com/checkmate-clans-and-castles/

The book is available in all book stores; if you don’t see it on the shelf, ask for it. Or you can buy it today on amazon. It is also available in all ebook formats.

Slaying Some Dragons

[If you’d prefer to watch a video version of this blog, visit my YouTube Channel: https://youtu.be/uJBkk6BjE6U or watch at the bottom of this blog.]

Heroes in real life as well as in fiction encounter a variety of dragons they must slay. Some are internal, some external, and some require them to leave their families behind in order to experience the journey toward their ultimate purpose or mission.

Homer Hickam is a West Virginia coal miner’s son. His father, his extended family and his community expected him to follow his father’s path and vocation into the coal mines. His memoir, Rocket Boys, tells of his father’s adamant opposition to Homer’s obsession with rocketry after the first Sputnik launch. While other teens were preparing for a life underground, he was experimenting with propulsion even though his father, a mine superintendent, was a constant reminder that his life seemed predestined for the harsh life of a coal miner.

In order for Homer to fulfill his true destiny, he had to break free of the invisible constraints of his environment. Instinctively, he put together a team of adults and fellow students that shared a belief in him and his ideas. Failing miserably at first with cherry bomb rockets, he refused to give up, eventually designing a rocket known as Auk XXXI that propelled 31,000 feet in altitude and going on to win a Gold Medal at the 1960 National Science Fair.

He left home, as so many heroes must do, first to attend Virginia Tech for a degree in Industrial Engineering, and then to join the military, eventually winding up in Huntsville, Alabama with the United States Army Aviation and Missile Command. His fascination and expertise in rocketry and space led him to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), where he worked on the Hubble Space Telescope deployment mission, trained crews for a number of Space Shuttle and Spacelab missions, and even worked on the International Space Station Program.

Homer, like every hero, discovers people in his community that are supportive of his ideas, providing advice and guidance. In fiction, often these are sages that may never leave home themselves; from the rather mundane life of a school teacher in coal country to unadorned, sometimes drab homes of an oracle or philosopher. Sometimes these individuals open the hero’s eyes to a life he could not otherwise have imagined. Other times, they open the hero’s eyes to his own internal capabilities and talents.

Sometimes the hero is able to perform his mission without ever leaving his community, but most often they find themselves on a journey that takes them far from home. In Checkmate: Clans and Castles, my ancestor William Neely leaves his home in Scotland to seek his fortune and his fate in Ulster. That move would set off a chain of events not only for himself but also for his descendants, eventually leading his great-grandchildren to immigrate to America. One descendant, another William Neely, would be one of the first to settle Fort Nashborough, clearing the area of trees around the fort so unfriendly Indian tribes could be spotted earlier. William would die in a Shawnee attack, his daughter Mary captured and held as a slave for three years before managing to escape.

In each of their lives, they followed the hero’s journey: William Neely of 1608 venturing away from all he had ever known to follow his destiny in Ireland; William Neely of 1779 moving his cattle westward, his family following on their own fateful river journey that would change their lives forever (River Passage); and Mary Neely’s capture, captivity and escape in which she had to find the hero within herself not only to persevere and survive but eventually to triumph over her captors (Songbirds are Free).

Books show us what is possible in our lives even when we are surrounded by people insisting on us living mediocre lives. They open the door to different worlds, various cultures, bygone eras and always, always the hero. And in the end, they show us that in each of us lives a hero; in each of us lives a mission and a purpose that not only propels us forward but reaches back to offer a hand to those behind us, lighting the way. And with each one that follows, the trail becomes wider, the dragons sparser, the journey easier.

Watch the vlog on YouTube or below:

What if you could walk in your ancestor's footsteps?

What if you could walk in your ancestor’s footsteps?

Today’s environment comes with a host of challenges, including economic recession, political drama, declining industries, a shrinking middle class, wars and threats on multiple fronts. It might be easy to come to the conclusion that living in today’s day and age poses more challenges than ever.

But what if you could take a step back in time to live as your ancestors did? What do you suppose you would find there?

I discovered a series entitled Victorian Slum House that takes modern-day families and places them in the environment of their ancestors. The day-to-day struggles are an eye-opener. Consider that during the 1870’s the average lifespan in areas of London was 28. Or the 91,000 Irish that immigrated to London in search of work, many of whom came because they had watched their own family members starve to death during the potato famine. One couple, when arriving in London, discovered lodging meant renting a coffin-shaped bed for eight hours, surrounded by dozens of others; or when the bed could not be afforded, one could sit on a wood bench with a rope that prevented falling off it during sleep for half the cost.

It may be easy to think that if we are doing well economically today, our ancestors did as well. Perhaps we have an image of our ancestors living a simpler life but having all they needed—plenty of food, a stable roof over their heads and adequate, steady employment. The reality, however, may be far from that.

When I began writing Clans and Castles, the first book in the Checkmate series, I was astounded at all I learned about Wigtownshire, Scotland in the early 17^th century. The Lowlands of Scotland had become so deforested that it was a crime to cut off a branch, fell a tree or damage a sapling. Tenants often received their homes as part of their payment for work on a laird’s property, and they were moved on an annual basis. Because of that, they tended to build houses that could be erected within two days’ time and often blew away during major storms. They did not understand rudimentary agriculture such as irrigation but often thought if the land was too wet or too dry, it was simply “God’s will”.

It was that environment that my ancestor, William Neely, was born into. At the age of 18, he had the opportunity to leave Wigtownshire for Ulster—an opportunity he jumped at. In the scene below, Wills is with his friends Fergus and Tomas discussing a beautiful woman he has fallen in love with but her father doesn’t seem too keen on him:

“You have been unusually silent since you returned from dinner last eve,” Tomas said. “Things didn’t go well with the lass?”

Wills sighed. “They went well with her, aye. ‘Tis her father I am worried about.”

“What’s the story there, ‘ey?”

With the ropes secured and a short stretch of northward sail before them, Wills leaned against the railing and looked his friend in the eye for a moment. “I am afraid he could be looking for a nobleman for his daughter.”

“Ha! And didn’t we tell you?” Fergus said. “What would she want with the likes of you? More importantly, what would her da want?”

“What of your family?” Tomas pressed.

Wills shrugged. “Truth be told about it, they are tenant farmers—same as the three of us are here. Oh, and for sure, the Neely family has a decent reputation, one that has served us well. It has been a long time since our house and lands were rotated, so the house is sturdier than most and we’ve served the same laird for several generations now, we have.”

“Ah, but there’s the rub, ‘ey? Her father is looking for a nobleman for his daughter; a landowner. And a tenant farmer never owns the land himself, now does he? He tills it or he ranches it for the pleasure of the laird, and at his displeasure, he can be sent packing. ‘Ey?”

He nodded and turned to face the ocean waves. The mists were heavy this morning, the skies gray like his heart at the moment. “But though her da has lived in Donegal for two decades, at least, I had the impression his family was not of there.”

“Aye?”

“So why does a man leave all he has ever known for the wilderness of Donegal?” Without waiting for a reply, he jabbed his finger in their direction. “I’ll tell you this, I will. No man leaves home if there is something there for him.”

“Are you suggesting—?”

“I am suggesting that Varney Ó Dálaigh is a self-made man himself. See, here’s the thing: when a man is at the top of the heap, there is no reason for him to leave that. He may own lands, a manor house or a castle, even; he might have the ear of his noblemen neighbors, a place in his community. Why would he give up all of that to travel to a place so vastly different?”

Fergus and Tomas grunted but whether they approved of his logic, Wills couldn’t tell. After another moment of thought, he added, “I’d be willing to bet, I would, that he had nothing to keep him close to his family for a man does not leave home unless he sees a brighter future for himself and his children elsewhere. He brought his wife to Donegal as well, which means at the time he knew he would not likely be returning, and with his two daughters having been born in Donegal, I believe it’s safe to say that he has determined he is better off now than he was before.”

“So where does that leave you?” Tomas asked.

“Truth be told, I left Wigtownshire for the same reason, I did. I knew I was leaving. I just didn’t know when or how.”

“But that doesn’t answer the question, now does it?”

“Oh, I have an answer alright. I do. I came to Ireland to make something more of myself than I figured I could do where I was. And that I will do, or die trying. It’s just now the timetable has sped up a bit, ‘ey?”

If you could place yourself in your ancestor’s shoes, where would you be? Who would you be? How vastly different would your life be from what you are experiencing today, here, in the 21^st century?

My ancestor’s life was to change dramatically when Cahir O’Doherty, the last Gaelic Irish King, launched O’Doherty’s Rebellion and he found himself fighting for King James I of England. His actions on the battlefield would set in motion not only his own fate but those of future generations. Here’s a trailer from the book:

p.m.terrell is the award-winning, internationally acclaimed author of more than 21 books, including Songbirds are Free, the true story of Mary Neely’s capture by Shawnee warriors; River Passage, the true story of John Donelson’s river journey to Fort Nashborough; the award-winning series Black Swamp Mysteries and award-winning Ryan O’Clery Mysteries, and more. A full-time writer since 2002, she founded Book‘Em North Carolina and The NovelBusiness to assist other authors and connect readers and authors. Visit www.pmterrell.com for more information.

Behind the Bloody Hand

While visiting my ancestral home in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, it is impossible to escape the images of the bloody hand. It appears in various forms, sometimes with lions, a fish, a crown or a knight’s helmet. It can be found on the side of buildings, on flags, at sports complexes or in pubs. And they all tie into the O’Neill’s family crest.

I wrote about the bloody hand in my latest book, Clans and Castles, the first in the new Checkmate series of historical books about my ancestors. The scene takes place in 1608 between my ancestor, William Neely, and an Irish lady named Penarddun who had sewn the Neely family crest for him:

Penarddun slipped her long fingers under the wool and retrieved a piece of material that had quite obviously been painstakingly constructed. In the center was a castle with three turrets sewn in a grayish-black color, above which was the Red Hand of the O’Neill clan.

“Do you know what this is, lad?” she asked.

“I am afraid I do not, Lady Penarddun, though I have seen the hand.”

“Aye, and I am sure you have. It is the Bloody Hand of the Clan O’Neill. It is said that in the days of the Celts, several great chieftains sailed across the waters. They spotted the beautiful Irish coast and as their eyes fell on the magnificent shades of green, they debated who would lay claim to her. Ah, but they were powerful competitors, they were, and after great deliberation they decided they would each row a boat toward the land and whosoever touched her first would lay claim to her.”

She placed both hands on her knees, her eyes staring into the forest and yet seeing something miles and centuries apart. “So off they rowed, and it was a fierce competition, it was. The weaker ones dropped back and seeing that all was lost, they watched as two neared the shore. Oh, they were so close that none could tell who would reach it first and as the final stretch was there for the taking, Niall could not bear to lose that beautiful, precious land. So he reached to his axe and he severed his left hand at the wrist and with his right, he tossed it to shore.”

“Oh.”

She smiled. “Aye, and so Niall won, you see, for it was his hand that touched Eire first. It was in the days before we were told we needed last names… So his descendants called themselves ‘uá Niáll’ to mark themselves as the children of the champion, and it’s since been changed to O’Neill. And there you have it.”

As she handed him the material, he said, “You are too kind, Lady Penarddun. But I do not understand what the Bloody Hand of The O’Neill—”

“Your ancestors, dear boy, were descendants of Niall. You are related to the O’Neill clan.”

This was a bombshell revelation to my ancestor because O’Doherty’s Rebellion had begun. Led by the last Gaelic Irish King Cahir O’Doherty, clans that included the O’Neill, Maguire, O’Cahan, O’Donnell, MacSweeney and more united against the Scottish and English settlers, burning their settlements in an attempt to drive them out of Ulster. But Wills, who had immigrated to Ireland from Wigtownshire, Scotland in 1608, was to discover that four hundred years earlier, the Neely family had left Ireland for Scotland—which meant he had come full circle. It also meant that he would soon face off against distant relatives on more than one battlefield; one side would fight to the death to keep Ireland Irish while the other would fight for King James I of England to claim it as a colony.

The words on the Neely family crest mean “One Family, Several Countries” as the family eventually immigrated to such diverse places as Canada, the United States and Australia. Shown here is a modernized version of the family crest.

I did not know what I would find when I began to explore William Neely’s journey from Scotland to Ireland. I found much more than I could have imagined because it was a fascinating period where cultures collided; the Gaelic Irish population against the Scottish and English settlers, the Gaelic Kings against Queen Elizabeth I and then King James I, ultimately the Catholic faith against the Church of Ireland’s Protestants, betrayal… and death.

Below is a trailer:

Clans and Castles, the first book in the Checkmate series is now available on amazon in Kindle and Paperback, and will be in all bookstores on June 1. Autographed copies can also be ordered from the author’s website. p.m.terrell is the award-winning, internationally acclaimed author of more than 21 books in a variety of genres.

A Journey of the Scot-Irish

The odyssey into my family's history has taken me to unexpected places, and anyone of Scot-Irish (or Scotch-Irish or Scots-Irish) descent likely has ancestors that traveled a similar path. Scotland is only twenty miles or so across the Irish Sea from Ireland and the inhabitants of both countries likely sailed from one country to the other at various times. But the modern version of the Scot-Irish descendent has its roots in the 17th century and specifically between 1606 and 1652.

In the late 16th century, Spain and England were at war. And in 1588, Philip II of Spain dispatched 130 ships in a failed effort to invade England. Having been defeated at the Battle of Gravelines, the Spanish ships attempted to return home by taking a route around western Ireland when they were caught by a massive storm, blown off course and onto Ireland’s western coast. Queen Elizabeth I believed the Spaniards were attempting to occupy Ireland and she sent a substantial force to stop the invasion. With rumors that Spain was sending additional troops to assist Ulster’s Hugh O’Neill in driving out the English, the English onslaught was merciless. Around 5,000 Spanish were killed and those few that survived escaped across Ireland and the Irish Sea to Scotland and the English occupation of Ireland began in earnest.

When King James I ascended to the English thrown after Elizabeth's death, the age of colonization began in full swing. King James wanted more Protestants loyal to the English Crown in Ireland to prevent Spain from attempting another invasion and to ensure that Ireland remained an English colony. Scottish Lowlanders were encouraged to relocate to Ireland, particularly Ulster. Scottish Highlanders were forbidden from participating in the relocation because they were largely Catholic and they had been less agreeable to England (to put it mildly).

In 1608, my ancestor, William Neely of Wigtownshire, joined Captain William Stewart and moved to Donegal. Fort Stewart was eventually erected on the Lough Swilly just across the water from the Inishowen Peninsula. That Peninsula was in the firm control of Sir Cahir O'Doherty, whose family had ruled Inishowen for more than one thousand years.

In discovering my roots, I discovered the role that the Scot-Irish played in Ireland's history. Born in Scotland and migrating to Ulster, they formed Plantations similar to those in America's Deep South, consisting of potato or vegetable farms and cattle and sheep herding. The men that journeyed there were searching for a better life, as the Scottish Lowlands had been deforested and were in a bleak state in the early 17th century. However, it meant displacing the native Irish - and therein lay the conflict.

William Neely and William Stewart were to come face to face with the chieftains of powerful Gaelic Irish clans, including Cahir O'Doherty, Niall Garbh O'Donnell, Phelim MacDavitt and The MacSweeneys. And the struggle for the future of Ireland would pit the native Irish against the Lowland Scots, culminating in O'Doherty's Rebellion.

The first book in my new series, Checkmate, is entitled Clans and Castles and it begins with William Neely joining Captain Stewart in sailing to Ulster and settling in Donegal. It introduces the complexity of the relationships between the Irish chieftains and the settlers, leading to O'Doherty's Rebellion and its aftermath.

If you are a descendent of Scot-Irish heritage, this is your ancestor's story as well.

It is now available on Kindle and in other formats on Smashwords, and it will be available soon in the iBooks store, Barnes and Noble Nook and other eBook stores. The paperback officially launches on June 1. If you'd like a personalized autograph copy of Clans and Castles or any of my books, please visit my website. Free shipping!

I hope you'll join me in taking a look at our ancestors' lives and seeing them come alive through the pages. For more information, check out my website. This is the first in a new series that will take the Neely family - and the Scot-Irish - through a journey that begins in the 17th century and is on-going today. The series will cover a number of events and rebellions in Ulster eventually leading to Irish independence for the Republic of Ireland but the establishment of Northern Ireland remaining under British rule, as well as both World Wars and the migration of the Scot-Irish from Ulster to America and beyond.

Watch the short video below about Clans and Castles.

p.m.terrell is the internationally acclaimed, award-winning author of more than 20 books in various genres. Her love of Ireland is apparent in her suspense books such as The Tempest Murders, The White Devil of Dublin, Dylan's Song and Cloak and Mirrors. Her most popular book is Songbirds are Free, the true story of Mary Neely's abduction by Shawnee warriors in 1780 near Fort Nashborough (now Nashville, TN), and River Passage, the true story of the Neely family's river journey to Fort Nashborough at the height of the Chickamauga Indian Wars won the 2010 Best Drama Award.

O'Doherty's Rebellion

April 19 is the anniversary of O’Doherty’s Rebellion, which took place in Ulster, Ireland in 1608. Chances are you’ve never heard of it but if you are of Scot-Irish descent, this was a significant event in your ancestor’s life.

In the decades before O’Doherty’s Rebellion, Queen Elizabeth I sent English and Scottish troops to Ireland in an effort to colonize it. The Spanish Armada had come ashore in 1588; some accounts claim that the ships had been blown off course during a gale while others claimed that Spain intended to colonize Ireland. Concerned, Queen Elizabeth sent legions of soldiers to the island to prevent Spain from claiming it. The result were decades of war with Spain and with Ireland, particularly those fiercely independent clans in Ulster.

When King James I succeeded Elizabeth, colonization expanded dramatically. He offered Scottish Lowlanders the option of moving to Ulster in order to establish plantations. Scottish Highlanders were forbidden from participating because they had been a constant thorn in England’s side, whereas the Lowlanders were more likely to be Protestants and agreeable with the English monarchy.

One Gaelic Irish Lord was Cahir O’Doherty. He was a descendant of Niall of the Nine Hostages, one of the greatest High Kings of Ireland, and Cahir’s family had ruled the Inishowen Peninsula in northwestern Ireland for more than one thousand years. Cahir became the Lord of the O’Doherty Clan when he was only fifteen years old when his father passed away. It was a critical time in the nation’s history, as Sir Henry Docwra of England was under siege at Derry and both he and his soldiers were facing starvation or a soldier’s death.

Cahir made the critical decision to turn against other clans such as the powerful O’Neills and O’Donnells and he came to Docwra’s rescue. He fought alongside the English during the Nine Years’ War, becoming knighted and known as “The Queen’s O’Doherty” under Elizabeth, and becoming accepted in the Duke of Wales’ Court under King James.

But Docwra was soon replaced with Sir George Paulet, a man that did not hide his hatred for the Irish. Paulet became the Governor of Derry and participated in a scorched earth policy along with Arthur Chichester, who ruled all of Ireland for the English Crown. He was constantly attempting to seize the O’Doherty’s lands, although they had been protected by the Crown, and the two men became bitter enemies.

That all came to a head on April 19, 1608. Cahir had grown into a handsome man of 6’8”—incredibly tall for that time period. He wore a Spanish-style metal cap with a tall feather and often rode in front of his troops during battle, casting an imposing figure. On April 18, he tricked his friend Henry Hart, commander at Culmore Fort north of Derry, overrunning the fort and seizing all the weapons and munitions. On April 19, he marched on Derry.

George Paulet was so confident in his position at Derry that he did not have any soldiers maintaining watch and the village was caught off guard. Paulet and Sheriff Hamilton were killed along with a few English soldiers, and the entire village was burned to the ground. This event was to touch off O’Doherty’s Rebellion. The result would change Irish history forever, and it would make Cahir O’Doherty the Last Gaelic Irish King in all of Ireland.

After the Rebellion, King James I instituted a more massive approach to colonization, resulting in thousands of Scottish men, women and children immigrating to Ulster. Every person that claims a Scot-Irish heritage owes their history to the ancestors that emigrated from Scotland to Ireland during this period.

This is part of the story I have written about in my upcoming book, Clans and Castles, the first book in the new Checkmate series. The book is creative nonfiction; the events are all accurate and the characters are as well: colorful characters such as Sir Cahir O’Doherty, Niall Garbh O’Donnell, Phelim MacDavitt, The Maguire, Sir Henry Hart, Sir George Paulet, Sir Arthur Chichester, Sir William Stewart…

And William Neely, my ancestor. William emigrated from Scotland at the age of 18 to join William Stewart in the old O’Donnell Clan territory in 1608 in the months leading up to O’Doherty’s Rebellion. He would find himself in a war that initially England was losing, and he would find himself on the battlefield facing Cahir O’Doherty.

For William’s service during O’Doherty’s Rebellion, he was granted one thousand acres at the base of the Inishowen Peninsula, strategically located near Derry (now known as “the Slash City—Londonderry/Derry”) and Burt Castle (one of Cahir’s castles which can still be seen today). He became a sea captain, purchased his own ships and brought scores of Scottish Lowlanders and English to Ulster.

Clans and Castles will be released this summer. Here’s a book trailer that tells you the story in about one minute:

In Search of my Irish Past - Part 2

Last week, I talked about the connection between my Scot-Irish ancestors and my two historical books, River Passage and Songbirds are Free. Both these books took place after the Neely family had arrived in America from Ireland.

When I began researching for Vicki’s Key, my book featuring CIA psychic spy Vicki Boyd, I knew the plot required her to fall in love hard and fast. I combed through surveys conducted through major women’s magazines on what most women found attractive in a man—such as the five o’clock shadow and a sense of humor. Then I stumbled upon the accent.

It turns out that most women find the Scottish accent most appealing, followed by the Irish accent and then the Australian accent. As I pondered which to use, I looked more deeply into the cultures of the Scottish, Irish and Australians, as well as the geography. It was then that my mother’s side of the family—the Harpers—began to surface in earnest.

The more I read about the Irish, the more I saw my mother in them (shown above beside my father's picture). She loved a good laugh, and throughout her lifetime she and I had an ongoing “Laugh of the Day”. Long before the Internet, long before email and free long distance, I would snail-mail jokes to her that I’d heard during the course of my day. I frequently cut comic strips out that I thought she would enjoy, and when I came upon books with jokes she’d like, I bought them for her. When she passed away, I was astounded to learn that there were drawers filled with my letters, comic strips and jokes that she had held onto for decades.

She loved good stories—telling them and listening to them. She could spin a story like no other, and I believe I inherited much of my storytelling talent from her. The most fun I ever saw her having was when her sisters came to visit and they sat around and told one story after another.

The Irish have always been known for their good humor. And it’s downright impossible for a woman not to fall in love with a man who loves life and every minute in it.

I named the character Michael Dylan Maguire; Michael is my son’s name and Dylan was my grandson’s name (pronounced Dillon). In America, the character is known as Dylan but as the series progressed and he returned to Ireland, the nickname Mick was a glimpse into a past that he’d left behind when he sought to reinvent himself.

Dylan had emigrated from Ireland to the United States, and I found it fascinating how so many Irish left predominantly rural homes for a country they knew nothing about, a culture far different from their own, and for the opportunities they lacked in their native country. Many people make the mistake of believing that we are similar to Ireland, Scotland and England simply because we speak the same language (though there are huge differences between American English and British English). The truth is that they are vastly different.

My father was always very quick to point out that his side of the family was Scot-Irish, not simply Irish. As I delved into this, I discovered the unfortunate fact about immigration into the United States: apart from the British, it appears that we have discriminated against every other group of immigrants. Whether they were the Chinese building our railroads, the Italians, Germans, Japanese, Pakistanis, Indians (from India) or Mexicans/Hispanics, there have always been groups that tried to place them at the bottom. The signs of “No Irish Need Apply” below signs of employment or businesses prohibiting the Irish from eating or entering establishments have largely been forgotten; but they did indeed exist.

Those with higher education that had proven themselves as leading businessmen sought to put distance between themselves and the massive immigration of the Irish, particularly during the potato famines. I always believed my father’s family fell into this group, always making certain that people knew they were Scot-Irish. (Scotch-Irish, by the way, is incorrect; the Scottish people will be the first to inform you that Scotch is a drink and not a people.)

Later, when I began researching A Thin Slice of Heaven (release date May 2015) I realized the differentiation went far deeper. More on that in a future blog.

My father’s family had black hair and green eyes and they were tall. My mother’s family, in contrast, had many redheads among them and many of the women tended to be petite. My mother, when she married, was only 5’3” and weighed 105 pounds.

There is a saying amongst the Irish: “Red on the head where the Vikings tread.” As the Vikings moved south into the Irish Sea, they often raided villages close to the sea. It involved raping—or sometimes falling in love with and marrying—the Irish women. Further inland, particularly the western side of the island which was more geographically inhospitable, one didn’t encounter red-haired or fair-haired people. All of this has changed over the centuries, of course, as the world has become smaller and it seems no place on Earth is out of bounds.

Next week: I’ll talk about Dylan Maguire’s journey back to his homeland, the Irish bogs and the small village in which he lived—and the true story of my own ancestors.

In Search of the Irish Past: Part 1

In Search of the Irish Past: Part 1

This blog is part of several that address the increasing presence of Ireland in my books. It is also a journey to discover and understand my ancestors when they lived in Ireland (both in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland), Scotland, and eventually, America. There has also been a Viking or two (or three) in my family’s history. Come with me as I discover their journey and give you an inside look at how close to reality some of them have been.

I didn’t understand the connection between the Neely and Harper families to Ireland until very recently. When I was growing up, I was told vaguely that my ancestors were from Ireland or Scotland or England or perhaps Wales, but there were never any details that brought them to life.

In the early 1980’s I had lunch with my mother’s brother and he mentioned that he had recently returned from Ireland, where he researched the Harper lineage and discovered their roots in the McCullough (or MacCullough) clan. I should have known then that the use of the word “clan” meant they went back further than Ireland, because Scotland is known for their clans but not Ireland.

We had more important things to discuss that day so his information was tucked away somewhere in the back of my mind, where it lay for the next three decades. Unfortunately, the information he uncovered that day was misplaced or largely forgotten, as no one in the Harper family seems to know of any European connection. I suspect he decided that no one was particularly interested. Perhaps the documentation was thrown away, lost in a move or is still somewhere yet to be located.

After my suspense books began to be published, my father suggested that I write the story of Mary Neely, a woman on his side of the family who lived in the 18^th and 19^th centuries. When I began researching her story, the Neely family came alive for me—and so did their struggles as they searched for better opportunities, not only for themselves but for their children and descendents.

I know now that Mary descended from a man who left Europe in the early 1700’s in search of a better life in America. I will be traveling to Ireland in just a few weeks, and I’ll have much more information on that connection and what I’ve discovered.

But suffice it to say that in the early 1700s, a man’s fortune was tied to the whims of a monarchy. Taxes were backbreaking, opportunities were limited and a man’s fate was tied not to who he was or who he aspired to become, but his lineage.

Around 1720, three brothers left what is now Northern Ireland in search of opportunity in America. At this time, America was divided by European nations who had conquered parts of it; primarily, England, France and Spain. It was also the home to more than 500 Indian nations who were at war with these strangers who entered their lands and lay claim to it.

The brothers, by accounts I’ve discovered thus far, settled in Pennsylvania and eventually their families (particularly their children) moved further south to Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina.

By 1779, William Neely was enticed by John Donelson and James Robertson to move his family westward to Fort Nashborough, a beautiful area in the North Carolina Territory in the vicinity of the Cumberland, Tennessee and Ohio Rivers. William was already a successful farmer but I suppose he’d inherited his ancestors’ yearning for a better, brighter future so he agreed to move his family westward.

They sold everything they owned except a few sparse possessions that would fit on a small flatboat. Mary Neely, William’s daughter, and her brothers, sisters and mother joined Donelson on a river voyage that would take them through hostile Indian Territory at the height of the Chickamauga Indian Wars. William took an overland route that was supposed to be more dangerous. He was herding cattle westward while his family supposedly took the safer river route.

However, once they entered the area now known as Chattanooga, Tennessee, they were attacked repeatedly for hundreds of miles. Many in their group of 300 settlers were wounded. Some were killed, and some were captured, including two girls—one was Mary’s best friend.

They soon faced starvation, as they were unable to stop and hunt for their food as they’d intended, due to the ferocity of the Indian attacks. Small pox erupted on one flatboat, and frostbite claimed at least one life. By the time they reached Muscle Shoals, Alabama, they were navigating whitewater rapids that would tear their boats apart, losing all the possessions that at least two families had.

This river journey is the story told in my book, River Passage. It was determined to be so historically accurate that the Nashville Metropolitan Government Archives has the original manuscript in their possession for future researchers and historians. It was also the 2010 Winner of the Drama Award.

Four months after they left Virginia for Fort Nashborough, a ragtag group of settlers arrived with the harrowing story of their journey westward. And just four months after that, Mary Neely was working with her father William at the Neely Salt Lick (in Madison County, Tennessee) when they were attacked by Shawnee warriors.

William was killed and scalped along the riverbank. He was only in his early 40’s. Mary, only 19 years old, was captured and taken deep into Indian Territory, where she was held as a slave for three years.

After researching Mary’s story online, I took to the road with my father, retracing her footsteps from the point where she was captured to where she eventually escaped and made her way back home. A plaque is erected in honor of Mary near where she was captured, and I arranged to meet with historians in Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Michigan—all the places where she was taken as the Shawnee tribe journeyed toward Canada.

Eventually, she managed to escape in Northern Michigan, made her way across Canada and into New York. The American Revolutionary War was at its peak and afraid she would be captured by the British, she remained alone on foot until she was rescued by an American soldier from Fort Pitt, Pennsylvania.

Her story is told in my book, Songbirds are Free. It is named that because her captors renamed her Songbird for her beautiful voice (she’d been singing at the Salt Lick when she was captured).

Her story was not difficult to piece together. I found out during my travels and again during the subsequent book tours that Mary is a legend in many parts of our country, particularly in the Tennessee school system where students were taught about her, and even in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I learned so much about the Neely family that it prompted me to look even further into the stories of my ancestors and all they endured. It would lead me not only to those in America, but it would eventually lead me to Ireland, Scotland and points north.

Next Thursday, I’ll talk about the true stories behind an Irish character in my book, Dylan Maguire, who made his debut in Vicki’s Key.