Let's give a Big Book Fun Friday Welcome, for her second appearance....Betty Bolte
Bio:
Betty
Bolté writes both historical and contemporary stories that feature strong,
loving women and brave, compassionate men. No matter whether the stories are
set in the past or the present, she loves to include a touch of the paranormal.
Get to know her at www.bettybolte.com. Today Betty is featuring her two latest American Revolution novels following her blog post.
Betty's Blog Post:
I love Miranda Lambert’s new song, Automatic. Have
you heard it? It’s all about how we used to do things for ourselves and now so
much just happens with little or no effort. Her point is that we get out of
life what we put into it, so having things handed to us lessens the importance
or meaning of the item or act. For example, we take it for granted now, but
newspapers have not always existed. Yes, I know, some have closed their doors,
but we still have many in print and online. However, in the 18th
century, they were only beginning to come into their own. In my American
Revolution era romance, Emily’s Vow,
Frank Thomson is a Continental Army spy who is undercover in Charles Town,
South Carolina, playing the part of a printer. He’s not happy about his
assignment, because he’d prefer to be out and about than tied down to one place
and then inside to boot. The work of laying out the type and operating the
press is hard and tiresome and downright frustrating to this strong,
adventurous man. Yet it’s the paper that enables him to relay coded messages to
the American forces surrounding the besieged city. It takes time and effort to
accomplish his objective, too.
Recently, I went to Philadelphia, home of not only
Independence Hall (the site of the debate and signing of the Declaration of
Independence and the U.S. Constitution) but also Benjamin Franklin and his
print shop replica. The park ranger on duty in the Printing Shop demonstrated
the process of printing a one-sided broadsheet. When the press was active in
the 1700s, it took several men doing individual jobs at the press to make each
copy. One man laid out the type in the appropriate channels using the small
metal blocks with letters on them. (Interesting side note: The two “cases” of
type sat in such a way as to have one on a table (the “lower case”) and one
mounted above on an angle (the “upper case”). We still use those terms today,
don’t we?) Another man inked the type. Another laid on the wet paper in the
frame and lowered it over the inked type, then slid it into the press. The
“puller” then pulled the lever to apply the pressure to make the print. One
copy of the news or announcement was made. One. The goal was to make something
like 20-30 copies an hour. Compare that to the automated presses newspapers use
today and I think you can imagine how much more treasured having a broadsheet
or pamphlet was then than now.
I think Miranda Lambert is on to something. Not that I want
to go back to the way papers used to be printed in lieu of the current
processes! But there are aspects of our current society’s expectations as a
result of how fast things are done or produced that I wish were different. Can
you think of something we take for granted that perhaps we shouldn’t? Or, the
opposite, something you wish was more automatic?
Book Feature #1-- Emily's Vow:
Blurb
for Emily’s Vow
Emily
Sullivan’s greatest fear is dying in childbirth, as did her twin sister and
their mother. Then she’s thrown in a loyalist prison for her privateering
father’s raids on the British, and her accuser--a former beau--promises to
recant if she will marry him.
Frank
Thomson always loved Emily despite her refusal to return his affections. A
patriot spy posing as a loyalist officer, when Frank learns of Emily’s plight,
he challenges her accuser to a duel.
Freed
from prison, Emily ponders returning the affections of her rescuer--the only
man she's ever loved and who married her twin to save the Sullivan family's
reputation. But Frank cannot afford to be discovered. For the sake of young
America, he must deliver his secrets.
Book Feature #2--Amy's Choice
Blurb
for Amy’s Choice
When Amy Abernathy's childhood
sweetheart, Benjamin Hanson, leaves to fight in the American War for
Independence without a word of goodbye, Amy picks up the pieces of her heart
and chooses independence. When Benjamin returns unexpectedly, Amy flees to the
country to help her pregnant sister and protect her heart.
Benjamin Hanson knows he hurt Amy, but
he also knows he can make it up to her after he completes his mission. Then he
learns that Amy has been captured by renegade soldiers. Now Benjamin faces his
own choice: free the sassy yet obstinate woman he's never stopped loving or
protect Charles Town from the vengeful British occupation.
Contact Betty:
Social
Media Links
Newsletter:
www.bettybolte.com/newsletter.htm
Twitter:
@BettyBolte
Amazon: www.amazon.com/author/bettybolte
Buy Links:
Amazon:
http://amzn.to/VrXZy6
Barnes
and Noble: http://bit.ly/1wbftz7
