New Audiobook–Historical Romance Novel Red Bird’s Song!

I am delighted to have the first story I ever wrote in audio! Narrator Paul-Alexandre Petit did a fabulous and painstaking job.

More about the story.

In the Beginning: Years ago, while researching family genealogy, I gained the courage to take the leap from penning non-fiction essays about rural life (I live on a farm in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia) and plunge into historical romance novels set in early America. That first story, Red Bird’s Song, (written and rewritten multiple times) is the book of my heart.

“I loved the descriptions…I felt I was there…Many mystical episodes are intermingled with the events…The ending is a real surprise, but I will let you have the pleasure of reading it for yourself.” –Seriously Reviewed

“This book touched my soul even as it provided a thrilling fictional escape into a period of history I have always found fascinating.”
~ Laurie-J Reviewer for Red Bird’s Song at Night Owl Romance
Red Bird’s Song is a 2012 Double Epic Award Finalist.

(Image of the Alleghenies taken by my mom, Pat Churchman)

My fascination with Colonial America, particularly stirring tales of the frontier and the Shawnee Indians, is an early and abiding one. My English, Scot-Irish (we called ourselves the Scotch-Irish, but are often corrected, so whatever) ancestors had interactions with this tribe, including family members taken captive. In Red Bird’s Song, I honed in on my early American roots in a story featuring the Scots-Irish and an Indian attack that happened to my ancestors.
My award-winning Native American themed historical romance novel Through the Fire is also based on research into my colonial forebears and the French and Indian War.

Though written to stand alone, historical romance novel Kira Daughter of the Moon is the sequel to Through the Fire. These three novels, plus The Bearwalker’s Daughter comprise my Native American Warrior Series.

(Image of family musket, hunting pouch, and powder horn by my mom, Pat Churchman)

Red Bird’s Song (Native American Warrior Series):

Blurb: Taken captive by a Shawnee war party wasn’t how Charity Edmondson hoped to escape an unwanted marriage. Nor did Shawnee warrior Wicomechee expect to find the treasure promised by his grandfather’s vision in the unpredictable red-headed girl.

George III’s English Red-Coats, unprincipled colonial militia, prejudice and jealousy are not the only enemies Charity and Wicomechee will face before they can hope for a peaceful life. The greatest obstacle to happiness is in their own hearts. As they struggle through bleak mountains and cold weather, facing wild nature and wilder men, Wicomechee and Charity must learn to trust each other.~

“With “Red Bird’s Song”, Beth Trissel has painted an unforgettable portrait of a daring and defiant love brought to life in the wild and vivid era of Colonial America. Highly recommended for lovers of American history and romance lovers alike!” ~Review by Virginia Campbell

RED BIRD’S SONG was purchased from The Wild Rose Press by Amazon for republication under their Encore line. Look for it in kindle and print and now audio at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Red-Birds-Song/dp/B07HBBXBT1

RED BIRD’S SONG audiobook at Audible: https://www.audible.com/pd/Red-Birds-Song-Audiobook/B07HBC72YS

If You Like Native American Historical Romance

You’ve come to the RIGHT place.  I’ve labored over several novels, done meticulous research, and written from my heart as I feel profoundly for Native Americans.

To date, I have three published novels in my colonial frontier trilogy. The third, Kira Daughter of the Moon, came out Nov. 2nd. The main characters in these stories are a mix of Native Americans, of course, and English/Scots-Irish with a smidgen of French–my ancestral roots. All three novels are in print and ebook.

Red Bird’s Song is doing well at Amazon for Native American Romance, but Through the Fire is lagging behind and I’m not sure why. It’s equally an NA story and setting. I’ve tried to remedy this with appropriate tags at Amazon. Feel free to click on them and ‘like’ the novel. But I digress. Frequently.When I wrote Through the Fire I felt as though I’d been through the flames. My hero and heroine certainly had. This adventure romance with a strong The Last of the Mohicans flavor and a mystical weave was born in the fertile ground of my imagination, fed by years of research, and a powerful draw to my English/Scots-Irish roots. My fascination with stirring tales of the colonial frontier and Eastern Woodland Indians is an early and abiding one. My ancestors had family members killed and captured by Native Americans. Some individuals returned with intriguing accounts of their captivity while others disappeared without a trace.

 Much of the history and events in Red Bird’s Song and Through the Fire were inspired by accounts I uncovered while researching my early American ancestors. My fascination with Colonial America, particularly stirring tales of the frontier and the Shawnee Indians, is an early and abiding one. My forebears had interactions with this tribe, including family members taken captive. I have family ties to Wicomechee, an outstanding Shawnee warrior who really lived and whose story greatly impacted Red Bird’s Song. I’ve included more on Wicomechee at the end of the novel as a bonus for my readers.

Blurb for Red Bird’s Song:
Taken captive by a Shawnee war party wasn’t how Charity Edmonson hoped to escape an unwanted marriage. Nor did Shawnee warrior Wicomechee expect to find the treasure promised by his grandfather’s vision in the unpredictable red-headed girl. George III’s English Red-Coats, unprincipled colonial militia, prejudice and jealousy are not the only enemies Charity and Wicomechee will face before they can hope for a peaceful life. The greatest obstacle to happiness is in their own hearts. As they struggle through bleak mountains and cold weather, facing wild nature and wilder men, Wicomechee and Charity must learn to trust each other.~

(image of the Alleghenies, the setting for much of Red Bird’s Song and Through the Fire, taken by my mother, Pat Churchman.)

Blurb for Through the Fire:
At the height of the French and Indian War, a young English widow ventures into the colonial frontier in search of a fresh start. She never expects to find it in the arms of the half-Shawnee, half-French warrior who makes her his prisoner in the raging battle to possess a continent–or to be aided by a mysterious white wolf and a holy man.~

A few comments from Reviewers For Through the Fire:

Ms. Trissel has captured the time period wonderfully…. I felt I was there through her descriptions and settings. An excellent story where there is so much happening.

—Two Lips Review by Shelia (She gave it five lips 🙂

Through the Fire is full of interesting characters, beautifully described scenery, and vivid action sequences. It is a must read for any fan of historical romance. –Long and Short Reviews by Poinsettia (It won book of the week at LASR)

Among it’s awards, Through the Fire came in fourth in the top ten BHB Reader’s Choice Best Books of 2009 and finaled in the 2008 Golden Heart Contest for historical romance.

A Few Reviewer Comments for Red Bird’s Song:

“I loved the descriptions…I felt I was there…Many mystical episodes are intermingled with the events…The ending is a real surprise, but I will let you have the pleasure of reading it for yourself. “

–Seriously Reviewed

“This is a beautifully written story filled with adventure and suspense…This book touched my soul even as it provided a thrilling fictional escape into a period of history I have always found fascinating.” –Night Owl Book Review by Laurie-J  (A Night Owl top Pick) For the full review click here~

As for the third novel: Kira, Daughter of the Moon, the sequel to Through the Fire, is set among the clannish Scots-Irish in the Alleghenies on the fringe of a colonial frontier that’s rapidly expanding west. The Native Americans in this mystical, adventurous romance are highly essential secondary characters.  Not sure when the story gets listed if that counts as NA or if it will get lost in the vast world of undefined historical romance.

Blurb for Kira, Daughter of the Moon:
Logan McCutcheon returns to colonial Virginia after seven years in the hands of Shawnee Indians. But was he really a captive, as everybody thinks? He looks and fights like a warrior, and seems eager to return to those he calls friends and family.

Kira McClure has waited for Logan all those years, passing herself off as odd to keep suitors at bay––and anyone else from getting too close.  Now that he’s back, he seems to be the only person capable of protecting her from the advances of Josiah Campbell and accusations of witchcraft.  And to defend the settlers against a well-organized band of murderous thieves.~

The Story Behind Award Winning Colonial Native American Romance Novel Red Bird’s Song

2012 EPIC eBook Award Finalist!

Red Bird’s Song is the story of my heart for many reasons.  The initial encounter between Charity and Wicomechee at the river was inspired by a dream I had on New Year’s Eve–a highly propitious time for dreams–about a young warrior taking an equally young woman captive at a river and the unexpected attraction between them. 

That dream had such a profound impact on me that I took the leap from writing non-fiction essays (by hand back then) to historical romance novels and embarked on the most amazing journey of my life.  That was years ago and the saga continues.  I also met the prophetic warrior, Eyes of the Wolf, in another vivid dream at the advent of this adventure, so when I describe him in the book I’m envisioning a character I feel I know.

The setting for much of Red Bird’s Song is the same as Through the Fire, the spectacularly beautiful Alleghenies.  Much of the history and events depicted in the storywere inspired by accounts I came across while researching my early American English/Scots-Irish roots and the Border Wars.

Most of you have heard of The French and Indian War, the time period in Through the Fire, but there were others.  (Chief) Pontiac’s War followed on the heels of the French and Indian and is the time frame of Red Bird’s Song. 

Lord Dunmore’s War took place a decade later–all occurring in the colonial frontier.

Actually, life in the frontier was continually unsettled up through and even after The American Revolution had drawn to a close and warfare a reality. The boundaries of the frontier just kept shifting farther west.

In the early-mid 18th century, the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia was the frontier and only hardy souls dared settle here.  The bulk of these were the tough Scots-Irish.  I think if the Indians had only had to fight regular British troops they might ultimately have won because they scared the s— out of men trained for conventional warfare, but the long knives were another matter. They weren’t easily intimidated and soon learned from their cunning enemy.

Although Hawk Eye in The Last of the Mohicans is an adopted Mohican, his lifestyle and behavior is that of a colonial frontiersman.  The more rugged of these men dressed as he did, much in the Indian way.  They hunted & fought with muskets, tomahawks, and their famous knives.   Indians acquired these knives as well.  They blended traditional weapons and ways of living with new found tools and weapons of Western man.  A highly adaptable people.

The attack at the opening of Red Bird’s Song in the Shenandoah Valley is based on one that occurred to my ancestors at the tail end of Pontiac’s War and is recorded by Historian Joseph A. Waddell in The Annals of Augusta County. A renegade Englishman by the last name of Dickson led the war party that attacked them.  Initially I’d intended to make the Colin Dickson in Red Bird’s Song a villain but as soon as he galloped onto the scene I knew differently.  He’s now one of my all time favorite characters.

Wicomechee, the hero in Red Bird’s Song, is based on the Shawnee warrior by that name who lived early in the nineteenth century and to whom I have ties.  The Moffett’s, an early Valley family I’m related to, include a reference to him in their genealogy.  Wicomechee’s father, John Moffett, was captured in Kentucky by the Shawnee at the age of eight and adopted into the tribe.  It’s said he was a boyhood companion to the great chief Tecumseh, a chief for whom I have enormous admiration.  The accounts of John Moffett and Wicomechee are recorded by Waddell.  It’s also noted that during the Black Hawk Wars Wicomechee recovered the captive daughters of a Dr. Hull and brought them safely into camp, which reminds me of Hawkeye in The Last of the Mohicans.  I’ve included more on this amazing warrior at the end of the novel as a bonus for those who read it.

Charity, the heroine in Red Bird’s Song, is drawn from a reference I came across of a young Scots-Irish woman captured along a river in the Virginia frontier.  Remember, early Virginia was enormous.  Augusta County, near where I live, encompassed present day states and was later sectioned off.  Nothing is known of what happened to that young woman.   Just a single line in an old account of captives taken during the Indian wars.

The same sort of capture and subsequent lack of information occurred to the sister of my great grandmother a number of greats back.  Both of these women may have made new lives with the Indians.  There are records of women who married into the tribes and did not want to leave their warrior husbands and adopted people.  Tragically, some those captives who wished to remain were later forced to return to their white families through treaties, causing great heartache.  There are also accounts of captives who couldn’t get out fast enough!  One such captive was Daniel Boone.

Charity’s cousin Emma in Red Bird’s Song is based on the young, very  pregnant wife carried off in that original attack.  In the actual account it’s uncertain whether or not her husband survived his injuries.  His last name was Estelle, as it is in the story, and we have early Estelle’s in our family tree.   However, that name is no longer common in the Shenandoah Valley but has vanished into the mist of time along with a mostly forgotten era and its people.  Few remember or care.  Perhaps you will come to.

James, the little boy in Red Bird’s Song, is drawn from the lively child taken in the original attack who lived to tell about it and did so with great relish.  He’s also modeled after several high spirited little boys I’ve known and loved.  James is a tribute to my young nephew, Matthew Trissel, killed in a farm accident, and my youngest daughter Elise’s close friend, Garry Keens, killed by a drunk driver.  Wonderful boys, gone before us but never forgotten.

Although Eastern woodland Indians had a reputation for brutality, once a captive was adopted they were well treated and regarded as equals.  Warriors were unpredictable and didn’t always behave in a certain manner anymore than all European men acted alike.  Warriors could be unexpectedly gentle or sadistic.

I’ve read accounts of warriors getting up in the night to stir up the campfire and cover captive women and children with blankets, even delay their journey while a woman gave birth.  These men protected and fed their captives while other warriors burnt them at the stake.  It all depended on who took you captive and why as to what your fate would be, and whether they kept, traded, or sold you.  Or killed you in retribution for a love done lost at the hands of the English.  Of course, some braves didn’t take captives.  Just scalps.  The warriors most feared in the Shenandoah Valley were the Shawnee, regarded as the fiercest of all.  The more I studied these remarkable people, the more engrossed I became, especially as they figure into our family roots.

The sources I used in researching Red Bird’s Song would take up pages, my list of reading material sizable, and I’m indebted to the long-suffering anthropologists and archeologists who answered my many questions and supplied me with research materials, also helpful reenactors, historians, and historical sites.  Most of all, I’m indebted to my own forebears.  Without these hardy souls, their faith in God and determination to forge a life in the New World, I wouldn’t be here.  Neither would many of you.

****

*Red Bird’s Song is available from The Wild Rose Press in print and digital download (ebook), and Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other online booksellers.  Your bookstore and library can  order it in.  To read excerpts from the novel.

*Image from the 1992 film The Last of the Mohicans and royalty free images   ***I am seeking good quality Native American images to purchase.  If you know of a source please contact me: bctrissel@yahoo.com  or leave me a comment.

More About Beth

As Galadriel said to Frodo in The Lord of the Rings, “You are a Ring-bearer, Frodo. To bear a Ring of Power is to be alone.”

To be passionate about history so that you feel it in your very essence and long to commune with the past is often to be alone. One profound way I’ve found to connect with those who’ve gone before me is through my writing.  My work reflects the heart and soul invested in each word.

Years ago, while researching family genealogy, I gained the courage to take the leap from penning non-fiction essays about rural life to plunge into writing historical romance novels set in early America. That first story, Red Bird’s Song,  written and rewritten more than any other and the book of my heart.  I recently signed for Red Bird’s Song with The Wild Rose Press.  The original manuscript, about the length of Gone With The Wind, had to be considerably reduced.  I cut, cut, cut, and reworked without cutting out the heart of the story.  The initial idea for the plot came to me in a dream on New Year’s Eve 14 years ago, a  highly propitious time to embark down a new road.  Many dreams have guided me on my way.

Raw, powerful, the colonial frontier drew me with stirring tales of the French and Indian War, Pontiac, and Lord Dunmore’s War. My ancestors had interactions with the most feared tribe of that day, the Shawnee, including family members taken captive.  Some forebears returned with tales to tell, others didn’t; no one knows what happened to them except in my imaginings.  One man captured as a child and adopted into the tribe, was later restored to his white family.   He returned to the Shawnee and then journeyed back and forth between the English and Indian world, trying to keep a foot in both.

Much of my writing features my early Scot-Irish forebears who settled in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and surrounding mountains, spreading into the Carolinas and Tennessee. The beauty of my valley and mountains inspires me. My extensive research has been generously aided by historians, anthropologists, archeologists, colonial reenactors and the Shawnee themselves.  Not to mention a mountain of reading.

This communion with the past is my motivation for the novels I create, not the market; I was informed early on by New York editors that I should write other settings, preferably European.  I’m thankful that at the Wild Rose Press a good story is judged according to its merits and not the perceived popularity of the time period.

So, welcome to the colonial frontier where the men fire muskets and wield tomahawks and the women are wildcats when threatened. Hear the primal howl of a wolf and the liquid spill of a mountain stream. Are those war whoops in the distance? Ever heard of bearwalking?

Daughter of the Wind is a light paranormal/historical fantasy romance with strong American historical roots. Set among the clannish Scots-Irish in the mist-shrouded Alleghenies, it’s a tale of the clash between peoples and young lovers caught in the middle. Ever influenced by my regard for Eastern Woodland Indians, I interwove mystical, Native American elements with ‘Daughter.’

A bearwalking Shawnee warrior, secrets from the past, a rugged frontiersman, gifted heroine, magical moonstone, love at first sight…DAUGHTER OF THE WIND.

Through the Fire is an adventure romance with a The Last of the Mohicans flavor and a mystical weave.  Some of the most unusual aspects of this story are based on individuals who really lived. A passionate love story set during the French and Indian War, Through the Fire has finaled in more contests than any I’ve written, including the prestigious 2008 Golden Heart®.

The French and Indian War, a Shawnee warrior, an English lady, blood vengeance, deadly pursuit, primal, powerful, passionate…THROUGH THE FIRE.

Not to neglect my fascination with gracious old homes and the high drama of the American Revolution. I have ancestors who fought and loved on both sides of that sweeping conflict. My research into the Southern face of the war was partly inspired by my great-great-great grandfather, Sam Houston, uncle of the famous Sam, who kept a journal of the Battle of Guilford Courthouse, North Carolina, 1781, that is used by historians today.  Stick around for a wild ride into Carolina Back County and the battle between Patriots and Tories. Our hero is the former and our heroine the latter.  Both of them bear names that belonged to my ancestors.

Enemy of the King , a historical romance with paranormal element, is my version of The Patriot. A big fan of Daphne Du Maurier since my teens, I was also influenced by her mystery/ghost story, Rebecca. Our Virginia home place, circa 1816, and other early homes left deep impressions on me. I’ve long harbored suspicions that those who’ve gone before us are not always entirely gone.

1780 South Carolina, spies and intrigue, a vindictive ghost, the battle of King’s Mountain, Patriots and Tories, pounding adventure, pulsing romance…ENEMY OF THE KING.

Which brings me back around to my first release, Somewhere My Love, a murder mystery/ghost story romance with flashbacks to early nineteenth century Virginia and Hamlet parallels.   Somewhere My Love won the 2008 Preditors &Editors Award Readers Poll for Best Romance Novel.  Most recently, it won the clash of covers contest at Embrace the Shadows blogspot.

Star-crossed lovers, flashbacks to early 18th century Virginia, ghostly, murder mystery, light paranormal romance, Gothic flavors…SOMEWHERE MY LOVE.

I am currently at work on the next in my ‘Somewhere’ series, a unique suspenseful Scottish time travel.

All three of my new releases won book of the week at Long and Short Reviews and received fabulous reviews.  Highly gratifying, but I would write them anyway.  I will always write what I love.  More recently they made the top ten Publisher’s Weekly Reader’s Choice Best Books of 2009!  For more on that click on Barbara Vey.

My most recent release, not officially out until Dec. 11th, but already available as an Early Bird Special At The Wild Rose Press and at Amazon, is An American Rose Christmas, an anthology featuring six fabulous stories by American historical romance authors.  My story in this anthology is A Warrior for Christmas.

In addition to the next in my ‘Somewhere’ series, I’m writing sequels to Through the Fire and Enemy of the King.  For starters….

And this catches you up through December 2009~

For more on my work please visit www.bethtrissel.com

North Carolina: Holden Beach

I stand on the edge of this sacred land the Shawnee people call the Great Turtle Island, where the water meets the shore. Salt spray brines the air. Gulls wheel, crying, in the blue and pelicans bob on the waves as the ocean rocks me like a primal cradle. In and out rushes the endless tide, frothing the glistening sand with millions of tiny diamonds. That eternal sound is always in my ears, calling to me. People from all walks of life are drawn to this ancient place seeking some gift from the sea.

Sunburned men with a beer in one hand and a pole in the other fish as though their very sustenance depends on it. Bikini-clad women lie like beached whales basking in the sun, or jog along the shore. Three teenage girls dressed in long navy jumpers wade into the surf squealing in delight. Perhaps this is their first visit to the Carolina coast, or any other. Near them stands an old man, pants hiked to his white knees, gazing out at the waves with contentment on his face. He has come home. Curly-headed children dance in the tumbling foam. One little red-haired girl plunges bravely in while her chubby-legged brother flees to his watchful mother and snuggles against the baby in her arms.

Young builders cluster on the sand with buckets and spades, intently fashioning castle turrets and digging motes. Is there anyone as utterly contained in the present as a child at play? Parents join in the fanciful creations and for that moment lose their cares in the sea. A shark emerges under fingers, large and small, with harmless teeth of splintered shells––as ephemeral as the day. No lasting work is done, yet they build on while people paddle on rafts or dive into waves. Seekers all. The orange sun sinks low in the cloudy palette of colors and casts fire on the waves. People linger, reluctant to go inside. What do you search for? What do I?

Our family has always sought gold doubloons from sunken Spanish galleons in the battered shells left behind by the tide. Not a likely find, though we heard of one man who did. Still, we look for the coins and passing whales.
One day I saw great fins and splashing tails, a whole pod of whales. Not because they were truly there, but because I chose to. Led by me, my mother and teenage daughter saw them too and were disappointed when they had gone. Schools of dolphin really did skim through the wake behind shrimp boats, but I fondly remember the whales and keep an eye out for white-sailed clipper ships.

The ocean is a fertile place for the imagination, also to find healing for the soul. Journeying to the beach is annual pilgrimage for many families. What of yours?