Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been tagged as “Historical Fiction”
![SodaSip[1]](https://www.monahodgson.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/sodasip1.jpg)
While researching the 1920s for Mistaken, I was intrigued by the growing importance of the local pharmacy. When the neighborhood bars closed because of Prohibition, many people turned to the corner drugstore/soda fountain as the new gathering place, trading “hard” liquor for “soft” drinks—at least until the speakeasy opened. The corner drugstore seemed like the perfect place for my characters …
19TH CENTURY MERCANTILES Some of my earliest memories involve shopping trips with my mother, back in the . . . well, let’s just say it was a few decades ago. She’d make a list of all the places we had to go—the hardware store for the screws and bolts my dad needed for a project; the paint store for pink …
Do the members of your book club or reading group enjoy reading series and spending time with an ensemble cast? If so, the four Sinclair Sisters of Cripple Creek Series might be a great fit. And I’m happy to say the 1890s Colorado mining camp series lends itself well to having fun with Victorian, Old West, Mining Camp flair. Your group might want a …
![karen_witemeyer20green1[1]](https://www.monahodgson.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/karen_witemeyer20green11.jpg)
Glorifying the Wilderness Experience So many things drove the westward expansion of the 1800s. The lure of a better life. Cheap land. Adventure. The railroad. Art. Art? Wait a minute. How did art drive the westward expansion? In the mid-1800s, a new wave hit the artistic community, a desire to show nature in its most glorified state. Known as the …
Then God created sisters. And He blessed me with three. I write. So it’s pretty easy to figure how what I’m wheeling around in my brown rolling case. A laptop computer, an AlphaSmart, and a USB cord. For Sis Cindy, it’s either a tea set or painting supplies. For Sis Tammy, it would be an otoscope and an audiometer since …
During my first research trip to Cripple Creek, Colorado, I met a couple of the town’s beloved residents–two donkeys that are a part of a herd of about a dozen that roam the city’s streets. When miners had to leave the area, often their donkeys were let loose. The several donkeys that roam the streets are believed to be descendants of those used …
Where do novelists find a title for a work of fiction? Anywhere, and everywhere. For Maren Jensen’s story, I drew inspiration for my book title from a favorite poem, Castes of Yellow by Viola Jacobson Berg. Mrs. Berg’s two books on poetic forms–Pathways for the Poet and Poet’s Treasury: Second Book of All New Patterns have served as resources I used to teach myself how to …
My March 2012 research trip for The Quilted Heart novellas returned me to a setting I first discovered in 1999–a charming riverside city that stirred my imagination and captured my heart. Toured a historical farm that would inspire the farm setting in Dandelions on the Wind. Savored toasted ravioli (twice) at Little Hills Restaurant and Winery. Explored the city and the surrounding areas with …
March is National Women of History Month. To join in the celebration, I’ve chosen to feature one of the “real life” women from my Sinclair Sisters of Cripple Creek Series in today’s post. Mary Claver Coleman was one of those wonderful finds during my research for Two Brides Too Many My hero was a new doctor coming to Cripple Creek …
In March 2012, after thirteen years, I returned to St. Louis and St. Charles, Missouri. This time, as a historical novelist writing for WaterBrook Multnomah, to do research for my new series, The Quilted Heart. The post Civil War mid-1860s provides the historical backdrop for my three Quilted Heart eBook novellas. First stop: The Gateway Arch and the Museum of Westward Expansion in St. Louis. Everything …
