Historical Fiction
Date Published: 04-24-2026
Publisher: Salty Books Publishing
She is assigned to Tunis where she falls in love with U.S. diplomat James Whitcomb. At the conclusion of their tours of duty, they marry. Within weeks of the wedding, he is taken captive in the Iranian Hostage Crisis of 1979-81.
James, held hostage in the U.S. Embassy in Teheran, endures the same demons that afflicted the real life hostages during the actual crisis 45 years ago.
Angie, biting her nails at home, endures her own demons. How can she support him? Should she join efforts to force the president into negotiating a release? Or even a rescue?
When the ordeal finally ends fourteen months later, the couple faces a new set of demons. Rebuilding their life together as they each recuperate from their own PTSDs.
What is the hardest part of writing
your books?
Refusing
to let them take over my life. I write historical fiction of the late 20th
century. Crafting stories that bring the past to life for people is so much fun
that I have to force myself to put it aside when I come to the end of my
allotted time for it each day.
What are your most played songs?
Great
question. Since my novels are late 20th century historical fiction, the
songs must relate to the story line. They also must be standards for the time
rather than some esoteric thing nobody will recognize today.
GOODBYE
DEMONS, for example, is set in the Iranian Hostage Crisis of 1979-81, “Tie a
Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree” played a role because the yellow ribbon
had been a theme of people showing support for the hostages. When the lead
character, Angie has a crisis in Chapter 1, Paul McCartney is singing “Let it
Be” in the background. And when her favorite ex-Beatle John Lennon is killed,
Angie plays “Imagine.”
GOODBYE
BOBBY, set in Bobby Kennedy’s 1968 presidential campaign, introduces the
character Angie who at the time is 9 years. The Beatle’s “Yesterday” plays
shortly after the death of Angie’s mother But her stepfather Charlie prevents
her from playing Peter Paul and Mary’s “Puff the Magic Dragon” because he
thinks it glorified marijuana.
GOODBYE
CUBA, set in the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, tells how Charlie came to be
Angie’s stepfather. The two main songs are Pete Seegar’s “Guantanamera” and the
Irish folk song “Kevin Barry.”
THE
JEEPTOWN SONG HOP, set in the 1950s, gives the backstory on Charlie as a
teen-ager. He starts a dance band and organizes a sock hop he hopes will unit
his Black and his White friends. Included are “Sunny Side of the Street,”
“Accentuate the Positive,” and “Melancholy Baby” which is sung by his Black
girlfriend Clarice.
Do you have critique partners or beta readers?
I’m
a long term member of The Twin Cities Fiction Writers critique group, and they
have ripped apart every chapter of GOODBYE DEMONS, sometimes more than once.
But if it is a good novel today, a lot of that is due to the critiques I’ve
received from the group.
In
addition, I always use at least one beta reader. You need the input of someone
who sees the whole novel at one time, and critique group members never have
that experience. They respond to one chapter or scene at at time.
What book are you reading now?
At
the moment I’m writing Cold War fiction from the 1940s and 50s, so that’s what
I’m reading is from that era. It’s hard to beat Jane Heany’s “The Women of
Arlington Hall” about the incredible team of women analysts who cracked the
Russian code and uncovered a nest of Soviet spies in the U.S. government.
How
did you start your writing career?
Late
in my career as a college professor, I gave my class a term paper project in
which they read a piece of historical fiction. The papers they turned in were
so-so, but one young woman, read a novel set in Boston about 1950. It wasn’t
even a particularly good novel, but I will never forget her coming up to me to
tell me about it. I remember her name. I remember her face. I remember her
enthusiasm. And I remember what she said. “Professor, I wish I could have lived
in those times?”
Those
words got me to understand something. Historical fiction can touch people
viscerally in a way that social science scholarship and standard history
cannot. And down deep inside I knew that this is want I wanted to do.
Tell us about your next release.
In
the last year of WWII, P-38 fighter pilot Sonny Marino gets shot down and
injured over Nazi controlled Romania. He is rescued by a Resistance team. One
of the team member is a German woman, Lili Engler, who is tasked with escorting
him to a hidden landing site where he can be flown back to his base in Italy.
The two fall in love. He wants her to join him on the plane back to Italy, but
she refuses because she is dedicated to her work in the Resistance. They pledge
to meet up with each other in Berlin when the war ends. The story develops on
their efforts to keep that pledge.
About the Author
Purchase Links
https://mybook.to/GoodbyeDemons
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