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… should be available on Kindle within the next 12 to 24 hours. Fingers crossed it’ll be up sooner than that.
As always, we appreciate your patience. This book … okay, not sure what’s going on but it’s already available on Amazon! Yay! Needless to say we’re doing multiple Snoopy dances over here.
Enjoy! And thanks to all our readers for their patience! Y’all are the best ever and we are very blessed to have you!
… I just realized I’d posted that Beloved Woman had been downloaded to Kindle, added the cover to the sidebar and even linked it to the page on the Kindle Store and then I forgot to come back and announce that it is available.
Yeah, yeah, go ahead…I’m shaking my head and calling myself an idiot along with you!
So, anyway, Beloved Woman has been released finally. If you’re interested in buying a copy, head on over to the Kindle Store or just click the cover in the upper right-hand corner of the blog or the one below this post.
Because we missed our self-imposed release date of December 20 and didn’t get the book downloaded until December 29, we’re offering Beloved Woman at a special introductory price of .99 and we’ve also dropped the price on Moonfixer to .99 and Whistling Woman is, as its always been, .99. The special price will last until January 31, 2015. So, go ahead, click on that link and get your copy. Then if you don’t already have the others, get those, too! That’s the entire Appalachian Journey series (to date) for under $3.00!
Beloved Woman and Moonfixer are also available in the Kindle Lending Library and Kindle Unlimited.
…has been downloaded to Kindle and should be available within 12 hours! We thank our readers for their patience and as promised we have a surprise for you! Until January 31, 1915, Beloved Woman will be available at a special introductory price of .99!
But wait! There’s more! Moonfixer will also be priced at .99 during this time and Whistling Woman, too, of course, has alway been .99. That means you can get the all three books in the Appalachian Journey series for under $3.00! Woo-hoo! Happy dances all around!
Seriously though, we are so grateful to our readers for their patience and apologize again for not making our original deadline. If you follow the Appalachian Journey Facebook page, you know we had a bit of a snag last week while we were in Florida doing the final edits. After a lot of debate and discussion, however, we decided to follow our heart and go with the book as it was originally written…and while we hope we haven’t offended anybody by telling the truth as we heard it, we also hope everybody enjoys reading the book as much as we enjoyed writing it.
Okay, that’s it, time to turn our brains off for a while and get some much-needed rest! Next up, the print version!
We’re very excited today because we have big news about both books in the Appalachian Journey series.
First, Moonfixer, Appalachian Journey Book 2 is free today and for the next four days so if you don’t already have it now’s your chance to read the next chapter in Bessie’s life! For free! It doesn’t get any better than that!
Here’s the blurb:
In the dawning years of the 20th century, Bessie Daniels leaves her home town of Hot Springs and travels over the mountain with her husband Fletcher Elliott to live in the Broad River Section of North Carolina.
Bess and Fletch stay with Fletcher’s parents for the first five years of their married life with Bessie teaching in a one-room schoolhouse and Fletcher working at the lumber mill in Old Fort while they save to buy property of their own on Stone Mountain.
In 1906, they purchase 400 acres of the old Zachariah Solomon Plantation which includes a small house with a shack beside it, a branch of Cedar Creek, a row of dilapitdated slave cabins…
And ghosts.
Thus begins Bessie’s next phase of life where the gift of sight she inherited from her Cherokee ancestors grows stronger, her healing abilities are put to the test, and she encounters a vicious secret society that tries to force her and Fletcher to turn their backs on a family sharecropping and living in one of the cabins.
When Bessie and Fletch refuse to give in to their demands, the group strikes back, bringing pain and suffering to their once serene existence on Stone Mountain.
The second thing that has us so excited today is the offer of a contract for Whistling Woman, Appalachian Journey Book 1 to be translated to French! So the German version, Madchen, die pfeifen (I really need to learn how to do that a with the two dots over it!) will be out in November and now it’s going to be in French, too! Needless to say, we’re doing happy dances over this.
We have so many people to thank for the success of this series, our readers who have encouraged and inspired us to continue sharing Aunt Bessie’s story with the world, our dad who is our primary source of inspiration with his love and all the stories he continues to tell us to this day, and most of all, Aunt Bessie who manages to make her presence felt in our life every time we sit down at our computers. Aunt Bessie, we sincerely hope we’re doing justice to your life and that you’re enjoying this “Appalachian Journey” as much as we are!
To all our readers who have been waiting so patiently for the next book in our Appalachian Journey series…
Moonfixer just went live on Kindle! Yay! For the time being, it will only be available on Kindle but the print edition is in the works as is the audio edition. It will also be available on Nook, Kobo, Sony, Apple, etc., in a couple of months–or sooner depending on when we get the formatting worked out. We’ll post here when each version goes live so stay tuned!
We want to thank each and everyone of you for your patience and for making 2013 such a joyful and memorable year for us! We wish all of you a very merry Christmas and a safe and healthy 2014!
about how time flies when you’re having fun? Well, I must have been having a blast in February judging by the date of my last post. Over a month without a single word written on this blog. Yikes! I had hoped to put up at least three posts a week but as you can see, I’ve failed miserably. My only excuse is research and writing has taken up a great deal of my time. That and promoting Whistling Woman which is currently #1 on the Kindle southern and historical fiction list. Woo-hoo! We’re a Kindle bestseller!
Something else I’ve been spending a lot of time on is Photoshop. I bought the program last July and finally got it downloaded (uploaded? I never know which is right!) to my computer. The first picture I added was one we have of Aunt Bessie and Uncle Fletcher on their wedding day. It’s in pretty bad shape and I have plans to take it to a professional picture restorer (or whatever they’re called) but I wanted to see what I could do with it on Photoshop first.
Here’s the original picture:
Told you it was in bad shape but it is from 1902 and was tucked in a small picture album Aunt Bessie gave to our dad before she died. He’d wrapped it in plastic and stored it away for years before pulling it out and giving it to us when we started writing Whistling Woman. This is the only picture we have of Aunt Bessie when she was young and it’s the only picture we have of Uncle Fletcher at any age. Because it was taken on their wedding day, Christy and I have decided it would be the perfect picture for the cover of Moonfixer which starts where Whistling Woman left off–a week after their wedding with their train trip to Old Fort.
Anyway, here’s my first attempt at fixing it myself on Photoshop:
Still needs some work but I thought for a first time try it wasn’t too bad. At least I got the edge cleaned up! Here’s the second attempt:
I know, I know, too dark so I went back and tried to lighten it up and came up with this:
Not real happy with that one either, although you sure can see them a lot better. So, next time, I’m going to work with this one and see what I can do to clean up the background. Photoshop is an amazing program but I have to tell you, it’s terribly complicated to learn. Or maybe that’s just me!
Okay, that’s it for now except to tell you my new goal for this blog: at least one post a week. Surely I can handle that!
2012 is in the past and Christy and I would like to thank everyone who helped us make it a wonderful year.
When we released the Kindle version of Whistling Woman in December 2011, after 4 long years of research, plotting, writing, more research, more writing, editing, editing, more research, editing…and even more editing, we had high hopes. That first month and the first three in 2012, it did fairly well, nothing to write home about, but okay. It hit a sort of mini-slump in April but we hardly noticed because we were busy perfecting the manuscript for the print versions. After April, sales started climbing, slowly at first and then in September, it really picked up momentum. We ended the year with our best selling month (yet!) and we’re hoping it continues on into 2013 (which we’ve dubbed the Year of the Moonfixer).
So…to all our lovely readers and our backyard supporters (you know who you are!), we’re eternally grateful to have been blessed with people like you in our lives and, it can’t be said often or loud enough, thank you, Thank You, THANK YOU! We hope you all have a safe and happy Year of the Moonfixer!
Whistling Woman is a bestseller and we can’t help but crow a little bit. Look at this:
It’s a little hard to see there, but for Kindle in literature and fiction, southern fiction, historical fiction Whistling Woman has been at the top of the list since yesterday–and maybe even before that. We just happened to find it yesterday and boy, howdy, did we do some crowing over the phone! We knew the sales had been steadily increasing since the second week of September but we had no idea we’d hit number one! Yippee!
Starting today and continuing for the next eleven days, Whistling Woman can be had for your Kindle at the amazing price of .99! So, for all those people out there who received new Kindles for Christmas–like me!–and want a good read for not much money–also like me!–because they are, as my niece Meghann says, Scrooge-alicious–yep, that’s me! Just call me Ebenezer, Jr.–head on over to the Amazon Kindle Store and download your copy of Whistling Woman. It’s a steal at less than a buck!
Happy Holidays to all–and God bless us, every one!
CC Tillery has some big news to share! But first, a little backstory–toward the end of our book, Whistling Woman, the family celebrates Old Christmas, with Papa and Bessie telling Thee the meaning and the myths behind the holiday. The following is an edited section–no spoilers here!–from Chapter Twenty-one, Winter 1900, entitled, Breaking up Christmas:
Papa is talking to Thee:
“Ya’ see, boy, midnight tonight is when the baby Jesus was first presented to the world. That was when the three Wise Men arrived at the stables where Mary and Joseph had taken shelter so Mary could have her baby. The Wise Men had traveled for miles, following the light of a single star, because they wanted to honor the birth of their Savior. When they showed up and offered the gifts they’d brought, all the animals in the stables woke up, adding their praise to that of the three Wise Men and the angels singing up above. And to this day, they say if you go out right at midnight and stand quietly, you can hear the animals praying, and some say if you can get a look at them, you’ll see them kneeling, too. Don’t know how true it is, but I’ve heard tell that the wild animals out in the woods and up on the mountains wake, stand up, and then lay back down on their other side.”
I looked at Thee, his eyes wide and filled with love, and knew right then and there that not only could I forgive Papa, I had to for the sake of my family.
Loney, who loved Christmas, sat in the chair beside Papa with a nearly completed quilt top spread across her lap. She’d heard the story many times, but when Papa started telling it, she stopped sewing and listened as raptly as Thee. When the story was finished, she smiled and asked, “Have you ever seen the animals pray, Papa?”
“Can’t rightly say I have, but I’ve heard tell of people who sneak out at midnight and have seen it. ’Course, there’s folks who say it’s bad luck to go looking for the signs of Old Christmas, that if you do, something bad will happen to you. I don’t think that’s so, though, since the people I talked to that claim to have seen and heard it all looked hearty to me.”
“But if you just happen to be out and see a sign, then it’s all right?”
“Sure it is but why would a person be out in the barn at midnight?”
Playing along, Loney said, “Maybe they were late getting home and had to put their horse in the stable before they could go to bed?”
Papa laughed. “Could be, Loney, but we’re all safe at home, as most people are on a cold winter night, so I guess we’ll stay right here and let the animals and alder bushes do what they do without us.”
“The alder bushes?”
Papa winked at Thee. “Did I forget that part? Well, Loney, the animals aren’t the only ones who honor the birth of the baby Jesus. The alder bushes do, too. Right at midnight on Old Christmas Eve, no matter how cold the night is or how much snow’s on the ground, the alder bushes burst into bloom and some say they even sprout new branches. I’ve also heard it said that if you listen closely, you can hear the bees roar in the bee-gum, as if they wanted to swarm.”
Thee stood up, leaned on Papa’s knee and said, “Can we see the animals, Papa?”
“Maybe in a few more years, when you’re old enough to stay up until midnight but not this year, boy. This year, I’d say you’ll be fast asleep by the time midnight rolls around. Why, you already look like its long past your bedtime and here it’s barely gone dark. It’s a long time till midnight.”
Thee’s little face crumpled and Papa patted his head. “Tell you what, Thee, if you can keep your eyes open till then, I’ll take you out to the barn myself and we’ll see what we can see.”
Clapping his hands, Thee jumped up and down. Jack chortled and did her best to slap her tiny hands together, too.
“But Papa, what if it is bad luck?” Loney asked.
“Pshaw, girl, I’ve talked to lots of people who say they’ve seen just such a thing and they were all living and breathing when they told me.”
Loney picked up her needle and started working on the quilt top again. “Wouldn’t that be a lovely thing to see, all the animals honoring Jesus like that?” She looked down at Thee and smiled. “I think it might be worth taking a chance on some bad luck, don’t you, little man?”
Thee nodded and clapped his hands again. “Tell us some more, Papa.”
“Why that’s all I know to tell, boy. Maybe Bess knows more.”
Thee ran over to me where I sat on the sofa. “Tell, Bessie, tell.”
I smiled at him and ruffled his hair. “I’ll tell you what else happens during the twelve days of Christmas, Thee, but it’s about people, not about the animals.”
He looked doubtful but sat down at my feet, prepared to listen.
“There are some things you shouldn’t do, like lend anything to anybody during the twelve days of Christmas because if you do you’ll never get it back.” I pointed to the fireplace. “You see how the ashes are piling up in the hearth over there? That’s because it’s bad luck to clean them out during the twelve days. It’s also bad luck to wash your bed sheets until Old Christmas is over.” I leaned down and sniffed at Thee. “Good thing we only have one more day, else we wouldn’t be able to stand the smell.”
Thee giggled and dramatically sniffed the skirt of my dress, wrinkling his little nose.
“Tonight is Old Christmas Eve and at midnight people everywhere will be breaking up Christmas.” His face crumpled again and I went on hurriedly, “That’s not a bad thing. What it means is most people will drink sweet cider and burn a piece of cedar or pine in the fire as a way of saying farewell to the season.
“Do they have to break it because it’s old?”
I smiled. “No, sweetie. You see, some people believe the twenty-fifth of December is the day when the baby Jesus was born and the sixth of January is when He was first presented to the three Wise Men and to the world. But a long time ago, most people believed the sixth was the day when He was truly born and that’s when they celebrated so that day came to be known as Old Christmas. There are twelve days between the two dates, from December 25th, the ‘new’ Christmas, to January 6th, the ‘old’ Christmas, and that gives us the twelve days of Christmas. During those twelve days, people have what they call Breaking Up Christmas parties. Tonight’s party is at Aunt Belle’s house and there will be lots of sweet cider to drink and music for dancing.” I leaned down. “And I’ll tell you a secret if you promise not to tell. Promise?”
He nodded.
I bent down and whispered, “Aunt Belle is planning on having a small fire in the street outside her house right at midnight so that people can burn a piece of cedar or pine to officially Break Up Christmas. Don’t tell Papa though, or he might have to arrest Aunt Belle.”
Thee laughed and whispered back, “I won’t. Can I go and see the fire?”
“If you do, how will you see the animals in the barn when they kneel down to pray?”
He frowned. Uncle Ned boarded his horse at the town livery stables so Aunt Belle didn’t have a barn or any animals he could spy on to see if they really did pray at midnight.
I took his chin in my hand and lifted it to give him a kiss. “Why don’t you stay here with Papa and Loney, and if you can stay awake, Papa will take you out to see the animals. You can see a fire in the fireplace any old time and Roy and I will be sure to burn a piece of pine in Aunt Belle’s fire to break up Christmas for you.”
Roy came in from the barn, bringing the crisp smell of winter with him. “You about ready to go, Bessie? I’ve got the horses hitched up and they’re champing at the bit.”
I stood, lifting Thee with me. “You keep those eyes open tonight, Theodore Norton. I want to hear all about what you see tomorrow.”
He put his arms around my neck and hugged me, whispering, “I will, Bessie,” in my ear. I squeezed him before kissing his cheek and setting him down on the floor.
Walking over to Papa, I kissed Jack on the top of her head first then bent further in to kiss Papa’s cheek. I turned to Loney who set her quilting aside and stood up.
“Have a good time, Bess.” She stepped forward and kissed my cheek, which surprised me. Loney wasn’t usually given to outward signs of affection.
I took her hand and squeezed it. “You sure you don’t mind staying home with the babies? I can stay and you can go to the party if you want.”
She smiled. “I don’t mind a bit. You know how much I enjoy taking care of them. You and Roy have fun.”
I hugged her goodbye. At the door, I turned and looked at my family and the strangest sensation washed over me, as if I stood far away, seeing them in a dream. I could feel their love for me, just as I could mine for them, but there was a distance there, a deep chasm keeping them from me.
Now for the big news, in honor of Old Christmas, and as a way of saying thanks to everyone who’s been involved with this book for the last four years, Christy and I decided to have a special 12 Days of Christmas sale. That means from December 26, 2011 until January 6, 2012, you’ll be able to download the Kindle version of Whistling Woman for only 99 cents!
Enjoy and a very happy holiday season to everyone!
CTHodges
christytilleryfrench
