J.J. Toner

Many thanks for reviewing "A Few Men Faithful." I wasn't aware that it appeared on Goodreads until quite recently. I agree entirely that the confusion about the Civil War continues and will probably never be resolved. Perhaps the more recent flurry of books dealing with it will help. At the time of researching the novel, I was guided to a degree by Michael Hopkinson's "Green Against Green," though it's always wise to consider political bias in such works. Found it at the bookstore in Collins Barracks.

I'm pleased you regard my research as "diligent," but this also includes period idiom. There are many transcriptions, to pick one example, of Michael Collins speaking informally. He had quite a few "Englishims" due to ten years in London, but he was also quite fond of "boyo" and "yerrah," usually before a wrestling session. The "now don't piss yerselfs" line I lifted whole from Coogan's "Michael Collins," where there are many such idiomatic transcriptions. These are just two examples. I've read deeply in contemporary accounts and letters, plus many, many books. The upshot is I do believe the idiom can be truly rendered without slipping into anything near stage-Irish "caricature."

On a more personal note, my mother's ill health when I was a child meant that I would spend months at a time with my maternal grandparents. They left County Tyrone in 1919. Their speech patterns, idioms and sentence structures were my main template: "Are ye gettin?", "yer man", "wet the tay" all come immediately to mind.

Regarding the ballads, I was very conscious that my audience would not all be Irish or even Irish in North America, Australia, etc. With the exception of "Glory O," I was well aware that the other songs would not be familiar to the majority of readers and that they would fill in some early historical blanks (1798,e.g.) without interrupting the story unduly. As well, I wanted to make it clear that during these years the troops had three things to do for amusement: drink stout, write letters and sing among themselves to minimize the boredom. Letter writing is out today; I don't count emails. Singing the old songs, especially obscure ones, is out except in session pubs. Only the stout remains. As far as I was concerned, it was a bit of verisimilitude with side benefits. However, I'm not the least surprised you would skip over them.

All this is neither a challenge nor a criticism of your review. Not in the least; thanks for taking the time and mulling it over. I did, however, feel a bit of clarification was in order.

Jim

Thanks for the friendvite, J.J.! Best of luck with your writing!

VNF
http://vampirenovelfan.wordpress.com/

J.J. Thanks for adding me as a friend. Your writing and background sound interesting. I also aim to write fun SF.

Hello J.J. Toner, it is a pleasure to meet you. If you ever have any questions about Harlequin or our books, please feel free to ask.

Kim S, Harlequin Books ambassador

Thanks for adding me! :)