I’m gonna go ahead and call Morgan on the Rim 2025 a success.

Morgan on the Rim is an annual American Civil War Reenactment in Ridgetop, Tennessee. It commemorates the fight of Confederate Cavalry leader John Hunt Morgan there. The organizers invited me to sign books and play my fiddle. It’s always a good time.

Friday was “School Day.” We had several buses of kids and some homeschool families visit us.

It’s typically a slow day for book sales, as Fridays are on weekend events. But lucky for me, these two moms bought all six of my novels. I always say, every book sale is a victory. Even one makes an event worth it. So selling twelve in one day is an absolute triumph!

I also got a good spot to watch one of the artillery demonstrations. Here it is!

Honestly, there is nothing quite like experiencing live cannon fire in person. The iPhone microphone condenses the massive sound these things make, so you really don’t get a sense of how terrifying it is from the video. There is a percussive punch you feel in your gut and then a heavy smell of sulfur as the smoke spreads out around you.

Saturdays are always the main event, and I had a steady stream of visitors, many of whom bought books!

What I love about this picture is that this brother and sister both picked out one of my books that interested them the most.

I think they nailed it.

Especially her, I styled Claudette, the main character of Mexico, My Love, as a 19th-century goth-girl specifically to appeal to young ladies of today.

Oh, and Blood for Blood at Nashville is full of badass, totally metal moments that I think that boy is going to love. He’s basically me at that age. I totally write for the twelve-year-old, swashbuckling-obsessed kid I was then, and still am now. I hope I earn these kids as readers for life. I will work as hard as I can and pour all of my passion into making that so.

Later, I got recruited for the reenactment. I guess they didn’t have enough Yankees to shoot.

A woman was waiting for me at my table when I got back. She bought my Civil War trilogy and had me sign one for each of her kids. She didn’t want me to post pictures of them on social media. I took a picture of the books instead so I could remember that I sold them in case I made any mistakes with my record-keeping.

Sometimes you get a few extra sales as you’re packing up for the day. I’m always grateful. It’s a great way to top off the day!

Sunday was cold and rainy, with very few visitors. I almost regretted coming until this young lady showed up and bought Book I of my series and made it all worth it.

Then this guy came along and got Book I & II. I was so excited, I forgot to have him hold them in the picture, so once again I took a picture of two copies for my records.

This next guy didn’t get any books, but I think his mom signed up for the email subscription. I hope they download the free novella.

Here I am, playing him a little tune.

Okay, let’s do the numbers.

Over a three-day weekend, I sold 30 books, got 15 email subscribers, and had 5 downloads of my free novella. I hope I get more as time goes on and people get around to downloading it. I think it’s a great story, and it fits into the overall series very well with maybe some more surprising insights into some of the characters.

Here’s a further breakdown of the sales:

I sold 12 books on Friday, 15 on Saturday, and 3 on Sunday.

I sold 8 copies of Rampage on the River, 6 copies of The Perils of Perryville, 7 copies of Blood for Blood at Nashville, 5 copies of Mexico, My Love, 2 copies of The Prussian Prince, and 2 copies of The French Fiasco.

On a side note, as I was setting my books out, I couldn’t believe I had written them. I’m very proud. If you like them, there’s more coming. I’m currently writing Black James, which is about a character I introduced in Mexico, My Love.

Right now and coming next!

The Prussian Prince is only 99¢ in the US this week. I put out an email on that earlier. Next week it’ll be 99p in the UK. I’ll also email you a reminder on that. Unfortunately, those are the only two countries where Amazon runs those promotions. Hopefully, they’ll start doing them all over the world.

I have some fiddle playing gigs around town coming up. I don’t have any events where I’ll be signing books set up currently until I do the Mid-South Civil War show next March. I’ll send you more details when we get closer, but it’ll be the first weekend.

Anyway, thanks for being a friend,

Cody

P.S. Sign up for my email list and get a FREE Novella!

…and, check out my latest novel here: