"Hellraiser—Mother Jones: An Historical Novel" is set for launch September 22. In it the reader will follow MOJO through a lifetime as a champion of the working class, the underclass, from Memphis to Chicago, from Colorado to West Virginia.
Her heart is mostly in West Virginia. Here's one of my favorite clips:
"And so it is that I wrap my few possessions into the black shawl I use as a knapsack and head back to the Mountain State. My span of work here is now approaching twenty-five years.
"I know West Virginia. I know the people. I’ve been in these hills, on and off, for decades. And I belong here.
"West Virginia miners and their wives are good people of good stock. Strong and proud, unafraid of hard work or hardship. They are accustomed to both because they are the products of generations of pioneering spirits in a land that is not the romantic Wild West of literature, but the challenging Wild West of American history when the West lay east of the Mississippi River, before the West of later history was acquired and settled.
"The land is beautiful but unforgiving.
"Before becoming coal miners, the men of these hills were gatherers and hunters in the tradition of the native Americans who came before them. These mountaineers carry guns for hunting and for protecting their families. They are fearless, self- assured, confident in their responsibilities.
"They have hacked their way through endless forests with giant virgin timber growing so close together that the huge trunks sometimes do not let a man pass. With not an acre of flat land available, the typical West Virginia family has cleared out enough space for a cabin, a vegetable garden and a few chickens.
"They are accustomed to winters that are bitter cold and summers that are insect infested. They are one with the land. They know how to eke out a living and they thank their Lord above for His grace and for their independence.
"Montani Semper Liberi. 'Mountaineers are always free.' The state’s motto since its founding in 1863 amidst the civil war when many, but not all, refused to join the Confederacy.
"The great Abe Lincoln admired these people and took steps to make the western side of Virginia the independent state of West Virginia. Montani Semper Liberi. Words to live by.
"But just twenty years later the first carload of coal was transported from West Virginia to Tazewell, Virginia. The Industrial Revolution reached these Appalachian mountains and it began to entice these proud people from the primeval comfort of the woods into the unnatural black holes of coal mines. Independence lost. Pride shaken. Life miserable. Spirit broken.
Her heart is mostly in West Virginia. Here's one of my favorite clips:
"And so it is that I wrap my few possessions into the black shawl I use as a knapsack and head back to the Mountain State. My span of work here is now approaching twenty-five years.
"I know West Virginia. I know the people. I’ve been in these hills, on and off, for decades. And I belong here.
"West Virginia miners and their wives are good people of good stock. Strong and proud, unafraid of hard work or hardship. They are accustomed to both because they are the products of generations of pioneering spirits in a land that is not the romantic Wild West of literature, but the challenging Wild West of American history when the West lay east of the Mississippi River, before the West of later history was acquired and settled.
"The land is beautiful but unforgiving.
"Before becoming coal miners, the men of these hills were gatherers and hunters in the tradition of the native Americans who came before them. These mountaineers carry guns for hunting and for protecting their families. They are fearless, self- assured, confident in their responsibilities.
"They have hacked their way through endless forests with giant virgin timber growing so close together that the huge trunks sometimes do not let a man pass.
With not an acre of flat land available, the typical West Virginia family has cleared out enough space for a cabin, a vegetable garden and a few chickens.
"They are accustomed to winters that are bitter cold and summers that are insect infested. They are one with the land. They know how to eke out a living and they thank their Lord above for His grace and for their independence.
"Montani Semper Liberi. 'Mountaineers are always free.' The state’s motto since its founding in 1863 amidst the civil war when many, but not all, refused to join the Confederacy.
"The great Abe Lincoln admired these people and took steps to make the western side of Virginia the independent state of West Virginia.
Montani Semper Liberi. Words to live by.
"But just twenty years later the first carload of coal was transported from West Virginia to Tazewell, Virginia. The Industrial Revolution reached these Appalachian mountains and it began to entice these proud people from the primeval comfort of the woods into the unnatural black holes of coal mines. Independence lost. Pride shaken. Life miserable. Spirit broken.
"Telling you all this breaks my heart."