I received another great review for my novel, A Beautiful Glittering Lie. This is the first book in the Renegade Series, which tells the heart-rending story of a family from North Alabama, and how the Civil War affects them. Thank you, Stephanie, for your flattering remarks in regard to my book!
Today I am cover crushing over A Beautiful Glittering Lie. I was thrilled when I first saw this book being awarded the B.R.A.G. Medallion. First I’d like to say I am an avid reader of history and I am deeply interested in the War Between the States. I have this book on my Kindle and I am looking forward to reading it. I am thinking about buying a print copy as well since I love the cover and fascinated with the premise. Isn’t the title marvelous too! My hats off to J.D.R. Hawkins for writing a story in the view of a confederate soldier and his family.
Be sure to check out my website for B.R.A.G. Interviews and other great post here.
Can they come up with more ridiculousness? I mean, really? And more importantly, when will this craziness end? First, the Dixie Chicks change their name to the Chicks, and now this. It’s almost laughable, except that they’re serious.
IN THE MORMON BEEHIVE STATE Dixie State University in Utah has elected to change its name because of the word Dixie’s association with slavery. Mark Atkins commented that:
“This is beyond silly and would be akin to rejecting the word ‘Cuba’ because of its association with communism, or ‘Germany’ because of its association with Nazism.
“Or would it? In truth communism has so bled Cuba of vitality and relevance as to eliminate it as a threat. And of all the places in the world where Nazism might be reborn, Germany would be near the bottom of the list.
“But the South remains a real and present danger to the progress of Progressivism, and thus all Southern words, symbols, emblems, and anything uniquely associated with the South must be defined, then removed, and ultimately forgotten.
Southerners, with all of their opinions, notions, and instinctive inclination to oppose them, represent a power that the Left still fears. Thus even a word as sweet as Dixie must be erased.
“That we inspire such fear in our enemies may almost be taken as a compliment.“
(Article courtesy of the Dixie Heritage Newsletter, Aug. 20 ed.)
From bestselling Author Sapna Bhog comes a new romance series of friendship, loyalty and betrayal.
He never expected to run into her…
SHAURYA RAJPOOT is a man of many secrets. A sudden meeting with Myra Gupta changes the course of his life. Bound by a vow to his family, Shaurya keeps her at a distance…until she shatters all the barriers between them. Staying away from her soon becomes impossible, resisting her…unimaginable.
She wasn’t prepared for him…
After losing the only man she ever loved, MYRA GUPTA has gone through life barely living and merely surviving. But all that changes when she meets Shaurya Rajpoot. Fascinated and intrigued by him, Myra is drawn by his loyalty, silent strength and quiet reserve. She yearns to get to know him better. However his past, his family and their bitter history keeps getting in the way of them being together.
But when the past collides with the present and secrets are revealed, will love be enough? Or will one lie—the biggest deception of all—destroy Shaurya and Myra forever?
28 yo Myra Gupta lost the man she loved more than four years ago. Post that traumatic ordeal, she’s focused all her energy into her work as the head legal counsel for a huge company. Her work requires her to move cities and she does so with the single aim to begin her life afresh and to move beyond the past. But a chance meeting with a stranger at the airport, changes her life. Suddenly, Shaurya Rajpoot is everywhere she is.
Very soon, Myra is battling feelings for the only man who can possibly help her overcome her past and fall in love again.
Shaurya Rajpoot
A rising star in Dubai’s construction sector, Shaurya Rajpoot’s main goal in life is to protect his family from an old enemy. After being betrayed by the woman he loves, he never wanted anything permanent with another woman ever, until he bumps into Myra. She makes him feel again and soon Shaurya is fighting his growing attraction for the one woman who works for his family’s enemy.
Including her in his life is hard, keeping her away even harder. But with his family’s history and his past in the way of their happily ever after, Shaurya has to decide if he can take a risk and confide in Myra about everything.
About the Author: Sapna Bhog is an author from India who writes contemporary and historical romance novels. As a self-proclaimed die-hard romantic, her books are filled with swoon-worthy heroes and feisty heroines who clash all the time, but do get their happy ever after. Sapna has always surrounded herself with books and when she is not writing she is reading. Originally from Dubai, she now lives in Western India with her husband, kids and a Siberian Husky. Sapna gave up a successful IT career and took a foray into writing and has never looked back since. Her favourite pastimes are reading, writing, traveling and shopping—not necessarily in that order. She loves to hear from readers.
We all want happiness and success and keep chasing both throughout our lives. However, only 4-5 per cent of people in the entire world end up becoming successful and from among them less than 1 per cent become successful and happy. What is the secret power that propels these people to the top of the pyramid? What makes them who they are?
Author Megha Bajaj set out on a journey and visited different parts of the country and discovered 11 such individuals who were truly happy and successful. She realized that in a country of 1.3 billion people these individuals had one thing in common—they had the rare ability to turn an ordinary event into a significant one and then turn that into a ‘breakthrough’.
They seize the moment when there is nothing perceptible to seize; they look at the present and create a future; they realize that the Supreme Power is always there, only if one believes unfailingly, surrenders completely and works tirelessly. Meet Nitin, Asha, Arun, Chitra, Sandeep, Kanni, Uvaraj, Guru, Kavish, Mukesh, Praburam and Sushiil.
Even during the worst possible time the world has ever seen, the book will put you on the path to many wonderful things and a life full of contentment.
Megha Bajaj is a Bestselling author of the book, The Breakthrough (Rupa). In the past, she has penned several acclaimed and award-winning books including Thank You, Cancer (Hay House), I Inspire (Jaico) and Happiness in the Age of Ambition (Rupa). She has written over a thousand articles for internationally acclaimed magazines and newspapers. Megha is a well-loved speaker and has been invited to premier institutes to share her insights. She was the youngest speaker at The World Confluence of Spirituality and Humanity for two consecutive years. Megha is also writing film scripts for prominent production houses and best knows herself as an ardent seeker.
There are so many sad stories involved with any war, but especially, the Civil War. Basically, the only way to communicate was through letters. The telegraph was fairly new, and was mostly reserved for officers and the wealthy. Therefore, many people had no way of knowing what happened to their loved ones who went off to fight and didn’t return. This is the reason for Confederate monuments and memorials, and it has NOTHING to do with racism. This was how they honored their lost loved ones, and it took decades to save up enough money to erect the monuments.
WHAT THE CIVIL WAR DID TO FAMILIES
(And the Mule Came Home Alone)
Here is the story of what happened to four University of Mississippi students and their families during and after the war. They all lived within 10 miles of each other and all knew each other growing up. Three grew up in Holmes County, Mississippi near Richland, and those three all went to the Little Red Schoolhouse. The fourth lived about 10 miles South in Camden, Mississippi, in Madison County. He may have gone to the Little Red Schoolhouse. If only I could know for sure.
Richard C. Lipsey was his parents only child. His father was a farmer. Richard was UM Class of 1864. He joined the University Greys and he was wounded in the leg in the famous cornfield at Sharpsburg, the bloodiest 40 acres in America. His leg was amputated, and he came home to try to farm. How does a one-legged man farm? He somehow farmed, raised mules, and got elected County Supervisor and then County Treasurer for 20 years. He was the last University Grey to die in 1920. From letters I have of his, he wanted to see any of his old friends for the last 20 years of his life. The Greys never did have a reunion. Lipsey never got to see his friends again.
Jeremiah Gage was one of 4 Gage brothers. Three were military age and one was 11 when the war started. Gage was UM Class of 1860, and UM Law Class of 1861. His Father died in 1860. Gage joined the Greys and he was mortally wounded at Gettysburg. He wrote his mother one last, sad letter before he died.
His older brother, Matthew was killed by a cousin in a business dispute in 1865. He had survived the war only to be killed by a cousin! Jeremiah’s younger brother was wounded in the shoulder during the war, and he lost the use of that arm from nerve damage. He came home to try to farm to support his mother and several younger sisters and brother. How does a one armed man farm?
James F. Walton was UM Class of 1861. His Pastor father died in 1861. His only 2 brothers were at a church picnic in 1855, one of them started to drown in the swimming hole, a friend jumped in and was pulling him to shore. The other brother jumped from the bank to help, he landed on the other two, and they all three drowned. James joined the 29th Mississippi Regiment and he was wounded twice in the war. In 1864 he took sick. His mother heard he was bad sick in the hospital, and went to see him in Georgia. She found his body servant bringing the casket containing her last son home, at a train depot while changing trains. She took him home to bury him.
James R. Montgomery was UM Class of 1858, and UM Law Class of 1861. Montgomery joined the University Greys. One younger brother was killed at Vicksburg. James was mortally wounded at Talley’s Mill in 1864. His only other brother survived the war. In 1869, four years after the war, that brother went out with the family mule to plow a field. Late that afternoon, the mule came back by himself. His father went out looking for his son. Apparently, his son had finished plowing the field, he unhitched the mule, and was leading him home. A lightning bolt hit his son and killed him, and the mule came home alone.
As Jeremiah Gage wrote in a letter just a few months before he died, “War is a terrible thing, I hope another one never comes in my time.”
That is only four families who lived close together, and their sons were friends. I can tell 100 of these stories from my research. Nobody knows, but me.
STARKE MILLER – Miller Civil War Tours
(Article Courtesy of the Southern Comfort, Private Samuel A. Hughey Camp 1452, Sons of Confederate Veterans, President Jefferson Davis Chapter, Military Order of the Stars and Bars, Volume 45, Issue No. 8, August 2021)
J.D.R. Hawkins 