Vote We Must!
All about my first nonfiction book in years
Back in February I quietly released a new Kansas history book. First, here’s the blurb for this book:
History has often portrayed the process of Kansas becoming a free state with the phrase “Bleeding Kansas.” The focus of these stories is on murder and mayhem. But is that truly how Kansas entered the union as a state without slavery?
This book puts forward the proposition that it was politics rather than violence that achieved this accomplishment. Antislavery settlers moved into the territory in far larger numbers than did proslavery settlers. A political “free state” movement was organized and, after trials and struggles, used its numbers to take command of the territorial government. In doing so they made their preference over the issue of slavery known.
In this work that story is told through period newspapers and letters, memoirs, and more. These sources show the failures and successes in preventing slavery from taking root in Kansas Territory.
That’s what the book is about. How did it come to be?
Some of the research for this book came out of my biographies of General James G. Blunt and Senator Jim Lane. The first draft of the Lane book was cut down by a third because much of it was about that era of Kansas history and not about the man himself. That material ended up being the start of this project.
I researched and wrote it along with the other nonfiction books I was working on at the time. I fully intended on publishing it after Kansas County Seat Conflicts. The work was done and all it needed was editing. So what happened?
The response to the county-seat book was modest. More than that, I found that once I stopped researching I had more time to write fantasy and science fiction. My output of short stories and books increased significantly once I was no longer writing nonfiction.
Why publish this book now? It was done, for one thing. For another, my nonfiction still sells. I felt it would be good to get this and the other nearly-completed history book out into the world. I could earn back what I’d spent in time and money on research back in the day.
Does that mean I don’t believe in these books? Absolutely not! I don’t know that I’m making a great contribution to Kansas history by publishing this book. Yet I have a point to make and I want others to see my point. I want to make a contribution to sorting out the history of this state, no matter how large or small that contribution actually is.
If you don’t have any interest in this subject that’s quite all right. I imagine most, if not all of you, are here because I write fantasy and science fiction. All the same, I wanted to let you know this book was available and what it covers. Check it out if you think you might be intrigued by this part of my state’s tumultuous history.
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Happy writing & happy reading!