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Life in a Casket
Shortlisted
in Laramie
Book Awards!

Had a good time in Nebraska City at the Morton-James Library. Library Director Donna Kruse organized and hosted a delightful evening. I also had the pleasure of meeting with the ladies of a local reading group, The Tuesday Club. Sylvie hosted the event and I had a good time reading and answering questions...and getting some more information about Brownville of old.
                                           CALENDAR OF EVENTS 2018

DECEMBER
14 December. Friday. 2 pm. Meeting with the local Tuesday Club.

NOVEMBER
11 November. Sunday. 12 Noon. Barnes and Noble, Southpointe, Lincoln, Nebraska. Reading and Signing.
29 November. Thursday. 7:00pm. Nebraska City, Nebraska. Morton-James Public Library: Life in a Casket & Knight Time for Paris. Book Reading and Signing.

OCTOBER
6 October. Iowa City, Iowa: Book Reading and Signing.
13-14 October. Brownville, Nebraska: Brownville Old Time Autumn. Signing
27 October. 11 a.m. Auburn, Nebraska. Auburn Memorial Public Library: Knight Time for Paris. Book Reading and Signing

SEPTEMBER
2 September. Beatrice, Nebraska: Homestead National Monument, Lecture: Prelude to Homesteading.
7 September. Lincoln, Nebraska: Friday Live, Nebraska Radio interview at the Mill on Life in a Casket.
8 September. Topeka, Kansas: Kansas Book Festival. Book signing.
16 September. Brownville, Nebraska: Book Reading and Signing. Life in a Casket.
22-23 September. Nebraska City. GAR Museum. Life in a Casket available; proceeds go to the GAR Museum.
29 September. Brownville, Nebraska: Brownville Flea Market. Signing.

AUGUST
2-4 August. Greenwood, Wisconsin: Athanatos Festival, Lecture: Historical Fiction and Religious Realities.
23-26 August. Cumbernauld, Scotland: Attending the Historical Novel Society Conference.
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Amazon.com
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AMAZON.COM
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Welcome to my website and Cliophile Productions. I live in southeast Nebraska, somewhat between Peru State, Nebraska's oldest college, and Brownville, one of Nebraska's first settlements. Back in the 1850s, this portion of Nebraska was alive with activity, and it's not an exaggeration to say that Brownvillians expected their town to become a thriving city, if not metropolis. Now populated by less than 150 souls, it's hard to imagine the heady days of Nebraska Territory's frontier when hundreds of people a year were passing through Brownville or putting up homes there.
      At that time Brownville had the most widely distributed newspaper in the territory and the pages of The Nebraska Advertiser can be consulted at chroniclingamerica.com. In its columns one discovers Nebraska's earliest pioneers and their stories. I've written Life in a Casket to celebrate this time period and the names of several of those early Nebraskans.
     The novel, told through the eyes of Addy Furlough, a fictitious heroine with hopes of establishing her own newspaper, brings to life some of the Brownville happenings of 1857. Of course this is a work of historical fiction, a cozy mystery, so though the events and places and even people mentioned in the book often have a grounding in history, the narrative and dialogue is inspired by a different muse.
    See Books of 2018.

ABOUT

I live on a farm with my wife Sylvie in southeast Nebraska, not far from the Missouri River village of Brownville. I teach history, write, travel, and farm, usually in that order. ​
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Sylvie at The Conan Doyle pub in Edinburgh. Legend has it the novelist wrote in this very pub.
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We farm about 450 acres of soybeans and corn and sustain a wildlife population that includes deer, turkey, coyotes, and the occasional bald eagle and bobcat. Our close friend and neighbor who has some 70 plus years of farming experiences is running the combine in this picture. 


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