Frances Hunter

blog of the author To the Ends of the Earth

 

Frances Hunter's Journal
December 2006

December 20, 2006: Old Tennessee

One of the interesting things about researching the novel was finding maps that showed what was actually present on the Natchez Trace and environs in 1809. I found that genealogy sites and books provided pretty good information along these lines, as people are often very interested in determining a family member's migration route. Here's one site with some maps:

Early East and Middle Tennessee Maps

Though it's further west than the route taken by Meriwether Lewis, the old "Notchey Trace" in what was then Chickasaw territory served as an alternate route for travelers in this then-remote area. The site Yesterday's Natchez Trace has some great photographs showing this part of the country before the creation of Natchez Trace State Park in Tennessee. One gets the feeling not much had changed since pioneer times.

December 15, 2006: Blast of Bad Writing from the Past

I was surprised and delighted to be contacted recently by Scott Rice, the Grand Panjandrum of the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest. This humorous annual competition challenges writers to compose the most awful opening sentence to the worst imaginable novel. I entered this contest way back in 1997, and was completely unaware (or perhaps had forgotten) that I had the dubious honor of winning anything.

Mr. Rice let me know that a new book of the execrable sentences was in the works -- would I like my sentence to be included? Never one to refuse a publishing credit, I happily agreed!

So, here it is, the beginning of the world's worst Western novel:

No one in Cisco City dared to question Jake Lattimer about the disappearance of neighbor Jones's hogs, not only because Jake was the best sheriff the town had ever seen, but also because his was the only dental parlor in the territory where a man could buy himself a decent set of slightly-used false teeth.

Very "Deadwood"-esque, eh?

December 13, 2006: Chickasaws

The dominant Indian tribe in the Natchez Trace area were the Chickasaws, a small but fierce component of the so-called "Five Civilized Tribes." They weren't anyone you'd want to mess around with. Here's some information about these very interesting native people of the Trace:

The Chickasaw Tribe - great short introduction to the people and their ways

Chickasaw History - an excellent longer overview of the history and culture of the tribe

The Official Site of the Chickasaw Nation - They were forced to move to Oklahoma in the 1830s

Chickasaw Historical Documents

The Natchez Trace and the People - very interesting site about the mound building people who preceded the Chickasaws in the area

December 7, 2006: Special Military Edition of "Ends" Available

Borrowing a fine idea from John Scalzi, author of the acclaimed science-fiction books Old Man's War and The Ghost Brigades, Blind Rabbit Press has made available a special electronic edition of To the Ends of the Earth: The Last Journey of Lewis & Clark to our military folks serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Bosnia.

If you're serving and would like a copy, just e-mail orders@blindrabbitpress.com from your .mil account and ask for it. We'll send an .rtf file of the book (1.75 MB), absolutely free. Thank you for your service. We love and appreciate you!

This is on the honor system. We realize that there are many military personnel and civilians serving stateside with .mil addresses. We appreciate you too, but this offer is for those currently risking their necks in dangerous places for the cause of human liberty. For the rest of you, we'd love for you to buy a copy here or on Amazon, or request it at your favorite bookstore.

Please feel free to pass the word if you know anyone who might be interested.

"Ends" Busting Out All Over

Or at least in the Topeka Capital-Journal! Scroll down to see the mention.

And last week we got a review in We Proceeded On, the magazine of the Lewis & Clark Trail Heritage Foundation. The reviewer didn't love everything about our book, but he did call it "entertaining," and "emotionally riveting," which ain't bad.

Tishomingo

One of my all-time favorite movies is the Coen brothers' "O Brother Where Art Thou?" This hilarious movie centers around three doofuses who escape from a chain-gang in 1930s Mississippi. Their goal is to make it to the home of Everett (George Clooney), who claims that he knows the location of a great treasure.

Along the way, they pick up a fourth member, Tommy, a black blues musicians who flags them down with the query, "You folks goin' to Tishomingo?" I later found out that Tommy's character was based on the great and mysterious blues musician, Robert Johnson, who supposedly sold his soul to the devil in exchange for his great musicianship.

I love the name Tishomingo, and we were hoping to somehow work into our novel, since the Natchez Trace runs right through Tishomingo State Park. Unfortunately, it turned out that the name didn't come along until the 1820s, too late to help us out.

A little history: The part of present-day Mississippi where Tishomingo is located was originally part of the South Carolina colony. It became part of the Mississippi territory around 1804. When the Old County of Tishomingo was formed, it was so large that it was often referred to as the "State of Tishomingo." It was named after a Chickasaw Indian chief. The Old County of Tishomingo was eventually divided into several present-day counties. There is also a town of Tishomingo, which is tiny, with only a few hundred residents today.

History of Tishomingo

Back to the top

Older journal entries

Copyright © Frances Hunter | Design by brampamp