Author Interview: Amanda Collins Beams
JMR-Welcome to the Books
Delight, Amanda. Tell our readers where you live, what you do for fun and what
does the perfect day look like?
ACB- I live in central Illinois
where summers are hot, winters are cold, and if one doesn’t like the weather,
one need only wait a day or two and it will change. The perfect day for me is a
hot, sunny summer day spent with friends and family kayaking the clear waters
of Courtois Creek in eastern Missouri, followed by a night of good food, tall
tales, and plenty of laughter around a campfire.
JMR-What’s your favorite
historical time period? Why?
ACB- I would have to say my favorite
is the nineteenth century. It was a time of mass immigration and great change
in our country which offers a storyteller many avenues to explore.
JMR-Who is your favorite
historical figure? Why? If you could ask them one question, what would it be?
ACB- My favorite historical
figure is not famous. She is the pioneer woman. The hardy soul who risked her
life to live alongside her husband in the borderlands and worked her fingers to
the bone from sunrise to sunset cooking, cleaning, gardening, gathering,
canning, washing, mending, etc. The more
I learn about the pioneer woman and the discomforts and deprivations she
suffered, the more my admiration grows. My question would be: “On the frontier,
which was worse? The fear or the loneliness?”
JMR- I interview so many
American authors who write European historical fiction, it’s a pleasure to come
across an American who writes American historical fiction. Why do you think
that is? Are Americans bored by their history? Too close to it?
ACB- To be honest, I think most
people find European history sexier than American history. Our American
accoutrements are not glamorous. Instead of kings living in castles, wearing
fine clothes, and occasionally, beheading their wives, we have pioneers dressed
in homespun, living in log cabins, and occasionally, butchering a hog.
JMR- Tell us about your book,
October Storms.
ACB- October Storms is historical
fiction with a contemporary twist. A tale of loss, survival, trust and bonds of
friendship even death couldn’t break.
On the Illinois prairie in
October 1897, Louise Hawkes, severely beaten and near death, and her two young
children, are found on the muddy bank of Friends Creek. Transported to Dunham’s
Crossing, they are taken in by Agnes Dunham Hoskins. Over the many months of
Louise’s recuperation, the women’s lives become increasingly intertwined. An
unbreakable bond is formed that will endure far beyond their natural lives.
Nearly a century later, on an
October afternoon, Belinda Page and Julie Stephens embark on a day trip to
Allerton Park. A twist of fate forces them off the highway and into the
clutches of a violent thunderstorm. In the aftermath, the discovery of a
long-buried curio leads to an experience neither Belinda nor Julie could have
ever imagined.
JMR- How did you research this
book? What sources did you use? How important is it to get the details right?
ACB- Historical accuracy in every
aspect of the story is very important to me. I scoured the library and the
internet for historical books and records pertaining to the time period. In
October Storms, I set the story in a location I knew well.
JMR-What projects do you have
in the pipeline?
ACB- My WIP recounts the birth of
organized crime in the American Midwest in the first half of the nineteenth
century.
JMR- Tell our readers how to
find you on social media and the web.
ACB- You can find me on Facebook
@AuthorAmandaCollinsBeams or on Twitter @BeamsAmanda
JMR- What question were you
hoping I’d ask but didn’t?
ACB- I’m not sure you would ever
ask what I do with the profits from the book, but I will happily tell you. As a
hobby novelist, I donate all proceeds from October Storms to:
Oglala Lakota Children's Justice Center (www.lakotacjc.org)
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