Sunday, November 27, 2011

Cyber Monday Sale

 In honor of Cyber Monday, you can get the ebook format of Hardship and Hardtack on sale for 15% off. Use the coupon code below at Smashwords to purchase your ebook today!




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Offer good Monday and Tuesday, November 28th and 29th only.

Saturday, September 3, 2011

All the links are live!

Well, it was a learning experience, that's for darn sure. But now HARDSHIP AND HARDTACK is live (sans formatting errors) at Createspace for print, the Kindle store, the Nook store, and, for all other ebook formats, the Smashwords store.

The 126th New York Volunteers left Geneva, NY on a hot August day, 1861, ready to do their part to preserve the Union. Little did they know that they'd serve less than a month before becoming prisoners of war and labeled the "Harper's Ferry Cowards." HARDSHIP AND HARDTACK tells the story of their first year of service through the eyes of Richard Bassett, first Lieutenant of Company B, and his brother Erasmus (Rass). Because Richard's wife kept all of her husband's letters, today we have this revealing insight into the everyday life of a Union soldier.

Contact me at cfduprey@yahoo.com if you'd like to set up a reading or booksigning. I'm currently booking for October through December.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Trials and Tribulations

I got the print proof from CreateSpace today and immediately found a typo. Grrrr...

Right now my plan is to read through the proof, fix the copy and upload it to Createspace, then go through the ebook formats to see if the same typos are there (the one I found is fine in the ebooks). If they are, I'll fix and reload, but I'm optimistic about them. If you've purchased an ebook format of the book and find an error, please comment below or send me an email so I can take care of it! And yes, I'll send you a free copy of the book without the error. :)

Thanks to all who have purchased so far. Print will be coming soon, I promise!

C

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Smashwords down

At the moment, the only ebook formats that are available for HARDSHIP AND HARDTACK are the Kindle and the Nook. There were some formatting errors with the other formats, so those are currently offline while I fix them. I'll let you know when those are live again.

Thanks for your patience!

C.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

HARDSHIP AND HARDTACK releases!

As of today you can purchase all ebook formats of HARDSHIP AND HARDTACK, the first volume of Richard Bassett's life as a soldier during the Civil War. Links to all the format are in the sidebar under the picture of the cover or you can go here for the Kindle format, here for the Nook and here for all other formats.


This book has been a long time coming. Many thanks to RL Murray for first telling me Richard's story all those years ago. I also want to say thank you to some of my early readers who put up with some truly awful drafts and give a special thank you to my Dad who gave me my love of history in the first place.


Another thank you to my daughter for the cover design and to all the men and women who are involved in keeping our history alive through re-enactments. You offer a valuable service, as do the local historical societies who preserve our past so that we might learn from it. Thank you to you all.


A print version will be coming soon, so watch this space for that announcement. Till then, here's an excerpt from the first chapter to whet your appetite (or just go buy the ebook!).

from HARDSHIP AND HARDTACK
CF Duprey
All Rights Reserved

 “Dresden!”

At the sound of the steamer’s captain’s call, most of the men of Company B crowded the decks to get one last look at home. Each of the companies had done the same thing at various points along the way as the steamer passed one hometown after another. He watched as eagerly as the rest to see the families left behind.

It seemed as if all of PennYan had traveled the five miles to the dock at Dresden. A band played and ladies waved their handkerchiefs, all to send them on their way with fond memories of home. Even Richard found himself caught up in the gaiety and waved back almost as vehemently as the others, though he knew Mary wouldn’t be there. Their farm lay further south, closer to Dundee. He would look for his wife there.

Dresden faded into the distance, the sound of the band lingering long after the town slipped out of sight. Now they approached Lakemont, where he suspected his wife would be.

As they came into sight of the tiny hamlet, Richard strained his eyes, his heart beating hard. This would be the last glimpse of his family he’d get for a very long time. His eyes misted as he thought of it, but a surreptitious wipe of his sleeve got rid of them. He didn’t want his last look at his wife blurred by tears.

He saw his father first, standing straight and tall on the shoreline, saluting. Rass joined Richard at the side of the steamer and the two brothers stood at attention, returning the salute. And there was Mary, waving a blue handkerchief. He chuckled and remembered that she had told him it wouldn’t be a white one because she wasn’t going to surrender her husband to the army, only loan him. And so she waved a blue handkerchief that matched the blue of the uniform he would soon wear. By her side were his two little boys, Eddie and Georgie. At four years old, Eddie was old enough to understand a little of where his father was going.
He stood between his grandfather and his mother, shyly waving at the big boat. Georgie had just taken his first steps last week, and clung unsteadily to Mary’s skirts. As he watched, Mary scooped up the baby and held him for Richard to see.

The shoreline passed all too fast. Richard hardly noticed that Lill, their sister, also waved, as did Kate, Rass’ current love interest. No, his eyes were for Mary and the boys. The two brothers traveled back along the rail to the rear of the boat, keeping their family in their eyes as long as they could.
A moment later and the trees hid the sight of the small knot of people on the shore. The two stood in silence as the boat continued south, finally turning as one to pick their way back to their belongings.

No bands played now and the mood turned somber as each man thought of the ones he left
behind. It would be a long time before they would be back here again. Some would never come back.

The silent shore drifted past in an unbroken line of woodland. Not too many people lived right on the shore. The farms that bordered the lake tended to be up on the hills where the breezes cooled the houses and the sun warmed the earth. Richard thought of the haying they had just finished and tried not to worry about his father getting in the corn with only the help of a few old men and young boys. In spite of the conversation he’d had with Mary before he left, he knew she’d help harvest as well, a task he really didn’t want her doing. Her place was with the children, providing them a safe home he intended to come home to.



And with that...go buy the book!

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Intro post

Just a post to set up this blog as my official presence on the web. HARDSHIP & HARDTACK is the first book that will be released under this name, although it is not my first published book. Off to set up the blog roll, the book pages, and all the other design elements a good site should have. By the end of the week this will be fully operational.

CFD