Friday, May 24, 2013

Four Free Book Chapters/One of Three Books – Your choice

Four Free Book Chapters/One of Three Books – Your choice 


End of May Special 

Author’s Free Chapters Offer 

Choose among (from the current The Homeplace Series):


1.     “Back to the Homeplace”
2.     “Murder by Homeplace”
3.     “The Homeplace Revisited”

I will send you a PDF file of the first 4 Chapters of the “Book of Your Choice,” as an attachment to a reply email.  Just send an email to: williamlevernesmith@gmail.com

…with your Book Choice in the Subject Line. It is that easy.


To learn more about each book, click the designated tab, above.


To buy each book in print or kindle edition, now, click on the image of the book, below:

 

Bill  ;-)

Saturday, May 18, 2013

Wrap-Up - "Murder by the Homeplace" - Book Blog Tour



Wrap-Up
"Murder by the Homeplace"
 The Homeplace Series Book Blog Tour



This is the wrap-up of the first Book Blog Tour for The Homeplace Series, a continuing Family Saga.
This week we featured the most recent addition to the series, Murder by the Homeplace, a novella by William Leverne Smith. It's place in the series, in timing, is shortly following Back to the Homeplace, in the fall of 1987. 

A secondary character in Back to the Homeplace is discovered dead near Oak Creek in the opening sequence. The reporter, Penny Nixon, for the local paper, the Oak Springs Enterprise, gets on the story, but gets almost too close to the murderer…



"If you haven't read it, it is new to you!"  WLS





Link to book on Amazon



List of the tour stops - you can still see the reviews at these links:

May 15 - Wednesday

Julie Goucher
Angler's Rest

May 16 - Thursday
Brandee
Bookworm Brandiee


May 17 - Friday
Mindy Wall
Books, Books, and More Books




Friday, May 17, 2013

The Founding of the Homeplace - Story 3, The First Valley Visitors, Part 4




The Founding of the Homeplace
Story 3, The First Valley Visitors, Part 4


"The Founding of the Homeplace" saga will continue here on the first and third Friday of each month, going forward. See Story 1 (Parts 123, and 4), Story 2 (Part 123, and 4) and Story 3 (Part 12 and 3) earlier. This is a serial presentation of the story, beginning in 1833, when four families decided to settle the land, the valley, that would become the setting of the first two books in the The Homeplace Series: "Back to the Homeplace" and "The Homeplace Revisited" as well as the forthcoming third book in the series, "The Homeplace Threatened." These three books are set in the years 1987, 1996, and 1999, respectively. The underlying premise of this series is the desire of the family matriarch to retain the family farm in the southern Missouri Ozarks in whole and in the family. 


[Source: Currier & Ives, "Summer landscape, c1869"; Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2002695754: accessed 17 Mar 2013)]

Characters in this series become actively involved in the study of their family history and snippets of that research appear, from time to time through the series (one example). This serial presentation begins to share that ‘research’ in Story Form, and, some of the Stories represent 'writings of the family' that were ‘discovered’ in the process of that research. Each Story is an essay or report of the activities of the initial four families and their descendants that settled the Homeplace – the farm and the surrounding valley.


Story 3, First Valley Visitors

In this episode, we share "Part 4 of 4"



The agreement revolved around a sharecrop arrangement on the northeast corner of Jake’s property, to the east of the shop and their cabin. Recognizing that it was getting late in the season, Jake said he would talk to the others about possibly getting some seed for a modest corn and bean crop  this first season as well as a small garden. Without making a firm commitment before talking to the others, he said he assumed they would all work together to get them a cabin built sometime during the summer. He felt certain that Robert Baldridge would see the young man as a strong positive asset as it came time to begin building the mill, but he didn’t say anything about that until he had talked to Robert. 

The Olson couple had the evening meal with the Patton family and then set up a temporary camp on the edge of the woods near the Patton cabin. During the evening and the following morning, Jake made the rounds of talking to the other families to let them know what he was thinking about the Olson couple and getting their reactions to the tentative plan. Each agreed that it was really Jake’s decision to make, but they were each generally supportive with no objections. Robert confirmed that an extra strong and willing hand would indeed be useful. Appropriate compensation procedures would not be a problem. They also were able to come up with the seed needed to plant a ten-acre plot and a small garden this late in the season. Hugh Truesdale said he would happy to teach Owen how to fell and prepare the trees needed for a cabin if Jake was willing to have them use some of this timber. He concurred that having Owen do most of the physical labor himself would be a good way to assure he was fully vested in the project. Hugh also agreed to help with getting the planting plot done, teaching Owen all the processes along the way, so he would be able to do his own in the future. Victoria had already expressed pleasure to her father at the prospect of having another young woman in the community of nearly the same age.

With those assurances, Jake confirmed the arrangements with the Olsons the next day and everyone got to work to make it happen.

After talking with his parents, Harry decided what he wanted to try to trade with Big John and visited the trader’s camp late morning the next day. As he arrived, Jake, Owen and Anna were just concluding some trading with Big John to acquire a few household items and tools that would be useful that they had not been able to carry with them, if they had ever had them at all. 

Big John was pleased to see Harry come back and with the proposals he had. They each did a little careful haggling to make the resulting trades feel good to each of them. When they concluded their trades, Big John began to pack up his goods with the intention of heading down the Oak Creek trail to the southeast early in the afternoon. In a few hours he did just that, promising to return in a couple of months.

[...to be continued... on June 7, 2013, with Part 1 of Story 4]

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Tuesday's Tip - Murder by the Homeplace - Book Blog Tour


Tuesday's Tip
"Murder by the Homeplace"
Book Blog Tour



This is the first Book Blog Tour for The Homeplace Series, a continuing Family Saga, another historical fiction book.

This week we feature the most recent addition to the series, Murder by the Homeplace, a novella by William Leverne Smith. It's place in the series, in timing, is shortly following Back to the Homeplace, in the fall of 1987.

A secondary character in Back to the Homeplace is discovered dead near Oak Creek in the opening sequence. The reporter, Penny Nixon, for the local paper, the Oak Springs Enterprise, gets on the story, but gets almost too close to the murderer…

"If you haven't read it, it is new to you!"  WLS



Available in print or kindle editions:




List of the tour stops - this week

May 15 - Wednesday

Julie Goucher
Angler's Rest
http://anglersrest.blogspot.com/

May 16 - Thursday

Brandee
Bookworm Brandiee
http://bookwormbrandee.blogspot.ca/

May 17 - Friday

Mindy Wall
Books, Books, and More Books
http://dream-reader-dreamer2229.blogspot.com/


May 18 - Saturday

WrapUp at The Homeplace Series blog
http://thehomeplaceseries.blogspot.com/


Happy Reading!  ;-)

Friday, May 3, 2013

The Founding of the Homeplace - Story 3, The First Valley Visitors, Part 3



The Founding of the Homeplace
Story 3, The First Valley Visitors, Part 3


"The Founding of the Homeplace" saga will continue here on the first and third Friday of each month, going forward. See Story 1 (Parts 123, and 4), Story 2 (Part 123, and 4) and Story 3 (Part 1 and 2) earlier. This is a serial presentation of the story, beginning in 1833, when four families decided to settle the land, the valley, that would become the setting of the first two books in the The Homeplace Series: "Back to the Homeplace" and "The Homeplace Revisited" as well as the forthcoming third book in the series, "The Homeplace Threatened." These three books are set in the years 1987, 1996, and 1999, respectively. The underlying premise of this series is the desire of the family matriarch to retain the family farm in the southern Missouri Ozarks in whole and in the family. 


[Source: Currier & Ives, "Summer landscape, c1869"; Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2002695754: accessed 17 Mar 2013)]

Characters in this series become actively involved in the study of their family history and snippets of that research appear, from time to time through the series (one example). This serial presentation begins to share that ‘research’ in Story Form, and, some of the Stories represent 'writings of the family' that were ‘discovered’ in the process of that research. Each Story is an essay or report of the activities of the initial four families and their descendants that settled the Homeplace – the farm and the surrounding valley.


Story 3, First Valley Visitors

In this episode, we share "Part 3 of 4"


Big John asked Harry to tell him how he had come to have this fine deer hide. Harry shared with Big John some details of the hunt as well as talking about what he had done to cure the hide. Big John then, very carefully, provided a critique and some suggestions about the quality of the particular hide he was wanting to trade. Big John knew, of course, that how he dealt with the youngster would have some impact on his relationships with the adults in the community as well. 

They then began talking about trade goods. What might Harry be interested in obtaining in exchange from Big John that Big John had in his pack? What was the value of the hide with respect to these items? Did Harry have any other items he might want to consider trading? Big John was careful to make that point that an immediate decision on a trade was not necessary and how important it was for each of them to feel they had a ‘good deal’ when they finished. They talked about long-term and short-term satisfaction issues.

Harry expressed an interest in some tools of his own so that he wouldn’t always have to use those of his father: a claw-hammerhead, an axehead, a skin scraper, perhaps. Big John showed Harry the tools he had and discussed their relative worths along with some positives and negatives of each. After some further discussion, Big John suggested that Harry talk to his parents about their discussion and come back tomorrow if he was still interested in some specific trade talks.

Harry met Sarah Baldridge leaving the garden area as he headed back to talk to his parents. She wondered why he had been talking to Big John, by himself. Harry explained what he had been doing and how interesting it had been to talk to Big John ‘man-to-man.’ Sarah wanted to make fun of Harry, but quickly realized how serious he was about doing a man-thing, on his own. So, she was positive and encouraged him in talking to his parents. 

Meanwhile, Jake, Kate and Victoria Patton had more visitors arrive from the northwest. A young couple, Owen and Anna Olson, by name, came walking down the trail off the ridge, each with a medium sized pack on their backs. They followed the Center Creek directly to the Patton cabin which was actually their intended destination. 

Owen was a powerful young man of Norwegian stock who wanted to learn to be both a farmer and a blacksmith. He had talked to a number of blacksmiths at the lumber camp. From those discussions, Owen and Anna had decided to come find Jake Patton, the blacksmith. Now, here they were.

Jake was flattered, of course, that they had come this far to see him. On the other hand, he had to be skeptical as to their intentions and how they might fit here in the valley, if that was really their intention. They did seem to be very sincere if quite naive in their expectations. Jake felt is was important to find out as much as possible about them by keeping them talking. He asked about the different folks they had contacted and the lumber camps and decided he could make a pretty good judgement based on those answers. They did show him their marriage certificate.

It did not take Jake long to conclude that Owen and Anna were very sincere, they had a strong work ethic, and seemed to be willing to do whatever it took to earn the way of life they sought. However, they also had no money and few supplies with them. They did not have a backup plan. They were putting everything they did have at risk to make this work. Following further discussion, Jake came to an agreement with the young couple to give them the opportunity to earn their dream if they would live up to the expectations they were presenting. Jake also made sure that they fully appreciated how difficult it was likely to be and that nothing was certain about the arrangement if they did not hold up their end of the bargain. They totally agreed to give it all they had, individually and together.


[...to be continued... on May 17, 2013, with Part 4 of Story 3]