Crossing Day

CROSSING DAY

William A. Glass

 

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GENRE:  Young Adult/Alternate History

 

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BLURB:

 

It's been one hundred and sixty years since the Confederacy won its independence at the Battle of Altamaha Crossing. Slaves of African descent still perform most of the work in the South. This seems normal to Ryan Walters and his friends who attend high school in Huntsville, Alabama. Like teens everywhere, they enjoy sharing videos, playing sports, and hanging out with friends. Jaybird's drive-in is their favorite gathering place. There, they befriend Mish, a slave girl who works as a car hop. When the drive-in’s owner sells Mish to a dirty old man, Ryan and his friends awaken to the injustice around them. Despite the danger, they decide to help Mish escape. Will they succeed?

 

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EXCERPT:

 

Melanie wanders into the dining room and finds her parents already seated at the table with their personal slaves standing behind them. Her mother, Dorothy, takes a sip of orange juice and replaces the glass on the lace tablecloth. Her servant, Natty, immediately gets a pitcher from the sideboard and refills the glass. Meanwhile, James is smiling at Melanie. “Morning, Miss,” he says. The white-haired Black man pulls out her chair. Once she’s seated, he spreads a cloth napkin over her lap. 

 

“What was all the ruckus at Jaybird’s last night?” Dan Montgomery asks. He’s the mayor of Huntsville and knows everything. 

 

“A German boy started it,” Melanie says defensively.

 

“Yes, and his father already called me to complain. He’s a big wheel at The Space Flight Complex.”

 

“Sorry!”

 

Montgomery points to the syrup. His slave, Parker, reaches for it and then pours. “Enough,” Montgomery snaps. He turns back to Melanie. “You and all the others will have a week of detention.” 

 

Melanie gasps. “What about cheerleading practice?”

 

“You should have thought of that before you went to the drive-in. That’s where all the delinquents hang out and you with them.”

 

“I won’t go anymore. Please.” Melanie bats her baby blues at her father. His expression melts. “Go to detention after school today, and maybe we’ll see about tomorrow.” 

 

“Thanks, Dad.” 

 

Montgomery cuts off a bite of pancake and pops it into his mouth. That reminds Melanie to eat as well. It’s almost time for the bus.

A Word With the Author

Q. Did you always want to be an author?

 

A. Thank you for having me as a guest at Hope, Dreams, Life . . . Love. To answer your first question, I have to say that I had no ambition while young other than to grow up and then move as far away from my family as possible. I didn’t think about writing a novel until retiring from business at age 55. At that point, I had accumulated enough crazy life experiences to provide fodder for at least one book.  

Q. Tell us about the publication of your first book.

 

A. As Good As Can Be was my first novel. It’s closely based on my life growing up in an out-of-control military family during the 1950s and 1960s. My family life with an alcoholic dad and four brothers and sisters was wild, and I was the craziest of the lot. That led to much trouble and many memorable escapades I used in the novel. Once it was finished, I queried agents but had little hope of getting one because the premise didn’t match any of the hot genres of the time. I turned my attention to self-publishing and was fortunate to find another author to help me through the process for a reasonable cost. If the reviews had been poor or so-so, that would have been the end of my writing career. However, the response from readers was highly positive, so I was encouraged to write a sequel, Off Broadway: A Marriage Drama. My new novel, Crossing Day, is not at all autobiographical. It came from imagination. I would never have tried that if not for the success of my first two books. 

 

Q. Besides yourself, who is your favorite author in the genre you write in?

 

A. My favorite writer of historical fiction is Pat Conroy. Like me, he was a military brat, and his work is often autobiographical. “The Great Santini” drew inspiration from his experience growing up in a Marine Corps family that was worse than the Army family I grew up in.

 

Q. What's the best part of being an author? The worst?

 

A. For me, the best part of being an author is having a reader tell me they finished one of my books, and it was “a great read.”

 

B. If there is the worst part of being an author, I haven’t found it yet. Every step in the publication process is necessary and must be done properly. I’m energized by the project's challenge. So it’s difficult for me to single out any step toward completing as “worst.”

 

Q. What are you working on now?

 

A.  Currently I’m tied up with marketing Crossing Day. But I have a novel outlined that features an eclectic group of characters who come together haphazardly to live out a suspenseful drama with the potential to end in tragedy. I can’t wait to get started on it!

 

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

 

 

Bill is a retired business executive who now lives in a small southern town with his wife, Bettina. She’s a retired high school German teacher. Bill coaches soccer at a small college. Often, Bettina, who has a commercial driver’s license, pilots the soccer team bus to away games. 

 

Bettina and Bill have three sons, Alex, Robert, and Gordon who have all graduated from college and moved away to pursue careers. Instead of having an empty nest, Bettina and Bill now host three rescue dogs. They enjoy finding promising hiking trails to explore with their dogs.

 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/william.glass.50767

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/williamasaglass

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/WilliamAGlass3 

LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/william-glass-1281609/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20170818.William_A_Glass 

LibraryThing:  https://www.librarything.com/profile/Glaswa4611

 

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Crossing-Day-William-Glass-ebook/dp/B0CW8HBGV4/ref=sr_1_1

 

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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION 

 

William A. Glass will award a $25 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter.

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway