Putting together historical facts
with the fictional people I’ve produced in my head is harder than just whipping
out a completely plausible story.
The “Spirit Trilogy” as I call my
books - Spirit of the Mountain, Spirit of the Lake, and Spirit of the Sky – came to me as an
idea about Native American spirits. They are complete figments of my
imagination but I was interested in incorporating this idea into a tribe I grew
up hearing about and admired from the history I’d read about them. So I placed
my spirits in the Nez Perce (Nimiipuu as they call themselves) band that
summered and wintered in the county where I grew up.
They were a peaceful group who
had welcomed Lewis and Clark and the Whitemen who straggled in and eventually began
to take over the areas the Nez Perce had called home for centuries. Reading all the books I could find that were
written from both sides, I tried to envision what life was like for the Nez
Perce and to write a story as historically accurate about their life as I could
and all the while weaving in the spirit element I’d manufactured.
The first book, Spirit of the Mountain, took a lot of
digging into information on Nez Perce websites, books, and contacting members
of the tribe to make sure the information I wanted to use in my books was
factual and didn’t go against their beliefs.
In the first book, I only had to stay true to their way of life.
Spirit
of the Lake,
again, dealt with their beliefs and how they tried to live with the Whiteman to
avoid being put on a reservation. I used information from Nez Perce websites,
visited the Spaulding mission, and my contacts with the tribe to ensure I kept
true to the facts and let my imagination go wild with the paranormal aspect of
this book.
The last book was the hardest. Spirit of the Sky dealt with the
nontreaty Nez Perce fleeing to freedom. The band I’d showcased in the two
previous books were part of the nontreaty bands who hadn’t signed the treaty
that took away all the land they migrated to throughout the seasons. They tried to live with the Whitemen who
steadily flowed into the area of their summer and winter homes, but the Whites
wanted the Nez Perce gone and the Army came in to make them move.
The nontreaty bands had finally agreed
to move to the reservation when some hot-headed young warriors decided to take
revenge. This one act was the catalyst that put the nontreaties on the run.
They knew that after the killing it was unlikely the Army would keep their
promises.
And that began the four month,
1400 mile pursuit by the Army. Spirit of
the Sky, begins two weeks into the pursuit and follows the horrors and
triumphs of the Lake Nimiipuu band. Using books written by both sides, I made a
time line and highlighted the things I found significant at each clash between
the groups. I used this as my plot line and interspersed the meetings between a
cavalry officer and the Nez Perce Spirit into this plot line using the factual
information to springboard their interactions. The hardest part was keeping
each side’s POV focused on their situation, thoughts, and feelings.
Blurb for Spirit of the Sky
To save her from oppression, he must save her whole tribe. To
give her his heart, he must desert his career…
When the US Army forces the Nimiipuu from their land, Sa-qan,
the eagle spirit entrusted with watching over her tribe, steps in to save her
mortal niece. Challenging the restrictions of the spirit world, Sa-qan assumes
human form and finds an unexpected ally in a handsome cavalry officer.
Certain she is a captive, Lt. Wade Watts, a Civil War
veteran, tries to help the blonde woman he finds sheltering a Nez Perce child.
While her intelligent eyes reveal she understands his language, she refuses his
help. But when Wade is wounded, it is the beautiful Sa-qan who tends him. Wade
wishes to stop the killing—Sa-qan will do anything to save her people.
Can their differences save her tribe? Or will their love
spell the end of the Nimiipuu?
Excerpt:
She smiled and his heart leapt into his
throat. He thought her beautiful from the first moment he saw her standing in
the river fiercely protecting the child, but watching her tense face relax and
smile, he was smitten. A light and pleasing calm washed over him for the first
time in a very long time. He could only bask in the moment briefly. They were enemies.
“I am from the sky, and I watch over the
Nimiipuu.” She nodded her head and flashed him with yet another smile. “You may
call me Angel.”
“Only if you call me Wade.”
She nodded. “Let me check your wounds. You
have moved around.”
“Why are you taking such good care of me
when your warriors left me for dead?”
Her sunshine gaze peered straight into his
eyes. “You saved my niece at the village and the wounded from the Bannock
scout. You do not have the thirst to kill like the other soldiers.” She bowed
her head and removed the blood encrusted bandage from his shoulder. “The
Nimiipuu need you.”
Her
touch warmed his body, tingling the areas around his wounds. He glanced at her
small, delicate hands hovering over his injuries. He shut his eyes, and then
opened them. Her hands shimmered as if in a fog. His pain subsided, in fact,
his body felt well rested.
A soft lyrical chant rose from her lips as
she continued to hover her hands over his wounds. Her eyes remained closed, her
light lashes resting on her sun-kissed cheeks. He’d never seen a woman as
beautiful as this. He had to learn her true origins and return her to her
family.
Buy Link:
You
can learn more about Paty at her blog; www.patyjager.blogspot.com her website; http://www.patyjager.net or on Facebook;
https://www.facebook.com/#!/paty.jager and
twitter; @patyjag.
Paty, thank you for sharing this fascinating insight into your historical research for the Spirit Trilogy. I can see you enjoy researching as much as I do. It's a perk, not a chore, for me.
ReplyDeleteI also love the excerpt from Spirit of the Sky!
BTW, you've just given me an idea for my next post -- how I researched the Kiowa Indians for Dearest Druid. Thanks!
Great excerpt, Paty. What GORGEOUS covers for all your books!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Meg. Your covers are wonderful. And I truly enjoyed the excerpt and learning a little more about the Nez Perce.
ReplyDelete