Blog Archives — Page 4 of 12 — Alan Lampe

Hurricane Audrey Anniversary

Wednesday marks the sixty-first anniversary of Hurricane Audrey striking the Cameron coast. Warnings were given and many people did move inland, but several longtime residents believed they knew the land better. Plus, severe hurricanes had never hit in June before. They also failed to see thousands of crawfish exiting the marshes in the evening. The crawfish were reacting to rising temperatures of the water. The final reason for staying was the reports said the hurricane would hit in the evening of June 27. Back in 1957, the isolated Cameron area didn’t get good radio reception. Television sets were still a new fad and not commonplace.

When residents awoke that morning sixty-one years ago, their escape routes were already cut off by the storm surge. Audrey was now a category 4 hurricane with winds of 145-150 mph. The storm surges reached twenty-five miles inland. Although an exact number is not known, officials estimate 550 people lost their lives during this storm. You can read more about Hurricane Audrey in Nola Mae Wittler Ross’ book Hurricane Audrey.

Hurricane Audrey plays a role in my own book, Bill’s Cajun House of Pleasure. Initially, my characters believed they were safe. Bayou Cove, if it had been real, is located north of Pierre Part and hundreds of miles away from Cameron. Then, the weather turned. Poor reception from WFUX-TV and Rich Bastärds didn’t provide accurate information. Bill and his girls hunkered down behind the grand staircase of the bordello. When the storm climaxes, Peggy lets slip one the girls is pregnant. The storm damage and pregnancy are resolved in the next chapter.

History doesn’t write itself, and I hope my representation of Hurricane Audrey has piqued your interest in this deadly storm. There are even comparisons between Audrey and Rita online. Enjoy your time researching Mother Nature and the Louisiana coast.

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What I’m Reading – Many readers I know like to inquire what their favorite author is reading. At the end of each blog post, I’ll let you know what book is open on my Kindle. I hope my choice of reading material inspires you to read a variety of authors and topics. I’m currently reading book nine of the Ellis Peters’ Brother Cadfael series, Dead Man’s Ransom.

Bill’s Cajun House of Pleasure is available on Amazon, as an eBook, and in physical formats. It is also available on the Barnes and Noble website.

The Value of Two-Lane Highways

Do you take a trip to the same place every year, or every other year? Does the travel to said place become boring and monotonous after the fourth time? Break up that drive next time by experiencing the value of the two-lane highways that parallel the interstates. Stop in the little towns that you always see the exit signs for and learn about them. It’ll be one of the best drives to, or from, said place.

I had the wonderful opportunity to do just this last week. Since 2010, every four years, my family reunion is held in Lebanon, Tennessee. My parents and I have also visited my cousins in Lebanon for Thanksgiving twice during this time. We know the route via I-40 very well. This year, we decided to take a long way home. We stayed an extra day and saw the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky. In 2014, a sinkhole swallowed eight vehicles. They repaired the room and one of the cars. The others are on display, and you can see how much damage they sustained.

On our drive home, we stopped at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee. Her plantation home and museums are in a peaceful valley about ten miles north of I-40. You learn a lot about her, her father, and the movie, Coal Miner’s Daughter. Our next stop was the Louisiana Purchase State Park southeast of Blackton, Arkansas. This is a very small park, but you get a great walk through a head swamp to see where the mapping of the Louisiana Purchase began. Since my book is set in the swamps of Louisiana, it was a no-brainer to stop for a few minutes.

Alan in Swamp

In Brinkley, we visited the Central Delta Depot Museum. Dee Dee told me wonderful stories about the items at the museum. A bonus for you research buffs, they have the Brinkley Argus archived in hardback books going back to at least the 1960s from what I saw. The actual newspaper pages are well preserved and available for you to peruse.

We drove through De Valls Bluff and Lonoke on our way to the Plantation Agriculture Museum in Scott. If you want to know anything about growing, picking, and baling cotton in Arkansas, this museum is for you. Nearby is Toltec Mounds Archeological State Park. Although we didn’t visit the mounds, I plan on seeing them in October when I return to Scott for the High Cotton on the Bayou Festival at the Scott Settlement. Put that on your calendar and come see me.

Seek out the back roads on your routine trips. You will see and learn so much more than what the interstates have to offer. History doesn’t write itself and the closer you get to the people who actually lived it, the better informed you’ll be. Plus, it could be the romp in the swamp you need to turn your routine trip into an extraordinary one.

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What I’m Reading – Many readers I know like to inquire what their favorite author is reading. At the end of each blog post, I’ll let you know what book is open on my Kindle. I hope my choice of reading material inspires you to read a variety of authors and topics. I’m currently reading book eight of the Ellis Peters’ Brother Cadfael series, The Devil’s Novice.

Bill’s Cajun House of Pleasure is available on Amazon, as an eBook, and in physical formats. It is also available on the Barnes and Noble website.

Memorial Day in Bayou Cove

Tomorrow America remembers its fallen military service personnel. It’s the unofficial kick off of summer and a three-day weekend for most workers. If Bayou Cove still existed, Bill would raise a glass of whiskey in salute to his father and Uncle U who fought in World War I. Top Shelf would match the salute with his Moscow mule. They’d sit at the bar of Bill’s Cajun House of Pleasure and tell war stories. This gives me the idea to write a flash fiction piece that expands this scene. This morning Amazon.com reports only ten physical copies are in stock, so I know you’re itching for some more tales from the swamp.

Books in Bloom was a great success. I set out fourteen books and sold all but one. Thanks to everyone who came out and purchased a copy, or stopped by and said hi. If you weren’t able to make it Eureka Springs last Sunday, come see me in North Little Rock at the Arkansas Writers’ Conference this Saturday. You can pick up your copy of Bill’s and enjoy your romp in the swamp!

A couple of Louisiana anniversaries to point out. On this day back in 1836, Henry Shreve and seven others laid out a town. It became Shreveport. Tomorrow, St. Bernard Parish celebrates the birthday of its most famous son, Civil War General P.G.T. Beauregard. He’d be two hundred-years-old if that was possible. Finally, on Tuesday, seventy years ago, was the last time you could ride on a streetcar named Desire. The electric car was replaced by a motorized bus. A bus named Desire just doesn’t have the same ring to it.

Streetcar_Named_Desire_at_corner_of_St_Peter_Street — The streetcar Desire at the corner of St. Peter Street (from https://nolahistoryguy.com/2016/04/podcast-2-streetcar-named-desire/)

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What I’m Reading – Many readers I know like to inquire what their favorite author is reading. At the end of each blog post, I’ll let you know what book is open on my Kindle. I hope my choice of reading material inspires you to read a variety of authors and topics. I’m currently reading book seven of the Ellis Peters’ Brother Cadfael series, The Sanctuary Sparrow.

Bill’s Cajun House of Pleasure is available on Amazon, as an eBook, and in physical formats. It is also available on the Barnes and Noble website.

Wheel of Emotions

Can you be happy and sad at the same time? Can you have fear and be surprised at the same time? Can you have all four in one day? In one hour? Good writers can make their readers feel these emotions for their characters. But what happens when the author feels them for real-life events?

Today is Mother’s Day in the United States. A glorious day to celebrate your mother and everything she has done for you. You want the day to be happy and joyful. Sadly, it didn’t last long for me. Around 6:30 this morning, I found out one of my nephews died. It wasn’t a total shock as just last week he was his normal self. We knew his health was failing but didn’t expect the end to come this morning.

So how do you be happy for your mother and sisters with this type of news? All four and a half of my sisters are mothers and I want them to enjoy this day. I’m afraid it’s not going to be the happy day everyone else has. Additionally, two of my nieces are mothers, and one of them is celebrating a birthday today. So I have this joy and desire for happiness for all them. On the other hand, I have this grief and sorrow for my nephew and my sister. Really makes for a tough day.

Wheel of Emotions

I know many people who have already lost their mother. A few of them are experiencing their first Mother’s Day without their mother. I sympathize with them. Some never knew their mother at all and have an adopted mother they cherish. What is this day like for them? It is hard to lose a family member, harder when it falls near, or on, a holiday. How many mothers have said their final goodbyes to their children on Mother’s Day? How many children have said their final goodbyes to their mother on Mother’s Day? With the death rate what it is, I’m confident there are numerous people who can answer in the affirmative to both questions.

Mixed in with all this is my excitement and joy for next Sunday. At the 1886 Crescent Hotel and Spa in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, the Carroll and Madison County Public Library Foundation will host the 13^th Annual Books in Bloom. I’ve attended this event before in the past and truly enjoyed. I’ve meet national and local authors, listened to their talks, and have had books signed. This year I’m attending as an author. I’ll be a guest at the Village Writing School tent. I’m not on the official roster of authors, but still, I’ll be there with Bill’s Cajun House of Pleasure ready to meet and greet you. Hope to see you there.

So this has been my day. I pray your Mother’s Day is a blessed and awesome event!

A Great Week

I had a great week. I hope you did too. My first book, Bill’s Cajun House of Pleasure, went on sale on Tuesday. On Wednesday I was the feature of David Ellis’s UK blog. On Thursday I placed an order with my publisher for copies of my book. I’ll sell these at upcoming events. People bought my book and posted about it on Facebook. The weekend weather has been bright and sunny, allowing me to do things outside and step away from the computer for a bit.

With a great week of dreams fulfilled, it’s back to work tomorrow. I still need to finish my work in progress. This is not a sequel to Bill’s Cajun House of Pleasure. I’m creating a new world for my medieval fantasy series. Each story will be a stand-alone and cover a different time period. This is similar to the Brother Cadfael series I’m reading where each of the twenty books is its own story and can be read in any order. I’m including quite a bit of humor in this new world, namely: the royal carriage being blocked in with the arrival of dinner guests, imagining how the Internet and a blue tooth network could have worked in medieval times, the fighting ability of a new squadron of Pee-Ons, the unique way a small town in the Gray Forest handles their dead, how licking a toad affects my main character, and many more. It’s a fun story to write.

Finally, I mentioned earlier this month New Orleans celebrated a birthday. Tomorrow the whole state gets to join the party. On April 30, 1812, Louisiana joined the Union as the eighteenth state. This was nine short years after the signing of the Louisiana Purchase Treaty. Get out and party again, Louisiana. It’ll be a romp in the swamp for sure.

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What I’m Reading – Many readers I know like to inquire what their favorite author is reading. At the end of each blog post, I’ll let you know what book I have my nose in. I hope my choice of reading material inspires you to read a variety of authors and topics. I finished reading book four of the Ellis Peters’ Brother Cadfael series, Saint Peter’s Fair. I’ll post my review on Goodreads and Amazon later today. Tomorrow I start reading book five in the series, The Leper of Saint Giles.

Bill’s Cajun House of Pleasure is available on Amazon, as an eBook, and in physical formats.

A Rose by Any Other Name

I believe we are all familiar with Shakespeare’s wonderful line, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” Juliet said it in Romeo and Juliet. In preparing for my book, Bill’s Cajun House of Pleasure, to be released out on Tuesday, I did some online searching to check for the possibilities of confusion. I’m not the only Alan Lampe out there. I’m not even the only Alan Lampe to publish a book. Yesterday morning, I stumbled across A Torch to Burn by Alan Lampe on Amazon. It was published in New York in 1935. I went ahead and bought the book so that when you search for me on Tuesday, only my name/book will be found.

If you do a Google search for Alan Lampe, you’ll find me, a painter from Iowa and the CEO of Comm-Works Holding in Minneapolis. It would be unique, and confusing if I could get Alan Lampe the CEO to endorse a future book of mine while getting Alan Lampe the painter to do the cover of said book. Of course, the book cover would have to pass through my publisher.

Getting back to me, and Tuesday. As I prepare to pass my work to you, I hope you will help me have a successful debut novel. After reading Bill’s Cajun House of Pleasure, please post a comment on Amazon.com and/or Goodreads.com. Comments are very helpful for authors. Then tell your friends to buy the great book you just finished reading. Remind them to leave a comment on the aforementioned websites.

Thank you for coming on this journey with me. Your support is greatly appreciated. It’s not over yet, as now comes the marketing phase of the book. Most of that falls to me, but a passionate reader who convinces his/her friends to buy my book is a wonderful asset to have. Looking forward to working with all of you to promote Bill’s Cajun House of Pleasure. It’s a romp in the swamp!

Bill's Cajun House of Pleasure Cover

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What I’m Reading – Many readers I know like to inquire what their favorite author is reading. At the end of each blog post, I’ll let you know what book I have my nose in. I hope my choice of reading material inspires you to read a variety of authors and topics. I’m currently reading book four of the Ellis Peters’ Brother Cadfael series, Saint Peter’s Fair.

New Orleans Birthday

Sometime this spring, New Orleans is going to throw itself an amazing three hundredth birthday party. Various websites (here and here) dispute the actual date of the founding of the Crescent City. Some say it was April 16, 1718, when Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville and his crew stepped ashore near the present day upper French Quarter and cut the first cane. Others say it was May 7, 1718, but that story is a bit more loose with the details.

New Orleans Plan 1728 — Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=761190

At the 250^th birthday celebration, His Excellency Charles Lucet, French Ambassador to the United States, was guest of honor at the city’s official celebration. Charles’ birthday just happened to be April 16. The date of the banquet was May 7. It is speculated that years later someone came across the printed program from May 7, and declared this is the “true date” of the founding of New Orleans. However, from de Bienville’s own notes, he records on June 12: “We are working at present on the establishment of New Orleans 30 leagues above the entrance to the Mississippi.” The city’s earliest moments recorded so plainly and with little fanfare.

The actual founding date of New Orleans is unknown. The facts say it was during the spring of 1718. Any more definitive than that is a guess. History doesn’t write itself and the founding date of the Big Easy is a prime example. Happy birthday New Orleans! Or, if you’re a local, New Awlins.

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What I’m Reading – Many readers I know like to inquire what their favorite author is reading. At the end of each blog post, I’ll let you know what book I have my nose in. I may not be a published author yet, but I hope my choice of reading material inspires you to read. I finished reading Create Your Writer Platform by Chuck Sambuchino. My review is on Goodreads and Amazon.com. I returned to Ellis Peters’ Brother Cadfael series and currently reading book four, Saint Peter’s Fair. I encourage you to read a variety of topics.

A Good Time Not Had By All

I’m back on the bandwagon after the Easter holiday. I hope your celebration of the resurrection of the Lord was a blessed event. It was a cold day in northwest Arkansas with a light drizzle. We still hid eggs outside and a grand time was had by all. Here are some historical events of Louisiana, where a good time was not had by all.

April 6, 1929 – The Louisiana State Senate attempted to impeach Governor Huey Long. They charged him with blasphemy, abuse of power, bribery, and the misuse of state funds. Huey convinced fifteen senators to vote “not guilty” regardless of what evidence was produced. The impeachment failed. The fifteen senators who voted not guilty received state jobs and other favors. Although this happened ten years before my story takes place, I probably could have put a small reference to this in there somewhere.

April 3, 1955 – It’s hard to miss a 1954 pink and white Cadillac, especially when it is doing 80 in a 60 mph zone. Louisiana State Trooper Nolan F. Strange stopped the vehicle in Caddo Parish on U.S. Highway 171 and questioned the driver, a twenty-year-old from Tennessee, Elvis A. Presley. He was brought to the Caddo Parish Jail. Elvis paid his $25.00 bond two days later. Elvis was on his way from a show in Houston to perform in Corinth, Mississippi on April 7. This event I could have added to my story, once again in passing reference as Bill’s Cajun House of Pleasure is not set in, or near, Caddo Parish.

Elvis Presley

April 12, 1861 – The first shots of the American Civil War were fired on this day at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. The Louisiana tie-in is that the order to fire the shots was given by General P.G.T. Beauregard, who was born in St. Bernard Parish on May 28, 1818. He graduated from West Point the second in his class in 1838. In an odd twist of chance, one of his instructors was Robert Anderson. Robert was the Union Commander of Fort Sumter when General Beauregard attacked it. He surrendered the fort to his former pupil two days later. This anniversary would be rather difficult to work into my story.

History doesn’t write itself, nor is it always a romp in the swamp, but it is interesting to remember what happened back then.

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What I’m Reading – Many readers I know like to inquire what their favorite author is reading. At the end of each blog post, I’ll let you know what book I have my nose in. I may not be a published author yet, but I hope my choice of reading material inspires you to read. I finished reading Monk’s Hood and my review is on Goodreads. Currently, I’m reading a book suggested by my publisher about building an author platform. It’s a good read and I hope all aspiring authors will check it out. It is Create Your Writer Platform by Chuck Sambuchino. I encourage you to read a variety of topics.

One-Month Countdown

Yesterday started the one-month countdown to the release of Bill’s Cajun House of Pleasure. I’m excited about this and I hope you are too. I’m planning to attend several events this summer, including Books in Bloom (in Eureka Springs, Arkansas), the Arkansas Writer’s Conference (in North Little Rock) and the Mississippi Book Festival (in Jackson). Smaller events are also being planned. I’m also taking Bill’s to the northeast when I go on vacation to Connecticut to see Mark Twain’s house, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s house, Noah Webster’s house, and Irving Washington’s house in New York. The touring of the author homes will not be official meet and greets. However, I hope to get inspiration from these wonderful authors. Maybe even convince the gift shop to sell my book. Looking forward to meeting you at each of my official appearances.

My second book, which is not a sequel, continues to move along to its climax. My critique group is wonderful. Their ideas to expand certain scenes will be in the second draft. I also have new things my characters need to do to round them out a little more. Telling their story is great fun. I hope you have a glorious time writing your character’s story as I do mine.

Finally, a couple of Louisiana anniversaries to note. History doesn’t write itself, but here is what man recorded happening on these dates.

March 20, 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe publishes Uncle Tom’s Cabin
March 21, 1861, Louisiana joins the Confederate States of America
March 24, 1840, Calcasieu Parish is formed. At the time it was the largest in the state, it was also the least populated
March 31, 1807, St. John the Baptist parish created. It is one of the original 19 Louisiana parishes.

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Fantasy Religions – Part 3

There will probably be more blog posts about fantasy religions as I continue to explore my new world of Veayedror (pronounced Vay-a-drawer), but I want to wrap up this blog trilogy with some research. Creating a religion, and its backstory doesn’t happen overnight, at least not for this author. Luckily, many authors have created fantasy religions and there are numerous articles on the Internet to help. If you have any other sources I should use, please let me know.

Inkwell Ideas (website) has a plethora of tools and apps to help you build your fantasy world. They have map generators, coat of arms designers, religion building, how to build timelines, and much more. The more I think about how my fantasy religion began, I have to answer a key question about the ruins of one city first. The ruins of this large city are in my manuscript, but I don’t say how the city fell. Once I answer that question, I believe it’ll provide the beginning of my fantasy religion. Your fantasy world has to interact with itself. A war in one kingdom will affect the other monarchy’s in some way or another.

Another website with information on how to build a fantasy religion is Fantasy Faction (website). This site is article driven and they cover nearly everything about writing, not just fantasy religions and worlds. Book and movie reviews are just a click away. It compares cults to religions and tells you why they are different.

The third website I’m using is Tiana Warner’s blog (website). Her book series is the Mermaids of Eriana Kwai. In her blog, she offers a checklist of creating cultures and religions.

The last website I plan on using to create my fantasy religion is Mythcreants (website). In the blog, you’ll find world building topics like “Creating Religions & Belief Systems,” “When to Narrate a Villain’s Point of View,” Kurt Vonnegut’s Eight Rules of Writing, and more. History doesn’t come from just one source, and neither should ideas and tools to build your fantasy world and religion.

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What I’m Reading – Many readers I know like to inquire what their favorite author is reading. At the end of each blog post, I’ll let you know what book I have my nose in. I may not be a published author yet, but I hope my choice of reading material inspires you to read. I’m finished reading the second book in Ellis Peters’ Brother Cadfael series, One Corpse Too Many. My review is on Goodreads.com. I’ll start book three, Monk’s Hood, this week. I encourage you to read a variety of topics.