Whirligig: Keeping the Promise
by Richard Buxton
Publication Date: April 22nd 2017
Ocoee Publishing
eBook & Paperback; 496 Pages
Series: Shire's Union, Book One
Genre: Fiction/Historical
BLURB
The first novel from multi-award
winning short-story writer Richard Buxton, Whirligig is at once an outsider's
odyssey through the battle for Tennessee, a touching story of impossible love,
and a portrait of America at war with itself. Self-interest and conflict,
betrayal and passion, all fuse into a fateful climax.
Shire leaves his home and his
life in Victorian England for the sake of a childhood promise, a promise that
will pull him into the bleeding heart of the American Civil War and through the
bloody battlefields of the West, where he will discover a second home for his
loyalty.
Clara believes she has escaped
from a predictable future of obligation and privilege, but her new life in the
Appalachian Hills of Tennessee is decaying around her. In the mansion of
Comrie, long hidden secrets are being slowly exhumed by a war that comes ever
closer.
Giveaway
During
the Blog Tour we will be giving away one paperback & one eBook of
WHIRLIGIG! To enter, please enter via the Gleam form Whirligig. Giveaway Rules –
Giveaway ends at 11:59pm EST on August 7th. You must be 18 or older to enter. –
Giveaway is open INTERNATIONALLY. – Only one entry per household. – All
giveaway entrants agree to be honest and not cheat the systems; any suspect of
fraud is decided upon by blog/site owner and the sponsor, and entrants may be
disqualified at our discretion. – Winner has 48 hours to claim prize or new
winner is chosen. 
Author Info
MY
INTERVIEW WITH RICHARD BUXTON
I like
Bernard Cornwell's direct storytelling, but I adore the easier pace, character
depth and beautiful imagery of Charles Frazier. Place is very important to me and
often my starting point. It's no coincidence that large parts of Whirligig are
set in Appalachian Tennessee, not a million miles from Cold Mountain over the state
line in North Carolina.
What are some of your writing/publishing
goals for this year?
Do you feel that writing is an ingrained
process or just something that flows naturally for you?
Do you have a character that you have been
working on for a long time that still isn't quite ready, but fills you with
excitement to work on the story?
If you could spend one-week with 5 fictional
character, who would they be?
Where would you spend one full year, if you
could go ANYWhere? What would you do with this time?
Can you share you next creative project(s)?
If yes, can you give a few details?
During
the Blog Tour we will be giving away one paperback & one eBook of
WHIRLIGIG! To enter, please enter via the Gleam form Whirligig. Giveaway Rules –
Giveaway ends at 11:59pm EST on August 7th. You must be 18 or older to enter. –
Giveaway is open INTERNATIONALLY. – Only one entry per household. – All
giveaway entrants agree to be honest and not cheat the systems; any suspect of
fraud is decided upon by blog/site owner and the sponsor, and entrants may be
disqualified at our discretion. – Winner has 48 hours to claim prize or new
winner is chosen.
MY
INTERVIEW WITH RICHARD BUXTON
How would you describe your style of writing
to someone that has never read your work?
A
friend of mine described it as somewhere between the 'storytelling skills of
Bernard Cornwell with the lyrical prose of Charles Frazier.' Now she was being
very kind, as she knows I love both those writers, but I think it does sort of
position me. As a writer you tend to move towards the styles you admire.
I like
Bernard Cornwell's direct storytelling, but I adore the easier pace, character
depth and beautiful imagery of Charles Frazier. Place is very important to me and
often my starting point. It's no coincidence that large parts of Whirligig are
set in Appalachian Tennessee, not a million miles from Cold Mountain over the state
line in North Carolina.
What are some of your writing/publishing
goals for this year?
Initially,
it was to publish Whirligig in April. Tick! There was a lot to do during the
winter in terms of cover design and book production. I'm really happy with the
result. At the same time I was advancing the sequel, The Copper Road, and I'm
still on track to complete the first draft in August. Depending on other
commitments I'd like to get most of the second draft done this year. I've also
completed a short-story collection themed on the Civil War, although you are
never sure if it's really completed because there's always just one more story
you want to write. Many of the stories are already published but some are out
in competitions, as is the whole
collection
with a view to it being published.
Do you feel that writing is an ingrained
process or just something that flows naturally for you?
I have
certainly learned to be a better writer through study, so that tends towards
the process argument. Producing a novel needs some planning and I can be very systematic
in the editing process. But when there's a scene I've had in my mind for a
while and I've been itching to write it, and I have a little time and space, then
the writing flows and often the words surprise me.
Do you have a character that you have been
working on for a long time that still isn't quite ready, but fills you with
excitement to work on the story?
SKIPPING
THIS ONE AS THE HONEST ANSWER IS NO. THEY'RE ALL ON THE PAGE.
If you could spend one-week with 5 fictional
character, who would they be?
Huckleberry
Finn - Just for his joy of life.
Zaphod
Beeblebrox from 'The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy' - for the parties.
Scarlett
O'Hara - I'd like to put her right on a few things (although a week might be a
bit much).
Wally from
Lake Wobegon - As I would like to have a Wendy's beer in the Sidetrack Tap.
Inman
from 'Cold Mountain' - He could use some straightforward company.
Where would you spend one full year, if you
could go ANYWhere? What would you do with this time?
You
always feel you're lacking something in life until asked a question like this.
Then you don't know what you would do. I like my road trips to
America
but I'd like to take my wife, Sally, with me. We fell in love in California and
got engaged in New York. So I think we'd spend the year in an RV visiting
everywhere in between.
Can you share you next creative project(s)?
If yes, can you give a few details?
I guess
that would be the sequel to Whirligig, which is The Copper Road, as it's
certainly not complete yet. It takes the characters that survive book one and uses
Sherman's Atlanta campaign of 1864 and the 125th Ohio as it's backbone. The
Copper Road used to run from Cleveland, TN, up to the copper mines at Ducktown
in the Appalachians. It's an obscure place, but I fell in love with some of the
folk lore when I discovered it. I flew to America and went walking there last
year to help the writing. I'm there
in my head most of the time just now.
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