Having a Grand Old Time! A Distance Too Grand

It’s here! It’s been a while since I had a traditionally published book out, so excuse me while I squeal a little. A Distance Too Grand launches today from Revell.

Meg Pero has been assisting her photographer father since she was big enough to carry his equipment, so when he dies she is determined to take over his profession--starting with fulfilling the contract he signed to serve on an Army survey of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon in 1871. What she doesn't realize is that the leader of the expedition is none other than the man she once refused to marry.

Captain Ben Coleridge would like nothing more than to leave without the woman who broke his heart, but he refuses to wait even one more day to get started. This survey is a screen for another, more personal mission, one he cannot share with any member of his team.

As dangers arise from all sides, including within the survey party, Meg and Ben must work together to stay alive, fulfill their duties, and, just maybe, rekindle a love that neither had completely left behind.

Here's a little taste:

“Is there a problem, Corporal?” the man behind her asked. Oh, but she couldn’t mistake that voice, even ringing with command. It seemed God wasn’t going to answer this prayer either, just as He hadn’t seen fit to allow her father to survive his illness.

Corporal Dent squared his shoulders. “No, sir. This citizen says she’s to go on the survey expedition to the North Rim, but it’s clearly a mistake. I can deal with the likes of her.”

Meg bristled, but the voice behind her was now all commiseration. “No need to be rude, Corporal. I’d be happy to explain the situation to the lady. If you’d tell me your name, miss?”

So well meaning. That was one of the traits that had originally drawn her to him. That and his unrelenting confidence. Easy to turn now, to greet her long-lost love, to let him convince her she should go back home.

But there was no home and never would be if she didn’t win this commission.

She raised her chin and turned. Even though she knew who she would find behind her, the sight of Benjamin Coleridge still shook her. That shock of golden-brown hair, so thick and silky; those blue-gray eyes that could look deep inside her. The chiseled chin that could soften with emotion, that strong physique outlined in the navy wool of his uniform jacket, two silver bars on his shoulders. Oh, but she could hear the ladies sighing from here.

Once more she put on her best smile. “Good afternoon, Captain Coleridge. I must insist that I join your expedition. I’m your photographer.”

You can find the book in trade paperback, e-book, hardcover, and audio book from fine retailers such as the following:

Baker Publishing Group
Amazon
Barnes and Noble 
Kobo 
Apple Books
Books-A-Million
Christian Book 
The Book Depository, free shipping worldwide

Seeing Double, On Purpose

Did you grow up with one of these? I did. The ViewMaster came with little round cardboard frames holding celluloid squares of far-away places and famous people. You slipped the cardboard into the back of the viewer and held it to the light, and you saw a three-dimensional picture that transported you to another time and place.

But the ViewMaster was only one of a long line of devices. In the nineteenth century, such devices were called stereoscopes, and the pictures that you viewed were stereographs. Instead of being mounted on a circle, these cards came with a single image side by side. And they were hugely popular. At the peak of the craze, a sought-after stereograph card might be printed and sold more than 100,000 times!

Naturally, photographers were keen to have one of their images used. But a stereograph required careful composition. In the early years, a photographer would shoot two pictures, one slightly offset from the other. When viewed together, the pictures took on a three-dimensional aspect. By the middle of the 19^th century, camera makers had devised a stereographic camera—one exposure, two offset pictures.

Some of the stereographs were of famous places like Niagara Falls and the Grand Canyon. Others showed architectural or engineering wonders like the Washington Monument or a famous courthouse. Local manufacturers might issue stereographs of nearby attractions. Other cards told a story through a series of photographs, like a courtship or a trip on a sailing ship.

Here are a few for your viewing pleasure. First, Westminster Abbey

 Then one called "The Penn."

Perhaps a cowboy?

Or a child?

And of course, there's always the self-promoting card. ;-)

What place or person would you want on a card for your collection?

History Has Never Looked So...Unhistorical

And that’s what’s so cool about it!

This is going to be a short post, because the best thing I can do is give you a link and let you do your own exploring...but first, here’s the background. A few weeks ago, my awesomely awesome nephew sent me a link to an amazing thing: a collection of 19^th and early 20^th century black and white photographs that have been, after much research, carefully and sensitively colorized by professional artists.

I suspect that most of us have an unconscious idea in our heads that the world was black and white before ca. 1960.  It’s so easy to look at old daguerreotypes and cartes de visite and early photos and think of them as just that—dead images of dead people.

But the images here will change that idea—and blow your mind.  Czar Nicholas and his daughters...immigrants at Ellis Island...D-Day...dozens of Civil War images of soldiers and generals, both posed and casual...ranchers and polar explorers and Manhattan newsboys.  Scroll through these images, and come back and tell us what you’ve seen. But make sure you’ve got a spare hour before you start.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ColorizedHistory/

You’re welcome. ☺