Author Spotlight: J.S. Perry

J.S. Perry grew up in Missouri but spent thirty-five years in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina. By day she was an accountant and by night studied law and graduated Cum Laude from Western Carolina University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice. In her spare time, she researched the Civil War and its impact on civilians, especially in the mountains of North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee. J.S. always wanted to become a writer but research was as far as she could get for many years. J.S. retired from accounting and moved back to Missouri to marry her partner in research and genealogy, Bill. They live on a century-old farm in southern Missouri.

 

I got my first library card when I was eight years old. I loved reading so very much. You could go anywhere and see anything while reading. In my teens, I sent in several stories I had written but, of course, they were rejected. I discovered I loved history, especially American Civil War history. I read everything I could about it. The impact on civilians was my greatest research. After twenty years of research, I made the time and had the peace of mind to sit down and write Coldiron. The story had been in my mind for years and I wanted to tell it. I felt I had to tell or burst! I wanted to give back some of the enjoyment that I have been so fortunate to get from books.

I started writing Coldironin earnest in June of 2022. I had had the story in my head and in my notes for years. I finished it in January of 2023. I joined Springfield Writer’s Guild that January. I met Candy Simonson who agreed to help me edit my book. I had it ready in time for the Between the Pages Writer’s Conference held in June in Springfield, Missouri. I was lucky enough to get a ten-minute pitch session with Ally Robertson of Wild Rose Press in New York. She wanted the manuscript and I was on my way! Wild Rose Press contacted me six weeks later with a contract to publish my book! How lucky is that? The first person I gave my manuscript to bought it! It was published on August 21st, 2024.

Historical fiction is my favorite genre. Although my book is fiction, the places and events are real. This story really could have taken place. I find that a book is only as good as the research the author did to write it.

Prince’s mind was on fire. Get to the camp and get the salt loaded onto the mules. The sacks weigh 50 pounds, so I’llhave to load them myself. Hope Sam is ready; I told her to be ready. She’ll be ready. I’d better be ready to stand and fightif the wagon owner catches me.

“Salt’s here!” Sam alerted everyone.

Prince rattled up to them and jumped off the wagon. “We’ve got to hurry!” Prince’s deep voice held an edge to it. His eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared as he looked back at the trail.

“Why do we need to hurry?” Miss Deb was worrying the reins she held in her hand, loosening and tightening her hold on them.

“I stole the salt!”

“Death’s head on a mopstick!” Miss Deb exclaimed.

Coldiron is my first book and it is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other sites where ebooks are sold.