Sheilah Vance’s new novel, Becoming Valley Forge, (Dec.. 2015), dramatically answers the question of what happens when the war comes to your backyard PAOLI, PA—Award-winning author Sheilah Vance’s new novel, Becoming Valley Forge, (Dec. 2015, 560 pp., $17.95, The Elevator Group, ISBN 978-0-9824945-9-2) dramatically answers the question of what happens when the war comes to… Continue reading

Please join me on Saturday, February 7, 2 p.m., as I speak about The Road to Valley Forge, to the King of Prussia Historical Society, Christ Church (Old Swedes) Church Hall, 740 River Rd, Swedesburg, PA 19405. http://www.kophistory.org/events/. I’m excited to talk about the six days in December that General George Washington and the Continental Army spent on… Continue reading

Upper Merion Township is honoring posthumously Vivian Vance Cherry as part of its 27th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Holiday Celebration, Wed., Jan. 14, 7pm, Upper Merion Middle School, 450 Keebler Road, King of Prussia, PA.  Cherry was the first African American teacher in Upper Merion (and also my aunt)!  She died in… Continue reading

Twice during the holiday season, people have told me that I’m crazy.  But crazy in a good way.  I told them that, yes, they were right–I was crazy.  I said that all writers, especially fiction writers, are a bit crazy because we hear voices in our head with our characters talking to us, demanding that… Continue reading

On a cold and rainy December 16, 1777, the 11,000 soldiers in George Washington’s Continental Army at Gulph Mills and Rebel Hill had one solace — tents had arrived.  They had been exposed to the snow and cold since the army arrived at the Gulph on December 12, and they had sought shelter under the rocks and… Continue reading

On December 15, 1777, the Continental Army has been at Gulph Mills and Rebel Hill for two days, so they are able to settle down and recoup a bit of their strength.  As Dr. Albigence Waldo, Surgeon General to the Army writes of his condition, improved as of the past two days, “Quiet. Eat Pessimmens,… Continue reading

This blog post is in honor of the six days in December that General George Washington and the Continental Army spent in my home, Rebel Hill in Gulph Mills, Pa., starting on this day in 1777.  I am commemorating that by posting a blog for each of the six days.  I’ll also share a post… Continue reading