Lifescapes

Gold for The General's Women!

Gold for The General's Women! This week, Foreword Reviews announced the winners of its 2017 Indie competition. The General's Women, my historical novel about the WW2 love affair of Kay Summersby and Dwight Eisenhower. won a gold medal.

One of the delights of writing historical fiction is the real-world understanding and experience that comes with it. The research for this book was like taking a grad seminar in WW2 history. It broadened and deepened my understanding of events that took place when I was still a child. And I continue to enjoy the people connections the book brought with it: to Kay's biographer, Kieron Wood, to Kay's nephew, Michael Morrogh, and to the actress who is currently playing Kay in "Pressure," a London stage production.

Another of the delights that comes with every historical project--for me--is the pleasure of "what if." A biographer is stuck with the literal truth of a person's life. A novelist is permitted to explore the emotional truths, which are much deeper, richer, and more ambiguous. I love imagining what's behind the facts of people's lives and finding new dimensions there. Who knew that Ike had a heart? Or that a courageous Irishwoman could help shape the course of the war--and then be airbrushed out of the historical record? Or that a 70-year-old romance and its subsequent cover-up could be currently relevant? 

A reviewer wrote that The General's Women is "sympathetic, satisfying, and heartbreaking." Heartbreaking. I can't imagine a higher praise.

Reading note. The thing that most attracts me to historical fiction is taking the factual record as far as it is known, using that as scaffolding, and then letting imagination build the structure that fills in those things we can never find out for sure.--Geraldine Brooks

The Ute Park Fire, in Mountain Time

This is the Ute Park Fire on its first full day, Friday, June 1, seen from I-25. We had been to Colorado Springs for a family event and spotted the smoke on our way back to our New Mexico cabin, near Las Vegas (NM). Today (Sunday, June 3) the fire has spread to 32,000+ acres and is growing toward the southwest, in a drought-stricken area and fueled by dry grass, pinyon juniper, and ponderosa pine. As of yesterday (Saturday) evening, the fire team included 10 crews, 8 helicopters, 24 engines, 8 bulldozers, 2 water tenders. They have done a protective burn west of the village of Cimarron, and so far, the only structures damaged are a dozen unoccupied outbuildings belonging to the Philmont Scout Ranch. The main complex hasn't been damaged, horses and livestock are safe, and staff and scouts have set up at the Colfax County Fairgrounds in Springer. 

If this is a human-caused fire, the carelessness angers us. We lament the loss of the beautiful trees. We worry about the communities of Cimarron and Ute Park, and pray that people and homes and businesses will be spared. Dramatic photos like this one scare the living daylights out of all of us. (That's a helicopter dropping water, lower center.)

But it's good to remind ourselves that wildland fires (fires that don't threaten human habitations) are a healthy part of the ecosystem. 

Fires often remove alien plants that compete with native species for nutrients and space, and remove undergrowth, which allows sunlight to reach the forest floor, thereby supporting the growth of native species. The ashes that remain after a fire add nutrients often locked in older vegetation to the soil for trees and other vegetation. Fires can also provide a way for controlling insect pests by killing off the older or diseased trees and leaving the younger, healthier trees. In addition to all of the above-mentioned benefits, burned trees provide habitat for nesting birds, homes for mammals and a nutrient base for new plants

As of today, the Ute Park Fire is growing upward along the eastern slope of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. There is damage, yes, but given decent rains, the forest will renew itself. The people who are involved with this fire--fire fighters, local residents, visitors to the area--will remember it all their lives, but the forest losses are short-term, in mountain time. And in mountain time, the loss will be a gain.

Reading note. The presence or absence of natural fire within a given habitat is recognized as one of the ecological factors contributing to the perpetuation of plants and animals native to that habitat.--Administrative Policies for Natural Areas of the National Park System, 1968. Found on "Fire Quotes and Perspectives," National Park Service