The Confederate War Bonnet

"Isn't writing incredible? And how can we ever explain what we do to those who don't?"
by Jack Shakely

My historical novel The Confederate War Bonnet will be published next month by iUniverse. It was selected a 'publisher's choice', which means it will be featured in selected Barnes and Noble bookstores for two months, probably in April and May.

The book tells about the Civil War in Indian Territory from the perspective of a mixed-blood Creek Confederate officer, Jack Gaston. Most people don't know the Civil War was even fought in Indian Territory, nor that all the Five Civilized Tribes (and that's what they called themselves) fought on the side of the Confederacy. The book tries to look behind the "what" into the "why" of the Indians' choice to join into a war they didn't fully understand and couldn't possibly win. The book also is a story of an outsider, a man considered Indian by whites and white by the Indians.

As a writing exercise, let me tell you that I am of Creek descent, but it wasn't until I was named chair of the Los Angeles Native American Indian Commission fifteen years ago that it slowly dawned on me how little I really knew about my heritage.

That started my research that eventually led to writing the book, which took two years.

I have been fascinated by discussions of how much we write, when we write, how often we re-write and edit. The Confederate War Bonnet, although my first published work of fiction, is actually my third novel, each with the same theme of alienation and cultural conflict. My first effort was called The Partial Assassinaton of PFC Watermelon,and took place in the Vietnam War. It was dripping in recriminations and self-pity and was, frankly, dreadful.

Then it became The Lighthorsemen which was placed in Oklahoma at the turn of the
nineteenth century and was better, but not grounded. My characters just seemed to go
from one event to another without getting any smarter or more insightful. That was also my last attempt at first person narrative.

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"When do I write? Every waking and sleeping moment. I can't turn the damned thing off. I didn't get touched by Erato, I got mugged by her and left for dead in an alley. Does this happen to you- you're reading a magazine or watching television and discover that you've been staring at the carpet for an hour as your characters come storming, giggling, chatting, lurking into your brain? You wake up at three am and discover you weren't really dreaming but trying to decide if Captain Grayson came screaming out of the underbrush, or galloping." - Jack Shakely