World War II . . the Pacific
FOR THE DURATION is an understated story, without theatrical hyperbole, of two ordinary young Americans caught up in the greatest upheaval of their time and perhaps of any era. Forced by circumstances in 1941 into the great war in the Pacific . . finding himself at the start closer than most of his countrymen . . 24 year old Jake Pierce has little choice but to face responsibilities he never sought. At the same time, Sarah Willowood, a younger mixed race girl from Jake's past, faces the world and her own adult responsibilities alone as an eighteen year old orphan managing her inheritance: a small family farm in the Sierra foothills and the town's only grill/cafe style restaurant. |
FOR THOU AR WITH ME begins after Carolyn Ann Davis and Allan Allison have long ago left East Tennessee after high school in the 1930s for the “Old World”. The unique casual friends never really expect to meet again. The African American girl was off to college and medical school in France, and the boy was a young amateur pilot seeking jobs that could advance him in the growing new field of flight. The close bond of their fathers from the Great War (1914-18) had brought two families unusually close together, somewhat in secret, across segregation’s invisible barrier, and there had been times on weekend picnics, hikes, and camping trips, when each had felt a closeness to the other growing . . even the natural carnal pull of the typical teenager.
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But that was years ago. Later, as Doctor Ann Davis hires a pilot named Allison more than half a decade later to supply her medial safari in Central Africa, she doesn’t recognized the bigger, stronger, tanned man she is dealing with.
The Philippine American War . . 1897 - 1907
Note: The U.S. Navy officially recognized the Star Spangled Banner in 1889, though otherwise official recognition came in 1915 from President Woodrow Wilson and in 1931 by
the U.S. Congress. Furthermore the Navy had been observing morning and evening colors in the British Royal Navy tradition since 1843 and set morning colors at 8:00 am in 1876. With respect to the scenes on the U.S.S. Randall referring to morning and evening colors and the Star Spangled Banner, which was not yet nationally recognized as the national anthem, these guidelines were followed.
WARNING . . . about language
History teaches by relating facts. Historical Fiction teaches by attempting to allow the reader to experience the facts, their results, and the resulting emotions. History was often uncomfortable. Thus, the fictional experience can and will be as well . . .
. . . and thus these books are populated with romantic couples and groups of friends of mixed race and ethnicities who struggle with the racism of their era. Their social heroism is a significant theme of their life stories.
In the interest of accuracy, realism, and the goal of historically set fiction to allow the reader to feel as the historical people might have felt, these pages have rough, gut-wrenching, and uncomfortable moments. And the language characterized by the racial slurs and insults of the bigot and the merely crude or misguided person will be encountered on these pages by the adventurous reader.
Some Filipino readers may be shocked, hurt, or feel insulted by the crude ways some Americans historically spoke of and to them, especially those not deeply schooled in their homeland's history. But it is just history. If you want to know something of it . . . your country's contentious first meeting with America, take a look into these books. If you want to sense how your ancestors might have felt when they faced the disrespect of the outsider, of the ruling Spaniard and the invading newcomers from America, then bravely push on. Similarly, the American reader may want to face the facts of our ancestors' occasional flaws. It is just history. If you are timid or squeamish about such realities of the past, do not visit the past.
Quality fiction is imagined reality
excerpt :
Magandang Pilipinas historically set fiction . . .
From . . . Sailing to Windward at sea off the coast of southeastern Cebu, 1897 In the captain's cabin, dining together after the blessing, Rosario and Jonathan were quiet at first, until he stated knowingly, “You will come to regret your actions. You know that.” He too was a Catholic, being an Irish American. She replied contemplatively, “Surely, a little, but you do not realize the depth of my stepfather’s control nor the dissolution of our family. It goes, his commanding way . . . beyond that of some in our culture and has a selfish character. You see, he is a stepfather, and he loves me as a tool in his business and other plans. The marriage was to please several people and least of all me. My real father died when I, the youngest, was very small.” There was a long pause, and the girl sensed a friend or needed to. This was dangerous for her, a sea captain of all things . . . a man of the world who probably had taken many a girl and maybe some unwillingly. He could throw her on the bigger bunk right now for his after dinner dessert, and she knew it. Those like her who seek unusual and adventurous escapes and paths in life always faced risks. She did not know him after all. All she hung some hope of protection on was the golden Christian cross on the heavy gold chain around his neck. She had seen that as she had come down to the docks and watched him a few moments each day. She had planned this a while. The days prior to her dash to him and his schooner, Rose O' Sharon, were not the first time the petite Filipina had spent observing Captain Jonathan O'Brian. |
Magandang Pilipinas . . . historically set fiction
1897 - 1907
1897 - 1907
Sunny of the Old Southwest historically set fiction
1863 - 1887
JAGUARUNDI historically set fiction 1907 - 1945 Robert Jackson's novels each stand alone and can be read independently. If you choose to read them in order, here is the Reading Order of the two Related Historical Series. For more information on each novel choose the "SERIES" tab in the navigation bar or the name of each series in the drop down menu beneath that tab.
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Sunny of the Old Southwest 1 Sangre de Cristo 2 Rio de Los Brazos de Dios 3 All the Scattered Pieces 4 East & West from Texas JAGUARUNDI 1. Kathleen 2. Jaguarundi 3. [a work in progress] 4. It Toll For Thee |
1866 ’68-70 ’68-71 '74-87 1897 1899-1902 1902 1907 1908-1917 1918-1939 1941-1945 |
Magandang Pilipinas 1 Sailing to Windward 2 Those Who Trespass 3 To the End of the World |
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