Category: The Tenafly Road Series
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FICTION: Glass Houses
The holiday visit unravels after Fred Crenshaw throws Captain Simon McCullough’s West Point scrapbook into the fire. “That Weldon was just lording it over you that you might not graduate from the academy,” Fred said as he watched the flames eat away at the cloth edges of the old West Point scrapbook. “There’s too much…
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FICTION: Burning Memories
Paintings, conversation and memories stoke the flames of jealousy and resentment. The parlor seemed closer than ever as the men entered. The fire roared and everything smelled of the kitchen disaster. Katherine laughed with Nathan and Thankful as the three popped corn and watched a kettle boil. Margaret and Meg complained in whispered tones about…
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FICTION: The Holidays Are Awkward
Margaret Crenshaw and her obnoxious son Fred do their best to keep things uncomfortable when they visit with old friends. For Buck, still in shock over his brutal treatment of a West Point cadet, the visit goes from bad to worse. To the great relief of Graham’s mother and Margaret, Graham gathered up his children…
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FICTION: A Haunted Holiday
After abducting Cadet Streeter and leaving him for dead in the cold woods at West Point, Buck and Fred Crenshaw go home to celebrate Christmas. Buck sat by the frosty upstairs window at Grandmother Martha’s house in dread. The gash over his eye pulsed red and swollen. He fingered the soft scarf wrapped around the…
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FICTION: Family Friction
Mothers and fathers aren’t always wonderful. As Cadet Buck Crenshaw recovers from a severe allergic reaction, he’s forced to suffer a visit from his parents. The night passed into a dreary day with rain pelting the roof of the infirmary. Fred cursed his parents for taking so long to arrive, but Buck showed signs of…
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FICTION: Mixed (Up) Motives
“Buck, sometimes, I believe you’re too like a girl. Streeter doesn’t deserve any sympathy. How many times must I say it? Trust me; you’ll regain your self-respect if you stick with me,” Fred assured him. “Now, just pretend to be friends again with Streeter so we can have some fun with him.” November came on…
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Who Owns Time? The Writer Does.
Writers own time–temporarily. People own time temporarily and if you don’t believe in an after life then it makes perfect sense to speed on the highway and flip out after getting behind an old lady at the grocery store who only fishes for her checkbook at the very last minute. My parents made lists to…
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QUOTE: “If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they’ll kill you.”
When you write historical fiction people ask these types of questions: Did the Apache men really cut the noses off of women suspected of cheating? Did some people really get addicted to morphine after the Civil War? Did some people really have wounds that wouldn’t heal? Did people really know about homosexuality? The other day…
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Where the Cadets Go for Kissing
Once a military trail, now a lovers’ lane, Flirtation Walk or Flirtie Walk was opened to West Point Military Academy Cadets and their guests in the 1840’s as one of the few places they could flirt and kiss in private. Part of the path is smooth sailing on firm ground, but there’s bumpy parts, too–perfect…
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Finding Your Fictional Characters in the Real World
Here’s my muse Buck Crenshaw minus his evil twin Fred. Not sure why his overbearing mother allowed a photo of Buck on his own. It would have been better for everyone if she had separated the twins more often. Together they tortured chickens, shook down weaker school mates for cash and taught William Weldon how…
Author Adrienne Morris 