Today is the release date for Too Much the Lion: A Novel of the Battle of Franklin. As of yesterday, IngramSpark, our Bariso Press distributor, ranked the hardcover No. 23 and the trade paperback No. 36 on their bestseller list for Historical Fiction/19th Century/American Civil War.
This book, which may stand as my magnum opus, was more than a quarter of a century in the making, starting with a snooty rejection letter from a major university press on a previous nonfiction manuscript. The nonfiction manuscript was on a project dear to my heart, the memoirs of Dad and his six surviving siblings of life growing up on a West Texas tenant farm during the Great Depression.
One anonymous academic reviewer for this university press, whose name I shall not speak, commented that this material should be handled by a “real historian,” meaning someone with formal academic training in history. That hacked me off, so I decided one day to go back and get another master’s degree, this time in history, so no snooty academic could question my credentials ever again.
The opportunity came when I became director of the communications and marketing office at Angelo State University. In my position I reported to the ASU president, who just happened to be a tenured history professor. When I told him of my wish, he graciously consented for me to pursue the degree, giving me flex time during the day to take whatever classes were not offered in the evening.
It was a fun experience as ASU had a lot of talented historians in the department. Dr. John Wheeler was one of them, a fabulous teacher who did things the old-fashioned way. In fact, when he retired, in 2006, he was the last professor on campus still using a manual typewriter. Dr. Wheeler taught the course on the Civil War, which I took and thoroughly enjoyed. As part of that course, each graduate student had to research and prepare an hour-long lecture as if he were teaching a class.
Fortuitously for me, Dr. Wheeler assigned me to teach a class on the Battle of Franklin. I started researching the confrontation and found so many fascinating human stories, I kept researching it after the class ended. I read and studied every book, journal article, and original documents I could find online. On top of that, in 2014 we made a trip to Franklin, Tennessee, and visited the site of the battle and walked the grounds to gather additional information.
After a quarter of a century or research, study and writing, it is nice to see the book in print. Begrudgingly, I suppose, I should thank that anonymous academic reviewer who questioned my credentials decades ago for starting me down the journey that led to Too Much the Lion. So, on the release date of Too Much the Lion, thank you for starting me on this incredible learning and writing experience.
