{"id":7208,"date":"2021-10-05T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-10-05T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crazy4fiction.com\/?p=7208"},"modified":"2021-10-11T14:26:29","modified_gmt":"2021-10-11T14:26:29","slug":"shiloh-blog-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/shiloh-blog-post\/","title":{"rendered":"Life on the New York Frontier:\u00a0Returning\u00a0to\u00a0Shiloh\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In the new historical novel <\/em>Shiloh <\/a>by Lori Benton, Ian Cameron works to build a new life for his family on New York\u2019s rugged frontier. In the article below from Lori, discover what sparked her imagination about the New York frontier and learn more about what life was like during this time and place in history.<\/em><\/p>\n

When the eighteenth century caught my attention as an era that might be fun to write about, I wasn\u2019t drawn to a major historical event or to the men and women who influenced such events and moved in the upper echelons of society and government. What ignited my imagination were the ordinary men and women who simply wanted to live in peace but were forced to contend with extraordinary upheavals, such as continental wars and their devastating aftermaths. <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019d encountered history lessons about the Revolutionary War\u2014the signing of the Declaration of Independence, George Washington crossing the Delaware, the surrender of British General Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown. Such lessons rarely reveal what it was like for the nameless thousands who survived that conflict. Especially intriguing was the plight of those who called home what historians label <\/span>the frontier<\/span><\/i>. That line of settlement and displacement, pushed back eastward by the conflict between the American Colonies and the British Empire, had begun to be resettled as the 1780s faded into the nineties. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

That frontier was vast, stretching along the Appalachian Mountain range. It was my affinity for James Fenimore Cooper\u2019s <\/span>The Last of the Mohicans<\/span><\/i> that led me to narrow my focus to New York. Eighteenth-century wars devastated that landscape for settlers and indigenous peoples alike, particularly the Revolutionary War, as neighbor fought against neighbor. Even the Iroquois nations that called that region home had been divided, experiencing greater loss than the Europeans who had bought, settled, or illegally squatted on their homeland. <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

When it came time to write the second half of Ian Cameron and Seona\u2019s story, begun in <\/span>Mountain Laurel<\/span><\/i>, I knew I\u2019d be moving many of the characters away from that book\u2019s North Carolina setting. Shiloh, New York, the fictional village I\u2019d created in my debut novel, <\/span>Burning Sky<\/span><\/i>, seemed the perfect place for Ian Cameron to settle. No surprise, since frontier New York has continued to be a setting I\u2019ve returned to in my writing. What came as a surprise was discovering author James Fenimore Cooper, who\u2019d ignited my interest in the New York frontier in the first place, had a father instrumental in settling vast tracts of that land during the 1790s, the time of <\/span>Shiloh<\/span><\/i>\u2019s setting. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

William Cooper rose from a humble wheelwright to become a successful merchant, land speculator, and eventually a politician. He founded Cooperstown, New York, in the 1780s and spent the next decades working to entice men to take up farms across the surrounding countryside and elsewhere in New York. Meanwhile, the territory allotted to the once-powerful Iroquois nations, including the Oneidas\u2014staunch allies to the Continental Army during the war\u2014were being chipped away into smaller and smaller reserves. <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

While I hope never to glorify the many tragedies played out across that landscape for native, loyalist, and patriot alike, I am profoundly moved by the triumph of the human spirit when, knocked down by difficulties few of us now face, men and women from all walks of life found the fortitude to rise and try again to build a home and raise a family. I continue to be fascinated by what their daily lives were like. What did they eat? How did they cook it? What did their homes look like? Their villages and towns? What crops did they plant? How were relationships between different peoples\u2014European, native, African\u2014forged? How did they endure? I\u2019ve attempted yet again, with <\/span>Shiloh<\/span><\/i>, to weave a story that provides an accurate, balanced, and illuminating answer to such questions. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Part of creating that verisimilitude wasn\u2019t simply including William Cooper as a character in this story but making him the catalyst that spurs Ian Cameron to consider relocating to the New York frontier. Cooper could be outrageously generous and held an affinity for men willing to work to build a decent life for themselves and their dependents. A man like Ian Cameron. So that\u2019s the part I cast Cooper to play, putting in his mouth some of his own written words, documented in the Pulitzer Prize\u2013winning book by Alan Taylor <\/span>William Cooper\u2019s Town<\/span><\/i>. <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

But I hope you won\u2019t blame me for being unable to resist giving young James Cooper (a child at the time) a cameo appearance in the pages of <\/span>Shiloh<\/span><\/i>. If you\u2019re a fellow fan of <\/span>The Last of the Mohicans<\/span><\/i>, be sure to look for him.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\"Download<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the new historical novel Shiloh by Lori Benton, Ian Cameron works to build a new life for his family on New York\u2019s rugged frontier. In the article below from Lori, discover what sparked her imagination about the New York frontier and learn mo...","protected":false},"author":1266,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11,217],"tags":[5,6,7,8,221,17],"yoast_head":"\nCrazy4Fiction | Life on the New York Frontier:\u00a0Returning\u00a0to\u00a0Shiloh\u00a0<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/shiloh-blog-post\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Crazy4Fiction | Life on the New York Frontier:\u00a0Returning\u00a0to\u00a0Shiloh\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the new historical novel Shiloh by Lori Benton, Ian Cameron works to build a new life for his family on New York\u2019s rugged frontier. In the article below from Lori, discover what sparked her imagination about the New York frontier and learn more about what life was like during this time and place in […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/shiloh-blog-post\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Crazy4Fiction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-10-05T08:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-10-11T14:26:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2021\/10\/Shiloh-1-5.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"#CRAZY4FICTION TEAM\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"#CRAZY4FICTION TEAM\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/shiloh-blog-post\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/shiloh-blog-post\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"#CRAZY4FICTION TEAM\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/#\/schema\/person\/836991c8fb9cf9c1f6888feedf8ed103\"},\"headline\":\"Life on the New York Frontier:\u00a0Returning\u00a0to\u00a0Shiloh\u00a0\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-10-05T08:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-10-11T14:26:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/shiloh-blog-post\/\"},\"wordCount\":899,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Christian books\",\"Christian Fiction\",\"Christian novelist\",\"Christian novels\",\"Historical\",\"Historical Fiction\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Author Guest Posts\",\"Historical\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/shiloh-blog-post\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/shiloh-blog-post\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/shiloh-blog-post\/\",\"name\":\"Crazy4Fiction | Life on the New York Frontier:\u00a0Returning\u00a0to\u00a0Shiloh\u00a0\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-10-05T08:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-10-11T14:26:29+00:00\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/shiloh-blog-post\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/\",\"name\":\"Crazy4Fiction\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Crazy4Fiction\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2021\/09\/Crazy4Fiction_03-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2021\/09\/Crazy4Fiction_03-1.png\",\"width\":900,\"height\":900,\"caption\":\"Crazy4Fiction\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/#\/schema\/person\/836991c8fb9cf9c1f6888feedf8ed103\",\"name\":\"#CRAZY4FICTION TEAM\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b0a8e182a7951553d2199d31668b37aa?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b0a8e182a7951553d2199d31668b37aa?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"#CRAZY4FICTION TEAM\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/author\/shainaturner\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Crazy4Fiction | Life on the New York Frontier:\u00a0Returning\u00a0to\u00a0Shiloh\u00a0","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/shiloh-blog-post\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Crazy4Fiction | Life on the New York Frontier:\u00a0Returning\u00a0to\u00a0Shiloh\u00a0","og_description":"In the new historical novel Shiloh by Lori Benton, Ian Cameron works to build a new life for his family on New York\u2019s rugged frontier. In the article below from Lori, discover what sparked her imagination about the New York frontier and learn more about what life was like during this time and place in […]","og_url":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/shiloh-blog-post\/","og_site_name":"Crazy4Fiction","article_published_time":"2021-10-05T08:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-10-11T14:26:29+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2021\/10\/Shiloh-1-5.jpg"}],"author":"#CRAZY4FICTION TEAM","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"#CRAZY4FICTION TEAM","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/shiloh-blog-post\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/shiloh-blog-post\/"},"author":{"name":"#CRAZY4FICTION TEAM","@id":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/#\/schema\/person\/836991c8fb9cf9c1f6888feedf8ed103"},"headline":"Life on the New York Frontier:\u00a0Returning\u00a0to\u00a0Shiloh\u00a0","datePublished":"2021-10-05T08:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2021-10-11T14:26:29+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/shiloh-blog-post\/"},"wordCount":899,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/#organization"},"keywords":["Christian books","Christian Fiction","Christian novelist","Christian novels","Historical","Historical Fiction"],"articleSection":["Author Guest Posts","Historical"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/shiloh-blog-post\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/shiloh-blog-post\/","url":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/shiloh-blog-post\/","name":"Crazy4Fiction | Life on the New York Frontier:\u00a0Returning\u00a0to\u00a0Shiloh\u00a0","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-10-05T08:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2021-10-11T14:26:29+00:00","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/shiloh-blog-post\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/","name":"Crazy4Fiction","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/#organization","name":"Crazy4Fiction","url":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2021\/09\/Crazy4Fiction_03-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2021\/09\/Crazy4Fiction_03-1.png","width":900,"height":900,"caption":"Crazy4Fiction"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/#\/schema\/person\/836991c8fb9cf9c1f6888feedf8ed103","name":"#CRAZY4FICTION TEAM","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b0a8e182a7951553d2199d31668b37aa?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b0a8e182a7951553d2199d31668b37aa?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"#CRAZY4FICTION TEAM"},"url":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/author\/shainaturner\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7208"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1266"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7208"}],"version-history":[{"count":37,"href":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7208\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8456,"href":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7208\/revisions\/8456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}