The Right Mix of Fact and Fiction

Texas Tech University Press offers a blend of history and fiction in latest book series.

Written by Sally Logue Post

Texas Tech University Press

Successful historical fiction is a blend of precise research and pure imagination, a book based in the fact of its time and driven by the writer’s creativity. The best historical fiction not only entertains but enlightens the reader, vividly imparting the truths and themes of history. This is most evident in two of Texas Tech University Press’s (TTUP) latest historical fiction novels by authors Henry Chappell and Karl Schlesier.

According to Chappell, the trick to successful historical fiction is not to let the fact overwhelm the fiction.

“Writers can lose their story amidst the historical detail,” said author Henry Chappell. “Your characters need to do things in ways that reflect the time period and help move the reader into the character’s world. Don’t clutter the story with facts just to demonstrate your knowledge, it just bogs things down.”

Chappell, the author of two historical novels published by TTUP, “The Callings” and “Blood Kin,” are both set in the 1870s on the Texas frontier.

Chappell, an engineer by training and an avid outdoorsman, said he began writing about hunting, fishing and hiking in the late 1980s.

“From there I veered off into nonfiction writing doing stories on nature, ecology and travel,” he said. “Then I decided I wanted to write a novel and given what I had been writing and my love of history, it seemed natural to make it a historical work.”

“The Callings” explores themes that have long been of interest to Chappell - race, religion and violence. Chappell’s protagonist, a young, pious man, is faced with horrible acts of violence. “I wanted to see how long he would continue his self-deception once he comes face to face with reality.”

For author Karl Schlesier, his novels were an outgrowth of his academic research.

“I am an anthropology professor and have done field work in archeology and ethno-history,” Schlesier said. “I had written a scholarly book on the ethno-history of the Southern Plains. From there it was just one step away from writing a novel.”

Schlesier picked the year 1807 for his novel, a time before the Europeans settled into the area and when the region’s Indian tribes were still friendly.

His book “Trail of the Red Butterfly” focuses on twin Cheyenne brothers. After one turns up missing after a raid, his brother sets off through the unfamiliar territory of the Colorado High Plains, New Mexico and Texas to find his brother. The book, published in November, is the first to describe an Indian raid through the eyes of the Cheyenne.

“I had the missing brother sold to a circus,” Schlesier said. “By having his brother follow the circus, I could take readers through New Spain and describe not only the country, but also how the Plains Indians looked at the society of New Spain.”

Any manuscript that comes to the TTUP goes through a rigorous approval process including peer readings and approval by a university committee. But for a historical fiction work, the process is even tougher.

“These manuscripts are peer reviewed by both novelists and historians,” said Judith Keeling, editor-in-chief at TTUP. “The books must be absolutely accurate in the history and the portrayal of the culture involved, but they must also tell an interesting story.”

Readers should find a compelling blend of both in Chappell’s and Schlesier’s works, as well as in the Mr. Barrington’s Mysterious Trunk series by Melodie Cuate and in such novels as “Nevin’s History: A Novel of Texas” by Jim Sanderson. All of TTUP’s books can be found at their Web site; for a complete listing of fiction published by the press, click on “Browse by Subject.”