Publishers are constantly seeking niches in a crowded market, and the ingenuity award goes to the great gift book “The field guide to stray shopping carts of Eastern North America”. I wish I'd thought of this:
For the next blockbuster we look to Charles Frazier, who leapt into prominence with his first novel “Cold Mountain”. Frazier and I both own horses and live in the same area: “Charles lives outside of Raleigh, North Carolina, on a small horse ranch with his wife and daughter.”
Now I ask you, how could I not like this guy?
After years of research, Charlie Frazier is back with “Thirteen Moons”, which is already a national bestseller (Amazon sales rank =35!), even though it has not yet been released! It's an amazing North Carolina frontier story of Will Cooper, who Frazier modeled after the real-life Bill Thomas; a Cherokee chief, a Rebel Colonel, an attorney, NC senator and advocate for Cherokee rights.
Bill Cooper - Cherokee Chief
In case you didn’t know, DNA analysis suggests that many Cherokees are of European ancestry. It’s true, and 7,000 year-old Indian remains show clear traces of European DNA.
But if Indian rights are challenged because my Melungeon ancestors arrived from Europe instead of crossing the Bering Straight, it might ruin the rights of Native Americans. It would be really hard to justify the reservations and billions of dollars in tax-free casino cash if the tribes were found to be nothing more than “early arriving” European immigrants.
I believe that my Indian ancestors arrived from Britain thousands of years ago to get away from the bland English food and pesky Neanderthals, arriving on the shores of North Carolina centuries before Columbus, just in-time to get a great tan. Here's proof:
“The people called Melungeons (of eastern Tennessee, North Carolina, West Virginia and Kentucky,) were again encountered by European explorers of the Appalachians in 1654. They were described as dark-skinned, but with European features. They lived in log cabins and practiced Christianity and even spoke English.”
