Friday, April 29, 2016

Friday's Film Adaptions: Drums Along the Mohawk by Walter D Edmonds


Summary:
The seventy-fifth anniversary of the publication of Drums along the Mohawk reminds us not only that Edmonds’s masterpiece is the best historical novel about Upstate New York since James Fenimore Cooper but also that it was number one on the best-seller list until overtaken by Gone With the Wind.

This is the story of the forgotten pioneers of the Mohawk Valley during the Revolutionary War. Here Gilbert Martin and his young wife struggled and lived and hoped. Combating hardships almost too great to endure, they helped give to America a legend that still stirs the heart. In the midst of love and hate, life and death, danger and disaster, they stuck to the acres that were theirs and fought a war without ever quite understanding it. Drums along the Mohawk has been an American classic since its original publication in 1936. This Syracuse University Press edition reproduces the book in its entirety.

"The best work of its kind. Throbs with life upon a hostile frontier ... doubly thrilling as Mr. Edmonds sets it down, touched with local color, lively with dialogue, bright with suspense". -- The New York Times

Film
A young couple fights off Indian attacks to start a farm in the Mohawk Valley.

Release Date: November 3, 1939
Release Time: 103 minutes

Cast:
Henry Fonda as Gilbert "Gil" Martin
Claudette Colbert as Magdelana "Lana" Martin
Edna May Oliver as Mrs. McKlennar
John Carradine as Caldwell
Ward Bond as Adam Helmer
Roger Imhof as Gen. Nicholas Herkimer
Arthur Shields as Rev. Rosenkrantz
Chief John Big Tree as Blue Back
Francis Ford as Joe Boleo
Jessie Ralph as Mrs. Weaver
Robert Lowery as John Weaver
Kay Linaker as Mrs. Demooth
Russell Simpson as Dr. Petry
Spencer Charters as Innkeeper

Awards:
Academy Awards 1940
Best Supporting Actress -- Edna May Oliver -- Nominated
Best Cinematography, Color -- Ray Rennahan and Bert Glennon -- Nominated



Author Bio:
Walter D. Edmonds has been a National Book Award winner and recipient of the Newbery Medal. He is the author of Bert Breen’s Barn, The Boyds of Black River, In the Hands of the Senecas, Mostly Canallers, Rome Haul, Time to Go House, and most recently the autobiographical Tales My Father Never Told, all available from Syracuse University Press.


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One More Chapter by KS Thomas

Title: One More Chapter
Author: KS Thomas
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: April 6, 2016
Summary:
Having overdosed on the cold, unyielding aspects of reality at an early age, books became a welcome escape I was happy to dedicate my life to. Editing romance novels seemed like the perfect career choice for the girl who craved fantasy and a world she could exercise a little control over. Bottom line, I like having a happy ending I can count on.

Until...Jensen.

Where I prefer to have my head in the clouds, unattached to the tumultuous roller-coaster of real life, his feet are so firmly planted on the ground, they're sinking in and getting buried there.

Jensen seems an unlikely hero for any story, let alone mine. He's moody. And confused. And pretty damn sure there's no such thing as happy ever after.

But then that's the thing about all the best happy endings. They show up when you least expect them to.


“I don’t know how to do this.”

“Which part?” Because if it’s a simple matter of explaining the polite way to end a casual weekend sleepover, which incidentally was sex free, I can help him out no problem. Anything beyond that and we’re probably both in over our heads here.

Finally, his gaze moves to meet mine. Only now I feel compelled to look away.

“Walking away. It's the right thing to do. It's what you should have done when I told you to. But you didn't. And you made me do it. And I did." He pauses to take a deep, painful breath but his eyes never waver from mine. “Then you came back and now... I don’t know how to walk away from you this time, Karma. But I can’t stay. I have nothing left to give you if I stay… And plenty I want to take.”
“What if you can have it?” I breathe.

He shakes his head slowly. “I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because it would be wrong.”

I swallow hard several times, the intensity wearing on me. “Maybe it would be wrong not to. Maybe there’s a reason neither of us can figure out how to walk away even though walking away would clearly be less complicated. Maybe we’re not supposed to.”

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Then stop trying to pretend this isn’t happening. Whatever it is, you and me, it’s something. It’s real.”

He exhales loudly, his chin dropping to his chest and I breathe in until the air fills my stomach, making up for the shallow breathing I succumbed to during this conversation.

His hand is still in my hair, his wrist loosely resting on my collar bone. Who is he kidding? He can’t walk away. He can’t even let go.

Then he realizes it too. His grip on my curls tightens and when his jaw rises up enough for him to look down on me, the brazen look in his eyes is beyond anything I’ve ever seen in them before.
“I’m going to fuck this up,” he whispers.

“Probably,” I say quietly, “but you might get it right. It’s a chance I’m willing to take.”

“You’re crazy,” he murmurs, his mouth moving dangerously close to mine.

“Certifiably.” And I close the gap between us just to prove it.

Author Bio:
Dog Lover who likes her pastries full of cream and sugar….oh…and I write some ;-)

Aside from being an author, I am also a mom to a beautiful 5 year old little girl. I tell everyone I named her after my great-grandmother (because that’s the mature answer), but really, I named her after my favorite princess – just so happens I got lucky and they had the same name…If I wasn’t a writer, I would work on a horse ranch – I’m an animal lover (in addition to dogs, horses are at the top of my list). I wear flip-flops pretty much everywhere I go. I would rather stay awake until 5 am than get up at 5 am (years of bar tending have left their mark), if I can, I’m going to the beach AND I will always be nice to people who bring me chocolate…or coffee…if you bring me both, I’ll probably love you forever.A gypsy at heart, I write the way I live, following the story wherever it may lead, always ready to start the next one. This is clearly reflected in my body of work which to date includes everything from Children’s Lit to Thrillers.

I happily reside in sunny Florida (for now) and always enjoy hearing from fellow readers!!


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