I’ve been following Francis Hamit’s self-published Civil War novel to learn firsthand about contemporary marketing. It’s interesting to see his efforts bear fruit, the latest success being Jacqueline Lichtenberg’s enthusiastic review in her column “Science Fiction & the Art of Storytelling” for the June Lightworks:

The Shenandoah Spy by Francis Hamit is a well researched, factual account of the life and times of Belle Boyd, a woman of the South during the Civil War. This is not alternate history, and does not impute attitudes and actions to women that in fact did not happen during the era. This woman really existed and really did these things.

The novelization of pure history is difficult, and Hamit pulls it off with grace and style, filling in and smoothing over until it reads like the very best historical fiction.