Sale on Daughter of Liberty and Native Son!

A beautiful and daring patriot spy determined to gain the intelligence the Sons of Liberty desperately need. A handsome, dangerously charming British officer with secrets of his own and a mission to learn her true loyalties. A passion that could lead them both to the gallows. Set amid the tumult of the American Revolution, the American Patriot Series will leave you breathless …

In celebration of Refiner's Fire release, both Daughter of Liberty and Native Son are on sale for only $.99 on Kindle, Nook, and Christianbook.com through mid June, and the rest of the volumes are only $2.99. Now is the perfect time to get caught up with this series if you haven’t read it yet!

Here are several terrific endorsements for Refiner's Fire!

“Refiner's Fire is not simply a story but an experience. Within its pages are all the upheaval, suspense, heartache, and romance that make the American Patriot Series unforgettable. The author’s breadth and scope of our founding history is truly remarkable and each finely tuned character seems lifted from the actual historical record. Extraordinary!” —Laura Frantz, Christy-award winning author of The Lacemaker

“Painstaking attention to research and detail, vivid setting, peeks into some of the most obscure corners of an otherwise familiar history, all overlaid with a grand, sweeping love story that will break your heart before it takes your breath away . . . this book (and series!) has it all. If you’re a fan of historical fiction and romance and haven’t yet discovered this author, don’t wait another minute to do so!” —Shannon McNear, 2014 RITA® finalist and author of The Cumberland Bride,
#5 of Daughters of the Mayflower

Refiner's Fire is an absolutely thrilling read! J.M. Hochstetler once again takes readers deep into the turbulent days of the American Revolution, bringing to life the battles, the spies, and the intrigue that belong solely to our forefathers and their struggle for our burgeoning country. Hochstetler's rich description, strong and unique characters, and impeccable attention to historical detail leaves readers wonderfully satisfied yet longing for more. Fans of historical fiction will adore this newest installment in the American Patriot Series. —Michelle Shocklee, author of The Widow of Rose Hill

“J. M. Hochstetler’s in-depth research and masterful writing combine for an exceptional novel, filled with history, intrigue, and romance. Refiner’s Fire is an engaging and most satisfying read. As Book 6 in the American Patriot series, Refiner’s Fire can be read as a standalone, yet the preceding novels fill in much detail, making Refiner’s Fire even more enjoyable. It is rare to read a series with the intensity of historical understanding that you will find within the pages of the American Patriot Series. From every vantage point—the Native Americans, to the British, to the Colonial Americans—the complexity of the political and cultural ramifications brings a greater depth of understanding to the bigger picture than you will find in most historical novels. A series well worth mentally devouring.” —Elaine Marie Cooper, author of Love's Kindling

New Look for the Blog!

Do you like the blog’s new look? I’ve been intending to change it forever but just haven’t taken the time. Today I decided to play a bit, inspired by the French setting in Refiner's Fire, and I really like this theme. (By the way, I just discovered that if you're looking at it on a smart phone, it looks somewhat different, and the image in the header doesn't show.)

A while back I happened across some wonderful paintings by Italian artist Arturo Ricci, and for the header image I decided to use one I particularly like, L’Attesa or “The Expectation”. It reflects my characters and parts of Refiner’s Fire quite nicely. I’m thinking the couple on the left could stand in as Elizabeth Howard on the arm of Lucien Bettár, le comte de Caledonne’s son and thus Jonathan Carleton’s cousin. Ideally her hair would be darker since it’s a dark auburn, but good enough. Her escort does look like I envision Lucien.

The little girl with the older woman could sure be Abby and Tess Howard, though Abby is 13 in the story so would be a bit bigger. Then the man seated behind them would be Caledonne, and the couple seated beside the doorway would be their hosts, Caledonne’s daughter and son-in-law le marquis and la marquise Cécile and Eugène de Sevieux. This is undoubtedly as close as I’m going to get to these characters.

The more I look at this painting, the more I’m thinking about using it for the Refiner’s Fire cover. It’s in public domain and I found a fairly large image on Wikimedia that Marisa might just be able to do her magic on and make work. 

I originally intended to use a naval battle painting for book 6, but what do you think? Would you like to see this scene gracing the cover of Refiner's Fire? Please leave your comments and let me know yay or nay—for both the cover and the new blog design.

The Palace of Versailles

The palace of Versailles is going to be one of the settings in Refiner’s Fire, so today let’s take a look at the home of King Louis XVI of France and his queen, Marie Antoinette.

Versailles was the royal residence and center of political power in France for little more than a century, from 1682 until the beginning of the French Revolution in 1789. Now a world-class museum, this palace is famous not only as a building, but also as a symbol of the absolute monarchy of the Ancien Régime.

Before 1038 in the Charter of the Saint-Père de Chartres Abbey, Hugues de Versailles was listed as the seigneur of the insignificant village of Versailles, whose small castle and church lay on the road from Paris to Dreux and Normandy. The population of the village declined sharply after an outbreak of the Plague and the Hundred Years’ War, but in 1575 a Florentine citizen, Albert de Gondi, purchased the seigneury, and he invited the future Louis XIII on several hunting trips in area.

Versailles on a 1652 map by_Gomboust

The young dauphin was delighted with the forest and meadows that surrounded the village and the abundance of game he found there. The location was ideally situated between his principle residence at Saint-Germain-en-Laye and Paris, and after he was crowned king, he hunted there again several times, finally ordering the construction of a stone and brick hunting lodge in 1624. Eight years later, he obtained the seigneury of Versailles from the Gondi family and began to make enlargements to the lodge.

The king and his successors, Louis XIV, Louis XV and Louis XVI each renovated and enlarged the structure during their reigns, creating extensive gardens and adding numerous other buildings to the site until it became one of the most costly and extravagant palaces in the world. More than 36,000 workers were involved in construction, and when the building was completed it could accommodate up to 5,000 people, including servants. An additional 14,000 servants and soldiers were quartered in annexes and in the nearby town.

The short video below is a cool 3-D presentation showing the progression of the chateau’s enlargement and the development of the gardens and additional buildings. In all, about 37,000 acres of land were cleared to make room for tree-lined terraces, walkways, and thousands of flowering plants, with 1,400 fountains and 400 pieces of sculpture.

Versailles is most associated with the Sun King, Louis XIV, who personally took on the role of architect. He made the chateau the new center for the royal court in 1682, establishing all the power of France there: government offices and the homes of thousands of courtiers, their retinues, and all the functionaries of court. The nobles of a certain rank and position were required to spend considerable time there, which enabled Louis to solidify his control of the government by preventing them from developing their own regional powers that would compete with his. Thus the French government became an absolute monarchy.

Below is a longer and very interesting video documentary about the history and development of Versailles.

In Refiner’s Fire, Jonathan Carleton’s uncle le Comte de Caledonne brings Elizabeth Howard to France to keep her safe from British assassination attempts. While there she meets the American commissioners to Paris, among others, and is drawn into the intrigues at court.

In my next post, we'll take a look at what life was like at Versailles during the mid 18th century.

What attracts me to Versailles the most is those fabulous gardens and the works of art housed there. What fascinates or attracts you the most about this palace turned museum?

Update: Refiner's Fire

Now that The Return has released, I’m back at work on book 6 of this series, Refiner’s Fire. For the time being I’m dividing my time between research and writing the first few chapters, with greater focus for now on research. Be assured that there’s lots of adventure, intrigue, danger, and romance still ahead for Elizabeth and Jonathan, along with the rest of the cast of characters, both those already established and new ones. This time the most important action shifts to France and on the high seas.

Detail of Chateau de Versailles, Pierre Patel, 1668. Wikicommons

At this point I’m projecting a release date of either Fall 2018 or Spring 2019. I hope you’ll follow along with this blog as I share progress and sneak peeks into the action from time to time!

Hallelujah!

Considering that we’re in the Easter season, the title of this post seems particularly apropos. In addition, a few days ago I finally wrote The End to the draft of Valley of the Shadow. Talk about excitement! I truly felt like breaking out into the “Hallelujah Chorus”! With all the unexpected twists and turns this installment of the series took me on, and all the resulting recalculations I had to make, I was beginning to wonder if I was ever going to finally get it done. 

Just figuring out where to break the realigned storyline to create a logical ending was an ordeal. The word count was already higher than I wanted by the time I got to the end of December 1777, blowing away my original plan to end right after Monmouth at the end of June 1778 with a temporarily—the operative word here being temporarily—peaceful conclusion for my characters. But I managed to bring it to what feels like a nicely suspenseful ending—albeit another cliffhanger, which I was hoping not to do after the last one!—late in February 1778 without getting to Daughter of Liberty’s final word count of 127,000+, which admittedly is ridiculous!

Now it’s time to slash words. There are places where the narrative gets down into the weeds, and I’m going to try to condense, streamline, and extract details that don’t really have to be there. But first I’m taking a break for a couple of weeks. I want to be able to come back to the story relatively fresh, with a more objective perspective. And I have several friends—God bless you!—reading through it as well to give me their feedback, which will enter into the final edit. 

After I have final text I’ll flow it into my page-making software, QuarkXPress, Marisa will add the back and spine to the front cover, and we’ll be ready to go to print. And, of course, my friend John McClure will turn it into the ebook files asap. Before that’s all finished, however, I’ll already be working on research for book 2 of the Northkill Amish Series, The Return. And then back to book 6 of this series, Refiner’s Fire. I’ll tell ya, an author’s work is never done!

By the way, Valley of the Shadow is now available for preorder! For some reason Amazon doesn’t have it discounted, but Christianbook.com has a very nice price. Check it out!