Hi Everybody!
I’m Bobbi Smith. I sold my first book to Zebra back in ’82 and have had a fantastic writing career ever since.
Forbidden Fires is the second book I wrote. My parents took me to a steamboat museum in Hannibal, Missouri, when I was young, and it was there I learned about the disaster of the steamboat Sultana. I’m reasonably certain it’s the biggest maritime disaster in history—bigger than the Titanic—yet it was never covered in any history classes in school. It haunted me growing up, and it inspired this story.
It’s set at the end of the Civil War. The steamer was carrying home newly released Union prisoners of war who’d been marched to Vicksburg from Andersonville and other Southern prison camps. For some reason—graft and corruption?—more than 1,900 soldiers were loaded onto the Sultana, and she already had other passengers as well. The steamer was supposed to carry only about 400 people at the most. Well, she went north against the spring flood. (Big mistake! The Mississippi always wins.) The Sultana only made it to West Memphis, Arkansas, before her boilers exploded. The loss of life was horrendous, and it always saddened me that those brave men who’d survived the war and life in the prison camps were killed on their way home.
Price Richardson, our hero, survives the explosion and is rescued from the river by our heroine, Ellyn Douglass. Her family is furious that she saved a Yankee. They don’t want to help him in any way, but Ellyn feels drawn to the injured soldier. And so begins our story and our romance…. ☺
I’m Bobbi Smith. I sold my first book to Zebra back in ’82 and have had a fantastic writing career ever since.
Forbidden Fires is the second book I wrote. My parents took me to a steamboat museum in Hannibal, Missouri, when I was young, and it was there I learned about the disaster of the steamboat Sultana. I’m reasonably certain it’s the biggest maritime disaster in history—bigger than the Titanic—yet it was never covered in any history classes in school. It haunted me growing up, and it inspired this story.
It’s set at the end of the Civil War. The steamer was carrying home newly released Union prisoners of war who’d been marched to Vicksburg from Andersonville and other Southern prison camps. For some reason—graft and corruption?—more than 1,900 soldiers were loaded onto the Sultana, and she already had other passengers as well. The steamer was supposed to carry only about 400 people at the most. Well, she went north against the spring flood. (Big mistake! The Mississippi always wins.) The Sultana only made it to West Memphis, Arkansas, before her boilers exploded. The loss of life was horrendous, and it always saddened me that those brave men who’d survived the war and life in the prison camps were killed on their way home.
Price Richardson, our hero, survives the explosion and is rescued from the river by our heroine, Ellyn Douglass. Her family is furious that she saved a Yankee. They don’t want to help him in any way, but Ellyn feels drawn to the injured soldier. And so begins our story and our romance…. ☺
April, 1865
Vicksburg, Mississippi
The newly freed Union soldiers trudged up the gangplank of the steamboat Sultana in seemingly endless numbers. Although the memories of their ordeal at Andersonville Prison Camp were painful, their mood was jubilant. The war was over. They were going home!
Onboard, a tall Yankee officer stood at the rail grimly watching the loading. Captain Price Richardson was frustrated and angry. He’d witnessed many acts of incompetence during his time in the army, but what was happening today was beyond belief. Price was enough of a river man to know it was foolhardy to challenge the Mississippi this way. Going upriver against the flood was hard on a steamboat, but on one seriously overloaded, it could be suicide.
Furious, Price turned to his friend, Lieutenant Jericho Cooper. “Don’t they have any idea of what they’re doing?”
“Do you think they’re overloading it?” Coop remarked sarcastically.
“They could load men on the other two steamers.”
Coop smiled wryly, as they watched column after column of men file aboard. “You have to remember the Department of the Army is in charge of this.”
Realizing they weren’t going anywhere soon, the two men sat down on the deck to await their departure.
As evening came, the Sultana, which should only have been carrying about 400 passengers, finally began her trip north against the swollen river with over 2,300 passengers and crew onboard.
Vicksburg, Mississippi
The newly freed Union soldiers trudged up the gangplank of the steamboat Sultana in seemingly endless numbers. Although the memories of their ordeal at Andersonville Prison Camp were painful, their mood was jubilant. The war was over. They were going home!
Onboard, a tall Yankee officer stood at the rail grimly watching the loading. Captain Price Richardson was frustrated and angry. He’d witnessed many acts of incompetence during his time in the army, but what was happening today was beyond belief. Price was enough of a river man to know it was foolhardy to challenge the Mississippi this way. Going upriver against the flood was hard on a steamboat, but on one seriously overloaded, it could be suicide.
Furious, Price turned to his friend, Lieutenant Jericho Cooper. “Don’t they have any idea of what they’re doing?”
“Do you think they’re overloading it?” Coop remarked sarcastically.
“They could load men on the other two steamers.”
Coop smiled wryly, as they watched column after column of men file aboard. “You have to remember the Department of the Army is in charge of this.”
Realizing they weren’t going anywhere soon, the two men sat down on the deck to await their departure.
As evening came, the Sultana, which should only have been carrying about 400 passengers, finally began her trip north against the swollen river with over 2,300 passengers and crew onboard.
Since then, Bobbi has written over 40 books and 6 novellas. To date, there are more than five million of her novels in print. She has been awarded the prestigious Romantic Times Storyteller of the Year Award and two Career Achievement Awards. Her books have appeared on numerous bestseller lists.
When she's not working on her novels, she is frequently a guest speaker for writer's groups. Bobbi is mother of two sons and resides in St. Charles, Missouri with her husband and three dogs.
You can follow Bobbi on Facebook in the group Bobbi Smith Books.
Bobbi has been awarded the prestigious “Storyteller of the Year” Award from Romantic Times Magazine (New York) and has attained positions on the New York Times Best Seller List, the USA Today Best Seller List, the Walden’s Best Seller List, B. Dalton’s List, and the Wal-Mart and K-Mart Best Seller Lists.
The foreign rights to Ms. Smith’s books have been sold to China, France, Germany, India, Israel, Italy, Russia and Sweden. Smith’s current publisher is Amazon. Bobbi has written two faith-based contemporary novels - Haven (https://bobbismithbooks.com/product/haven) and Miracles (https://bobbismithbooks.com/product/miracles)- using the pseudonym of Julie Marshall.
Copyright © 2018 Bobbi Smith.
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I enjoyed getting to know your book and thanks for the chance to win :)
ReplyDeleteGood luck! What genre of romances do you usually read?
DeleteThanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure! This will be fun.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the tour and thank you for the excerpt, book description and giveaway as well. Great Post!
ReplyDeleteWhat is your favorite all time book? Congrats on the book release. Bernie Wallace BWallace1980(at)hotmail(d0t)com
ReplyDeleteI liked the excerpt. Sounds like a good book.
ReplyDeleteHi! As to my favorite book - as a kid it had to be 'Box Car Children'. I had so much fun reading that during summer vacation. I read 'Gone With The Wind' numerous times, too, but the book that inspired me to my writing career was 'The Flame And The Flower' by Kathleen Woodiwiss.
ReplyDeleteI love stories, especially romances, from this time period. Sounds good.
ReplyDeleteLove the cover and the excerpt.
ReplyDeleteSounds great.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing the excerpt!
ReplyDeleteThanks for a great first day! It's wonderful to hear from everybody!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the book tour. Thank you for hosting the giveaway and giving me an opportunity to win. Bernie Wallace BWallace1980(at)hotmail(d0t)com
ReplyDeleteSo, Joseph, what's your favorite book of all time? And All About Old Cars - what's your favorite old car?
ReplyDeleteForbidden Fires sounds like a good read. Thank you
ReplyDeleteI started making up stories when I was young. I used to play with my Roy Rogers ranch set for hours. It was so much fun. In 5th grade I had to write an autobiography. There were questions we had to answer, and the last one was 'What do you want to be when you grow up?' I wrote 'I want to be a teacher and I want to be an author.' When I got the paper back, Ms. Albrecht had written next to my entry - "You can do both." She was an inspiration to me!
ReplyDeleteReminds me of the books my mother read growing up.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the giveaway; I like the excerpt.
ReplyDeleteHad any of you heard of the Sultana disaster before this post?
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing the excerpt. This sounds interesting.
ReplyDeleteHappy 4th of July everybody!
ReplyDeleteI am excited to read this book. Thank you for the chance to win.
ReplyDeleteI love your cover. I wish you success on your tour.
ReplyDeleteThis looks like a good book. It definitely has my attention!
ReplyDelete