HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: We were talking the other day about history class, and, basically, how we wish we'd listened. I said--okay, silly I know and I was reductio ad absurding--history is SUCH good story, you know? WIth a great plot, and compelling characters, and constant conflict, and fascinating motivations and endless mysteries. And now, by chance, here is the amazing (see below) and brilliant and brave Andra Watkins to prove it.
What’s the ultimate mystery?
I’ve been asking myself that question my whole life, from my first yellow-bound date with Nancy Drew to my introduction to the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Mysteries gnaw at the imagination. They seethe in the soul.
Why did ________________ happen?
We want to know.
That’s how I found my ultimate mystery.
Suppose a man, a very famous man, was found dead in an empty house early one October morning. According to witnesses, he spent the night alone, though none of them entered the home or saw him between the time he retired for the night and the moment they found him dead. One gunshot wound to the head; the other to the abdomen.
He was thirty-five years old.
By sunrise, he was buried in an unmarked grave. No investigation. No one examined the body or performed an autopsy. Conclusions drawn from hearsay evidence would dog the memory of the man for decades, while historians made careers over the study of one dilemma: Suicide? Or Murder?
All the while, Meriwether Lewis, one-half of the Lewis and Clark exploratory duo, languished along an ancient road in Tennessee.
And I wondered……
What would Lewis do if he were given more time? If he could have another adventure, find his own redemption, what might that look like?
That’s the ultimate mystery: What someone who died too soon could have accomplished, given the time.
My debut novel To Live Forever: An Afterlife Journey of Meriwether Lewis offers a solution to that mystery. In a page turning thriller, Merry finds himself on his last chance to solve the mystery of his death and redeem his soul. To find answers, he must help nine-year-old Emmaline Cagney flee her madam mother in New Orleans and locate her father in Nashville. They navigate the haunted Natchez Trace, where Merry must cross his own grave and duel the corrupt Judge, an old foe who has despicable plans for Em.
Merry start his journey in a New Orleans bar with one drink: A Thunderclapper, my effort to solve the mystery of what the dead drink. I commissioned this boozy concoction for my novel, and I can tell you, it’s no mystery what a couple of these will do. I’m convinced a Thunderclapper can wake the dead. But you can try one for yourself. I’ve reproduced the recipe for you here.
The Portland Book Review calls To Live Forever “a compelling read. Pages turn of their own volition. Courageous and wonderfully told.”
My creative readers came up with the Top Ten Reasons You Should Read To Live Forever: An Afterlife Journey of Meriwether Lewis.
1. You aren’t really certain what happens after we die.
2. You worry that you will be forgotten when you are gone.
3. You are the father of a daughter…or the daughter of a father.
4. You thought Hwy. 61 was the only famous road in Mississippi.
5. You figured Lewis and Clark just fell off into the Pacific Ocean when they made it to the west coast.
6. You did not realize there was a worse American traitor than Benedict Arnold.
7. You thought that the Natchez Trace was a precursor to the Etch-a-Sketch.
8. You liked Huck Finn and To Kill a Mockingbird and always wondered what happened to Elvis Presley’s twin brother.
9. You believe in magic.
10. You want to play a part in discovering a new great American novel.
Download To Live Forever: An Afterlife Journey of Meriwether Lewis:
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/to-live-foreverandrawatkinsnookversion-andra-watkins/1118590470?ean=2940148267980
Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/to-live-forever-an-afterlife-journey-of-meriwether-lewis
Follow me at my website: andrawatkins.com, and you can check me out on Google+, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, YouTube and Goodreads.
Read the novel and weigh in on one of American history’s enduring mysteries.
Did Meriwether Lewis kill himself? Or was he murdered?
HANK: Wow. SO interesting, huh? Ad see below for even more wonderful info.
Please visit me at andrawatkins.com and tell me what you think.
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Andra Watkins is the author of the novel To Live Forever: An Afterlife Journey of Merwether Lewis, published by Word Hermit Press.
To launch her book, Andra is the only living person to walk the 444-mile Natchez Trace, a 10,000-year-old road from Natchez, MS to Nashville, TN. She walked the Trace as pioneers did. Fifteen miles a day. Sleeping in the modern equivalent of stands. Her eighty-year-old father accompanied her for a five-week father-daughter adventure near the end of his life. Andra finished her trek in 34 days.
For more information about Andra, you can visit her website at andrawatkins.com.
You can purchase her novel in paperback and e-book formats at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBook and Kobo.
welcome, Andra - and *what* a fascinating premise. I'm utterly beguiled.
Posted by: catriona | June 17, 2014 at 08:26 AM
Yes, I keep thinking about this! And wonder--where on earth did this idea begin?
(And--are you still hiking?)
Posted by: hankpryan | June 17, 2014 at 12:21 PM
O.K., you have piqued my interest. :-) I am buying the book as we speak.
I am fascinated by the fact that you hiked the Natchez Trace (which I learned about through reading Nevada Barr's work). What a fabulous way to do research for a book!
Good luck with your book promotion!
Posted by: Mysterious Bibliophile | June 17, 2014 at 04:51 PM
I'm grateful to everyone who's left a comment. Thank you, Mysterious Bibliophile, for buying the book. Please reach out and let me know what you think when you read it.
Hank, as a writer I admire very much (we met in Myrtle Beach several years ago now, and I carried your lip balm around for a very long time - ha), you understand the weirdness of how an idea can germinate. I've always been fascinated with Meriwether Lewis, because of Lewis and Clark, he was the harder man to know. When my father almost died of a ruptured appendix a couple of years ago, I used that almost-loss to explore how hard my father is to know, using the mystery of Meriwether Lewis as a backdrop. I was also spending time in Nashville for work, so I had the opportunity to explore the upper reaches of the Trace and find additional inspiration.
We all want to be remembered when we're gone. But when a life is cut short as Meriwether Lewis's was, that memory can be tarnished. I hope my story gives Meriwether Lewis redemption in the minds of those who read it, because redemption is a powerful force when we need it. It's fundamental to being human.
Your hiking question - I finished my walk on April 3, 2014. I walked from March 1 - April 3. Fifteen miles a day. I wanted to replicate the journey of the boatmen, who used the Trace in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Those men walked it in about a month. I have a much greater respect for the tenacity and steel of the people who made this country now, having put myself through much of what they endured. The walk almost killed me, but I would do every bit of it again to have the five weeks I had with my father.
Thank you so much for hosting me on Femme Fatales. I really appreciate the opportunity more than you know. If you read the book, I'd love to hear what you think.
Posted by: Andra Watkins | June 17, 2014 at 06:06 PM
I am not impartial, bit Andra rocks.
Posted by: Michael Carnell | June 17, 2014 at 06:21 PM
And of course, I misspelled Femmes. My French never took, in spite of my trying and trying.
Posted by: Andra Watkins | June 17, 2014 at 06:35 PM
Andra, you are terrific. I got called in to work at Channel 7 today, and am just coming up for air. Your book is so amazing, and your story is, too.
I just blasted the social media-verse with your praises.
As for your French, c'est dommage. But we ne care pas.
xoxo
Posted by: Hank Phillippi Ryan | June 17, 2014 at 07:56 PM
So glad to see Andra featured! Her book is worth reading! It's fascinating.
Posted by: L. Marie | June 18, 2014 at 05:03 AM
Your book was my favorite of this past year, Andra!
Hugs from Ecuador,
Kathy
Posted by: Kathy McCullough | June 18, 2014 at 06:38 AM
Andra said it best this morning: "The good people really do deserve to succeed." She wasn't speaking of herself, but she could have been.
Posted by: Jim Stewart | June 18, 2014 at 06:45 AM
I love love LOVE this book. (And Andra.) It left me guessing like crazy and sitting up nights. I was supposed to be giving Andra feedback, and I'd have to go back and read whole chapters again to comment, because I'd been too busy biting my teeth about what happened next.
Posted by: Jessie Powell | June 18, 2014 at 07:02 AM
Yes--it's such fun to find a book that's truly original.
I'm still intrigued by that walk, too! DId you walk mostly in silence,? Or did you talk? Are you different now, as a result? (Or am I being over-dramatic?) (I know, shocking...)
Posted by: Hank Phillippi Ryan | June 18, 2014 at 07:25 AM
I spent lots of time in silence, yes. I also talked out loud to myself a lot. It wasn't a big deal until a biker pedaled up behind me and asked me who I was talking to.
A reader asked me yesterday how the walk changed me. I understand more than ever that perseverance is the key to success. But mostly, I'm so thankful for a five-week adventure with my 80-year-old father. We adults get so busy. We often forget to make those memories until it's too late.
Posted by: Andra Watkins | June 18, 2014 at 02:31 PM
And to think I kind of knew this talented and beautiful Andra before she became famous! :)
Posted by: brickhousechick | June 18, 2014 at 03:22 PM