I cleared my throat before speakoing." Uncle, I now understand why you came to me to tell this story; it is definitely not an academic text or journal, it is a story that must be told." "We have to let the world understand the severe consequences associated with any war; it does not matter what sort of war it is, a just war, a war of liberation or a war of occupation," he said finally and looked at the empty cup of coffee on the table. I collected the coffee pot and poured out a cup for him. This time he did not decline but took a long gulp. "I hope it's not too hot, Uncle." "It is, but it's not scalding.' he set the cup on the table and whipped his mouth with the back of his hand. "I'm relieved now that I've got this story out of my heart." He looked at the clock on the wall; it was almost 6.30 pm. "I guess I should be on my way," he said and stood up. "Our country is once again swinging dangerously on the path of war from the utterances of all principal players from the various regions and zones. Ethnicity and religion are pushing us to the brink of another crisis if forces strong" "Uncle, I think you're right here; this is not the time to play tribal sentiments if we must survive as a nation and as a people. We must harness our diversity to achieve the greatness we have desired over the years. If we allow ourselves goaded into another civil war, those brewing for the war may not be alive to tell the tales of it as you have done here." "We may not immediately know all the casualties of any war. We forget many incidents of the war when we did not keep records; they are the forgotten casualties of war. Someone needs to talk about them. Gilbert, I should go now, have a pleasant career in your storytelling."

In April 1865, the American Civil War was winding down. On April 3rd, Union forces captured Richmond and the Confederate government becomes a Government on the run. On April 9th, the main Confederate Army surrendered but there were still lots of loose ends to wrap up. The Confederacy still had two active armies in the field, their president and cabinet are still on the run and they still hold a major chunk of western Alabama and all of Texas. During the chaotic years preceding the outbreak of war, thirteen year old Bill Cheever and his parents moved west to avoid the turmoil that was engulfing the area along the Mason-Dixon line. The Cheevers settled in southwestern Minnesota near the upper Sioux Indian agency at Morton/Redwood Falls, Minnesota. Life was peaceful and prosperous. Bill made friends with three Sioux boys and they became close friends as they learned woodland lore and Indian ways together. Eventually the bond between them became so strong they went through the ceremony and became blood brothers. On April 12, 1861 South Carolina Militia fired on the Federal Fort in Charleston Bay. The civil war was on. A wave of volunteerism swept across the North. Bill would have volunteered then, but he was only seventeen. Immediately after his eighteen birthday he joined the newly forming 6th Minnesota Regiment. Before he left for duty, his blood brothers promised him they would take care of his parents if the need should arise. Nine months later they made good on their promise as they led his parents to safety at the start of the August 1862 Sioux uprising. My novel picks up Bill's story in Atlanta, Georgia In April 1865. The American Civil war is winding down. The Confederate capital fell to Union troops on April 3rd and Jefferson Davis with his entourage are on the run. On April 9th, C.S.A. General Lee surrendered the whole Army of North Virginia to Grant's Army of the Potomac. The largest Reb army was done. However, some fighting continued. In North Carolina, Union General Sherman was closing in on C.S.A. Army of the Tennessee under General Johnston. Its surrender would take the South's second largest army out of the fight. Out west the Rebs still held Texas and western Alabama in what was called Kirby-Smith's Fiefdom. No one was paying any attention to him at the moment. The war was over in the belly of the beast where Bill is stationed, so the Union armies were starting the process of disbanding and sending people home. Bill was one of the earliest to receive such orders. He was given a mission to deliver a package and then to proceed home to St. Paul to be mustard out of the army. Easy right? The action starts immediately as Bill foils an attempted robbery and sets the stage for future events. As part of this portion of his trip his time in the military is revealed by flashbacks and conversations.

Children of the Rising is the first ever account of the young lives violently lost during the week of the 1916 Rising: long-forgotten and never commemorated, until now. Boys, girls, rich, poor, Catholic, Protestant - no child was guaranteed immunity from the bullet and bomb that week, in a place where teeming tenement life existed side by side with immense wealth. Drawing on extensive original research, along with interviews with relatives, Joe Duffy creates a compelling picture of these forty lives, along with one of the cut and thrust of city life between the two canals a century ago. This gripping story of Dublin and its people in 1916 will add immeasurably to our understanding of the Easter Rising. Above all, it honours the forgotten lives, largely buried in unmarked graves, of those young people who once called Dublin their home.

"Samuel Clark likes secrets. He wants to know the hidden stories of the bizarre characters on the little streets of Edinburgh, Scotland. He wants to know about a nymphomaniac, a man who lives under a bridge, a girl with a cracked face. He wants to uncover their histories because he has secrets of his own. He believes, as people do, that he is able to change. He believes, as the whole world does, that there is plenty of time to solve his problems. But Samuel Clark and the rest of the world are wrong"--