Posts Tagged ‘Canada’

Curling sheets - Vancouver Winter Olympics 2010

So I’m watching Ice Hockey, and it’s the big one … US versus Canada.  What a game! I still can’t believe we won, but I’ll damned sure take it.  For me it’s almost as much fun as watching Rugby, and in the case of hockey, I can understand why they wear so much padding.  Anyway – I’m watching hockey, and they switch on me to “curling.”  My first reactions  - – - “Giant shuffleboard – come on, get serious – an Olympic sport?  Then I began watching it more closely and became mesmerized.

I couldn’t understand much at first, but the air began to clear, and it became very interesting.  Of course, being the obsessive that I am, I immediately began researching curling, even as I was looking at it on the telly, and became even more intrigued. Now I have a whole new vocabulary:  bump, a slider shoe, free guard zone, hammer, blank end, stealing, a biter, burn, and so many more.

Alas, I know curling has been around in Scotland since like the sixteenth century, in the US since the early 1800s, and an Olympic official sport since 1998, but it never perked my attention until I saw it in the Vancouver Olympic Stadium.

I love learning about new things…at least new to me…   Curling – - – who knew?

Household Cavalry on Parade in London

We hear a good deal about our US forces in Afghanistan, but sometimes it seems we’re the only ones over there.  We’re not.  There are Canadian, British, and many other warriors fighting beside us, that we never hear much about.  A friend of mine in the UK sent this report to me, and I wanted to share it with you.  To some it might seem a bit boring, but between the lines it tells of the immense sacrifices these soldiers of the Queen are making.

I’ll provide the report in several parts to allow the reader to take a breath.  I have also cut out a very few parts which seemed a bit too technical in order to shorten the overall length.

This mid-tour report was submitted by LtCol Harry Fullerton, Commanding, The Household Cavalry Regiment.  Yes, folks – this is one of the same spit and polish regiments of the Household Guard that protects the Royalty of the United Kingdom – when it isn’t fighting in Helmand Province in Afghanistan.  The report, submitted in January 2010, is as follows:

“For the last three months the Household Cavalry Regiment [HCR] has been deployed in three distinct groups in Helmand province.

Household Cavalry in action

“These first three months have been challenging, but a great deal of success has been achieved during this time and the Battle Group and our detached squadrons feel confident of doing more to ensure the security of the people of Helmand, to defeat the insurgency, and to partner and train up the Afghan security forces.

“We had an excellent handover from 2nd Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, giving us enough knowledge and insight of the area that we could maintain the tempo of operations in Musa Qaleh.

“Musa Qaleh has been an area of increasing stability and security over the past 12 months, with the area under control of the government growing on a regular basis. Such is the confidence of the local people that there is a bustling bazaar area, and two large markets that occur each week in the wadi, and all this is done without the need for any overt military security presence.

“An area of approximately 100 square kilometres is controlled by ISAF [International Security Assistance Force] and ANSF [Afghan National Security Forces]. In late October, in a joint Afghan and ISAF operation, a further three villages and farming land were retaken off the insurgents, forcing them back further.

“…  most important of all, the insurgents have become more unpopular with the locals, who see them more and more as an external threat of foreign fighters, who live off the population by taking their food and resources.

A youthful Ian Carlyle in the Crimea

Deciding on a fictional hero for an entire series is a daunting task, not to be pursued lightly. The character will last for years and through many adventures. He will grow older as the series progresses. I had certain aspects of my protagonist in mind from the beginning. For instance, I am a Scot. My father, a character in his own right, was born there. He was raised in the north, and considered himself a highlander, although actually born south of Glasgow in Kilmarnoch. He emigrated to Canada, then to the US. He had a thick brogue. In fact, I had a strange quasi-Scottish accent until I was about ten, when it began to fade away. I wanted my hero to have my roots, and, like my father, be a bit of a rogue and a maverick.

I chose the name Carlyle, because it was a sept of the Clan Bruce of Scottish nobility. The first name, Ian, just seemed to fit. His home was originally Dunmore Hall, until I found through research and friends in Scotland that there was a thriving Dunmore Hall, family, and estate, and they well might take offense to being fictionalized. Thus I made up the name Dunkairn, as Ian’s home. A ‘cairn’ is a mound of stones with crevices. These cairns are all over the highlands. It came to mind from a wonderful cairn terrier I had once owned. Like all such creatures, he was raised to hunt – to drive critters from among these cairns so his master could make the kill. I changed the ‘c’ to a ‘k’ on purely a whim.

I’d had my fill of reading about enlisted men who, against all odds, rose from the ranks in the 19th century British army to become officers of the Queen. The overwhelming majority of the British officer corps did not fit this mold. They came into the army as officers, and, in most cases, had to be able to afford the considerable purchase price and maintenance costs of their commissions. Each promotion was purchased, and the higher, the more expensive.

I made Ian the second son of the Earl of Dunkairn, just to complicate his life even more. As the second son he would not inherit the title, and, in that Victorian period, his options were limited. It would have been appropriate for him to go into the army.

There are many British regiments I am fond of, particularly Scottish regiments. At the top of that list, however, is the Scots Guards, or as they were titled in mid-19th century, the Scots Fusilier Guards. As part of the Guards Brigade, the Household Guard of the Royal family, they were, and remain, the elite of British military. I also wanted him to join a regiment his father, the Earl, might have been in during the Napoleonic Wars, many years before. The Guards are replete with officers who are also titled nobility. One might easily run into a Lieutenant ‘His Lordship’ so and so, or Captain ‘Sir’ so and so. What better regiment for my hero to join than the Scots Fusilier Guards?

To develop Ian’s military background, I spent countless hours at the Scots Guards Archives at Wellington Barracks, London, and, of course, at the Buckingham Arms, across Petty France Street from the rear gate – one of my favorite pubs. With the expert help of Kevin Gorman, Archivist, Scots Guards, who has since become the son I never had, I was able to pin down two of the Scots Fusilier Guards officers who served on George B. McClellan’s staff, Army of the Potomac, in the American Civil War – Captain and Lieutenant Colonel (dual rank system in G uards only)Edward Neville and Captain and Lieutenant Colonel Charles Henry Fletcher. I combined their service records and backgrounds to come up with the fictional Captain Ian Carlyle.

The end result was the character study described in Follow Me to Glory:

“Then, of course, there was Captain Ian David Carlyle, himself. Ian was of medium height, his ramrod posture making him look much taller. He had a delicate face, like his mother’s, with the straight nose, high cheekbones and strong chin of his deep highland roots. Having been brought up largely in London, he had only a trace of Scottish accent, unless he chose to charm or mock someone. At those times his brogue became as thick as he wished, a useful skill that he had learned to impose as one might turn a fine horse, with a flick of the wrist.

Ian had thick sandy-brown hair, which appeared red in bright sunlight, and clear blue eyes that, when focused, could quite literally melt the hardest heart. These same eyes could also turn to iron straight away, and cut through the resolve of most opponents in an instant, another useful skill.

Ian carried himself with the decisive and confident demeanour of a military officer. He wore this bearing like a badge of honour. This, like so many aspects of Ian’s character, was his father’s and Angus’ influence. [Angus is his mentor, a crusty old highlander.]

Ian was, after all, second son of the Earl of Dunkairn. He was here in the Crimea at the end of a long personal struggle, and wanted this war badly, to pursue his own dreams of glory.”

Period Photography by Roger Fenton, and sketches by Peter Culos

Ian Carlyle in American Civil War - 6 years after Crimea

Scots Fusilier Guards officer in Crimea - Used as model for Ian's early sketch

Group of British observers on McClellan's staff in American Civil War

Edward Neville (left), Unidentified officer (middle), Charles Fletcher (right)

Late posting to journal today, or, in fact, it’s tomorrow so I missed a day.  I suppose that means this post covers two days.

I’m in that creative time from midnight to dawn.  I’m using it now to write small snippets from my research for the next novel – a paragraph here, a chapter section there.  Hopefully it will all come together when I start writing in earnest some time around the February/March timeframe.

My research … my primary focus right now … takes me to many interesting places.  First I read voraciously within all the areas of historical interest I think will enter the plot, taking copious notes and writing a bit now and again.  Then, I must walk the walk.  I’m a fair distance away from that at this moment, but when I go, it will take me far and wide.

Ian Carlyle, my hero, will have his adventures … he insists upon it.  I’ll visit Saskatchewan and Alberta, Canada, as far out as Calgary.  I may need to visit some of the Indian reservations.

I must go to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Museum to study the history of the North-West Mounted Police in the 1880’s.  I went to the RCMP Criminal Intelligence Course in Ottawa in my sordid past, and may renew a few old acquaintances there to pick their brains.  I will need to touch base with the FBI Behavioral Science Unit in Quantico (These are the real “Criminal Minds” folks). I attended the 119th Session of the FBI National Academy there, and I’ll need to discuss with them a profile of a specific serial killer type to make my story accurate and believable. (Am I intriguing you yet?)

The interesting part of the research to me thus far is my discovery of the drastic difference between the way the US handled the conflict of settlers versus Indians when our west was being “won,” and the way the Canadians handled the same type problems.

A bit oversimplified, our approach was more or less “the only good Indian is a dead Indian,” and we sent in the Army with a heavy-handed military solution. The Canadian Government used a far more even handed law enforcement approach, much less severe and more focused on individual crimes and wrongdoing.  They sent in a small mounted police force (the NWMP) rather than the Army.  They attempted to dispense justice equally regardless of race, thus gaining the Indians’ trust as being fair-minded. It is an interesting contrast, and worth exploring even in today’s world.

North-West Mounted Police 1886 - Known by its members as The Force

A bit more about the entire “book launch” weekend, which in Gettysburg was the “Remembrance Day” weekend.  There was so much in those few short days.  For instance, I met Richard Dreyfuss, who now has a copy of my new release, The Gettysburg Conspiracy. I told Richard one of my absolute favorite movies is What about Bob, and, of course, The Goodbye Girl.  He was very gracious and witty, which was not unexpected.

I had numerous book signings during the various Remembrance Day festivities.  I even had a book signing with Jeff Shaara, who also has a new book out about World War Two, entitled No Less Than Victory.  I’ve known Jeff since we had lunch a few years ago, and he gave me sage advice about writing historical fiction with characters who have foreign accents.  He is most generous with his celebrity and his advice has stood the test of time.

Today I am beginning the long-term promotional process for the new release, The Gettysburg Conspiracy, and am looking forward to it.

In case Ian’s fans are concerned, I’ve started researching and writing the third in the Ian Carlyle Series.  The outline and a few chapters are completed.  I can only tell you this one puts Ian on the trail of some very bad people in Saskatchewan and Alberta, Canada, in the 1870’s and 80’s.  The working title is The Ear Collector: A Western about the North-West Territories.

The process of writing fiction, especially historical fiction, is amazing, and I love it.  When I thought about the goals of this journal, one of the primary objectives was to discuss and create a dialogue about ‘the historical fiction writing experience.’  I’d be interested in your views.

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