In this most blessed season I want to extend a very Merry Christmas to all my readers and friends. Over the last few years it has been my pleasure to get to know many of you around the country. I had the recent pleasure of attending the West Virginia Book Festival and shared space with my good friend Robert G. Yoho and his lovely wife Jo Ellen. I recently finished reading his latest book, Return to Matewan and must say it is his finest work. I will be reviewing it here soon. I also had the honor of reconnecting with a frequent acquaintance, the dean of historical fiction Jeff Shaara. I also had the honor of being invited to participate in the Sesquicentennial observance of the surrender at the Bennett Place in Durham, NC. There I had the pleasure of spending time with several great authors and historians such as Michael C. Hardy, Eric Wittenberg, Lee Sherrill, Patrick Schroeder and Wade Sokolosky.

This past year was a challenging one for me in many aspects, not the least of which was in the writing realm. Many distractions and lots of necessary ground work being laid. I am expecting a big year in 2016. There will be an article in Gettysburg Magazine in July and I have done a lot of necessary work on the South Carolina troops at Gettysburg book. I am also expecting to revise and expand the Georgia troops at Gettysburg work in the same year. I am planning to make a return to fiction with a book I have been promising Skip Coryell at White Feather Press.

So, enjoy some good time with family and friends and let’s enjoy a blessed and productive year in 2016.