UPCOMING ANTHOLOGY - WOMEN WRONGED

WOMEN WRONGED

Discrimination, Repression, & Sexism from the Sixties to Now

Ms. Toby Fesler Heathcotte, Editor

In this anthology, wise women tell poignant stories of their efforts to overcome discrimination, prejudice, repression, sexism, and marginalization in their lives. These authors give hope, discernment, and support to young women embarking on their own journeys today. 

Contributing Essayists: Eyvonne Carter-Riley, Kathleen Cook, Marcia Farrell, Valerie Foster, Monique Gerbaud, Rita Heathcotte, Toby Fesler Heathcotte, Marilyn June Janson, Jan Nichols, Constance Osterlitz, Tamara Poff, Jane Ruby, Vijaya Schartz, Writer Anonymous

Time Travel to 1968

Beware if you decide to time travel to your own past. It's filled with emotional triggers. CNN's recent retrospective on 1968 was difficult to watch. Few events in my life evoke the same emotion on recollection as they did in the moment. The assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy evoke that for me.

In 1968, my husband and I were taking graduate class work at Indiana University. Our sons attended preschool. We lived in married housing where we had a clunky 17- inch black and white TV. On it, I watched Bobby give citizens of Indianapolis the terrible news of King's death. They didn't riot as many outraged citizens did in other major cities. Somehow he forged hope in them to temper their grief, the sign of a great leader.

Two weeks later, Bobby gave a speech in the I U auditorium. I waited outside with four thousand fellow students. When they opened the doors, I almost got crushed against the glass. Fortunately a classmate whisked me inside, and we all found seats near the front. Bobby gave details of a foreign policy designed to end the war in Viet Nam and our role as the world's policeman, the main reason I intended to vote for him. I felt afraid for my country, that the war could go on long enough to snuff out my sons. He gave us hope for peace. Bobby won the Indiana primary and went on to California to follow King in death.

These two men offered a message of hope for justice and peace. Fifty years later I still grieve because no one has taken up their mantle of impassioned service. Emotional triggers can be bad as in causing me to cry or good as in leading me to write something to share with my friends.

Peace!

My First Review of Backlight

“Backlight: A Fesler Family Chronicle” by Toby Fesler Heathcotte is a beautifully written account of the authors endeavor to trace her family’s genealogy, in an effort to better understand how one’s heritage helped determine who they are today.

Heathcotte did extensive background research, ancestral searches and interviews with living family members to gain the information on her family history. I thought this read would be one that would only benefit the Fesler family; however, I was quite intrigued by how ingenious the families were in the quest to survive, and how life was from 1684 to 1969. The author provided vivid descriptions of events, and I felt like I transported through history with the incredible narrative.

I thoroughly enjoyed "Backlight: A Fesler Family Chronicle" by Toby Fesler Heathcotte. It was informative, meaningful, and beautifully written.

Reviewed by Carol Hoyer for Reader Views (11/17)

 www.readerviews.com

Backlight Historical Novel Released

Backlight,  A Fesler Family Chronicle

In the theatre, a backlight illuminates the shapes of the actors and the set but masks the details to create illusory truth. Backlight tells the shadow tale of a family’s trek across continents and generations. One family journeyed from Switzerland in the 1600s through Germany to Pennsylvania Colony in the 1700s, into Indiana in the 1800s, and then to Arizona in the 1900s, always searching for a better life.

The Fesler saga mirrors the experiences of millions of Americans, no matter their heritage or land of origin. This work is part history, part fiction but a whole attempt to understand the people and forces that help shape us. The more we understand, the better we can consciously choose directions for our future as a family, a nation, and a world.

Available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle

Promise to Return

My new play with the theme of reincarnation is called Promise to Return.

A young man who remembers dying in the Vietnam War reincarnates compelled to find his previous family and fulfill the destiny denied him by death. His current family feels abandoned. Diego risks exposing his illegal status as a Mexican migrant and drives to Phoenix in 2014. He recognizes his home and some people but fails to convince them. An ally, Brianna, and other students accompany him to a protest for DACA "dreamers." The authorities deport Diego. He faces a dangerous return to Phoenix and the prejudice of family members who reject him.

Write to me on my website if you're interested.

Luke's Covenant won a Halloween Book Award previously. For a spooky read, try:
https://www.amazon.com/Lukes-Covenant-Alma-Chronicles-Book-ebook/dp/B002KE4XZ2/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

An Exciting Read for Independence Day

"Aside from 'Hamilton,' Revolutionary era inspires little art" said Hillel Italie of The Associated Press today."Notable works about the American Revolution are rare outside of history books."

Lainn's Destiny tells the fictional story of a young Scot who flees to the Maryland Colony in the run up to the American Revolution. His path crosses those of other patriots, Tom Jefferson and George Washington. As a doctor Lainn defies the law and runs a secret clinic where he inoculates recruits, giving them a chance to survive illness and battle when they join the Yankee army.

Paperback and Kindle Amazon

toby@tobyheathcotte.com

facebook.com/toby.heathcotte

Lainn's Destiny is a volume of the Alma Chronicles

Souls, bound together in a circle of love, passion, betrayal, and murder, reincarnate lifetime after lifetime from the ancient Celtic world through 21st century America.