Today,
I'm featuring author J. J. Knights, his Benjamin’s Field
Trilogy and
a guest post on researching for the books.
Blurbs
Book
One: Rescue
Forward
by retired NASA astronaut Jay Apt, PhD, veteran of four space shuttle missions.
Benjamin’s Field: Rescue’ has been awarded a five-star review by the
literary site ‘Reader’s Favorite’ (www.readersfavorite.com).
Benjamin’s Field follows a rural farm
family over the course of sixty years from the viewpoint of the youngest
member, Jeremy Kyner. Beginning with America’s entry into World War I, Jeremy
and his family are followed through war, peace, triumph, tragedy, heartbreak,
and final happiness as the reader examines the role of family loyalty versus
individual need, personal liberty and how it relates to society’s demands,
religious prejudice, racism, intolerance, the role of charity, and the
overwhelming need for humans to forgive one another.
While still in manuscript form, Benjamin’s
Field, Book One, Rescue, was advanced to the “Best Sellers Chart” of the peer
review website www.YouWriteOn.com. In
Book One, Rescue, a widowed farmer suffers an unspeakable loss during
World War I. Burdened with grief, he learns from his nemesis, a dogmatic
Catholic priest, that his son’s fiancée has given birth to their crippled
child.
Unable to cope with the child’s deformity
and confounded by his illegitimate birth, the farmer is battered by those
closest to him with accusations of cruelty and intolerance until he finally
reveals his true feelings and the reasons underlying his apparent bigotry. Set
in a historical context, Benjamin’s Field is a compelling story about human
dignity overcoming adversity, prejudice, and hatred. Interwoven with lighter
moments, this dramatic and moving tale will take the reader on an emotional and
sometimes humorous journey.”
Book Two: Ascent
In Book Two, Ascent, Jeremy Kyner,
now a teenaged boy, becomes the focus of his teacher’s animosity because of his
infirmity. With the help of two dedicated school friends and an unconventional
Jewish blacksmith, he takes to the sky, defeating his teacher’s plans to
institutionalize him and forcing her to divulge her own, dark, secret.
Benjamin’s Field is a historical novel
about human dignity overcoming adversity, prejudice, and hatred. Interwoven
with lighter moments, this dramatic and moving story will take the reader on a
journey of inner exploration.
Book Three: Emancipation
Emancipation opens
as America is on the cusp of World War II. Jeremy Kyner, now a man, is barred
from military service at a time when America is almost defenseless against
marauding German submarines. Finally joining a group of volunteer civilian
pilots that represents the country’s best hope to counter the Germans, Jeremy
confronts a deadly enemy from an unexpected quarter and is offered a chance of
achieving final emancipation.
Benjamin’s Field is a historical novel
about human dignity overcoming adversity, prejudice, and hatred. Interwoven
with lighter moments, this dramatic and moving novel will take the reader on a
journey of inner exploration.
About the Author
J.
J. Knights is a retired FBI Special Agent. His assignments
included violent crimes and fugitives, property crimes, civil rights
investigations, and foreign counterintelligence. He was a surveillance pilot,
SWAT sniper, media representative, and worked in the FBI's technical
investigations program. Knights also volunteered as a Civil Air Patrol pilot,
squadron commander and public information officer. He is an emeritus member of
the Imperial Public Relations Committee of Shriners International and Shriners
Hospitals for Children. A native of New England, Knights resides in
southwestern Pennsylvania with his wife and honeybees. He has authored several
published articles on law enforcement recruiting. Benjamin's Field is his first
novel.
Researching for
Benjamin’s Field – Guest Post by J. J. Knights
Since Benjamin’s Field is a
historical novel, I did a great deal of research. The Internet has made this chore much easier
and economical (no need to travel to distant libraries, etc.), so I did much of
the research online. However, I also
used real books. Some I borrowed. Some I purchased. Actually, I enjoyed the research and found it
very educational even if much of what I found didn’t make it into the story.
I also spoke with subject matter
experts, among them priests, a Catholic sister, an expert on canon law, a
Freemason, a retired orthopaedic surgeon, a rabbi, a representative of Shriners
Hospitals for Children, and an expert on the history of rail travel in western
Pennsylvania. I even took advantage of
my own family genealogist and put my great, great grandfather, a Canadian sea
captain, in the story, though I changed his role and place in the historical
timeline. I thanked all of them in the
Acknowledgements.
I was very careful to make the story
as historically accurate as possible, but sometimes I had to tweak history for
the sake of the story. For example, In
Book Two, Ascent, I have Jeremy Kyner, the protagonist, attending the 1932
Cleveland Air Show. The airshow took
place in August of that year. I moved it
to September for reasons explained in the Afterward.
How important is historical accuracy
to credibility? I suppose this is
subjective, but I’d say it’s very important.
Why should someone take what I’m saying seriously if I can’t get the
facts right? For instance, I wanted to
refer to actual newspaper headlines and stories in Book One, Rescue. I have Benjamin Kyner, the protagonist,
reading that America had declared war against Germany in the April 6, 1917
edition of the old Pittsburgh Press. I
was able to quote the paper exactly thanks to the assistance I received from
the Hillman Library at the University of Pittsburgh. The staff put me on to an
online source for digitized newspapers going back to the 19th century.
Depicting historical events
accurately was very instrumental in amplifying the plot and themes. A main theme in Benjamin’s Field is
overcoming prejudice and intolerance. In
the previous paragraph, I spoke about using actual headlines from real newspapers
from the period. So, in the same issue
of The Pittsburgh Press, we see Benjamin’s son, Francis, reading glorified
front-page reports of courageous aviators.
A bit later, Hiram Bolt, Benjamin’s African American hired hand, picks
up the paper and notices that stories about Black military units are buried in
the back pages.
So, accurately depicted relevant
historical events are very important to the themes in the story.
To instruct seriously and well, one
must be a bit of an entertainer. If not,
you will lose your audience, be they university students, student pilots, or
readers who can easily put your book down and pick up someone else’s.
Imagine sitting in church or some
other place of worship, a university classroom or some similar place. If the priest, minister, rabbi,
professor or whomever simply stands
there and drones on, you’ll fall asleep.
On the other hand, if he or she moves about in front of you and injects
drama and humor into the sermon, they’ve got you. We’ve all had boring teachers.
In the case of writing a story like
Benjamin’s Field, I used intensely emotional scenes and drama tempered with
comic relief to keep the reader engaged, but not overwhelmed. Humor is necessary to relieve the pressure
created by the drama and emotion. You
don’t want the reader to feel bludgeoned.
In Book One, Rescue, Benjamin, the
protagonist, and the priest Templeman, have issues to resolve, so I put them in
a very emotional, soul-baring encounter.
The pressure builds until Benjamin’s hired hand, Hiram, appears
unexpectedly with a one-liner that will cause the reader to smile or laugh.
The reader must also be able to
relate to what the character is experiencing.
That’s why I put the characters in highly charged situations that we’ve
all experienced or at lease can understand.
For instance, throughout history,
there have always been young men who terrified their parents by saying, “The
country is at war. I’m joining the army.” It’s been said in different languages
and accents, but it’s been said since humans have walked the earth. My brother
and I did it to my parents and my son did it to my wife and I. Even if it hasn’t happened to you, you can
still relate to it.
This, and much more, happens in the
story.
Melora Pineda
