CROSSING DAY

 

 

CROSSING DAY

William A. Glass

GENRE:  Young Adult/Alternate History

BLURB:

It's been one hundred and sixty years since the Confederacy won its independence at the Battle of Altamaha Crossing. Slaves of African descent still perform most of the work in the South. This seems normal to Ryan Walters and his friends who attend high school in Huntsville, Alabama. Like teens everywhere, they enjoy sharing videos, playing sports, and hanging out with friends. Jaybird's drive-in is their favorite gathering place. There, they befriend Mish, a slave girl who works as a car hop. When the drive-in’s owner sells Mish to a dirty old man, Ryan and his friends awaken to the injustice around them. Despite the danger, they decide to help Mish escape. Will they succeed?

Enjoy an Excerpt:

Melanie wanders into the dining room and finds her parents already seated at the table with their personal slaves standing behind them. Her mother, Dorothy, takes a sip of orange juice and replaces the glass on the lace tablecloth. Her servant, Natty, immediately gets a pitcher from the sideboard and refills the glass. Meanwhile, James is smiling at Melanie. “Morning, Miss,” he says. The white-haired Black man pulls out her chair. Once she’s seated, he spreads a cloth napkin over her lap. 

“What was all the ruckus at Jaybird’s last night?” Dan Montgomery asks. He’s the mayor of Huntsville and knows everything. 

“A German boy started it,” Melanie says defensively.

“Yes, and his father already called me to complain. He’s a big wheel at The Space Flight Complex.”

“Sorry!”

Montgomery points to the syrup. His slave, Parker, reaches for it and then pours. “Enough,” Montgomery snaps. He turns back to Melanie. “You and all the others will have a week of detention.” 

Melanie gasps. “What about cheerleading practice?”

“You should have thought of that before you went to the drive-in. That’s where all the delinquents hang out and you with them.”

“I won’t go anymore. Please.” Melanie bats her baby blues at her father. His expression melts. “Go to detention after school today, and maybe we’ll see about tomorrow.” 

“Thanks, Dad.” 

Montgomery cuts off a bite of pancake and pops it into his mouth. That reminds Melanie to eat as well. It’s almost time for the bus.

About the Author:

Bill is a retired business executive who now lives in a small southern town with his wife, Bettina. She’s a retired high school German teacher. Bill coaches soccer at a small college. Often, Bettina, who has a commercial driver’s license, pilots the soccer team bus to away games. 

Bettina and Bill have three sons, Alex, Robert, and Gordon who have all graduated from college and moved away to pursue careers. Instead of having an empty nest, Bettina and Bill now host three rescue dogs. They enjoy finding promising hiking trails to explore with their dogs.

 

Q&A With William A. Glass, Author of CROSSING DAY

Q. What was your inspiration for writing this book? 

A. For me to sit down and start a novel, I need to have some things I want to get off my chest. Having an ax to grind motivates me to write. For Crossing Day, my motivation arose from a desire to debunk the myths that still circulate in the South about the Civil War. The power of these myths is evident in the pronouncements that regularly come out of the mouths of today’s politicians. One Floridian recently talked about the benefits chattel slavery brought to the enslaved. A 2024 presidential candidate famously danced around the cause of the Civil War, which was slavery. Crossing Day is a fast-read, action-packed thriller, but the underlying message is that the Civil War ended slavery only because the North won.

Q. What did you enjoy most about writing this book? 

A. Crossing Day is set in the present day, so the characters' daily lives are filled with familiar, seemingly ordinary things. However, they live in a speculative world, so writing the book required imagination. This was a first for me because my previous novels, As Good As Can Be and Off-Broadway: A Marriage Drama, are autobiographical, so I never had to imagine where the story would go next. Crossing Day is the first book I’ve written that came from my imagination. At first, it was intimidating to write speculative fiction, but once I realized that I could dream up a group of characters, put them in an imaginary world, and then set them off on a wild adventure, the enjoyment began.  

Q. Do you have any other books you are working on that you can tell us about? 

A. I have another novel diagrammed and was getting ready to write it when the idea for Crossing Day hit me, and I spontaneously began writing it. Once the launch phase for Crossing Day is over, I’ll start on the one I diagrammed. It is a wild story with a plot too convoluted to summarize. The underlying theme will be the colonial exploitation of Africa that still goes on today.

Q. Who is your favorite author and why? 

A. Rick Bragg is my favorite author. His books resonate with me because he captures the essence of the American South. My southern roots are like his. 

Q. Anything more you would like to say to your readers and fans?

A. It’s wonderful of you to have me here at Literary Gold! I enjoyed our interview.

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Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Crossing-Day-William-Glass-ebook/dp/B0CW8HBGV4/ref=sr_1_1

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