I'm excited to announce a blog tour for author, Shirley Miller Kamada, and her young adult historical fiction novel, Zachary: A Seagoing Cowboy. This book is perfect for anyone interested in U.S. history and the history of WWII. Join us as we celebrate the launch of her book and interview her about her writing journey. You'll also have the chance to win a copy for yourself.
Before we get to that, here's more about her book:
Zachary Whitlock knows sheep. He knows farming and knows what it’s like to have his best friend forced into an internment camp for Japanese Americans. What he does not know much about is goats and traveling by sea on cargo ships, yet he makes a decision to go with a group of volunteers to Japan to help deliver a herd of more than two hundred goats, many of which are pregnant, to survivors of the U.S. bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Goats will provide much-needed milk and nutrition, and people living in the bombed ruins are sick and hungry.
What he also does not know at the age of seventeen is what it means to be seasick, how to navigate the personalities of seasoned seamen, and how to keep not only goats but himself alive during a typhoon.
A fascinating follow-up to No Quiet Water, Shirley Miller Kamada's well-received novel about the WWII internment era, A Seagoing Cowboy is a story full of adventure, human connection, and a young man's coming of age.
Publisher: Black Rose Writing
ISBN-10: 1685136400
ISBN-13: 978-1685136406
ASIN: B0FGVFJGVG
Print length: 135 pages
About the Author, Shirley Miller Kamada
Shirley Miller Kamada grew up on a farm in northeastern Colorado. She has been an educator in Oregon, Idaho, and Washington, a bookstore-espresso café owner in Centralia, Washington, and director of a learning center in Olympia, Washington. Her much-loved first novel, NO QUIET WATER, was a Kirkus recommended title and a finalist for several awards. When not writing, she enjoys casting a fly rod, particularly from the dock at her home on Moses Lake in Central Washington, which she shares with her husband and two spoiled pups.
You can follow the author at:
---- Interview by Nicole Pyles
WOW: Congrats on your novel, Zachary: A Seagoing Cowboy! You have such great character development in your novel. How do you create such realistic characters and cause them to shine through?
Shirley: I think it has to do with the fact that my characters feel real to me. Although they are imagined, when I decide to write about a particular thing, the characters present themselves to me as if they are truly alive. That phenomenon is hard to explain. Perhaps it comes from the fact that, growing up on a farm, imagination was our foundation for almost everything. We had to be able to imagine solutions to problems as they presented themselves, and on a farm, there are always problems.
Also, having been an educator, I have lived a life of helping young people build character through education. Not just year by year, or even day by day, but minute to minute, the character of individual humans changes and grows. I believe a reader should see these changes, whether positive or negative, and how change affects a life. Some people are overwhelmed by even the smallest changes. Others see change as positive, a thing to be embraced. If a person possesses a negative trait or attitude, I believe I have a responsibility to show that as much as I believe I have a responsibility to show good qualities. In the case of Zachary, he is someone who early on showed a propensity to accept responsibility as he took on care of the family’s sheep. In my imagination, that translated to him being willing to board a ship and manage a herd of goats. A negative trait? If Zachary has one, it is a tendency to overthink, to go beyond a question’s creditable answer and continue to worry over it. (I can relate.)
As in the classroom, perhaps the overcoming of a negative characteristic is part of a person’s story. Particularly if a character is coming of age, and I as writer am portraying that moment in time, I find myself asking, where will the character go from here? What have these changes wrought? That is as things are in reality, and so my answer to that question becomes part of the story. Or perhaps the entire story. Being alive is to accept the necessity for change, and perhaps that is my answer to the question: I think my characters come across as realistic because they are not static. They are doing what humans do: transforming in tiny increments.
WOW: What a great point about creating characters that evolve! Do you plan your novel before writing or do you write by discovery (exploring the novel's plot as you go, or in other words, pantsing!)? And why?
Shirley: I do very little advance planning. I am struck by something I want to write about, a meaningful occurrence, an event or a situation in history, then I ponder how such a thing might impact the life of a person or family. My writing hews close to facts, dates in history, actual conditions. I avoid making anything happen that would be unlikely overall, but we’ve all experienced things that were unlikely but true, things that changed our life, changed our world, so that’s not entirely off the table.
As I research a topic, I often learn about things I didn’t know happened, or I knew little about, perhaps had accepted a common misunderstanding. For example, I was stunned to learn of humanitarian Floyd Schmoe, and all he did to help the survivors of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I knew nothing of the firebombing of Tokyo and how the fact that it had occurred was not widely known by the American people. I have long been intrigued by Heifer International, in fact have supported them through donations and purchasing gifts for friends and family—buying bees or livestock for villages in Africa, for example—but when I learned that its origins had to do with transporting goats to people who were suffering after the horrors of the various bombings carried out by my own country, I knew I had to write about it. Still, the story gave itself to me in bits, and not necessarily in order. It does feel that way—as if the story gives itself to me. I may engage in extensive research, but when it comes to the actual telling of the story, it feels like a gift that comes from outside of me. Almost as if I’m merely a channel rather than creator.
WOW: What an incredible insight that you are a channel rather than a creator. Was there anything that surprised you while writing your book?
Shirley: Learning that Floyd Schmoe undertook the voyage to Japan was the greatest surprise. Taking the goats to Hiroshima was one thing. He was a forester by profession. He participated in the building of his family’s home, so had some building experience, but to take responsibility for Houses for Hiroshima was a big stretch, I’d think. He had to raise funds and recruit volunteers in both situations. In planning, it was his choice to consult with Japanese people in the community where the houses would be located. He did not impose his will but acted as a servant to the community. As I learned more about the real Floyd Schmoe, I came to realize that this was not surprising at all. That is who he was. And so, that is who Zachary became.
WOW: Great insight! What kind of research did you do for your novel?
Shirley: I suppose you could say that I’m something of an independent historian. I admit I am relentless. One thing I learned in the writing of
No Quiet Water is that not everyone strives for historical accuracy. I read many books set during the internment era and saw the same misrepresentations repeated over and over again. How did I know they were misrepresentations? Because as much as possible, I used archival materials and original documents. This is easy to do when writing about WWII, as archival material abounds at universities and in the federal archives. I had access to family archives as well, which included recorded interviews with family members who had been relocated to the camps. Then there is the organization known as Densho (
https://densho.org), which is working to preserve as much archival material about the internment era as possible. My rule is to try to find three verifiable sources that say the same thing. I believe this practice brings an air of truth and a sense of reality to my writing and storytelling.
WOW: It's awesome you had so much access to research. I love the historical fiction element blended with the coming-of-age theme. Why did you decide to blend these two elements?
Shirley: I wanted to explore the post-WWII era with few preconceived notions. It followed that I would write about it in the voice of someone experiencing it that way. Zachary Whitlock and his best friend Fumio Miyota were eleven years old when Fumio's family was forced into internment, and they were sixteen when internment was ended. I heard from readers that they wanted to know more about Zachary and what happened next. I did, too! By the time
No Quiet Water was complete, I felt close to both the Miyota and the Whitlock families. Zachary had knowledge of animal care and he was a math whiz. He was a deep thinker, but also a doer, and empathetic. His family was Quaker. I learned of the Heifer Project and the mission to Japan serendipitously. Reading about the post-WWII era, I came across mention of Homes for Hiroshima, of which I had been somewhat aware. The project was conceived and directed by Floyd Schmoe, a well-known Friends Society humanitarian and activist. In that reading I simply stumbled across Schmoe's travel to Japan with the Heifer Project. And that was it! I was hooked!
WOW: That's amazing! Thank you so much for your time today! And best of luck on your tour!
--- Blog Tour Calendar
November 3 @ The Muffin
Join us at the Muffin as we celebrate the launch of Zachary: A Seagoing Cowboy by Shirley Miller Kamada. We interview the author and give you a chance to win a copy of the book.
November 5 @ Words by Webb
Visit Jodi's blog for her review of Zachary: A Seagoing Cowboy by Shirley Miller Kamada
November 8 @ Sarandipity
Visit Sara's blog for a guest post by Shirley Miller Kamada about Marshall strawberries.
November 10 @ Chapter Break
Visit Julie's blog for a guest post by Shirley Miller Kamada about owning a coffee shop and bookstore.
November 12 @ Storey Book Reviews
Visit Leslie's blog for a guest post by Shirley Miller Kamada about the day her mother took a chainsaw to their sofa.
November 14 @ Nicole Writes About Stuff
Visit Nicole's Substack newsletter for a weekend contribution by Shirley Miller Kamada.
November 18 @ Reading is My Remedy
Stop by Chelsie's blog for a review of Zachary: A Seagoing Cowboy by Shirley Miller Kamada.
November 20 @ Lisa Haselton's Reviews and Interviews
Stop by Lisa's blog for an interview with author Shirley Miller Kamada.
November 21 @ A Wonderful World of Books
Visit Joy's blog for an excerpt from Zachary: A Seagoing Cowboy by Shirley Miller Kamada.
November 24 @ Author Anthony Avina's blog
Join Anthony for an excerpt from Zachary: A Seagoing Cowboy by Shirley Miller Kamada.
November 25 @ Word Magic
Visit Fiona's blog for a guest post by Shirley Miller Kamada about why so few people know about the U.S. firebombing of Tokyo.
November 27 @ A Storybook World
Visit Deirdra's blog for her spotlight of Zachary: A Seagoing Cowboy by Shirley Miller Kamada
November 30 @ Author Anthony Avina's blog
Visit Anthony's blog for his review of Zachary: A Seagoing Cowboy by Shirley Miller Kamada.
December 1 @ Reading is My Remedy
Stop by Chelsie's blog for Shirley Miller Kamada's guest post on learning that her grandfather helped build the internment camp at Minidoka in southern Idaho.
December 2 @ CC King's blog
Join Caitrin as she features a guest post by Shirley Miller Kamada about how the character of Zachary developed.
December 4 @ Sandy Kirby Quandt
Visit Sandy's blog for her review of Zachary: A Seagoing Cowboy by Shirley Miller Kamada
***** BOOK GIVEAWAY *****
The giveaway is open to US residents for a print copy. Enter to win a print copy of Zachary: A Seagoing Cowboy by Shirley Miller Kamada! Fill out the Gleam form below for a chance to win. The giveaway ends November 16th at 11:59 pm CT. We will randomly draw a winner the next day via Gleam and follow up via email. Good luck!
Still, one additional trial remains. While searching for Iris, Bethie and Arista stumble upon a grand revelation in the eccentric woman’s home. With the discovery, they realize their run of chaos and loss of kin may have roots in a curse that dates back to the 1940s—the time when their family patriarch first built Arista’s cottage in the redwoods and crafted his insightful Ouija table.
