Featured Interview With John Cunningham Jr.
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born and reared in Mobile, Alabama and taught high school history in New Orleans, Louisiana. Thus, I am very familiar with my books’ main settings, a two-book Civil War series called Southern Sons-Dixie Daughters. I hold a degree in history from the University of Alabama. Having grown up fishing in the Gulf of Mexico, another key setting, I also know that region well. Since the age of twelve, I have been a serious student of the American Civil War.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I have loved books almost as far back as I can remember, and my desire to become a writer began around the sixth grade. Starting in the seventh grade, though, I began reading mostly biographies and history books. This started when my parents gave me a Christmas present–The American Heritage Picture History of the Civil War, its narrative written by the Pulitzer-prize winning historian, Bruce Catton. This book, with its illustrations and maps, inspired me to study the war deeper. I have been an avid student of the war ever since. Soon, this interest led to interests in other historical eras. History became my passion.
I started writing seriously when I was in my late twenties, after I sold an article to a devotional magazine called The Upper Room. So excited was I when I sold this small article, that I decided to devote myself to studying the craft and to writing.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
My favorite genre, of course, is historical fiction, both Christian and secular. The three authors who influenced my writing the most are CS Forester, Louis L’Amour, and James Michener. I also enjoy reading Colleen McCullough’s Masters of Rome series, Gilbert Morris, Bernard Cornwell, Jack Cavanaugh, Norma Jean Lutz, and Elmer Kelton, among many others.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
Book 1 in the Southern Sons-Dixie Daughters Series, Vengeance & Betrayal and Book 2, River Ruckus, Bloody Bay, are a sweeping Southern saga set against the backdrop of the Civil War’s western naval campaigns.
In Vengeance & Betrayal, the wartime stories of four families living on the Gulf Coast begins – the Westcotts, the Jessups, the Creole Soileaus and the indomitable and devout slave Danny, who escapes bondage and finds service aboard a Union warship and his wife Nancy, cruelly whisked out of his life decades before the war. Their stories are woven together throughout the work, which climaxes at the Battle of New Orleans.
While the Confederacy struggles to build a navy to defeat the Yankee fleet, threatening New Orleans, these families suffer their own personal conflicts: secret courtships, emotional turmoil, and banishment. For those in naval service–-Danny and Confederate Lieutenant Benjamin Westcott, whose family owns Nancy–-vengeance and betrayal approaches as the battle of New Orleans draws near. If the Westcott’s butler Titus succeeds in his plan, and Ben’s mortal enemy Master Xavier Locke of the USS Madison gains the upper hand, both Danny and Ben will suffer heartache and loss in vastly different ways.
Unlike most Civil War novels, which deal with the armies and other settings, Vengeance & Betrayal’s emphasis on the naval war and Gulf Coast southerners sets it apart from similar Civil War stories.
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