My third and most recent historical novel. As with each of my previous novels I wrote the first draft by hand. As I progressed I was constantly proofreading, editing, adding, or subtracting content.
I am a stickler for facts and accuracy when I narrate actual historical events. So much so, that I submitted my manuscript to someone that I knew I could trust, and who I consider as the foremost authority on the Sultana. I asked that he read my manuscript, critique it, find anything that is not accurate, things I left out that should have been included, remove anything that did not happen or is not needed. As is often said, “Be careful what you ask for…” He did as I requested and I soon received numerous pages of things that needed my attention.
Gene Salecker, I will forever be in your debt for all the help you gave me, and will always consider you as a great friend.
Warning! Several segments of this book portray extremely graphic violence and at times strong language, although I kept that to a minimum.
Tonquish Creek Productions 
Hello Mike: Your book is one of the best on the common soldier in the Civil War, covering enlistment, training, campaigning, battle, prison, and of course, the voyage on the Sultana. I was glad to be a small part of your writing experience. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the life of a Civil War soldier and the experiences of some of the men on the steamboat Sultana. Gene Salecker
Hello Gene:
Thank you for that, it means a lot to me.
When I discovered a comment from you, it only showed about half of the first sentence because I had to give approval before they published it. I am still learning this website business so I had to figure out where to go in order to approve your comment.
I sent emails to the Sultana Museum, to Jonathan Matthews at Cahaba, and to the Andersonville gift shop. I have yet to hear from the first two, but I did hear from Andersonville. The problem here is that the gift shop is apparently run by americannationalparks.org. They have a bunch of forms that I would be required to fill out before they even give me approval. Frankly, I am a somewhat intelligent man but, a lot of what they ask I don’t understand at all. I think I may pass on that one.
Mike