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Death in the Black Patch Paperback – September 13, 2016

4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 20 ratings

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In the spring of 1906 in Kentucky, Wes Wilson stands in his freshly plowed field gazing at furrows that will soon be filled with young dark-leaf tobacco plants. This crop is his life's blood, the product that allows him to feed and clothe his family. Wes is determined that nothing-not the powerful monopoly trying to drive prices down, or the growers' association demanding that farmers hold back their crops-will stand in his way. But the secrets and lies which plague the community smother Wes as he struggles to decide whether he should join the Association or sell out to the tobacco company. In the days that follow, Wes realizes that he's a threat to his family's peace. So, like the Night Riders who wear masks to hide their identity, he puts on a mask of control to hide his troubled mind. Wes is blind to the dangers he faces-the devious tobacco buyer; the ever-present Night Riders; and the cousin who is hiding a deadly secret- grow more intense the longer he takes to decide what to do with his crop. The conflict erupts and soon rages out of control with a result both surprising and tragic. 

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Editorial Reviews

Review

Wilson's Death in the Black Patch is historical fiction at its best, melding a little-known patch of the big American picture with an exploration of one man's willingness to fight corruption, destruction and greed with the few weapons at his disposal--weapons that include a dogged determination to do what is right. Death in the Black Patch by Bruce Wilson won 1st Place in the 2017 CIBAs for American Western Fiction, the Laramie Awards.Chanticleer Book Reviews (ChantiReviews.com)

About the Author

Bruce Wilson is a writer, historian and educator living in Silver City, New Mexico. He is a graduate of California State University-Fullerton and Western New Mexico University where he currently teaches American History. He is a contributing author to the anthology Bug Tales by Paul Klebahn and Gabriella Jacobs and his story "Raven's Nest" received an Honorable Mention in the Desert Exposure 2015 Annual Writing Contest. Recalling the stories his father used to tell, one tale in particular kept popping up in his thoughts, so Wilson traveled to Kentucky to do some research on his family heritage and discovered the actual events of the story. Last year, he returned to the home of his ancestors in Kentucky and walked the country roads and trudged through the rows of the tobacco fields. Unable to get the story out of his mind, he turned the event into a novel- Death in the Black Patch.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Artemesia Publishing, LLC (September 13, 2016)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 342 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1932926569
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1932926569
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13.8 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.51 x 0.7 x 8.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 20 ratings

About the author

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Bruce Wilson
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Bruce Wilson is a writer, historian and educator living in both Silver City and Las Cruces New Mexico. He is a graduate of California State University-Fullerton and Western New Mexico University where he currently teaches American History. He is a contributing author to the anthology Bug Tales by Paul Klebahn and Gabriella Jacobs and his story “Raven’s Nest” received an Honorable Mention in the Desert Exposure 2015 Annual Writing Contest. Recalling the stories his father used to tell, one tale in particular kept popping up in his thoughts, so Wilson traveled to Kentucky to do some research on his family heritage and discovered the actual events of the story. Last year, he returned to the home of his ancestors in Kentucky and walked the country roads and trudged through the rows of the tobacco fields. Unable to get the story out of his mind, he turned the event into a novel—Death in the Black Patch.

Death in the Black Patch was a finalist in The New Mexico/Arizona 2017 Book Awards and won the 2018 Laramie Award for Western Fiction. The author's second book, No Place That Far, will be released on July 14, 2020. He is currently writing another novel dealing with the early twentieth century; its working title is Carter's Chronicle.

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4.7 out of 5 stars
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Customers find the book engaging and well-written. They appreciate the believable characters and their personal motivations. The author effectively portrays people living in narrow margins.

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13 customers mention "Readability"13 positive0 negative

Customers find the book engaging and well-written. They appreciate the characters and their development. The story is meaningful and interesting, and readers enjoy the author's wrap-up at the end.

"...It is a study of the contrasts of mankind: weakness and strength, innocent love and profound hate, tenderness and tension...." Read more

"...I highly recommend this novel, both for its historical accuracy and for its intricate study in human relationships...." Read more

"...right amount of detail to draw the scene for us and has a great sense of the vernacular that my fiancee and I found a delight to read out loud...." Read more

"...A good read that will make its mark on your heart." Read more

5 customers mention "Character development"5 positive0 negative

Customers find the characters believable and effective in portraying people who live in narrow margins.

"...His characters are very believable, their motivations are thoroughly personal, and, although their lives are seemingly insignificant in an..." Read more

"...The characters are so definitely drawn that they stay with you long after you've finished the story: Wes, the alcoholic patriarch who has such a..." Read more

"...of American history in the style of Ken Burns that is so effective in portraying people who live in very narrow margins...." Read more

"...is characterized by a strong plot, a remarkable sense of place, and characters who take us into the world of night riders, monopolies, and farmers..." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on September 22, 2016
    Buy this book – twice. The first copy should be the one that you read and reread. It should eventually have worn pages, notes in the margins, and perhaps even traces of some of your meals. It is a Fabergé egg of Life to be studied from all angles. The second copy should be carefully protected and set aside as collector’s treasure, a first edition of a masterpiece.

    This may be considered an historical novel in that it fuses factual research and creative imagination in such a way that is meaningful, interesting, and in many ways exciting. The author has taken both history and fiction quite seriously and weighted them appropriately. His characters are very believable, their motivations are thoroughly personal, and, although their lives are seemingly insignificant in an historical sense, they become worthy of our attention and we can’t help but care about them.

    The author has dug deeply into the daily lives of these people from other times and lets us see the things that they worried about and obsessed over. From the beginning the reader sinks into the gritty, tumultuous, and confusing life of the small tobacco farmers of the Black Patch. The author has almost perfectly opened up this world to us – how the men and women of that time and place felt about and responded to the events that colored their lives.

    But this is so much more than an historical novel. It is a study of the contrasts of mankind: weakness and strength, innocent love and profound hate, tenderness and tension. The title foreshadows the story by notifying the reader that something terrible is going to happen, yet as we turn the pages we maintain an irrational hope that somehow the characters might escape their destiny. But the pride-hardened and alcohol-polished anger of the main actors leads us to the tragic end.

    The author writes that his father was a story teller. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree; Bruce Wilson is a gifted story teller and this is an engaging tale.
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  • Reviewed in the United States on May 20, 2017
    The author, Bruce Wilson, and I attended the same high school in Anaheim, California, more than fifty years ago.

    Within Death In The Black Patch, Wilson, now a professor of history in New Mexico, gives us a brutally frank look at agrarian life in the South shortly after the end of the 19th Century. He takes us deeply into the minds and emotions of several families who struggle to make a living on their tobacco farms.

    The pace of the story is slow, as Wilson provides great detail of familial relationships inside Wes Wilson's household. Wes has a drinking problem and an unpredictable, sometimes violent temper. His wife, Zora, and their children struggle to deal with Wes' three personalities - Wes, the drunk, Wes the impatient, restless and discontent "dry drunk", and the occasional "real" Wes, who loves his family and is doing the very best he can to look after them.

    Unsure of what to do with his crop and torn by his inner alcoholic conflicts, Wes is also dealing with whether he should join a local tobacco association (a sort of farmers' co-op), and a flim-flamming stranger who rides into town, looking for farmers desperately eager to sell their crops at his promised higher price. And then there are the Night Riders, a band of murderous, marauding thugs who terrorize the community and destroy the farms of those who refuse to join the co-op. Is Wes Wilson about to be targeted by the Night riders? You'll have to read this story to find out.

    The tension of the slowly developing plot spikes dramatically toward a shocking ending.

    Wilson' epilogue and his personal notes from the author leave the reader satisfied, breathing a sigh of relief and understanding. I highly recommend this novel, both for its historical accuracy and for its intricate study in human relationships.

    Congratulations, Bruce Wilson, and thank you for a solid literary work.
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  • Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2017
    I am still knee-deep in this book, but I don't think my review will change when I'm finished because there is no way I can be a totally objective reviewer of this story, which is engrossing to me in a way it won't be to the average reader. My cousin in TN told me about this book and made the comment that some of the people in the book might have been connected to our family, but the names didn't ring a bell with her. I read the first 3 chapters and then informed my cousin that the little Irene Wilson in the book was our Great Aunt Rene, Uncle Bud's wife, who had grown up with our grandmother. They were so much alike, both with a dry sense of humor and a twinkle in their eye. Aunt Rene married Uncle Bud when they were both 13 and lived with Mam and Pap Pittman where she made the best biscuits in the family according to Pap. That is one of a wealth of stories about the people whose names appear here. My Mama is 93, born after the tobacco wars and, praise the Lord, still with all her faculties intact. I gave the book to her and every day when I visit, she tells me new stories about the lives of the people therein. When I visit Lynnville, which I do most years for a family reunion, I stand near Zora's grave, which is a few steps from my grandparents. I have audio tapes of my Aunt Ruth Canter Story going from grave to grave and telling me about the folks buried there. No, I am not objective at all. I am loving this book with imagined conversations that were probably very similar to what actually took place during that time. If the author ever comes to Southern California, he would probably enjoy a visit with my Mama, who can tell him a lot of stories about his family and hers and how their lives were entertwined like many in Lynnville.
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