panther in the sky by james alexander thom

He cares about his characters and makes us care about them as well.” I can even smell the smoke of battle or bread baking in the oven. I can see each scene he portrays, and I feel as though I am there in that time and place. When he writes, it’s as if he has a paintbrush in his hand, describing every detail as though he were painting a picture.

As one nominee said, “ researches his subjects very carefully and makes historical characters come alive and their stories compelling and interesting to read. In 2009, Thom won the library’s National Indiana Authors Award, and he received multiple nominations for the Lifetime Achievement Award. He will select an Indiana public library to receive a $2,500 grant on behalf of the Library Foundation. Thom’s life and work will be celebrated at the Indiana Authors Award Dinner on October 13 at Central Library. The Lifetime Achievement Award is a literary honor that seeks to recognize outstanding authors who have left an indelible mark on our state’s literary heritage. Then they surprise you with an award like this … and it’s like a bright candle on top of the icing on top of the cake.” Being able to live on your royalties, if you can, is icing on the cake. Good thing, because the pay isn’t all that great.

“In my long lifetime as an author, I’ve never worked on a story with an award in mind. He is currently working on another American Indian novel and a memoir, and he is illustrating a children’s book. Thom was born in Owen County, Indiana, in 1933 and still resides there, in a log house he built himself. His most recent book, Fire in the Water, about the sinking of the steamboat Sultana during the Civil War, was published in 2016. Years of research among Shawnee Indians for Panther in the Sky led to his marriage to Dark Rain, a Shawnee Indian with whom he co-authored the 2003 novel Warrior Woman. Panther in the Sky, his biographical novel about Shawnee chieftain Tecumseh, won the Western Writers of America Spur Award for best novel in 1989. Follow the River, a 1981 novel about a pioneer woman captured by Shawnee Indians became a New York Times bestseller and is now in its 50th printing.

Panther in the sky by james alexander thom