Kindle Edition Download to your Nook (eBook) Download from Apple iTunes (eBook) Download from Smashwords (eBook) Barnes & Noble.com Scott Skipper's Authur Page Kobo Diesel Category:  Historical Fiction Publisher: Scott Skipper Copyright: May 21, 2012 ISBN-13: 9781476112602 The life and times of George Washington Skipper, 1827-1912. What if you discovered that you had an ancestor who had four wives without the convenience of divorce?  And that he had at least sixteen children, was wounded twice during the Civil War, and broke the ultimate taboo in Reconstruction era South Carolina?  Would you be anxious to share this publicly?  Well, call me crazy, but I think it's a badge of honor.  In the Blood is the fictionalized account of the life and times of George Washington Skipper.  His life spanned the time period from the presidency of John Quincy Adams to the sinking of the Titanic.  He violated every more of the nineteenth century South and he lived unapologetically.  One hundred years later some of his descendants still don't want to talk about it.  How could I resist telling his story?   Most of the events described in this book are true.  The flesh hung on the bones of the characters is my invention but I defend the plausibility of every word and deed.  Consider this your invitation to share the skeletons in my closet. Excerpt Helen's eyebrows contracted. She took a couple of deep breaths and said, "George Washington Skipper, you're lying about going around the world. When I was a little girl I used to love to look at my daddy's world atlas for hours and I know they don't speak Spanish on Tahiti and Hawaii is a whole ocean away. Furthermore, I doubt there are many Chinamen on Samoa. Now, suppose you tell me just where you were those five years." He knew this was the end. There was nothing to say so he remained silent. "Why did you come back?" she demanded. "I missed y'all." She opened her mouth to respond, couldn't, snapped her mouth shut again and clenched her jaws. Then she turned and stalked into the house to return a minute later with her gun leveled at Washington's chest. "Git!" she said, "I know you got another woman—named Mary I figure—so go back to her and don't ever show hide nor hair around here again. Go on now, git!" He started for the house but she stopped him. "Ain't you gonna let me git my stuff?" "If you're not outta my sight by time I count ten I'm gonna blow your head off. Now, run!" He started backing away with his hands slightly raised. He saw a look in her eye that he took to be sincerity so he turned and went briskly into the woods with that familiar sensation of an impending impact between his shoulder blades. Helen shook with rage for a time when he was out of sight then she went to her bed and cried. It was a sad and hungry trip south. He begged for food, stole it from fields and was shot at in the process. When he approached his home at Black Creek he looked and felt like death warmed over but he was anxious to let Mary give him some comfort and a hot meal. As he got near the house his remorse evaporated. The dilemma he had created was irrevocably resolved so he looked forward to devoting the rest of his life to Mary with a clear conscience. The place was quiet in the late afternoon. It was murderously hot with nothing stirring in the yard. He approached the house from the rear, walked around to the front and found Winnie in his rocker nursing a newborn white baby on the left and a black baby on the right. She met his eye without a flicker of emotion. "Where's Mary?" he asked lightly. The young mulatta dropped her gaze and answered softly, "Missus Skipper done gone to de Lord." "No! Dear, God, no!" he shouted, dropped to his knees and pounded his forehead on the wood of the porch. "How?" Winnie's expression never changed when she said, "Little Sarah Julia here done come out back'ards. Missus Skipper up an' died givin' her to de light." For the first time since he was a child his emotions broke free of his defenses—he cried freely right there in front of the uncomfortable little darkie. After a time he stood and went into the stifling, empty house where he sat in the dark in the terrible silence of the nearness of death. Eighty miles away Helen was similarly paralyzed by a different sort of crisis. She had just come to know she was going to have another child.

Review by JT Kalnay
This book should have its own genre; historical family fiction based on extensive genealogy.

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The story follows George Washington Skipper for 85 years as he produces dozens of children with multiple women and two wives (simultaneously) over a very lengthy life. GW is a bigamist, and a serial pro-creator, but for some reason he also seems like a man of his time and place. Perhaps his life would have been different had he been born and raised in one of the Colonial cities, but he wasn't, and so it wasn't. Although a prudish reader may be outraged with the life of GW Skipper, the author is neither endorsing nor romanticizing GW. He is reporting, in a fictionalized way, on a part of his family tree. This is historical fiction that is based in hard core genealogical research that is supported with primary sources. You can't make up a character like GW Skipper, you have to discover him. And when you discover a character like GW in your family tree, the temptation to write out the "bad bits" must be overwhelming. Kudos to the author for revealing this part of his family history, and for doing so in an enjoyable read. I found this book a very interesting trip through the years before the Civil War, during the build up to the Civil War, during the war itself, and throughout Reconstruction. If you are a fan of books like That Dark and Bloody River by Allen Eckert, then I think you will enjoy this book.

Review by Theresa Dawn Sinclair
George Washington Skipper is the unlikely hero of this fascinating story by Scott Skipper. Set mainly in the American Civil War, In The Blood follows George Washington Skipper through thick and thin and those of us who knew rather too little before about this time in American history were thoroughly educated on the subject by the end of the war.
Scott tells the story through Washington (as most call him), a most colourful character and one whose impulses guide him far more than his intellect, although Washington is by no means a simpleton and is in many ways a wiley hero with a definite penchant for the ladies.
"My stars!" is the expletive Washington uses when life throws him a surprise or two and I for one found it had seeped into my own vocabulary before reaching the last page.
Without wishing to give anything away,Washington's proclivity for falling in love at the drop of a hat made for some amusing antics and indeed Washington, and many of the other characters, have a wonderfully comic turn of phrase even in times of adversity. One of those characters is a soldier by the name of Beatty who loves to tease Washington about the ladies and Washington is apt to reply: "One of these days, Beatty, I might mistake you for a Yankee and shoot you on sight" but we are never in doubt these soldiers would lay down their life for each other should that prove necessary.
I personally felt that the first chapter was too complex for the average reader to digest as I struggled to understand all the ancestry and it reminded me of the early part of the Bible where everyone is begetting everyone else. In the end, I found myself skimming to the more meaty Chapter 2 and felt that was where the story really begins.

For anyone will a deep interest in American History, this book is a must and Scott's story-telling is wonderfully warm and descriptive. he has certainly done his homework and it shows. I was filled with admiration for this writer's skills.

Review by Sadie S. Forsythe
When settling down to read a novel based on someone else's genealogical history there is always a niggling fear that it will be something like sitting through your neighbor's vacation slide show; interesting to them but interminable to you. In the Blood is nothing like this. Being based on genealogical research there is a certain amount of so-and-so beget so-and so, who despite being married to so-and-so beget so-and-so, but it is also a relatively fast paced read based on a truly interesting character who also happens to find himself in gripping circumstances.

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George Washington Skipper is amorous to say the least, swept up in the Confederate spirit of the American Civil war, enlightened about the true doldrums of that (and probably every) war, discouraged by the perceived injustices of Reconstruction, and eventually the father of dozens of children by a variety of women, very few of whom he ever supported in any fashion. Ultimately he is seen to be an even minded good man, but he systematically wrongs woman after woman throughout the book. However, given the time in which he lived it is unfortunately true that his actions may not have been as unusual as it seems to the modern reader.

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For me there was also a special thrill. As a member of 'the 10th' in the Confederate Army, Washington and his cohorts march back and forwards through middle Tennesee. This is home turf for me and it was really interesting to hear about the skirmishes that happened in towns I've lived in and around.

For those who have an interest the Civil War and the life of the average man (ie not the famous names of the times) In the Blood is a definite recommended read. I think there is a tendency to idealize the past and this book provides a refreshingly realistic look at a difficult period American History. Check it out.