{"version":"https://jsonfeed.org/version/1","title":"Coopers Peak Publisher","home_page_url":"https://cooperspeak.com","description":"Coopers Peak Publisher","author":{"name":"Coopers Peak Publisher"},"items":[{"id":"theres-no-place-like-home","html_content":"

We've all seen it from space, our big blue marble. The first time I saw that view, even on TV, it was amazing. So precious. So different. Not a barren moon, glutted gas monster, or an ice ball at the edge of our solar sy...

","url":"https://cooperspeak.com/current-projects-1/f/theres-no-place-like-home","title":"There's No Place Like Home","date_modified":"2026-04-24T17:43:59Z"},{"id":"sources-for-the-lost-colony","html_content":"

My time travelers will soon head to Roanoke Island to meet members of the Lost Colony and a few others who have landed there. To tell such a story, I need to be well-versed in the known history, including as much as I ca...

","url":"https://cooperspeak.com/current-projects-1/f/sources-for-the-lost-colony","title":"Sources for The Lost Colony","date_modified":"2026-04-24T16:47:53Z"},{"id":"the-roanoke-colonist-who-was-never-lost","html_content":"

Thomas Hariot was never lost in Roanoke, and he might have been the man least likely to be lost in all 16th-century England. When Sir Walter Raleigh hoped to colonize the New World on behalf of Queen Elizabeth, he called...

","url":"https://cooperspeak.com/current-projects-1/f/the-roanoke-colonist-who-was-never-lost","title":"The Roanoke Colonist Who Was Never Lost","date_modified":"2026-04-16T16:06:06Z"},{"id":"who-is-this-man","html_content":"

Unraveling the Mysteries of Time Travel

","url":"https://cooperspeak.com/current-projects-1/f/who-is-this-man","title":"Who is This Man?","date_modified":"2026-04-06T14:53:37Z"},{"id":"loving-good-friday","html_content":"

Naturally, Good Friday, the day that recalls the crucifixion of Jesus, reminds us of grief, sacrifice, torment, and separation. These are hardly the topics I thought I'd bring to my retreat from a turbulent world.

","url":"https://cooperspeak.com/current-projects-1/f/loving-good-friday","title":"Loving Good Friday","date_modified":"2026-04-03T16:37:40Z"},{"id":"the-writing-adventure","html_content":"

It took me a lifetime to become a writer. Oh, there were writing classes, a few magazine articles, lots of essays and papers, and even a time when I added to my income by plotting online stories for quests. Still, I wasn...

","url":"https://cooperspeak.com/current-projects-1/f/the-writing-adventure","title":"The Writing Adventure","date_modified":"2026-04-02T16:03:44Z"},{"id":"spring","html_content":"

It turned Spring last week. The birds are nesting, and last night the frogs started their mating chorus. There will be tadpoles in the pond soon.

","url":"https://cooperspeak.com/current-projects-1/f/spring","title":"Spring","date_modified":"2026-04-01T19:19:03Z"},{"id":"preparation-for-time-travel","html_content":"

While preparing for my next novel, the third book in the Top Shelf Series, I should review the first two.

","url":"https://cooperspeak.com/current-projects-1/f/preparation-for-time-travel","title":"Preparation for Time Travel","date_modified":"2026-03-31T21:21:37Z"},{"id":"celebrating-small-victories","html_content":"

My three-day promotional event overlapped at least two other important events, and all three are connected by one theme: Celebrating small victories on the way to bigger outcomes.

","url":"https://cooperspeak.com/current-projects-1/f/celebrating-small-victories","title":"Celebrating Small Victories","date_modified":"2026-03-29T18:33:28Z"},{"id":"how-to-fight-for-america-without-fighting-with-your-neighbors","html_content":"

I remember a time when I did not think of American parties as tribes. We had our preferences and disagreed, but we all made the same pledge, believed in the rule of law, and fought for the same principles.

","url":"https://cooperspeak.com/current-projects-1/f/how-to-fight-for-america-without-fighting-with-your-neighbors","title":"How to Fight for America Without Fighting with Your Neighbors","date_modified":"2026-03-28T01:08:07Z"},{"id":"free-and-reduced-books","html_content":"

With a few projects finished and several to begin, it's time to celebrate my newest releases with some special deals.

","url":"https://cooperspeak.com/current-projects-1/f/free-and-reduced-books","title":"Free and Reduced Books ","date_modified":"2026-03-14T00:33:56Z"},{"id":"a-tribute-to-the-women-who-strengthen-me","html_content":"

Yesterday was International Women's Day, and I missed it.

","url":"https://cooperspeak.com/current-projects-1/f/a-tribute-to-the-women-who-strengthen-me","title":"A Tribute to the Women Who Strengthen Me","date_modified":"2026-03-10T01:01:42Z"},{"id":"where-to-now","html_content":"

After a busy fall and winter, spring is nearly here, and I have been on a short break to catch my breath and decide where to go next.

","url":"https://cooperspeak.com/current-projects-1/f/where-to-now","title":"Where to Now?","date_modified":"2026-03-02T15:54:14Z"},{"id":"powerful-last-words","html_content":"

The revolution did not end at Yorktown or with the signing of a peace treaty. Our country is still under construction, but there were moments of powerful words that we should remember.

","url":"https://cooperspeak.com/current-projects-1/f/powerful-last-words","title":"Powerful Last Words","date_modified":"2026-02-15T17:36:30Z"},{"id":"the-ups-and-downs-of-josiah-martin","html_content":"

After Governor Josiah Martin dissolved both houses of North Carolina's parliament, he began to feel uneasy in Tryon Palace. Near the end of May, he sent his wife, children, servants, and an escort to sail for relatives i...

","url":"https://cooperspeak.com/current-projects-1/f/the-ups-and-downs-of-josiah-martin","title":"The Ups and Downs of NC Governor Josiah Martin","date_modified":"2026-01-24T17:10:38Z"},{"id":"josiah-martin-the-kings-last-man-standing","html_content":"

The Last royal governor of North Carolina, Josiah Martin, is described as amiable, personable, intelligent, and hardworking in the NCpedia article by Vernon O. Stumpf, but historian Samuel S. Powell, drawing on the same ...

","url":"https://cooperspeak.com/current-projects-1/f/josiah-martin-the-kings-last-man-standing","title":"Josiah Martin, the King's Last Man Standing","date_modified":"2026-01-15T00:59:17Z"},{"id":"from-boston-to-the-carolinas","html_content":"

Researchers have documented the path and speed by which news of the Battles of Lexington and Concord reached the Carolinas, but how did Carolina learn about earlier issues, such as the Stamp Act and the Boston Massacre?

","url":"https://cooperspeak.com/current-projects-1/f/from-boston-to-the-carolinas","title":"From Boston to the Carolinas","date_modified":"2026-01-08T02:43:53Z"},{"id":"happy-holidays-as-celebrated-in-old-burke","html_content":"

The Captain Charles McDowell House

","url":"https://cooperspeak.com/current-projects-1/f/happy-holidays-as-celebrated-in-old-burke","title":"Happy Holidays as Celebrated in Old Burke","date_modified":"2025-12-26T16:28:11Z"},{"id":"roller-coaster-writing","html_content":"

We often hear that life is a roller coaster, so is the holiday season, and so is writing. All three are varying blends of joyful anticipation, soul-crippling second-guessing, and tense anticipation of the outcome.

","url":"https://cooperspeak.com/current-projects-1/f/roller-coaster-writing","title":"Roller Coaster Writing","date_modified":"2025-12-14T16:40:08Z"},{"id":"three-more-tavern-tales","html_content":"

After winning his Race to the Dan, Nathanael Greene spent a few days regrouping, but he had already chosen the place for his encounter with Lord Cornwallis: Guilford Courthouse. Both armies were tired, but Greene had rei...

","url":"https://cooperspeak.com/current-projects-1/f/three-more-tavern-tales","title":"Heroes, Giants, and Clever Women in More Tavern Tales ","date_modified":"2025-12-06T23:20:58Z"},{"id":"salem-tavern-north-carolinas-must-stop-of-the-revolution","html_content":"

Bishop Augustus Spangenberg has popped up in several of my books, including my family history. Another work, Ody Saunters, Out of Time, is set in North Carolina's Moravian settlement of Old Salem. Gentleman John Perkins,...

","url":"https://cooperspeak.com/current-projects-1/f/salem-tavern-north-carolinas-must-stop-of-the-revolution","title":"Salem Tavern: North Carolina's Must-Stop of the Revolution.","date_modified":"2025-11-16T18:47:27Z"},{"id":"race-to-the-dan-part-ii-crossing-the-yadkin","html_content":"

When Daniel Morgan heard about Cowan's Ford, he moved his men toward Salisbury. Nathanael Greene joined him, where, likely using Elizabeth Steele's coins, he loaded his wagons with food and ammunition. These wagons were ...

","url":"https://cooperspeak.com/current-projects-1/f/race-to-the-dan-part-ii-crossing-the-yadkin","title":"Race to the Dan, Part 2: Crossing the Yadkin","date_modified":"2025-11-10T00:42:41Z"},{"id":"the-race-to-the-dan","html_content":"

After Daniel Morgan set Banastre Tarleton on his heels at Cowpens on January 17, 1781, Lord Cornwallis wanted to get his men back, and Daniel Morgan was believed to have hundreds of them, now prisoners, marching toward V...

","url":"https://cooperspeak.com/current-projects-1/f/the-race-to-the-dan","title":"The Race to the Dan, Part I","date_modified":"2025-11-02T21:46:23Z"},{"id":"daniel-morgan-and-the-battle-of-cowpens","html_content":"

You met the runners in the Race to the Dan in our last article, linked here. But before we get to the chase, we need to say a bit more about Daniel Morgan and the Battle of Cowpens.

","url":"https://cooperspeak.com/current-projects-1/f/daniel-morgan-and-the-battle-of-cowpens","title":"Daniel Morgan and the Battle of Cowpens","date_modified":"2025-11-02T15:16:19Z"},{"id":"the-players-in-our-tavern-saga","html_content":"

We have one or two more sets of taverns to discuss, but to tell those stories well, we should meet a few Revolutionary Heroes and Villains. The label assigned to these men depends on whether the tavern is east or west of...

","url":"https://cooperspeak.com/current-projects-1/f/the-players-in-our-tavern-saga","title":"The Players in our Tavern Saga","date_modified":"2025-10-25T19:52:38Z"},{"id":"more-taverns-halifax-and-hillsborough","html_content":"

On June 20, 1775, roughly one month after the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence was written, the resolutions of Liberty Pointe and other counties along the Cape Fear followed. [article linked here].

","url":"https://cooperspeak.com/current-projects-1/f/more-taverns-halifax-and-hillsborough","title":"More Taverns: Halifax and Hillsborough","date_modified":"2025-10-18T17:50:05Z"},{"id":"strengthening-the-guardrails","html_content":"

Is money the root of all evil?

","url":"https://cooperspeak.com/current-projects-1/f/strengthening-the-guardrails","title":"Strengthening the Guardrails","date_modified":"2025-10-16T14:19:13Z"},{"id":"liberty-pointe-and-the-cape-fear","html_content":"

In the last episode (linked here), Captain John Jack rode like the wind, but he rode for days, not twenty minutes like Paul Revere. Even though there is some dispute that he carried an actual Declaration of Independence,...

","url":"https://cooperspeak.com/current-projects-1/f/liberty-pointe-and-the-cape-fear","title":"After the Mecklenburg Declaration","date_modified":"2025-10-10T15:29:04Z"},{"id":"youre-invited-to-join-a-collaboration-of-readers-and-writers","html_content":"

Readers and Writers are two sides of the same coin, and both groups would benefit from crossing paths more often. After all, Writers lack half their purpose without Readers, and without Writers, Readers have nothing to r...

","url":"https://cooperspeak.com/current-projects-1/f/youre-invited-to-join-a-collaboration-of-readers-and-writers","title":"You're Invited to Join a Collaboration of Readers and Writers","date_modified":"2025-10-09T17:37:52Z"},{"id":"the-tavern-a-revolutionary-sounding-board","html_content":"

The American separation began with Taxation without Representation, but the brew got hotter in Taverns.

","url":"https://cooperspeak.com/current-projects-1/f/the-tavern-a-revolutionary-sounding-board","title":"The Tavern, a Revolutionary Sounding Board","date_modified":"2025-10-04T16:43:58Z"},{"id":"revolutionary-pub-crawl-at-the-mcdowell-house-sept-27-11-5-pm","html_content":"

As part of America 250, dozens of presenters will gather at the McDowell House in Morganton, NC, for a bigger-than-ever Rev War Day event. This event takes place from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm on Saturday, September 27, 2025.

","url":"https://cooperspeak.com/current-projects-1/f/revolutionary-pub-crawl-at-the-mcdowell-house-sept-27-11-5-pm","title":"Revolutionary Pub Crawl at the McDowell House Sept. 27, 11-5 pm","date_modified":"2025-09-21T18:20:59Z"},{"id":"sunday-sunshine-the-rayfarers-message","html_content":"

My Martian Trilogy Series is complete, but my research for writing about the alien on Mars blends with thoughts for Sunday Sunshine. Portraying an alien meeting humans meant figuring out what he would want to tell us. Wh...

","url":"https://cooperspeak.com/current-projects-1/f/sunday-sunshine-the-rayfarers-message","title":"Sunday Sunshine: The Rayfarer's Message","date_modified":"2025-09-07T16:34:20Z"},{"id":"is-this-you-lately-jesus-had-bad-days-too","html_content":"

[Notice: This article leans on Biblical texts about Jesus. I'm sure the reflection on emotions would resonate with most faiths; however, I apologize to anyone who takes posts about my faith, Christianity, as a challenge ...

","url":"https://cooperspeak.com/current-projects-1/f/is-this-you-lately-jesus-had-bad-days-too","title":"Is this you, lately? Jesus had bad days, too.","date_modified":"2025-08-31T15:39:16Z"},{"id":"a-perkins-wedding","html_content":"

The last time I wrote a wedding scene, it was for Blackbeard and his bride. This is not that. It is also not the wedding of John Perkins, or even Stony McClare. It's the wedding of a Perkins son, Ephraim, around the year...

","url":"https://cooperspeak.com/current-projects-1/f/a-perkins-wedding","title":"A Perkins Wedding","date_modified":"2025-08-23T16:43:40Z"},{"id":"a-sunday-stroll-in-search-of-gentleman-john-perkins","html_content":"

Gentleman John Perkins is a fascinating and elusive person in Burke County lore. Today, I tried to track down where he might have crossed paths with my hero, Stony McClare. I had some nice tools to do it ... and one not ...

","url":"https://cooperspeak.com/current-projects-1/f/a-sunday-stroll-in-search-of-gentleman-john-perkins","title":"A Sunday Stroll in search of Gentleman John Perkins","date_modified":"2025-08-16T19:29:46Z"},{"id":"sunday-sunshine-faith-hope-love-and-woody-guthrie","html_content":"

The most positive thing I could think of to mention on this Sunday Sunshine post is the power we all have. I learned this through a Christian prism, but today, Robert Reich, Jewish, a former Secretary of Labor for the U....

","url":"https://cooperspeak.com/current-projects-1/f/sunday-sunshine-faith-hope-love-and-woody-guthrie","title":"Sunday Sunshine: Faith, Hope, Love, and Woody Guthrie","date_modified":"2025-08-10T17:27:03Z"},{"id":"self-editing-tools-and-processes","html_content":"

Editing is one of the most frustrating and important parts of writing. I really hate it.

","url":"https://cooperspeak.com/current-projects-1/f/self-editing-tools-and-processes","title":"Self-Editing Tools and Processes","date_modified":"2025-08-07T21:56:30Z"},{"id":"to-my-aunt-christine","html_content":"

This photo suggests Christine might have been a drinker, but nothing could be further from the truth. However, she enjoyed life to the fullest measure she could manage. This was taken at a Cinco de Mayo celebration in he...

","url":"https://cooperspeak.com/current-projects-1/f/to-my-aunt-christine","title":"To My Aunt Christine","date_modified":"2025-08-03T10:00:00Z"},{"id":"american-icon-francis-asbury","html_content":"

Sometimes a bit of Sunday Sunshine goes hand-in-hand with research. That happened this week.

","url":"https://cooperspeak.com/current-projects-1/f/american-icon-francis-asbury","title":"Bishop Francis Asbury","date_modified":"2025-07-23T23:20:20Z"},{"id":"faith-and-science","html_content":"

I was raised in faith, and I loved science as early as I can remember, so I never found conflict between the two.

","url":"https://cooperspeak.com/current-projects-1/f/faith-and-science","title":"Faith AND Science","date_modified":"2025-07-18T02:59:53Z"},{"id":"happy-birthday-bro","html_content":"

Above you see members of my brother's last band. He was a veteran, a businessman, a lifelong rocker, and a rascally, loveable, heck of a brother.

","url":"https://cooperspeak.com/current-projects-1/f/happy-birthday-bro","title":"Happy Birthday, Bro!","date_modified":"2025-07-13T00:11:21Z"},{"id":"life-in-weird-times","html_content":"

I'm proud to be a citizen of the USA, but these are weird times. I admit, things happen nearly every day that frighten and worry me.

","url":"https://cooperspeak.com/current-projects-1/f/life-in-weird-times","title":"Life in Weird Times","date_modified":"2025-07-11T23:48:55Z"},{"id":"when-primary-sources-dont-apply","html_content":"

When Primary Sources Aren't Enough

","url":"https://cooperspeak.com/current-projects-1/f/when-primary-sources-dont-apply","title":"A First Look at Gentleman John Perkins","date_modified":"2025-07-07T00:52:18Z"},{"id":"whats-in-our-declaration-of-independence","html_content":"

Most of know how the U.S. Declaration of Independence begins: \"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another ....\" We oft ...

","url":"https://cooperspeak.com/current-projects-1/f/whats-in-our-declaration-of-independence","title":"What Else is in Our Declaration of Independence?","date_modified":"2025-07-03T16:16:57Z"},{"id":"north-carolina-first-in-freedom","html_content":"

Was North Carolina the first state to declare independence from England? Many of our license plates say so, and for many years, our state took that honor. The event is still celebrated in the Charlotte area.

","url":"https://cooperspeak.com/current-projects-1/f/north-carolina-first-in-freedom","title":"North Carolina: First in Freedom?","date_modified":"2025-07-01T13:22:26Z"},{"id":"1788-designing-a-nation","html_content":"

After my trip to Mars, I'm enjoying a relaxing visit to Freedom Tavern again.

","url":"https://cooperspeak.com/current-projects-1/f/1788-designing-a-nation","title":"1788: Designing a Nation","date_modified":"2025-06-14T13:44:15Z"},{"id":"entire-martian-spring-series-available-in-our-special-promotion","html_content":"

When: Jun 6-9, 2025

","url":"https://cooperspeak.com/current-projects-1/f/entire-martian-spring-series-available-in-our-special-promotion","title":"Entire Martian Spring Series available in our Special Promotion","date_modified":"2025-05-30T14:59:19Z"},{"id":"1788-who-is-in-morgan-town","html_content":"

Getting Rid of Stony McClaire, the last book in the Freedom Tavern Series, is set in Morgan Town. But besides Stony McClaire and the Cooper family, who in Morgan Town will have a part in our story? What is their status i...

","url":"https://cooperspeak.com/current-projects-1/f/1788-who-is-in-morgan-town","title":"1788: Who is in Morgan Town?","date_modified":"2025-05-14T16:16:35Z"},{"id":"back-to-the-tavern","html_content":"

It's time to visit the Freedom Tavern again, and this time the year is 1788. Virginia Rose Cooper has a suitor, but, as always, she has independent ideas of how that should go.

","url":"https://cooperspeak.com/current-projects-1/f/back-to-the-tavern","title":"Back to the Tavern","date_modified":"2025-04-27T19:34:40Z"},{"id":"free-kindle-download-for-spring-beyond","html_content":"

If Spring Break is coming up, throw Spring Beyond on your Kindle and take her along.

","url":"https://cooperspeak.com/current-projects-1/f/free-kindle-download-for-spring-beyond","title":"Free Kindle Download for Spring Beyond","date_modified":"2025-04-16T18:04:46Z"}]}