I set out to make the Westward Sagas a fun read with educational value.
A meticulous researcher, award winning author, David Bowles, used five generations of his family history to create a five-book series called the Westward Sagas. Readers call his books more than a family history; they’re also lessons in history as are his short history snippets in his blogs. He and his dog, Becka, travel around the United States telling stories and writing novels on epic events in history. Terms used in this blog reflect the time and are not meant to cause harm.
Lyndi: Can you share your writing process? How did you approach the writing of your historical fiction series?
David: The Westward Sagas is the story of my ancestors moving west in 1762 from Pennsylvania, ending up in the Republic of Texas in 1836. It is the story of eighteenth-century immigrants settling the west. Once the genealogical research of my great grandmother was completed. I created a timeline of epic events in American History. Then on the same page the dates of births, marriages, and deaths of my ancestors for a hundred years. I researched further into my family roots to discover the Battle of Guilford Courthouse was fought on the farm of my four great grandfathers. That led to Spring House, my first book. I followed that process in the next four books.
Lyndi: Which books would you say your books are comparable to? In what ways are they similar?
David: I’m not the first author to use their ancestors as characters. Margaret Mitchell wrote “Gone with the Wind.” John Jakes, the Kent Family Chronicles. The late Texas author Larry McMurtry wrote novels based on real life cowboys, Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving. He did not use their names. My protagonists are ancestors. I used their actual names as I did with some famous characters, like Sam Houston and Andrew Jackson. The others like Trapper John, I created. If a reader liked Lonesome Dove, they would enjoy the Westward Sagas series.
Lyndi: How does the setting for your books play out in the lives of the characters?
David: Each book is another generation of my family in a new setting. I have been to nearly every location and followed the trails they followed. I can’t write a story about a place I’ve never been. Spring House was set in the backwoods of Guilford County NC. Adam’s Daughters was Jonesborough, TN the oldest town in the sixteenth state. Scenes in Children of the Revolution start on Grandad Mountain, NC, Peggy takes a trip across the pond to England where she meets General Cornwallis. Comanche Trace starts in Austin with Fayette Smith being abducted by Comanche Indians on Shoal Creek. Fayette’s Uncle Will sets out alone to find him deep into Comancheria. Sheriff of Starr County begins with Will Smith on a trip up the Rio Grande River to Davis Landing where Fort Ringgold is under construction. Will, the protagonist in Comanche Tracetravels to Wilmington and Philadelphia on a secret mission. Readers say my settings are accurately described in the Westward Sagas.
Lyndi: Tell us a little about the letters your readers write to you.?
David: I get mostly emails and text messages these days. This week I received a text from a professor at Texas A&M University. I met her about twenty years ago while walking my dog. Nikki was a student at UTSA working on her doctorate at the time. She is from Japan. English was her second language making reading English difficult. It was only recently that she read my entire five book series. This is what she said, “You are amazing. I’m learning history and geography from your books.” That is what I set out to do, make the Westward Sagas a fun read with educational value. I cherish readers communication and appreciate those reviews.
Lyndi: You’ve mentioned that the women in your family and thus in your books are tough. Can you share an example?
David: Yes, they are! My four great grandmother and her daughter-in-law and five grandchildren were sequestered in the spring house, March 15, 1781, on the battlefield during the Revolutionary Battle of Guildford Courthouse. Her home destroyed by a British cannon. Her son taken prisoner, she bartered with General Cornwallis for his release.
My great grandmother Elnora Van Cleve, the first child born in Austin Texas April 14, 1841, assumed the role of mother to her siblings at the age of eight. When her father died ten years later, she became the bread winner to three teenage boys. They survived Indian attacks, snake bites and wildfires.
Lyndi: What prompted you to take your family’s oral stories and turn them into a series of novels?
David: I was born into a family of porch sitters. After supper we sat on the front porch sharing stories. The story of a nine-year-old boy captured by Indians in Austin, Texas was my favorite. I always thought someone should write a book about it. That someone turned out to be me.
Lyndi: What marketing methods have you found effective for selling your books?
David: The only methods affordable to an independent author is social media and the internet. Fortunately, I have a large following on Facebook and LinkedIn. My assistant Holly Langford and social media person Aimee Ravichandran post my content. I have three websites and an author’s page.
My books can be purchased on https://westwardsagas.com and www.davidabowlesauthor.com as well as Amazon.com.
I seek out and speak to groups interested in American History and genealogy. My assistant Holly Langford (holly@westwardsagas.com) handles the booking of those events. Usually, I can sell my books at these events.
David A. Bowles is the fifth generation of his family to be born in Austin Texas. Both parents were from pioneer settlers. His great grandmother, Elnora Van Cleve was the first child born in Austin on April 14, 1841. His award-winning series, the Westward Sagas is based on her family and their one-hundred-year journey from Pennsylvania to Texas. David and his dog Becka, enjoy Texas from October-May. When the last bluebonnet has lost its bloom, they pack up the RV and head for cooler weather telling and writing stories.
The fifth book in the Westward Sagas was released in February 2023. www.davidabowlesauthor.com
