The writers group I belong to is called The Gettysburg Writers Brigade. It’s a great group of experienced and new authors who get together weekly to talk about the craft and have fun.

We have published our first anthology just in time for Christmas.

Four Score & Seven Stories Ago is a collection of fiction and nonfiction about Gettysburg. Eleven talented members of the Gettysburg Writers Brigade have created stories related to the most-famous small town in America.

My original story, “Finishing the Charge,” is included in this collection. It is the story of an elderly veteran who won’t live to see the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, so he leaves what he considers his failed life in Virginia behind and starts walking to Gettysburg. He feels driven to complete Pickett’s Charge.

He survived the devastating Confederate charge in 1863 and took it as a sign he needed to live his life to the fullest. Now, as he realizes he is dying from a brain tumor, he feels he needs to make an accounting for his life on the battlefield where everything changed.

I conceived of the original nugget for this story years ago. It was inspired by the Coxey’s Army march in the 1890s, although that march had nothing to do with Gettysburg. It was also going to end in much the same way that people feared Coxey’s march would end with a confrontation between police and the veterans.

The book idea sat in my tickler file until I decided to tone it down to a simpler story focused on one man suffering from survivor’s guilt.

I am very pleased with how the story turned out, and I am proud to be part of this wonderful anthology. Check it out if you get a chance. It would make a great gift for anyone who loves Gettysburg.