These days Bill O’Reilly is a widely known T.V. personality and author but what many may forget is that he was a high school history teacher before he became a household name. Adapted from Killing Lincoln, his bestselling book for adults, O’Reilly brings the end of the Civil War and the assasination of President Abraham Lincoln to life for young readers in a new book, Lincoln’s Last Days.

This action-packed history has fascinating vintage photographs on every spread and is a great way to introduce the excitement of reading non-fiction to young readers.  In the exclusive Q&A below O’Reilly shares his favorite photo from the book and you can see a couple other images  both after the Q&A and in the video of O’Reilly reading from the book.

Q: What aspects of this story did you discover for the first time when you dug into the research?

O’Reilly: The research for Killing Lincoln turned up some amazing things about the assassin John Wilkes Booth. His fiancée was secretly dating the president’s son Robert Todd Lincoln, and this might have caused Booth to fixate on the president even more.  Also, Booth almost got away after the murder and the manhunt for him is a real action drama.

Q: What was your favorite part of American history to teach?

O’Reilly: When I taught high school history to seniors and juniors, I would emphasize the greatness of men like Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Lincoln.  I would tell personal stories about those great men to make them seem as real people to the students, instead of just myths.   That’s why I wrote Lincoln’s Last Days—so that young Americans could learn about the Civil War and President Lincoln in an exciting way.

Q: There are so many photos in Lincoln’s Last Days – do you have a favorite?

O’Reilly: The profile photo of Abraham Lincoln on page 59 is my all-time favorite of him.

Q: What was your favorite book as a child?

O’Reilly: As a kid in fourth grade, I read all the Hardy Boy books in school.  But I wasn’t supposed to.  I hide them behind the pages of a huge geography book.  So while I was supposed to be reading about Turkey, I was actually reading about Frank and Joe Hardy solving mysteries.

Q: What’s your most prized possession?

O’Reilly: My most prized material possession is a photograph signed by Abraham Lincoln.  The image of him was taken by Matthew Brady, and the president signed it at the bottom.  A superb piece of history.

Bill O’Reilly Reading from Lincoln’s Last Days:

The-Hugo-AwardThis weekend, the Hugo Awards, celebrating excellence in the fields of science fiction and fantasy, will be announced at WorldCon in Chicago. You can even follow it live online through streaming video. Voted on by readers—a percentage of whom also tend to be writers and other professionals in the field—the Hugo Awards have taken on all the pomp and circumstance of events such as the Oscars, if on a smaller scale. Each nominee receives a rocket ship pin and a special ribbon so convention attendees know they are a nominee. Nominees appear on panels and can participate in a special “walk With the Stars.” There are pre-Hugo parties, post-Hugo parties (even a Losers Party for, you guessed it, those who don’t win), and nominees must attend a rehearsal prior to the ceremony.

So we thought, going into the Hugo weekend, we’d take a closer look at the finalists in the best novel category. (You can find the full list of finalists here—and check out our prior Hugos coverage here and here.)

Among Others--WaltonAmong Others, Jo Walton (Tor). As I wrote in a review for the New York Times Book Review, the novel “purports to be the diary entries of 15-year-old Morwenna Phelps, but it is really a strong argument for the importance of books and reading. Set in the late 1970s in Wales and England, the novel follows Morwenna’s adventures at boarding school after a car accident has left her with chronic injuries…Morwenna can see fairies, her mother is really an evil witch, and the car accident that injured her and killed her sister was part of a magical conflict…It’s a brave act to write a novel that is in ­essence all aftermath, but Walton succeeds admirably. Her novel is a wonder and a joy.” Walton does a great job of sticking to the ambiguous with regard to the fantastical elements, and makes the idea of faery folk wonderfully strange. For those voters who love reading—which would seem to include all of them—the novel strongly evokes one’s own memories of encountering beloved books, and for this reason it would seem to have the possibility of winning against the odds.

A Dance With Dragons, George R. R. Martin (Bantam Spectra). Given high expectations, there was never any way that Martin could satisfy all readers with the latest installment in his epic fantasy series, but he has brought back all of the elements that have made him successful: drama and melodrama, intrigue, battles, characters you care about, and a breadth of vision that has always served him well. As I wrote in a review for the Los Angeles Times: “Some reviewers have compared Martin’s work to that of J.R.R. Tolkien or even William Shakespeare, but the truth is a little more complex. The Song of Ice and Fire novels work so well because the epic fantasy is grounded in a strong horror element and because Martin skillfully conveys the gritty physicality of the world while moving, with equal effectiveness, between various levels of society. Martin also owes a debt to the dark yet humane cynicism of writers like Jack Vance, even though he cares much more about the inner life of his characters than Vance. Martin’s devotion to fully inhabiting his characters, for better or worse, creates the unstoppable momentum in his novels and contains an implied criticism of Tolkien’s moral simplicity.” In terms of sheer number of copies printed (not to mention the popular HBO series) and thus potential voters reached, and considering that Martin is largely loved by core genre readers…it might be foolish to bet against A Dance with Dragons winning the Hugo.

Deadline, Mira Grant (Orbit). Grant has tapped into a popular archetype with her take on zombies: “Shaun Mason is a man without a mission. Not even running the news organization he built with his sister has the same urgency as it used to. Playing with dead things just doesn’t seem as fun when you’ve lost as much as he has. But when a CDC researcher fakes her own death and appears on his doorstep with a ravenous pack of zombies in tow, Shaun has a newfound interest in life. Because she brings news-he may have put down the monster that attacked them, but the conspiracy is far from dead. Now, Shaun hits the road to find what truth can be found at the end of a shotgun.” Grant has a significant presence in other categories of the Hugo finalist ballot (including under her real name, Seanan McGuire), which indicates she has a powerful voting bloc of readers behind her. That might or might not translate into a Hugo win, but the strong showing all around indicates she’s a player with staying power.

Embassytown--mievilleEmbassytown, China Miéville (Macmillan/Del Rey). The popular (and critically acclaimed) author delved full-on into science fiction with this novel, which may remind some readers of 1970s socio-political science fiction by the likes of Ursula K. Le Guin. Avice Brenner Cho narrates this alien contact adventure set in Embassytown, a human outpost on the planet of Arieka. The indigenous Ariekei have helped create livable space for humans on the planet’s otherwise toxic surface. Thus far, they have lived in an equitable alliance. But then things change, with Miéville using the novel as a way of talking about the uses and mis-uses of language. At times, Embassytown functions as thriller, sometimes a close character study, and sometimes a fascinating rhapsody about communication. Unlike with his past novels, critical praise was far from unanimous, the author’s adventuring perhaps farther than some wanted to follow. In any other year, Miéville would be a favorite to win, but with stiff competition from all quarters, he might in 2012 legitimately be considered the underdog.

Leviathan Wakes, James S. A. Corey (Orbit).The author in this case is a pen name for two writers: Ty Frank and Daniel Abraham. On the face of it, the novel is an old-fashioned space opera set in a colonized solar system (with the stars still well beyond human reach), but reviews seem to indicate it’s a fairly sophisticated approach. Within this future setting, “Jim Holden is XO of an ice miner making runs from the rings of Saturn to the mining stations of the Belt. When he and his crew stumble upon a derelict ship, The Scopuli, they find themselves in possession of a secret they never wanted. A secret that someone is willing to kill for - and kill on a scale unfathomable to Jim and his crew. War is brewing in the system unless he can find out who left the ship and why.” Meanwhile, “Detective Miller is looking for a girl. One girl in a system of billions, but her parents have money and money talks. When the trail leads him to The Scopuli and rebel sympathizer Holden, he realizes that this girl may be the key to everything.” For voters who are fans of traditional science fiction, this may the choice for them. Is Leviathan Wakes on the outside looking in or secretly a sleeper favorite? I honestly don’t know.

In my estimation, unless A Dance with Dragons is just too big a juggernaut to overcome, this year’s Hugo Award is wide open in the novel category. Tune in Sunday to find out what happens…

How many of these novels have you read—-and who do you think will win?

This week on Kathy Casey’s Liquid Kitchen, I make a Blended Peach Whiskey Sour! Using my Vitamix The Quiet One Blender, whole peaches (frozen peaches work well too, if fresh ones are not available) are blended up along with bourbon and apricot jam for this refreshing take on a classic sip. Perfect and refreshing for a hot, summer’s day!

Cheers! -Kathy

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