Flossie Smith

Twelve year old tomboy Flossie Smith fights for her right to be herself. Her older sisters, mother, aunt, and school teacher are all pushing the young girl to change her ways and become a proper young lady. Tall and lean, the fiery red head with the support of her father, Jim Smith, only wants to be left alone to spend time with her best friend, Josh Miller. The two of them are inseparable companions fishing and hunting along the banks of Stout's Creek. When Josh turns twelve one of his gifts is a coon hound pup. When he shares the gift with his blood brother, Flossie, it opens a whole new world to her and the argument over her dreams becomes even more heated. "I want to become a Coon Hunter just like Josh," declares Flossie. "Being a girl should not keep me from my dreams." This first book in the Miller Family Saga, "Flossie Smith" tells the story of the training of Bob the hound and the early days when Flossie begins to develop an almost mystic relationship with her hound. With each misstep more pressure in put on the fiery red head to conform to the rural communities standards. Only the intervention of Flossie's father, Jim Smith, helps the girl avoid being forced to join her four older sisters on the front porch, where they sit and wait for a potential suitor to call. Instead Flossie continues to work along side her friend Josh in the Miller's truck gardens, trains her hound, and under the tutelage of Little Harry Waggerman, becomes the finest shot in Connor County.The back story is the struggle of the Millers with the local Klavern of the Klu Klux Klan. The Millers, dedicated Christians hold fast to their faith and their belief in the "social gospel" a philosophy that many consider to be revolutionary. One bishop of the Methodist Church said of the Millers, "Isaac and Margaret are the perfect blend of what it means to be a Christian. They not only ache for the souls of their neighbors, they are willing to lay down their lives for the substance of the faith."

Flossie Smith is fighting for the right to be her own person. Her older sisters, mother, aunt, and school teachers are all pushing the twelve year old girl, to give up her tomboy ways and become a lady. Not ready to learn to bake cookies, Flossie prefers to spend her days at the side of her best friend, neighbor boy, Josh Miller. Together the two twelve year olds spend long days working in the Miller's truck garden, helping to grow vegetables for the tables of Artesian City. When the kids are not working in the fields, you can find them playing and fishing along the banks of their playground, the forests and waters of Stout's Creek. Their family's hunters and gatherers, the kids fish for "sunnies", hunt squirrels and rabbits to help provide protein at their parents dinner tables. All are a welcome change from a diet of pork, goat, and chicken. In spring the heroes take paper sacks and seek out the elusive golden sponge morels that most Hoosiers regarded as a rare delicacy. During the summer, the mushroom season long past, Flossie and Josh gather wild berries for the jellies, jams, and pie fillings that Margaret Miller is famous for. During their first fishing trip for 1932, Josh offers to make Flossie his blood brother pledging his friendship for life. Blood Brothers, according to Josh, share everything including birthday presents. Flossie, who is living her life in hand me downs from both her sisters and brothers, knows she will never have anything nice to share with her friend. Josh tells her not to be concerned because being a Blood Brother is a life time commitment. Among the many gifts Josh receives for his twelfth birthday is a coon hound pup. Good to his word Josh shares ownership of the dog with Flossie. This gift opens a whole new world for Flossie. In Flat Rock Township, women are not free to hunt with men, particularly at night. Flossie dreams of joining the hunt with Josh and the other members of the Flat Rock Township Coon Hunters Club. Her mother, sisters, and aunt are all scandalized and are concerned that this new outrage will dampen the eagerness of a potential husbands from calling at the Smith house. Again, only the intervention of her father, saves Flossie from the front porch. Vol 1 of the Miller Family Saga tells the story of the early training of both the hound and its masters. During a string of errors in judgment, the kids learn along with the dog. Flossie under the tutelage of Little Harry Waggerman becomes the unchallenged finest shot in Flat Rock Township while at the same time she develops a mystic relationship with her coon hound the kids name, Bob. In the back story, the Miller adults struggle with the membership of the local Klu Klux Klan. The Klan wants to run out the Jacksons, a family of Negroes from the community. Isaac, Margaret, and Cicero, all fight the Klan in their own way. A Methodist Bishop remarked of Margaret and Isaac Miller, "They are the finest examples of true Christians that I have ever known. They burn with passion to see their fallen neighbors to come to the Lord. At the same time they are both totally committed to the "social gospel" of Christ and are indeed willing to lay down their lives for their neighbors." That premise is tested in the last chapter of the book when a local Klansman tries to assassinate Isaac Miller in front of more than 2000 people. Only the quick actions of Flossie and Josh save the boy's father's life. Come and join our characters, Flossie Smith, Josh, Cicero, Margaret, and Isaac Miller as they work, play, and fight the good fight against old ideas and evil men.

A Boilermaker from Purdue University in West Lafayette Indiana, Steve Williams is an amateur American Historian. He and his wife of nearly fifty years, the former Sherry Cutshaw of Greenwood Indiana reside in a patio community in his beloved Southern Indiana near the Falls of the Ohio River. The father of three, grandfather of eight, and great grandfather of one, Steve has turned his retirement from his business as a tireless excavation contractor into hours for writing. On many an early morning, Sherry has found her husband literally asleep with his head next to his keyboard. "I think he is racing with time to tell his story," said Sherry. "He loves the Millers, particularly Flossie and Josh and wants to tell their life story before he is called to be with the Lord. Steve is a not a great writer but is instead a gifted story teller. I have seen him struggle with a single sentence for an hour trying to make it perfect for his readers."