After my interview with Lester Yazstrimski, I am now back to our ongoing series to promote my new novel coming out: Christmas in Pandemonium.

July 8, 1950–The landing at Inchon, South Korea, begins America’s involvement in the Korean War. Present is Michael Greenblatt, brother of World War II veteran and Medal of Honor Recipient Bunim Greenblatt. Michael finds his glory not in the battlefield but in the mess hall as he arrives as an army cook. Well-liked by the troops, Michael is known to find odd bits of wild game to the put in the stew.

July 9, 1757–Jonathon Edwards visits the Stranger Church and recites his great sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” during the First Great Awakening. As he leaves town, Edwards is met by a man who offers him an apple, which he takes. Within a year, Edwards dies after attempting to inoculate himself from smallpox.

July 10, 1776–The Declaration of Independence is read in Pandemonium City Hall, accompanied by cheering on the part of the Witch delegation and boos from the Stranger side. Strangers would be active in loyalist militias throughout the war.

July 11, 1807–To settle a dispute between them, the Stranger mayor of Pandemonium, David Parker, and his Witch counterpart, Groton Harris, engage in a duel outside of town. Both men initially intend to merely shoot into the air, but things turn south when Parker sees Harris bring his younger brother, Mordred, along as a second and shoots the lesser Harris directly in the chest. Apparently, Mordred had slept with Parker’s sister a month before.

July 12, 1976–Riots break out in the southwest sector of town after a white police officer shoots a 15-year-old Fieldhand boy, mistakenly thinking he was holding a knife that turns out to be a pencil. An investigation of the crime scene discovers a strange note purportedly signed by Satanic High Priest Beauregard Davis, known to be deceased for 119 years.

July 13, 1864–Another set of riots, this time by Strangers in response to a proposed draft by the Confederate Army as the Civil War grows desperate. This uprising is put down by Pandemonium’s own Col. Robert Davis, in what is afterwards called a massacre by Strangers.

July 14, 1907–The Great Fire of Pandemonium occurs when a factory on the southwestern side of the island explodes due to overheated machinery. Still, when facing the possibility of passing rules and regulations to prevent future incidents, Pandemonium residents prefer to blame, Dobah Meir, a Ze’ev woman on the other side of town, for accidentally kicking lamp.