Frank Haight: The story of an old coot is author's promise to readers

Some seven years ago, Diane Rogers, who writes under the pen name D. L. Rogers, was featured in “Around Town” after writing “Tomorrow’s Promise,” the first in a series of three historical novels called “The White Oak Series.”

Little did this rural Cass County author know her adventure story about survival on the Oregon Trail would result in a trilogy, which Diane says basically covers the pre-Civil War, the Civil War and Indian wars.

“I never intended it to be more than one book,” says Diane, an avid reader and history buff. “And when I got done with it, my then-editor said, ‘You are not done with your story. You need to write another book.’”

After finishing her second book, “Brothers by Blood,” Diane’s editor told her she was still not done with her story. So she penned “Ghost Dancers.”

While selling her trilogy at the annual Bingham-Waggoner Antiques and Craft Fair, readers would tell her how much they enjoyed her fictional trilogy that was based on historical fact. Then they asked, “What’s next?”

“Nothing,” she replies. “I don’t have anything. I thought I had done what I was destined to do.”

“‘No, no, no,” they told her. “We love (your books). You have to keep going.” And she did.

Not wanting to disappoint her readers, she selected interesting characters from the original series and told their individual stories, too.

“Caleb,” “Amy” and “Maggie” are off-shoots of the trilogy, as is “The Old Coots: Sam,” which is her newest book and the seventh off-shoot of “Tomorrow’s Promise.”

Why Sam?

“Because I had a lot of people who had read ‘Maggie’ – book No. 6 in the trilogy series – who said, ‘Those two old guys – Sam and Tom. You need to write a story about them. They are just fun (characters).’”

“Maggie” takes place in 1879 when childhood friends, Sam and Tom, were much older. They find each other again, despite being on opposite sides of the Civil War. Sam, a Confederate; Tom, a Yankee. Nevertheless, they team up and go searching for gold in the Black Hills.

Searching for gold, though, is not where the story begins,” Diane says, noting her intriguing story starts with Sam – as a young man – moving from Tennessee to Cass County, Missouri, where his wife lives.

Missouri, though, is no bed of roses.

“Sam gets caught up in Order No. 11, the border war and horrific things happen,” she says.

In the synopsis, Diane writes: “From Missouri to Tennessee, Virginia, Gettysburg, and finally Appomattox, against all he believes, Sam fights for the Southern cause – to soothe the burning need for revenge that burns in his belly – and costs him almost everything.”

Says Diane: “I think that Sam is just someone who gets caught up in the war (and) wants to build a life for his family. And when the border war comes, he finds out it’s not going to happen. Then, when horrible things happen, he reacts. After that,” she continues, “he finds out his mother is dying and goes back to Tennessee and hopes that things can calm down. Then more things happen and he reacts again, which is why he enlists with the 14th Tennessee Volunteers and he winds up at Chancellorsville and at Gettysburg.

In addition to the seven books in the series, Diane’s other published works include: “The Journey,” “Echoes in the Dark,” Elizabeth’s War: Missouri 1863” and “Beginnings: Into the Unknown.”

Published in 2013, “Beginnings,” a pre-quel, is the fourth addition to the original trilogy.

Diane says “Beginnings” evolved after asking her publisher if she was done with the series since “Maggie,” the sixth book in the series, had been published.

“Well, I want to know how White Oaks Ranch came about,” her publisher tells her.

“So I went back and did ‘Beginnings: Into the Unknown,’ which goes back to ‘Tomorrow’s Promise.’ Basically, I am telling Independence’s story. There’s a lot of history in it.”

Diane says “The Old Coots: Sam” will not be her last book in the series.

“I plan to do Tom the same way I did Sam. I will do him from a young man. Then I will do one last book,” she says. “Even though it is a continuation of the series, it’s almost another trilogy, because I will do ‘The Old Coots: Tom,’ and then I am going to do ‘The Old Coots.’ That is going to be Sam and Tom’s story of when they get together again after the war, go north to the Black Hills to search for gold and meet Maggie.”

When Diane writes a story with its “ups and downs and a hook to get her readers interested in continuing,” she strives not only to entertain and educate them, but also to transport them to a particular time in history.

“I want people to say, ‘Wow! I didn’t know that’” (about a particular piece of history).

She also wants them to know that each book stands on its own with a beginning, a middle and an end. And though characters from other books in the series will come in as secondary characters, she says, you will find whatever you need to know to get where you are going and to know what’s involved in the story. So you are never going to say, “I didn’t know about that happening in the other book.”

Diane’s books are available from Amazon.com in both hard copy and ebook format. She also will be selling and autographing her books in Independence on July 11 at the Bingham-Waggoner Arts and Craft Festival.

Here’s how to contact Diane:

Her email address is: dlrogers2@peoplepc.com.

Her Website is: www.dlrogersbooks.com.

Her Facebook is: www.facebook.com/dlrogersbooks.

Retired community news reporter Frank Haight Jr. writes this column for The Examiner. You can leave a message for him at 816-350-6363.