All Comments on 'The Botanists: An Adventure'

I followed the historical record and my own instincts when writing this. I purposely avoided explicit and unsafe sex in this mature romance tale. But the same historical record almost demands a sequel with LOTS of explicit sex -- including women they invited into their bed. That's not Valentine Contest material; it comes later.

I had to invent many details. History includes no accounts of their meeting and courtship so I made that up. I'm not sure of their honeymoon route so I chose the San Andreas Fault because 1) I could and 2) it seemed plausible. Mark Twain was probably not as crude as I portrayed him. And I don't know if M.K. actually wore a gunbelt.

But most everything else here is plain reality. I hope you enjoyed it.

The sex was so-so, and the racial slurs of "nigger" and Chink" seemed to be just tossed in for shock value. A waste of digital ink

H, I am flabbergasted at how believable I find your imagineering of this period and these people. I think you have balanced their all too real lives, filling in the gaps of our ignorance with well-considered fiction. Your story is quite an achievement in the genre of Historical Fiction.

An interesting satisfying and almost amusing tale and well told.

I thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to their further adventures..

HP

I loved editing this super historical romance, and I know I will come back to it again and again. Admirable combination of interesting facts and charming fiction <3

You're certainly dedicated to writing, but it was tedious getting to any sexiness.

"[You may wonder about the whores T.S. frequented. Remember, the past is a different world. A scholar in 1850 estimated that two percent of adult women in the United States were paid prostitutes. That number may have reached five percent or more by the end of the century. One in twenty. Make of that what you will; it was reality. Nineteenth-century life was hard. Unmarried women had few options. Work in home or farm as a married or unmarried servant, or factory drudge, or sex slave. What would YOU do to survive?]"

You had an editor who didn't tell you to take that out? It's not part of the story, and in fact jolted me right OUT of the story, especially the last line. Anyone wanting more information on prostitution in those days can certainly look it up.

My edit-angel wanted that gone; we compromised by formatting it as-is. I *intended* that readers pause and ponder. I like providing material to think about. If the story was for mainstream publication then yes, that passage would go away. Most LIT readers don't seem to mind -- so there you have it.