ERIC SCHULTZ WROTE THE MAJOR SHARE OF THIS BOOK; I came on the scene after most of the hard work was done. I thought the reader might be interested in the story behind our collaboration.
When my historical novel about King Philip’s War, Until I Have No Country, was released in 1997, I received a congratulatory note from Eric, who was a total stranger at the time. Attached to the note was the table of contents of a book he was working on, titled Discovering King Philip’s War. Being a pack rat, I stuck the note and the table of contents into one of the thousands of files I keep in my messy office, and forgot all about it.
A year later I began work on a short book about the war, which would include maps, roadside history suggestions, and eyewitness accounts. (I’d given dozens of narrated slide presentations to historical groups about the war, and people would always ask for directions to battle sites or express curiosity about what diaries I used in my research. These requests were what prompted my project.) After writing about a third of the book, I vaguely recalled Eric’s table of contents, and after a couple hours of searching I located it. I quickly realized the book he was working on was similar to my own. Maybe, I thought, I should meet him and see if we couldn’t split the research and writing. I called him, suggested we meet for coffee in a couple weeks, and asked him to first send me a portion from the book.
When his manuscript arrived, I was stunned. It was fantastic—well written, impeccably researched—the kind of book I go out of my way to buy for my own use. In a smooth style, he had pieced together some of the lesser-known events of the war and even solved some mysteries.
His manuscript was also largely completed. It really didn’t need much editing, so I merely did proofreading and fact checking and outlined a promotional plan. All I could offer was to add the diaries and the maps and then find us a publisher.
When we met for coffee, Eric was probably wondering just how much reworking would be involved in this collaboration. He later told me it was music to his ears when I said, “Don’t change a thing—I’ll just add maps and diaries.” And so the expanded version of Discovering King Philip’s War was launched. Even before we found a publisher I did an interview with the Boston Globe, where I raved about his research and how the book was fun to read. Now I know what a literary agent feels like when he knows he has found something special.
A great many people helped me with my research for this book and my novel, particularly Native Americans, who went out of their way to give their time. My gratitude goes to them, and it’s my hope that this book increases the awareness of what really happened so many years ago.
Michael Tougias
Franklin, Massachusetts
1999