Family And Regional History Intertwine In Larry Craze’s Second Book

By LYDIA BERGLAR
News Editor

When Larry Craze published his second historical fiction book, “Yet a Remnant,” he hoped it would find success among descendants of the book’s characters, and it has. His first book, “Freedom Journey,” covers territory from Louisiana to Canada, but “Yet a Remnant” is locally focused, occurring primarily in the northeastern parts of DeKalb County, Ala. and Dade County. The book (which is about Craze’s ancestors) includes around 60 real surnames and only about four made up characters.

McBride’s Bookstore is hosting a book signing with Craze on Sept. 14 from 1-3 p.m. Craze will have copies of both “Yet a Remnant” which was released this April and “Freedom Journey” which came out in early 2018.

Craze was born in Watertown, N.Y. and grew up in Oak Ridge, Tenn., but his family is from the Henagar and Ider areas. He grew up visiting his grandparents on Sand Mountain, and now, he and his wife are in the process of moving to the mountain.

Craze enjoyed creative writing in high school and college, has dabbled in poetry, and has written many Sunday school lessons, but most of his writing experience has been in the technical realm. After 16 years as a sheet metal worker, he earned his MBA in technological adult education from the University of North Alabama and has been an industrial trainer for the last 34 years.

While Craze had wanted to write about his family’s history for a long time, he first felt compelled to write a story about the underground railroad. This is how “Freedom Journey,” which follows two children as they escape slavery in 1852, came to be.

He explained, “I saw this quilt for the underground railroad, and it seemed to suggest a story to me. I thought it needed a gospel story to go along with it. I don’t really just write to write; I have to feel compelled to write, and I felt that I really needed to write this story about the underground railroad.”

Since Craze has been promoting “Yet a Remnant,” his first book has experienced something of a revival as readers have discovered both books at the same time. The audience he had in mind when writing “Freedom Journey” was middle schoolers, writing it at an eighth grade reading level, but he laughed, “My best audience, the people who love it most, it’s 80-year-old women and older.”

Before he could write “Yet a Remnant,” Craze had to find an interesting storyline or hook. He explained, “Our family story was interesting to me, but it wasn’t very compelling to anyone else. Genealogical trees and charts aren’t very interesting, so I wanted some way to present it as a story.”

The storyline came in the form of John Wager, a special agent from Huntsville, Ala. who came to Valley Head at the end of 1877 to investigate a Civil War widow’s claim. Craze said, “I took my family research and weaved it into this investigation by Special Agent John Wager. I felt compelled to write his story, because I thought, ‘Who is this guy?’ His story was so interesting to me.”

At the center of the tale is Lucy, Craze’s great-great-great-grandmother whose four sons and three grandsons fought in the Civil War. One of these grandsons is Craze’s great-grandfather. Craze said, “He survived; he’s a remnant.”

Along with the family history and Wager’s story, the book covers other tidbits of regional interest, such as the Winston family and the Wills Valley Railroad and an epidemic of scrofula (mycobacterial cervical lymphadenitis).

Both of Craze’s books are Christian historical fiction, blending factual historical events with some imagined conversations and smaller details. He said, “Most of it is conversational, weaving in these historical facts. Where I could give sources, I did.”

“Yet a Remnant” has about 250 endnotes to help separate fact from fiction, and Craze spent five years researching local history and correcting details as people shared new information with him. He said, “I want to be corrected, that’s part of the intent of it.” He’s enjoyed meeting many people who have connections to the story.

Craze appreciates the flexibility that writing fiction offers, but because he also sought to be historically accurate, he ran into obstacles while writing. He explained, “I’ll start writing, ‘He slammed the screen door,’ but think, ‘Wait a minute, did they have screen doors? When were screen doors invented?’ I’ll look it up and, nope, they didn’t have screens back then.”

Surprisingly, Craze doesn’t consider himself a history buff, noting that while he was a good student, he made poor grades in history. However, he enjoys reading biographies and watching the History Channel. Also, while both of his books have roots in the Civil War, his particular interest is the Reconstruction era rather than the war.

Explaining again that he writes when he feels compelled by a story or topic, Craze said he may return to a sermon in chapter four of “Yet a Remnant.” He said, “I feel that I left it unfinished, so I think my next compulsion is to write a little book about that Bible study.”

Also, with “Freedom Journey” taking place in the 1850s and “Yet a Remnant” taking place in the 1870s, Craze might round out this pattern by writing about the 1890s. His mother’s great-uncle was the first Republican senator in Kentucky before the 17th amendment (requiring that the people of each state elect two senators) took effect. Craze has already collected many notes about the long process of Kentucky nominating and electing this senator.

For Craze, verifying research was the most difficult part of writing, but the dialogue also posed a challenge. For simplicity’s sake, he opted not to capture accents on paper or use local dialects.

The most enjoyable part was imaging details and pondering what these people may have been like. Craze said, “I might have misjudged my characters, but who knows for sure? Making them human was hard. I tried to make them pleasant, agreeable people, but that’s not very good reading, so every once in a while, I put an antagonist in there. I enjoyed that.”

He explained that, by all accounts, Wager seemed to have a tough side, but Wager is a hero-type in the book. In one scene, Craze shows Wager at home with his family so readers could see a softer side to the tough protagonist.

Craze isn’t planning to make lots of money off his books; he simply delights in capturing bits of history and telling interesting stories. “I just wanted to give a gift to the people around here and to my family.”

Both books can be purchased through numerous online sites, such as Amazon.