Swimming with Serpents
A Novel
by Sharman Burson Ramsey
September 2012
9780881463910 • $26.00t • Cloth
MUP/H854 • 360 pages • 6x9
www.mupress.org
Sharman Burson Ramsey, a native of Alabama, received an MS in Education from Troy University and a BSE from the University of Alabama where she was a member of Delta Delta Delta sorority. She is a member of the Alabama Historical Association, the Georgia Historical Society, Historical Novel Society, and the Wilcox County Alabama Historical Society. Ramsey is a former radio host, freelance writer, and adjunct professor who lives in Dothan, Alabama and Panama City, Florida, and writes about Southern culture, manners, etiquette, and genealogy on her website www.southern-style.com and sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com.

Mercer University Press, established in 1979, has published more than 1300 books in the genres of Southern Studies, History, Civil War History, African American Studies, Appalachian Studies, Biography & Memoir, Fiction, Poetry, Religion, Biblical Studies, and Philosophy. Publishing authors from across the United States and abroad, Mercer University Press focuses on topics related to the culture of the South. The reputation of the Press significantly enhances the academic environment of Mercer University and carries the name of Mercer and Macon, Georgia throughout the world. Visit us on the web at http://www.mupress.org.
Publicists: Marjory & Peter Wentworth, Magic Time Literary Agency (843) 884-1946 petetwentworth@gmail.com
Kathie Bennett, Magic Time Literary Agency (864) 706-1484 kathiebennett@msn.com
Publisher: Mary Beth Kosowski, Director of Marketing (478) 301-2880 kosowski_mb@mercer.edu
Macon, Georgia—"Swimming with Serpents is a lush plunge into a forgotten corner of American history—the brutal Indian wars at the beginning of the eighteenth century," says Janis Owens, author of My Brother Michael. "Star crossed lovers share the page with the larger than life figures of history, creating a vivid, detailed story that reflects the passion and brutality of the day and gives insight to the nation we have become."

Cade Kincaid and Lyssa Rendel meet as children traveling with a pack train into Creek country—both are of mixed blood. Ten years later Lyssa manipulates a wedding based on a childhood promise. The two must then survive the Fort Mims
massacre and ensuing Creek War to reunite.Savannah Jack, the cruelest and most frightening of all the villains of the age, captures Lyssa, Pushmataha’s adopted
daughter. Lyssa valiantly draws Savannah Jack from the glade where children she has rescued and nursed back to health are secluded after the murderous Red Stick attack and vicious depredations were committed on the nearly 500 inhabitants of a one-acre stockade built around the once-gracious plantation home of Samuel Mims.
Cade knows Savannah Jack well. He was himself captured by this bloodthirsty Creek years ago when he was associated with William Augustus Bowles who sought to set himself up as the emperor of the Creek nation upon the death of Alexander McGillivray. The compelling stories of individuals caught up in the seismic forces of conflicting cultures conveys a human drama of war weaving a tale the theme of which is as applicable today as it was 200 years ago when this pivotal event occurred August 30, 1813. The voices of these forgotten people cry out to have their lives remembered.

"Swimming with Serpents is an astonishing accomplishment, a debut novel of historical importance that is not only a riveting page-turner but also beautifully written. Keep your eye on Sharman Ramsey, an exciting new voice in Southern fiction."
—Cassandra King, author of The Same Sweet Girls

1400 Coleman Avenue • Macon GA 31207 • tel 478-301-2880 • toll free 866-895-1472 • fax 478-301-2585
A novel of love, conflict, and redemption during the Creek War