Black Dispatches

One of the best parts of writing "The House of the Earth" (if by "best" one means "most agonizing") has been doing research on slavery in America and in general.  I was reminded of that when I came across this news story about Jefferson Davis' slave, who was a spy for the Union, and other slave spies.  There's a whole book out called Black Dispatches on the topic that I'd love to get my hands on.  It's amazing--people didn't see slaves as anything but furniture, so they talked freely about strategic secrets right in front of them.  That seems so... karmically fair, somehow, that their own ignorance and inhumanity could be turned against them.  And I'm always awed and humbled and amazed by stories of what people under such impossible conditions will do to fight for their freedom.  No fictional story could do them justice.