Johnny & Susan Smith Complete Book
Johnny Neil Smith and his wife, Susan Cruce Smith have written a book together, enttiled Beyond His Mercy.
The American Civil War claimed and destroyed lives, stealing fathers and sons from those they loved. The horror caused many returning to cry out for death. They carried the festering scars of battle and were unable to overcome the torment of their souls.
This is the story of Thomas Wilson, a soldier who returns home haunted by the destruction and devastation he both witnessed and caused. Although his regiment respects and reveres him as a sharpshooter, each man he has killed condemns him to a life of terrifying dreams and troubled days where forgiveness can never be obtained.
Neither the love of his family nor the affection of a woman with sparkling dark eyes and soft black hair can chase his war demons away, for he is beyond mercy
The following is an excerpt from the book:
“Off in the distance a yip of a coyote broke the silence of the night, and instantly a dog across the camp answered the lonely cry. A slight breeze crossed the man’s face, and as he squinted upward, he faintly saw clouds brush across a full moon. Smoke from numerous campfires burned his nostrils stealing his breath. Intense pain and numbness gripped his taut body bound with hands to a hitching post and feet staked to the ground. With one eye completely battered shut and the other slightly open, the captive could taste his own blood, thick and clouting in his mouth. The pain was excruciating, but the knowledge of his impending death would actually be a relief from the guilt that consumed him. He didn’t deserve to live because he felt beyond God’s mercy.”
As a child Johnny Neil Smith often sat at his grandparents’ fireplace listening to stories of their parents’ struggles while pioneering south Mississippi in the eighteen hundreds. Now a retired educator with an ardent interest in early American history, Mr. Smith weaves the stories he heard as a child into all his novels.
In Beyond His Mercy, he tells the story of his great-great-grandfather, Lott Williams, who located the children of his murdered son-in-law and deceased daughter who lived in Cass County, Texas, and who then brought his grandchildren to live with him in Mississippi. In all of Smith’s writings, he captures the emotions behind the events that were passed down to him from his grandparents.
His wife, Susan Cruce Smith, also a retired educator, takes his stories and brings them to life by adding spiritual meaning, literary style, and a woman’s perspective.
They are also the authors of Beyond the Storm, and Johnny Neil is the author of Hillcountry Warriors and Unconquered, all from Sunstone Press.
Interested persons can contact Mr. Smith at 706-468-0012 or johnnyneilsmith@att.net
The Smiths are planning to have a book signing sometime in November at Monticello Baptist Church. The profits from that, along with any additional donations, will go to the Never Too Late home for boys that will be opening in Jasper County soon.
Books can be purchased from Johnny Neil Smith, Sunstone Press, Amazon, and various book stores; book stores can order from Ingram Content Group: https://www.ingramcontent.com/retailers/ordering
