Thank you for your interest in Hector's Bliss!
It's an exciting new historical novel about a small band of black homesteaders, mostly ex-slaves, who settled after the Civil War  in northern Wheeler County, Nebraska, near Goose Lake . The author researched and wrote for nearly two years, using area libraries, court house records, census rolls, newspaper microfilm, cemetery documents, personal interviews, and history books. After learning all that could be found about this nearly-forgotten bit of Nebraska history, the author chose the true-life Hector Dixon family to be the book's representative central figures through three generations.

   In case you're straining your eyes trying to read the tiny printing on that little picture of Hector's Bliss above—here's what's written on the back cover:

            When the first ex-slaves rolled into the desolate, rugged Sand Hills of northern Wheeler County, Nebraska, after the Civil War they must have thought they had landed at the end of the earth. Among other things, they had been told that their land contained abundant coal deposits, and that ample rain would follow once the sod was opened up by plowing. It was all an elaborate lie, fostered by unscrupulous land hustlers, complete with a “salted” coal mine.

            These black pioneers had little choice but to desperately try to make a living on 160 acres of dry, sandy soil that was barely suited for grazing. In an ironic twist their community became known as Bliss, so called because a local family by that name had the first post office. A determined few stuck it out until about the end of World War I. Then they all simply vanished.

            This novel is the culmination of a year and a half’s journey of research and writing. It traces the struggles of the Hector Dixon family from his early days as a slave in Virginia, and his wife’s harrowing escape to the North as a young girl. The story continues through their burial in the lost Negro Cemetery by peaceful Goose Lake. An eventual breakthrough led to the discovery of a present-day descendant of one of the black Bliss families, and a new perspective on this largely unknown aspect of Nebraska history.

We appreciate your interest and hope you enjoy this web page. 

New photos have recently been added. Check in periodically for updates.

Look for the review of Hector's Bliss in the November-December issue of "Nebraska Life".

Hector's Bliss was first released from the publisher on January 17, 2007. It is now in its THIRD printing! (Thank you for your support.)

If you would like to order a
  copy of Hector's Bliss,
(it makes a great gift)
  please enclose $18.50 to:

Hector's Bliss
P.O. Box 268
Plainview, NE 68769

($18.50 INCLUDES sales tax and shipping)


You'll enjoy this book! We've gotten many letters and comments from satisfied customers.