Authors, Dark Rain, left, and James Alexander Thom share their knowledge at Chautauqua-Wawasee Monday, Oct. 16, at Oakwood Resort.

SYRACUSE — During its “Experience Chautauqua Series” held from Sunday, Oct. 15, through Tuesday, Oct. 17, at Oakwood Resort, Syracuse, Chautauqua-Wawasee brought acclaimed Hoosier historical fiction author James Alexander Thom and his wife, Dark Rain, to speak. She is also a writer and respected elder of the Shawnee of Ohio.

During the Monday morning presentation, he shared some of his words of wisdom from his textbook, “The Art and Craft of Writing Historical Fiction” and answered attendees numerous questions.

Thom has a wide following of those who enjoy colonial America and western genres. One of his more avidly read books in this area is “The Red Heart,” about Frances Slocum or Maconaquah. She was kidnapped by and brought up as a Native American. She and her Miami tribal family lived in nearby Miami County.

“Storytelling is like fire,” he read from his non-fiction work, selected by the Indiana State Library in 2011 as best nonfiction book. He has written more than a dozen books that have turned him into Indiana’s best selling author. “In 2009, I was the inaugural winner of the annual Indiana Author’s Award, national category,” he commented.

“Follow the River,” the story of a young Virginia woman captured by and subsequent 1,000 mile escape from the Shawnee Indians, was made into a TV movie in 1999 as was “Tecumseh: The Last Warrior” from Thom’s novel “Panther in the Sky.”

According to one source, “One thing that sets Thom apart is his commitment to research. He believes that in order to talk or write about something accurately you have to experience it. One can find him hiking old Indian trails and canoeing Midwestern rivers recreating the experience of travel.” The examples continue with each novel. “Whenever I begin work on a new book, I am reborn into a new world,” he shared.

Thom was born in Owen County and graduated from Butler University after being a U.S. Marine in Korea. He was a reporter and columnist for The Indianapolis Star, and taught at the Indiana University School of Journalism, Bloomington. He became a member of the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame in 2014.

He commented, “I knew that my heart and mind were in the things I wanted to say in books.” He began a journey that took him back to his native Owen County, where he restored a log cabin. Currently Thom is at work on his memoirs. The book that has meant the most to him is the one on Tecumseh, “Panther in the Sky.”

Quizzed about his writing style he admitted if he had time, he likes to write long hand, but he has an old typewriter. “My publisher wants everything on discs now, so I have to use a computer to do that. It doesn’t make me happy,” he said.

Thom and Dark Rain married in 1990 and live in the log cabin in Owen County. She has shared the traditions of the Shawnee with others for many years.

Several of Thom’s books have been published as e-books, something he finds amusingly ironical. He laughed, “I use every bit of my skill and imagination to take my readers hundreds of years into the past and now they’ll visit those old days through the screen of an electronic gizmo.”

The best selling Hoosier author, James Alexander Thom, reads from his only non-fiction work to date, “The Art and Craft of Writing Historical Fiction,” during Chautauqua-Wawasee’s “Experience Chautauqua Series.” He has authored more than a dozen novels and won several awards.