PHOTO: Michael Paul Hurd, author and historian, at home in Maryland where he continues crafting stories from family lineage and history.
Exploring Lineage, Legacy, and the Power of Historical Fiction
Michael Paul Hurd shares his journey from a forty-year career in service to becoming a masterful storyteller inspired by family history and historically significant events, weaving personal connection into engaging fiction.
Michael Paul Hurd’s life journey has been woven with threads of adventure, resilience, and discovery. Born in Michigan and spending his early years amidst the contrasting landscapes of Virginia and New Hampshire, he embarked on a career in the United States Air Force at the age of twenty. For four decades, both in uniform and later in civilian service, Hurd’s experiences shaped his perspective, broadening his horizons while sowing seeds for a creative pursuit that would ultimately lead him to the world of historical fiction. Now retired and residing in Maryland with his wife Sandy, Hurd views these myriad experiences as a wellspring for the storytelling that defines his work.
Hurd’s passion for history and meticulous research finds a poignant origin in a personal loss. When his son completed a family tree project, revealing intersections between their lineage and monumental eras in history, it sparked a deep curiosity that soon evolved into the Lineage series—a body of work that merges factual historical events with his family’s past. Readers are invited to journey from Tudor courts to tragic shipwrecks, to wars that shaped nations, all while uncovering intimate familial connections woven through each narrative. Hurd’s stories breathe life into dusty chronicles, offering a unique lens through which history and humanity converge.
There is something deeply personal yet universally resonant in Hurd’s approach to literature. His works do not merely recount historical accuracy but explore the essence of human existence within the tide of change and conflict. In crafting immersive experiences for modern readers, he emphasises relevancy, empathy, and vivid authenticity. Through his compelling storytelling and steadfast collaboration with other writers, Hurd balances precision and charm, ensuring his exploration of the past remains as captivating as it is profound. His literary journey is one that exemplifies love for history, family, and the enduring power of stories.
Michael Paul Hurd is a deeply dedicated, meticulous historical fiction writer whose captivating storytelling offers authenticity, humanity, and immersive experiences.
What inspired you to start writing historical fiction and how do you balance research with storytelling?
Our adult son, Adam, passed away in 2010 after a short battle with cancer. Before he passed, he had done some research into our family tree and made some discoveries that I was not aware of. Using Adam’s research as a starting point, I peeled the onion back as far as 13th Century England, noticing that there were numerous intersections between our tree and events in history. As historical fiction has always been one of my favourite reading genres, it was a natural extension for me to explore writing my own series of novels using the family timeline and history as my inspiration. Research for the Lineage Series often takes more time than writing, as I often make discoveries along the way that encourage me to dig deeper. I’m a bit of a history buff, thanks to my dad – which is both a blessing and a curse when it comes to research – and my interest in British history was piqued by a University of Leeds professor, Dr. Sidney Brown, when I was stationed in Harrogate during the 1980s and 1990s.
“We are writing because we enjoy our craft and our own storytelling.” – Michael Paul Hurd
Can you tell us more about your “Lineage” series and how your family tree intersects with historical events?
The Lineage Series is not laid out sequentially; each book can be read independent of the others, but readers of multiple books will uncover “Easter eggs” in the latter half of the series that tie into previous works. Book One sets the stage for the rest of the series, with each vignette in that book setting the stage for a full-length novel. Some of the intersect points include the courts of Henry VII and Henry VIII, where an ancestor was an attorney for the court, the escape of Charles II after Worcester (my ancestors owned the Chilington/Boscobel/Whiteladies properties), settlement of the New England and Virginia colonies, the American Revolution where I discovered Aaron Burr as a distant cousin, the American Civil War with combatants on both sides, the scandalous murder of my great-great grandfather in 1894 that made national news, the sinking of the Titanic and the first newspaper reports from survivors being written by Carlos Hurd, ethnic Germans being forced out of central Ukraine in the first decades of the 20th Century, military officers in World War II… the list goes on and on.
How did you go about forming your own micro-publishing company, Lineage Independent Publishing?
I established Lineage Independent Publishing in 2019 as what the U.S. Internal Revenue Service defines as a “Sole Proprietorship.” The decision to form the company was driven by a couple of factors. First, several “print on demand” distributors would either list themselves as publishers or list the book as “Independently Published,” both of which were (and may still be) perceived negatively in retail environments. Second, print versions require ISBNs – which I was able to get for free from the distributors. However, this left me with no “brand identity.” By creating the company and purchasing my own series of ISBNs, they are unique to Lineage Independent Publishing, thus providing a degree of brand identity to my efforts.
What is it like working with a team of authors from different countries and genres?
Working across cultures, time zones, and genres is a challenge that I have welcomed. I personally sought out and groomed relationships with each of the authors who have published under my imprint. At times it can be daunting, given the volume of work that my affiliates produce. There are times where we have to agree to disagree on content or grammar, but in the end we all are after the same thing: sharing our written works with a broad audience.
“Research for the Lineage Series often takes more time than writing, as I often make discoveries along the way that encourage me to dig deeper.” – Michael Paul Hurd
How do you ensure that the authors under your imprint receive the support they need to produce their best work?
Depending on what is going on in each of our lives (we’re all retired from full time employment – OAPs in UK parlance), we regularly provide status reports on our works. There have even been times where an entire story line was reworked because of our progress discussions. I depend as much on my other authors to review and comment on my works as they do on me to edit and to publish theirs. In other words, it is a mutually beneficial and supportive relationship.
What do you think sets your historical fiction writing apart from other authors in the genre?
I pride myself on the thematic historical accuracy of my works. Each book is thoroughly researched in terms of the social, economic, political, and technological implications of the period I am writing about, while at the same time making the stories relevant for the modern reader. I also do not believe in being “politically correct” to the modern environment, instead recognising that our history cannot be swept under a rug.
“Bringing historical events to life is extremely important and I try to immerse my readers in the events as if they were a fly on the wall.” – Michael Paul Hurd
How do you decide which historical events to focus on in your writing and how do you bring them to life for your readers?
When I wrote the first book in the Lineage Series, I kept voluminous notes on the events I encountered in my research, then figured out where I could craft a cohesive story that would involve my ancestors in an historical event. Take, for example, Soldier, Citizen, Settler: Lineage Series, Book Two. It was the Battle of Monmouth that drew me in, and I used that as a focus point for the story line that centred on Thomas Harris and his escapades during the American Revolution. My story selection is driven by what I might be interested in writing about, and there have been at least two situations where I started a story and threw it out because the underlying historical event was just too complicated to keep straight. Bringing historical events to life is extremely important and I try to immerse my readers in the events as if they were a fly on the wall, so to speak. I use a combination of “first person” and “third person” perspectives throughout each book, hoping that the reader will be able to empathise with their favourite characters.
What advice would you give to the other authors in your imprint, such as Lisa Talbott, G. B. Carmichael, and Rebecca Conaty Bruce, who are writing in different genres, on how to reach a wider audience and gain more recognition for their work?
All of us are niche authors that have our own personal networks. We each have to use those networks to bring our books to light. It’s a challenge: you can only push family and friends so far to encourage them to read your books. After that, it’s a bit of luck. None of us are writing to get rich; we are writing because we enjoy our craft and our own storytelling.
