I do enjoy reading historical themed stories, and very few people that I've noticed try to do something set during, before, or just after the Civil War. And I think that's partly because that time period is so volatile, and realistically regardless of how much research you do there's always going to be someone that is going to take something the wrong way. Because that happens with every story that I've ever read by anyone, there is always someone that takes an issue with one thing or another. But that's beside the point in this case. From what I noticed reading the first chapter, it seems like this was going to focus more on how things were in the West (theoretically further away from the aftermath of the war and the still high tensions between the North and South in the Eastern region of the US at the time) so there was the thought that racism wasn't going to be a central theme as it wasn't as prevalent in the western territory. Not that it wasn't still present in the West, because obviously it was and it also had multiple different races that were discriminated against. But with how the main character immediately seemed to put a stop to the workers on the ranch being seen/treated as slaves the moment the shorter man brought it up; I was interested to see how the story might play out. Because he seemed like he would be one of those War weary former soldiers who would stand by what they fought for, and he had the potential to make more of a difference where he was by possibly rooting out any lingering racism from the war in this new Wasteland he found himself living in. But with all that said, I can understand where the author is coming from with the decision to discontinue this. And yes, with a setting based around this particular time period and background, it's going to be quite a challenge to write a story that is mindful of every one of the very real and heavy themes and problems of that time period. History and war are not generally things people want to have to learn about, and don't like to remember; but that's one of the biggest reasons why it is said so often that we need to learn history so that we don't repeat the same mistakes of the past. So I hope that the author isn't discouraged from ever trying their hand at writing a story with historical themes, but to remember that far more research is needed when writing something with a historical background. Sensitive themes and topics need more care and a different approach to them; and it seems to me that the author is fully taking that into account by discontinuing the work.
I saw it that way too—not a master/slave or ex-slave dynamic, but cowboy-on-cowboy. The problem was that one particular line—which could easily have been avoided given the context—triggered a lot of people; plus—and here I’m more or less quoting what I’ve read elsewhere—there’s the idea that if a white person saves or frees Black slaves, it’s considered racist. And all that just from the first chapter
I do enjoy reading historical themed stories, and very few people that I've noticed try to do something set during, before, or just after the Civil War. And I think that's partly because that time period is so volatile, and realistically regardless of how much research you do there's always going to be someone that is going to take something the wrong way. Because that happens with every story that I've ever read by anyone, there is always someone that takes an issue with one thing or another. But that's beside the point in this case. From what I noticed reading the first chapter, it seems like this was going to focus more on how things were in the West (theoretically further away from the aftermath of the war and the still high tensions between the North and South in the Eastern region of the US at the time) so there was the thought that racism wasn't going to be a central theme as it wasn't as prevalent in the western territory. Not that it wasn't still present in the West, because obviously it was and it also had multiple different races that were discriminated against. But with how the main character immediately seemed to put a stop to the workers on the ranch being seen/treated as slaves the moment the shorter man brought it up; I was interested to see how the story might play out. Because he seemed like he would be one of those War weary former soldiers who would stand by what they fought for, and he had the potential to make more of a difference where he was by possibly rooting out any lingering racism from the war in this new Wasteland he found himself living in. But with all that said, I can understand where the author is coming from with the decision to discontinue this. And yes, with a setting based around this particular time period and background, it's going to be quite a challenge to write a story that is mindful of every one of the very real and heavy themes and problems of that time period. History and war are not generally things people want to have to learn about, and don't like to remember; but that's one of the biggest reasons why it is said so often that we need to learn history so that we don't repeat the same mistakes of the past. So I hope that the author isn't discouraged from ever trying their hand at writing a story with historical themes, but to remember that far more research is needed when writing something with a historical background. Sensitive themes and topics need more care and a different approach to them; and it seems to me that the author is fully taking that into account by discontinuing the work.
I saw it that way too—not a master/slave or ex-slave dynamic, but cowboy-on-cowboy. The problem was that one particular line—which could easily have been avoided given the context—triggered a lot of people; plus—and here I’m more or less quoting what I’ve read elsewhere—there’s the idea that if a white person saves or frees Black slaves, it’s considered racist. And all that just from the first chapter