Ava Chuppe
Contributing Writer
achuppe@murraystate.edu
Bernadette Rule, a Murray State English and history alumna, explained her writing process and provided brief readings of her historical novel “Dark Fire” at a meeting of the Jackson Purchase Historical Society on Saturday, Oct. 30.
The Graves County Public Library hosted the event in person. Several people from across the globe, including “In Country” author Bobbie Ann Mason, attended the event via Zoom.
“Dark Fire,” published this year, recounts the murders committed in Graves County by the Night Riders, a group of farmers who were angered at the deflation of tobacco prices. The Night Riders famously raided the localities of Princeton, Hopkinsville and Dycusburg, a community in Crittenden County.
“To everyone attending today, whether you’re in person at the library, on your telephone or online on your computers, thank you so much for coming,” Rule said.
Rule said her father originally told her the stories present in the book, and she felt they needed to be brought to the page.
“Daddy died in 1984, and whenever I would go home to visit Mom or family, I would research these stories while I was there,” Rule said. “I researched them both at the same time and wrote them both up.”
While doing research for the book, Rule read coroners’ reports. She also spoke to people who were alive at the time of the murders, including her Uncle Pat, from whose perspective the story is told. This research took Rule a total of 10 years to complete.
On their website, the Jackson Purchase Historical Society provided a summary of the events.
“The Night Riders were part of a violent episode in Kentucky history known as the Black Patch Wars over tobacco prices,” the site reads. “Eleven people were murdered in this incident, the youngest being just months old.”
The book uses victims’ real names but gives perpetrators fictional names. Rule also changed the names of Mayfield and Graves County, though these were the real-life location of the events.
Rule said she has a high regard for Murray State and the professors she had in the English and history departments.
“For me, looking at what was being offered each semester was like going to the finest restaurant in the world and getting your pick of dishes that you can eat as much as you want, and I loved it,” Rule said.
She added that Pogue Library shaped her writing in particular.
“When I go home, I love to go back to the Pogue,” Rule said. “I like to just sit on those front steps and look up at those columns. I like to look at the view out the back of the quadrangle. It is a thrilling place for me, and it is a very fine research library. I can’t say enough about how much help it has been to me.”
Rule mentioned another upcoming book about a different historical tale of Graves County.
“I wrote it up with the title ‘The Arithmetic of Color,’ and I will release that one—I hope, all things being well—next year,” Rule said. “I needed to get the story of ‘Dark Fire’ out this year, 2021, because it’s the centenary of those deaths.”
Rule, who now lives in Ontario, Canada, hosts the radio program “Art Waves” on 101.5 “The Hawk.”
The program is available for listening via podcast at archive.org/details/artwaves.