In Your Next Beach Read, we want to introduce you to a new author every day in June in the hopes that you’ll find the next book you want to take with you to the beach, the pool, or the comforts of air conditioning.

Today’s author is Jacob M. Appel, author of Surrendering Appomattox.

What’s your name and where are you from?

Jacob M. Appel. I am not to be confused with the other Jacob Appel, a delightful fellow who co-wrote a book called More Than Good Intentions, who is not me. Nor am I the eighteenth century Dutch painter of the same name.

How long have you been writing? How did you start?

Too long, it seems, yet not long enough. I started writing seriously while I was in law school: One of the natural consequences of law school is trying to figure out something one can…