Janice L. Dick

Welcome to my website!

I’ve always loved books, but only became actively involved in writing in 1989, when an author gave a presentation at our local library. That same year, a number of us chartered a writing group, which met until 2005.

My first short story was published in 1991, a Christmas story in the Mennonite Brethren Herald. The following year a friend and I co-edited a church history book. We completed the 360 page book in four months. That was an adventure.

I began work on my historical fiction project in 1999. Calm Before the Storm came out in 2002, Eye of the Storm in 2003 and Out of the Storm in 2004.

I am in the process of upgrading my iMac to OS X and have just purchased a G3 laptop, so am looking forward to learning how to use these upgrades. I work from my little balcony office in our farm home.

Besides historical fiction, I also write some devotionals, inspirational pieces and regular book reviews. I have done many hours of editing, some mentoring, and some speaking (workshop, presentations, readings). I have completed a contemporary fiction manuscript which is presently being marketed to publishers, and am working on the sequel.

Some of my other writing involvements:
• Carlton Trail Writers—the local group launched in 1989
• Christian Writers Group in Saskatoon called His Imprint
• InScribe Christian Writers Fellowship
• The Word Guild—connecting, developing and promoting Canadian writers and editors who are Christian
• Carlton Trail Toastmasters—ACB-CL
• Living Books, Inc.—distributor and regular book reviewer

	Out of the Storm — Book Three — Death and destruction rage through the Mennonite colonies as Red and White armies continue to requisition, recruit, and advance their positions. Ongoing strife and accompanying drought result in severe famine and disease, and the worst enemy of all—fear. Johann Sudermann works with Benjamin Janz to secure permission for Mennonite emigration, but they are faced with seemingly insurmountable obstacles at every turn. Meanwhile, Katarina attempts to sustain her family and friends amid chaos and uncertainty, and Paul Gregorovich Tekanin tries to survive in anonymity. The Mennonites of South Russia face a fierce struggle for faith and survival as their dreams are dashed one by one, yet they cling to the hope that God will yet intervene and speak to them as he did to Job, ‘out of the storm’.
	Eye of the Storm As their world is torn apart by world war, the Russian Revolution, and church and family conflicts, Katarina Hildebrandt and Johann Sudermann strive to maintain their faith in the God they have come to know. Meanwhile, Paul Gregorovich Tekanin has chosen what he thought to be the path to Utopia, but is instead finding it to be a way of darkness and death. Will he remember the warnings of his childhood friend, Johann, or will the violence of revolution destroy him? History unfolds as these young people look desperately for a source of balance and safety within the eye of the storm and ask: where is God when life betrays?
	Calm Before the Storm South Russia, 1914.The world is at war and revolution threatens. Against this backdrop of fear and danger, three young people search for hope and love. Katarina Hildebrandt’s tranquil life on her family’s Crimean estate is about to change. Tutor Johann Sudermann has found true faith, but it will turn his life upside-down. And Paul Gregorovich Tekanin, working for the revolution in St. Petersburg, finds it will demand his soul as well as his wit and strength. Will they find the faith to weather the coming storm?
What people are saying about the books: “A sweeping tale of love and loss, Calm Before the Storm carries the reader to other times and places; international intrigue at its best.” – Anne de Graaf, winner of the Christy Award 2000 for International Historical Fiction and author of over eighty books Eye of the Storm is a finely crafted novel about a very tumultuous time in human history. Janice adds feeling and emotion as she writes the story of Paul and Johann and Katarina. Not only did I learn a lot, but I enjoyed the journey.” – Linda Hall, author of Steal Away and Chat Room “With the publication of this third novel, Out of the Storm, Janice Dick has completed her moving and stimulating trilogy. Dick confronts, in a finely nuanced fashion, the dilemma many Mennonites felt about leaving the emerging Soviet state and starting life in Canada, the country that was to become for them the true Promised Land.” – Richard A. Rempel, professor of history, McMaster University “Janice Dick tells an intricate tale of persecution, courage, and passion in Out of the Storm. Lovers of historical fiction will delve deep into this story and not want to give it up until the final page is turned.” – Janelle Clare Schneider, author “Janice Dick, having become thoroughly familiar with the calamitous events featured in Out of the Storm, weaves a story of failure and faith in adversity.” – Hugo Jantz, missionary and preacher “Janice’s books are carefully researched and reflect a conscientious attention to the details of history…but they are anything but dry history; her characters come alive in the reader’s imagination. These absorbing stories have given us a new appreciation for a people that have refused to be molded to the world’s standards.” – Martin and Janice Whitbread, Living Books, Inc. “Janice Dick weaves together historical research on the Russian Revolution with characters of her own creation, which remain true to the milieu of that era…I was caught up in the drama of family members with disparate personalities, each searching to fulfill a need.” – Shirley Bustos; educator, composer, writer “Both a work of historic fact and romantic fiction, Calm Before the Storm weaves a colorful tapestry of suspense, sustained interest and historical actualities. The story flows effortlessly and reveals the depth of Dick’s research.” – Barbara Brennan, writer and editor
RESOURCE LIST (Beginning with my favorites. This is not an exhaustive list.) Mennonite Historical Atlas, William Schroeder and Helmut T. Huebert Events and People, Helmut T. Huebert With Courage to Spare, John B. Toews Czars, Soviets and Mennonites; John B. Toews The Mennonite Brotherhood in Russia 1789-1910, P.M. Friesen Diary of Anna Baerg 1916-1924, edited by Gerald Peters My Russia, Peter Ustinov Mennonite Foods and Folkways of South Russia, Volumes I & II, Norma Jost Voth Mennonite Settlements in Crimea, H. Goerz A Russian Dance of Death, Dietrich Neufeld Storm Tossed, Gerhard Lohrenz Journey to Yalta, Sarah Klassen The Romanovs, Virginia Cowles Lenin and the Downfall of Tsarist Russia, Elizabeth M. Roberts Rasputin: Satyr, Saint or Satan, Douglas Myles Profiles of Mennonite Faith, General Conference of M.B. Churches, various authors Turning Life into Fiction, Robin Hemley Mennonites in Canada 1920-1940, Frank Epp The Russian Revolution, Ira Peck The Russians (7 volumes of historical fiction), Judith Pella Liberty in Confinement, Johannes Reimer Chariots in the Smoke, Margaret Epp Days of Terror, Barbara Classen Smucker Mysteries of Grace and Judgment (film) Lions of the Desert (three volumes of historical fiction), Linda Chaikin Nicholas and Alexandra (film, 1971), Robert K. Massie The Shadow of the Winter Palace-Drift to Revolution, Edward Crankshaw The Romanovs: The Final Chapter, Robert K. Massie An Introduction to Mennonite History, Cornelius Dyck The Idealists, Henry Carlisle and Olga Andreyev A Lifelong Passion-Nicholas and Alexandra, Andrei Maylunas and Sergei Mironenko The File on the Tsars, Anthony Summers and Tom Mangold Hippocrene Companion Guide to the Soviet Union, Lydle Brinkle Hippocrene UKRAINE Language and Travel Guide, Linda Hodges and George Chumak

MENNONITE HISTORY—A Brief Overview

The roots of the Mennonite people grew from the reformation of the sixteenth century, from dissatisfaction with the Catholic Church of that time.

The adherents to this new religious movement, know as Anabaptists or re-baptizers, believed in salvation by faith through grace, and baptism upon confession of this faith. They held a personal commitment to Jesus Christ as opposed to a church or state legislated membership. They were non-resisters and did not hold political office. Theirs was a “voluntary fellowship of regenerated believers, a Christian brotherhood, a community of the redeemed”.

The Anabaptists were situated mostly in Moravia, South Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands.

The Dutch theologian from whom Mennonites take their name—Menno Simons—was born in 1496 in Witmarsum, Friesland, a province in the northern Netherlands. Simons, a former priest, was greatly influenced by the suffering of the Anabaptists for their beliefs, and eventually became a leader in the movement.

Due to severe and constant persecution, the Mennonites adopted a lifestyle of separation from the world, continuing to hold to their Dutch/German ethnic roots. In the latter part of the sixteenth century, many Dutch Mennonites fled to the free city of Danzig and settled in the Vistula Valley. This area was under Polish rule at the time, but was transferred to Prussian administration in 1772. The Mennonites were welcomed because of their knowledge of land drainage and general good farming practices, and were to remain until 1790, a total of 250 years.

The Mennonites experienced tolerance and relative freedom in Prussia, but in many cases, their original Christlike lifestyle began to give way to a religion of tradition and rules.

In 1789 an edict disallowed any further purchase of land by Mennonites. The various changes brought about by Frederick the Great and his successor became increasingly difficult to accept. Therefore, when Catherine II of Russia invited the Mennonites to her country with the promise of economic, political and spiritual freedom, they accepted this offer as from the hand of God. Included in Russia’s “charter of privileges” was freedom of religion, 175 acres free land per family, exemption from military service for all eternity, and control of schools and religious and civil affairs.

The first 228 families migrated south to the lower Dneiper River in 1789 to establish the colony of Chortitza, and in 1804, 342 families settled on the banks of the Molotschnaya River to form the Molotschna colony. More migrations followed.

Problems began when the government refused subdivision of land in the colonies, and eventually there were many landless Mennonites. As a partial solution, crown lands formerly rented were distributed to the landless in 1865, and over the next fifty years, daughter colonies were established in the Ukraine, Crimea, Caucasus, South-central Asia and Siberia.

For the most part, the villages were run efficiently and uniformly. The colonies built and supported village schools, girls’ schools, secondary schools, and training institutions, homes for the elderly and schools for the deaf, nurses’ training schools and hospitals, and facilities for the mentally ill or handicapped. Agriculture was progressive, with much guidance from Johann Cornies in the early years.

The church, also orderly and efficient, eventually began to suffer from spiritual decline. Disagreements and tensions over issues such as land ownership also caused friction and pride within the brotherhood. Another reason for spiritual decay was the stagnation of the closed society. Truly born again ministers were rare. Church membership often became a simple rite of passage into community life. Believers’ baptism, for which many of the early Anabaptists had given their lives, became merely “adult baptism”. The fruits of the Spirit were, in many cases, gradually replaced by the work of darkness, as alcohol, greed and immorality became more prevalent.

As a result of the dissatisfaction with the established church, groups broke away to form new congregations. The Mennonite Brethren church was born on January 6, 1860; the Evangelical Mennonite Brethren Church was established in 1905 (also known as the Allianz Gemeinde).

A czarist shift from military exemption and self-government to conscription and general “Russianization” resulted in the migration of about one third of the Mennonite population to North America between 1874 and 1880.

During World War I, the Mennonites were regarded as Germans, and were required to participate in alternate service. In 1917, the Russian Revolution spread terror across the land as Red and White armies fought each other, and groups of bandits fought for both factions or for themselves, killing, looting, raping and terrorizing. Drought followed in 1921-22, to complete the devastation. Many starved. Many more would have died but for the saving relief of MCC.

After the Revolution, the Russian government declared complete nationalization of all land and property, schools and churches. As a result, Mennonites exited en masse in search, again, of religious freedom. Between 1923 and 1930, 20,000 Mennonites came to Canada.

Mennolink

RUSSIAN HISTORY—A Brief Overview

A.D. 800	First Russian state established in Kiev
988	Christianity introduced into Russia
1200s	Mongol invasion
1220-1263	Alexander Nevski fought Mongols with strength and diplomacy
1480	Ivan III (Ivan the Great) broke Mongol control
1547	Ivan IV (Ivan the Terrible), first Czar—Caesar; serfdom
1613	Michael Romanov, beginning of the Romanov Dynasty
1682-1725	Peter I (Peter the Great); Westernization, education, technology
1773-1774	Peasant revolt crushed by Russian troops
1762-1796	Catherine II (Catherine the Great—German), Serfdom spread. Western fashion and lifestyle, French court, the arts, Italian operas, ballet, chamber music. Peasants remained in poverty and ignorance.
1801-1825	Alexander I; liberal, fought Napoleon, later discarded liberalism
1825	Alexander died without an heir, named brother Constantine as Czar. Constantine declined and swore allegiance to younger brother Nicholas. Discontented army officers staged Decembrist uprising, which was put down.
1825-1855	Nicholas I; police state, against reform; defeated in Crimean War (against Ottoman Empire); much achievement in literature.
1855-1880	Alexander II; freed serfs in 1961, need for reform. Assassinated
1881-1894	Alexander III; stern, repressive despot. Industry and railroads greatly improved.
1894-1917	Nicholas II, autocrat, but lacked firmness.
1914-1918	World War I; Russia fought against Germany. Nicholas at war front, with Empress Alexandra in charge at home under Rasputin’s influence.
1917	Revolution overthrew Nicholas II in March. Bolsheviks (Communists) seized power in November, Lenin became dictator. Russia withdrew from the war
1918-1920	Communists defeated anti-Communist forces in civil war
1920-1922	Severe famine in south Russia
1922	USSR established; Stalin eventually took over as dictator

MENNONITE RECIPES (Note: these recipes are not for dieters!)

Zwieback

4 cups milk
¾ cup shortening (half butter, half lard)
6 tsp salt
4 Tbsp active dry yeast 2 tsp sugar
1 cup lukewarm water
6 cups bread or unbleached flour
8 cups additional flour

Heat milk to just warm, then add butter and lard.
Meanwhile, stir sugar into lukewarm water and add yeast. Let stand for 5-10 minutes.
Put 4 cups of the flour into large bowl and add salt. Add milk/shortening mixture and stirred yeast to the flour. Add 2 cups more flour and beat well. Add flour as you mix for a medium soft dough (if it’s too soft, the buns will flop). Knead until smooth and elastic.
Place dough in greased bowl, turning to grease top of dough. Cover and let stand in warm place until doubled (about 2 hours). Punch down again and let rise a few minutes while you grease pans (cookie sheets).
Squeeze off a piece of dough the size of a small egg and place on pan. Squeeze another piece the size of a walnut and place on top of first piece. With thumb, push down through top piece and into bottom to anchor them together. Continue until all dough is used. Cover with tea towel and let rise until doubled in size.
Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes. If they get too dark, reduce heat during last 5 minutes of baking.
Cool on racks. Yields about 3 – 4 dozen, depending on the size of the buns.

Platz

2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ cup lard (Crisco® type)
1 tsp salt
½ - ¾ cup cream or milk
Fresh or frozen fruit Sugar to sprinkle
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
Pinch salt
½ cup margarine or butter

Combine first four ingredients and rub together to make crumbs. Add cream or milk to make dough. Press into a 9” X 13” (or two 8 X 8) baking pan and top with fruit of your choice, frozen or fresh (plums, peaches, apricots, cherries, apples). Sprinkle generously with sugar and cover with a mixture of the flour, sugar, salt and margarine, which has been blended so that it holds together. Let it fall in lumps over the platz. Bake at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes. Serve fresh, warm or cooled, with or without ice cream.

Vereneche

1 cup cream
1 cup milk
3 egg whites and one whole egg 1 tsp salt
4 ½ cups flour (approx.)

Combine flour and salt, then add eggs and liquid. Knead until dough is smooth, but not tough. Roll out fairly thin on a floured board or counter. Cut 3 inch rounds and fill each with cottage cheese mixture (see below). Seal carefully by pinching edges together. Moisten edges slightly with water for a better seal.

Drop a few vereneche at a time into boiling water and cook for 3 or 4 minutes, stirring gently to prevent sticking. They are ready when they are puffed up. Remove from boiling water with slotted spoon and drain. You may drizzle a bit of margarine or butter between to keep them from sticking to each other.
Serve with cream gravy (see below) and salt or sugar. Leftovers can be fried in butter and eaten with a sprinkling of salt. Makes about 4 dozen.

*Okay, don’t tell anyone, but I buy my vereneche frozen in the store. Look for cottage cheese filled perogies.

**My mother always saved some dough to make fruit vereneche. She used plums, but you can also use Saskatoons or blueberries or raspberries. Great dessert for an already decadent meal!

Cottage Cheese Filling

2 – 4 cups dry cottage cheese
salt and pepper to taste 3 egg yolks

Mix together and put a spoonful of filling into each vereneche.

Cream Gravy (white sauce)

½ cup butter or margarine, melted
2-3 cups milk or cream ½ cup flour
salt and pepper to taste

Melt margarine or butter, add flour, salt and pepper, and cook and stir for a minute. Gradually add milk or cream, and cook until it achieves the desired consistency. Burns easily.

Rollkuchen

4 eggs
1 cup dairy sour cream
2 rounded Tbsp butter, melted
1 ½ tsp baking powder 1 tsp salt (or more)
1 cup milk
5 – 6 cups flour (soft dough)

Beat eggs well. Add sour cream, butter, baking powder, salt and milk. Add flour gradually to make a soft sough. Roll out fairly thin and cut in 2” X 5” strips. Cut a slit down the center and turn as you would for crullers. Fry in deep hot fat (375 degrees) until nicely browned. Cool on paper towels and serve with jam or syrup.

* We always ate Rollkuchen with cold slices of sweet, juicy watermelon.

Mennonite Borscht

2 – 3 pounds of beef soup bones or a chicken carcass
Water to cover, as much as you want soup
Salt and pepper to taste
1 large onion, chopped
1 small cabbage, chopped fine
2 or 3 carrots, chopped
Small bag or tea strainer filled with pickling spices and peppercorns 4 potatoes
2 sprigs fresh dill
½ tsp dill weed
1 – 2 Tbsp chopped parsley
1 10oz. can tomato soup
¼ cup ketchup
sour cream

Cover bones with water and bring to a boil. Simmer until meat falls from the bones. Strain and remove meat from bones. Set aside. Into soup stock, add vegetables and spices. Simmer until vegetables are cooked. Simmer as long as possible. Add meat and stir in soup, ketchup and sour cream. Do not boil. Serve with fresh brown bread and butter.

Fruit Soup (Plume Moos)

1 pound mixed dried fruit
cherry Jell-O® powder
1 quart canned cherries
raisins
3-4 Tbsp cornstarch ¾ cup sugar
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp cinnamon
cold water to mix

Put mixed, dried fruit and raisins in saucepan and cover with as much water as you want soup. Bring to boil, shut off and let sit a couple of hours.
Add ½ to 1/3 package (3 oz) cherry Jell-O® powder.
Add canned cherries with liquid. Boil.
Mix cornstarch, sugar, salt and cinnamon. Add enough cold water so the mixture pours. Add to boiling fruit, stirring continually. You may add any other canned fruit you wish. When slightly thickened, cover and cool.

* Our family often ate this cool soup with cold sliced ham, fried potatoes and lettuce with sweet cream dressing.