Posts Tagged ‘historical fiction’

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 The devil has eyes and ears everywhere!

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The Devil’s Spies

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by K.C. Sivils

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Genre: Historical Fiction

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 Needing to stop the flood of humanity fleeing communist oppression by
making it to the divided city of Berlin, the communist government of
East Germany took drastic measures. In August of 1961, construction
of the Berlin Wall began.

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Two young lovers, an American
refugee worker, and an East German seminary student, find themselves
separated by the wall. Desperate to be reunited and build a life
together, Angela Wettin and Michael Dieterich, with Michael’s
brother Joseph, set in motion a dangerous plan to escape by tunneling
under the Berlin Wall.

Determined to stop any hope of
gaining freedom, the East German Stasi, the dreaded secret police of
the communist state, formed Department XX/4 to infiltrate and spy on
the Church in East Germany.

Faced with betrayal, dangerous
cave-ins, and family conflict, the trio enters a life-and-death race
against the Stasi and Department XX/4.

Can they gain their
freedom before they are caught by the Devil’s Spies from the Stasi?

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“It’s after two in the afternoon,” Angela complained to the nearby soldier. The GI studiously ignored Angela. He’d learned the hard way to ignore pretty girls when on duty. Hating the fact time moved so slowly, Angela decided the best course of action was to get a cup of tea before making her crossing into East Berlin. She’d expected to at least see Michael on the other side of the checkpoint, and if not Michael, then her fiancée’s partner in crime, Werner.

Shouting, followed by the sound of gunfire, jarred Angela out of her pique. A hundred or so yards from Check Point Charlie, a young man appeared at the top of the wall, caught in the wire. Spellbound, Angela watched as the man made no effort to free himself from the wire, simply rolling off the top of the wall and falling, taking several feet of barbed wire with him.

The bark of gunfire stopped, and a West Berlin police officer pulled himself up to the top of the wall and peered over, looking down. Screams from the onlookers propelled Angela forward. Sprinting towards the chaos, she could hear the cries of a man in pain, begging for help.

Another West Berlin police officer reached the wall as the first dropped down from it. They spoke, and the second officer climbed the wall and shouted to the man on the other side. Angela watched in horror as the second officer produced bandages and dropped them over the wall.

“Murderers!”

“Criminals!”

As an angry crowd gathered, Angela took notice of the escapee who had made it over the wall. He was cut and bleeding and clearly stunned by what had happened.

“You! You’re an American!”

Turning to the voice, Angela stared at the red, angry face of a young Berliner.

“Neither side will do anything to help him! Get the American soldiers!”

The sound of tear gas canisters being launched could be heard from somewhere on the other side of the wall. In seconds, tendrils of the greyish-white gas and its pungent smell began to reach across the wall.

The Berliner covered his face and pushed Angela. Shouting, “Go! Now, while there is still a chance to help him!” Angela nodded, relieved to suddenly find herself useful. She turned and ran as fast as her feet would take her to Check Point Charlie.

“Someone’s been shot trying to escape,” Angela panted as the Lt. in command of the detail came out to meet her. He said nothing, instead looking up in the sky at the helicopters that had suddenly appeared.

“We have our orders, Ma’am.”

“Your orders?!”

“Yes, Ma’am. We contacted General Watson for instructions.”

“Good, do something.”

“Ma’am, our orders are to stand down.”

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How did you come up with name of this book? 

 

More people had died under the rule of communist governments than any other form of government or ideology in human history. Something the devil himself would be proud of.

 

Throw that in with the fact the Church in East Germany was the target of the Stasi Department XX/4, it seemed like an appropriate name for a story set in East Berlin that involved the Communists infiltrating and spying on the East German Church and Christians.

 

The exact name came about after writing down about ten combinations of the words devil, spies, and some other topics related to Cold War Berlin. Once I wrote down The Devil’s Spies the title simply made complete sense to me.

 

Perhaps it should be noted I always come up with the title of the book I am writing before starting the first chapter.

 

What is your favorite part of this book and why? 

 

The different levels of conflict found within the story. Conflict is a part of life.

 

If you could spend time with a character from The Devil’s Spies, who would it be? And what would you do during that day? 

 

Joseph Werner. I would love to sneak around with him and see how he goes about running his assorted black-market enterprises. It would be interesting to see who his customers are as well.

 

Are your characters based off real people or did they all come entirely from your imagination? 

 

In the case of The Devil’s Spies, many of the characters are fictionalized versions of real, historical figures who are well known such as President Kennedy, Vice President LBJ, and Mayor Willy Brandt. Others are obscure and sadly, often forgotten today. For example, Peter Fechter, the youth who was shot trying to climb the Berlin Wall and died in the attempt, is largely a footnote in history today.

 

The remainder are figments of my imagination who decided to take part in the telling of the story that became The Devil’s Spies.

 

Do your characters seem to hijack the story, or do you feel like you have the reigns of the story? 

 

My characters like to tell me their story. Especially if I know them well. Periodically, I have to set them straight and control what they say and do. But, by and large, they inspire the story. It’s just a matter of knowing and understanding your characters.

 

Convince us why you feel your book, The Devil’s Spies, is a must read. 

 

It’s a cautionary tale based on historical events. Humanity has an infinite capacity for both evil and stupidity, both of which are driven by laziness or greed of the worst kind. Despite having a historical record to show us the folly of our choices, we will repeat the same mistakes of the past over and over.

 

People seem to have this blind willingness to “let the government do it.” It’s a dangerous thing to trade freedom of choice and personal liberty for a promise of security. Small people will seek out the positions of power over others and once they have that power, they will do whatever it takes to extinguish the slightest hint resistance or individual free thinking.

 

The great lie of communism is that it promises equality. It doesn’t. Lenin believed in the need to create an elite, intellectual ruling cadre that controlled the masses, the same masses he promised to elevate and set free from the chackles of oppression.

 

How well did that turn out?

 

What’s even worse, is that if you rob one man to pay another, you make both of them poor, if not in terms of actual poverty, then in poverty of life and the ability to create and make things prosper. People don’t grasp the fact that government, any form of government, doesn’t create anything.

 

Now, people will say, “look at all the jobs the government created.” Those are government jobs, paid for by the money of the taxpayers, who happen to be the ones who take all the risks, do all the innovating, and do the real work of building an economy. Government merely acts as a conduit to transfer the wealth and economic prosperity created by others to whatever group or individual the government sees fit.

 

History shows us the Berlin Wall wasn’t built to protect East Berlin. It was built to keep the citizens of East Germany and other parts of the Eastern Bloc from fleeing communism. Economics were a consideration as well as the Soviet Union and East Germany were losing the very individuals necessary to produce economic activity so the communists could redistribute the products those with education and skill would produce.

 

The Stasi spied on everyone. The organization kept records on everyone. The driving force behind Department XX/4 was the fact the Church was the one place where people had some small degree of freedom and within the confines of the church body, people would speak freely about things they dare not whisper anywhere else.

 

Throw in the fact that communism cannot tolerate any social force that dictates what is morally right and wrong and will often protest the excesses of the government and you have an institution that must be destroyed. It was surprising the Church and Christianity was allowed to exist at all.

 

As I take in the news on a daily basis, I find it disturbing how intrusive government has become. Not just the United States government, but the so-called democracies of the West. London is the most surveilled city in the world. The FBI has gone on record, begrudgingly, as having deliberately infiltrated the Catholic Church in the United States and placing believers who attend traditional Latin mass on lists of possible domestic terrorists.

 

Each day, the government seems to be encroaching more and more into the lives of citizens. Many welcome this encroachment. They feel it makes their life safer and the government will provide for them. They don’t realize they have made a deal with the devil.

 

So, if you want to read it that way, The Devil’s Spies can be seen as a cautionary tale. That government should be kept as far away as possible from certain aspects of people’s lives. Freedom to speak what is on one’s mind as well as the choice to worship the God one believes in, or not, are fundamental human freedoms that are not granted by government.

 

Or you can simply read it as a story. A story I hope every reader finds entertaining and engaging.

 

Fun Facts/Behind the Scenes/Did You Know?’-type tidbits about the author, the book, or the writing process of the book. 

 

The Devil’s Spies was not written in chronological order. I wrote the first few chapters in order to introduce the primary characters. Then I moved on to the actual events that were included in dramatized form in the book. Once those segments were finished, I worked on different storylines that made up the story as a whole. Finally, I pieced everything together and worked to make the story an integrated whole as far as the big picture story went.

 

I have a general idea when I sit down to tell a story how I want it to start and how I want it to end. In general, I have some ideas of what goes in the middle. As the characters develop, they seem to sort of take on a life of their own and tell me the remainder of the story. Of my seventeen novels and novellas, none of them were written from start to finish in chronological order.

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 U.S.A. Today and Amazon Best-Selling author is the creator of the
scifi crime noir series of Inspector Thomas Sullivan novels as well
as the southern noir series of stories centering around the private
investigator James Benoit “Heat” Heatley.

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A longtime fan of
crime noir and science fiction, director Ridley Scott’s adaptation
of Philip K. Dick’s sci-fi classic Do Androids Dream of Electric
Sheep into the masterful Harrison Ford vehicle Bladerunner encouraged
Sivils to consume as much of both genres as possible in his younger
years.

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A fan of past noir
masters such as Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, Sivils also
enjoys the current generation of storytellers like Sandra Woffington,
Tom Folwer, Jeff Edwards, Renee Pawlish, and James Scott Bell.

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In addition to his
aforementioned series, Sivils is also the creator of the Agent Nelson
Paine Historical Mystery series set during WW II and the early years
of the Cold War.

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In a previous life,
Sivils was a varsity basketball coach and high school history
teacher. He and his wife, Lisa, have three adult children, seven
grandchildren, and two four legged furry children who still live at
home, Bella and Mr. Darcy.

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Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!

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Enter to win a  $10 Amazon giftcard,
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ebook of The Devil’s Spies,

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ebook of The Price of a Lie,

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ebook of Murder on the Harz Mountain Railway

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– 1 winner each!

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Welcome to my stop on the virtual book tour for Picasso’s Lovers organized by Goddess Fish Promotions.

Author Jeanne Mackin will award a randomly drawn winner a $25 Amazon or B&N Gift Card. Don’t forget to enter!

And you can click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Picasso’s Lovers

by Jeanne Mackin

 

 

Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis

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You know Pablo Picasso. Now meet the women behind the masterpieces. The women of Picasso’s life are glamorous and elusive, existing in the shadow of his fame – until, in the 1950’s, aspiring journalist Alana Olsen determines to bring one into the light and discovers a past complicated by secrets and intrique.

 

Enjoy this peek inside:

Gazes from Pablo Picasso are like brushstrokes. Some are long, lingering, full of texture and pigment. Some are short, shallow, even accidental. His gaze on me now falls somewhere between the two.

Once, his gaze would have found enough for an entire painting. He would have seen flesh, and the bone and muscle under the flesh, the question or certainty of the eyes. He would have seen past, present, and future and painted them in a way that made time irrelevant.

Yes, that was how he pained me. Everything and at once, all the angles and geometry of the body, and he made of me something eternal and always beautiful. That is what an artists can do for a woman. When most men looked at me, all I saw in their faces was desire, the urge to possess. When Pablo looked at me, his face filled with wonder waiting to be translated to lines and brushstrokes.

Spring. The second year of the Great War. I wasn’t twenty yet, and had returned from cold, starving Moscow, where a loaf of bread coast as much as a silk dress…Back to Paris for me!

When Pablo first saw me, I was sitting on the rim of the Wallace Fountain in Place Emile, face turned up to the sun like a basking cat, enjoying the fine day and wondering what adventure I might find…It was early summer. I had stolen a bunch of cherries at Les Halles and a roll, but my stomach rattled.

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About Author Jeanne Mackin:

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Jeanne Mackin is the author of several historical novels, including The Last Collection, which has been translated into five languages, and The Beautiful American, which won a CNY award for fiction. She has taught in the MFA Creative Writing program at Goddard College and won journalism awards, and is currently at work on her next novel.

Author Links: Website / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram

Purchase Link: Amazon

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For a list of my reviews go HERE.

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She Who Rides Horses: A Saga of the Ancient Steppe (Book One)

by Sarah V. Barnes

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Category:  Adult Fiction (18+),  267 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher:  Lilith House Press
Release date:  March 2022
Content RatingPG.  It contains two kissing scenes and the death of an animal.

Book Description:

Set more than 6,000 years ago, She Who Rides Horses: A Saga of the Ancient Steppe (Book One) begins the story of Naya, the first person to ride a horse.

Daughter of a clan chief, bolder than other girls but shunned by the boys because of her unusual appearance, Naya wanders alone through the vast grasslands where her people herd cattle and hunt wild horses for their meat. But Naya dreams of creating a different kind of relationship with the magnificent creatures.

One day, she discovers a filly with a chestnut coat as uncommon as her own head of red hair. With time running out before she is called to assume the responsibilities of adulthood, Naya embarks on a quest to gallop with the red filly across the boundless steppe.

​Unwittingly, she sets in motion forces and events that will change forever the future of humans and horses alike.

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MY REVIEW

Long, long ago there lived a girl. Naya, the  daughter of a chief in her clan. Despite her role, she has dreams which she struggles to make her clan understand. Horses can be more than just food. Her dream is to tame a wild horse and ride it. What an advantage it would be.

I was pulled into this historical adventure from the synopsis. I was one of those young girls who dreamed of owning my own horse. How could I not enjoy a story about a young girl who is the first to ride a horse. What I quickly discovered as I got further into the book was the fascinating journey of Naya and her clan. How they lived a nomadic life much as Native Americans used to. The social dynamics and Naya’s place in the clan. And her spiritual journey. The author showed me her world and I was transported to another time, met members of other clans and was enthralled by Naya’s enchantment with the wild horses.

I have to read the next book. This one ends on a cliffhanger. That can sometimes annoy me. I like some kind of conclusion. But this time, I was just anxious to continue with a young girl’s journey. To be transported back to her world, which is so fascinating, and see what her future brings.

5 STARS

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Guest Post
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 Getting to Know Your Characters

When asked how I came up with the characters in my novel, She Who Rides Horses, I’m never quite sure how to answer. Rather than being made up, I feel as though they showed up. As the story started to unfold, I gradually got to know them. Take the main character – Naya – for example. When I began writing, I didn’t know her name – she was simply ‘the girl’. As the story moved along, I tried out various names derived from the language her people might have spoken, finally settling on one that seemed to fit. But then I happened to read a book of ancient myths from the land where Naya’s mother was from and realized Naya and her mother Sata could both be named for the same mythological character – Satanaya. It all seemed to fit – but I had to get to know both Naya and her mother first. As for Naya’s appearance – without any conscious intention on my part, she showed up in the first couple of paragraphs with red hair and blue eyes. Later, when I researched the origins of the genes for red hair and blue eyes, sure enough, I was able to verify that, although rare, those traits did exist among the people living in the steppes of what is now southern Russia around 4,000 BCE, where and when the story is set. Similarly, some characteristics of her personality were present from the beginning, like her tom-boyishness and her bravery and determination, but other aspects only emerged as I got to know her better, like her insecurities around not being the son she is certain her father would have preferred.

Besides Naya, I’ve enjoyed getting to know her grandmother, Awija, as well as her mother, Sata. Having three generations of women in the same family allows me to explore relationships and perspectives at three different life stages. Awija is Sata’s mother-in-law, so that adds an interesting dynamic. As a mother of daughters, I relate to Sata, although she also faces challenges that are not part of my personal experience. Writing about her longings and regrets has allowed me to come to understand her better. Awija plays a more limited role in the first book but she is one of my favorite characters. She’s full of wisdom. I’m enjoying getting to spend more time with her and learn from her as I work on book two.

And then, of course, there are the horses. They are very much characters in their own right, with individual personalities which I’ve also had to get to know. For Naya and the red filly, whose interactions drive the story, I’ve tried to portray their emerging relationship as authentically as possible, which can be a challenge when all the communication between them is non-verbal.

Each day when I sit down to write, it’s as though I’m entering into an ongoing conversation with friends, wondering what they will do and say next. It’s what keeps me coming back to my desk.

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Enjoy this excerpt from Chapter One:
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It was long after noon the next day before Naya was at last able to slip away. This time she was better prepared. In a deer skin bag slung over one shoulder she carried flint tools and kindling for making fire, a flint knife and enough food to last a day, as well as a full water skin. Over the other shoulder was coiled a long length of braided rawhide, strong enough, she hoped, to restrain the filly…

  She found the little band at dusk, when the sun’s afterglow cast blackening shadows across the landscape. She had just gained the top of a small rise and could see for some distance, despite the gathering darkness. There they were – blurred shapes silhouetted against the next range of hills. Succeeding ridges gained in height, verdant meadows giving way to forested slopes, behind which the sun had disappeared. The horses had led her to the edge of the grasslands…

  Naya shivered in the rapidly cooling air. The horses appeared to have stopped for the evening. The mares’ heads hung low, muzzles almost touching the ground in deep relaxation and she could make out several darker shapes that must be the foals, lying in the grass at their feet. Only the stallion stood alert, scenting the air for danger before dropping his head to grab a few mouthfuls of grass. Moments later, his head lifted again, keen eyes scanning the landscape.

Naya settled herself in the deep grass and rested her folded arms atop her knees. From her vantage on the rise downwind from the small band, she could sit and keep watch without arousing suspicion… Eventually, cheek resting on her forearms, she closed her eyes, and slept…

  At some point later in the night, she thought she awoke. Lifting her head from her folded arms, she checked the herd. They were as they’d been before, dozing in the lee of the hillside across from the rise where she sat. Even the stallion had relaxed his vigilance and stood with his head lowered. The full moon now rode high in the sky, bright enough to cast faint shadows. As Naya’s eyes adjusted to the night, the moon’s light illuminated a faint track leading down the rise at an angle from where the horses rested. She hadn’t noticed it before.

Rising, Naya moved as silently as she could, following the path in the moonlight. Soon, she found herself ascending another small rise, then descending, then rising again, until at last she stood at the edge of a ravine. Below, she could see a stream, shining in the moonlight, gurgling quietly as it flowed over its stony bed… Slipping and sliding, Naya made her way down the steep slope, scratching her skin against sharp rocks and thorny underbrush. At last she reached the bottom and looked around her. Along the ravine’s floor, smooth white stones marked the water course… Drawn onward, Naya followed the path upstream into a grove of trees.

  There, a wondrous sight met her eyes. Oaks and birches encircled a small pool of water, fed by an underground spring. Reflected in the pool’s clear, still surface was the round orb of the moon, casting its light from high above the rocky cliffs which formed the pool’s backdrop. Beside the pool stood the red filly, burnished coat softly aglow. Naya froze, rooted as if she were one of the trees, and stared. The filly, startled by the girl’s approach, stared back. Neither moved. Eventually, Naya remembered to breathe. In the next moment, she realized that she had left her rope, along with everything else she’d brought with her, back on the rise. Still, she and the filly stood motionless, looking at one another.

In that moment, Naya’s senses underwent an almost imperceptible shift; the moonlight became just a little brighter, the stream’s murmur became just a little louder, the slight breeze rustling the leaves in the trees became just a little fresher against her skin. In the next moment, she seemed to feel the filly’s thoughts.

  I will grant your heart’s desire, but only if you are able to grant mine. The musical voice resonated within the core of Naya’s being, even though no sound other than the splash of flowing water and whisper of the wind in the trees disturbed the silence of the grove. What is your heart’s desire?

  Awestruck, Naya could only gaze back at the young horse, who now regarded her with luminous dark eyes in which fear had given way to curiosity. Finally, she found her own voice. “I wish to be with you,” she said simply. “I wish to touch your coat.” Then, from deep inside, another longing welled up, a yearning so audacious she almost couldn’t bring herself to speak. Hesitatingly, she uttered the words. “I wish,” she said, “to ride upon your back.”

  Ah, the red filly seemed to reply, if this is indeed your deepest desire, then you must see with the eyes of your heart and create ties without the use of a rope. And when you have succeeded in granting my heart’s desire, then shall yours be granted also.

  Before Naya could begin to ponder the meaning of the words, the filly brushed past her in a chestnut blur and was gone, disappearing through the trees toward the mouth of the ravine. Gazing after her, Naya shook her head, as if to clear her senses. Water still flowed in the creek and a breeze still rustled among the leaves. The moon still cast its dim glow – but the moment of utter clarity had vanished, just as suddenly as the young horse. Shaking herself again, as if awakening from a dream, Naya retraced her steps to the mouth of the ravine. There was no sign of the red filly…

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Meet the Author:

Sarah V. Barnes, Ph.D. is both an historian and a horsewoman. When Sarah is not writing stories, she practices and teaches riding as a meditative art. She also offers equine-facilitated coaching and wellness workshops.

Sarah holds a Ph.D. in history from Northwestern University and spent many years as a college professor before turning full-time to riding and writing. She has two grown daughters and lives with her husband, her dogs and her horses near Boulder, CO.

connect with the author: website facebook ~  goodreads

 
 
 
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Burning Secret tour banner

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Welcome to my stop during the book blitz for Burning Secret by R J Lloyd. Burning Secret blurs the line between fact and fiction, a retelling of the extraordinary life of Harry Mason – deceit, violence, power and wealth.

This blog tour is organized by Lola’s Blog Tours and the tour runs from 25 till 31 March. You can see the tour schedule here.

Limited time discount!
For a limited time Burning Secret is only 99 cents! You can grab your copy here.

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Burning Secret

By R J Lloyd

 

Genre: Historical Fiction
Age category: Adult
Release Date: 28 June 2022

 

Synopsis

Burning Secret is a dramatic and compelling tale of ambition, lies, and betrayal inspired by actual events.

Born in the slums of Bristol in 1844, Enoch Price seems destined for a life of poverty and hardship—but he’s determined not to accept his lot.

Enoch becomes a bare-knuckle fighter in London’s criminal underworld. But in a city where there’s no place for honest dealing, he is cheated by a cruel loan shark, leaving him penniless and facing imprisonment.

Undaunted, he escapes to a new life in America and embarks on a series of audacious exploits. But even as he helps shape history, Enoch is not content. Tormented by his past and the life he left behind, he soon becomes entangled in a web of lies and secrets.

Will he ever break free and find the happiness he craves?

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Influenced by real people and events, Enoch’s remarkable story is one of adventure, daring, political power and, in the end, his search for redemption.

Links:
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Interview with Author RJ Lloyd

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Tell us about your book:

Burning Secret – It’s a true story. Well, almost, at least in my imagination. Burning Secret blurs the lines between fact and fiction as it reconstructs the real-life of Harry Mason, and is a story that many of us can relate to in our own families. It begins with Enoch Price, my great-great-grandfather, being born into the poverty of the Bristol slums of 1844, but he was determined not to follow his father to a brutal and early death.

An ambitious youth, Enoch becomes a bare-knuckle fighter amongst London’s underworld. But when misfortune befalls him and, facing ruin and imprisonment, he abandons his wife and daughters and flees to Florida. It’s here that Enoch becomes Harry Mason.

An opportunist by nature, Harry embarks on a series of risky escapades, playing an important role in the development and history of Jacksonville, building an extraordinary new life of wealth and power.

Enjoying popular success, Harry is elected to the city council and, in 1903, to the Florida State House of Representatives with the prospect of becoming State Governor. However, success brings neither happiness nor contentment. Seeking redemption for his many misdeeds, Harry plans to return home – but life is rarely that simple, especially as Harry harbours a secret that burns deep inside him.

I think the story operates on several levels; as a fast-paced thriller with plenty of derring-do, a morality tale of good vs greed, and how life can easily corrupt the pursuit of happiness.

 

In a nutshell, tell us what your readers should know about you: 

After retiring as a senior police officer, I turned my detective skills to genealogy, tracing my family history to the 16th century. However, after 15 years of extensive research, I couldn’t track down my great-great-grandfather, Enoch Price, whose wife, Eliza, had, in living memory, helped raise my mother.

It was my cousin Gillian who, after several more dead-ends, called one day to say that she had found him through a fluke encounter. Susan Sperry from California, who had recently retired, decided to explore the box of documents given to her thirty years before by her mother, which she had never opened. In the box, she found some references to her great grandfather, Harry Mason, a wealthy hotel owner from Florida who had died in 1919. It soon transpired that Susan’s great grandfather, Harry Mason, was, in fact, Enoch Price. From this single thread, the extraordinary story of Harry Mason began to unravel, leading me to visit the States to meet my American cousins, and it was Susan Sperry and Kimberly Mason, direct descendants, who persuaded me to write the book.

I graduated from Warwick with a joint in Philosophy and Psychology and a Masters in Marketing from UWE. Since leaving a thirty-year career in policing, I’ve been a non-executive director with the NHS, social housing, and other charities. I live with my wife in Bristol, spending my time travelling, writing and producing delicious plum jam from the trees on my award-winning allotment.

 

What topic or subject have you found it most challenging to write about?

I found the main character’s most inner thoughts and tormented emotions in Burning Secret were the most challenging. Describing the objective world of sights and sounds pose challenges, but conveying the emotions and heartache concealed deep inside, where often there are no overt behaviours, is made doubly worse by the writer’s advice of ‘show don’t tell.’

In my book, the main character must maintain a double life while burdened by the guilt that tortures him. Finding the words to describe his feelings as he struggles to resolve his dilemma was not easy, but these feelings play an important role in shedding light on the motives for what he has done.

 

What would you like to achieve with the publication of your book?

At the very least, I’d like to inspire others to wonder about their family history. Tracing ancestors has never been more popular or accessible, and what if these lost relatives turn out to be far more intriguing or extraordinary than one might have ever guessed – fact stranger than fiction?

Throughout my professional life, I’ve written; evidence to put before the courts and then, more latterly, reports to various statutory bodies seeking additional funding. You soon find out if your product is any good by the outcomes. So now I want to know if my novel and storytelling have merit, and it’ll be the readers who will decide through their reviews, recommendations and book sales.

 

What do you most enjoy about writing?

My first passion is gardening. There is so much pleasure when the blooms are in full blush during the warmth of a summer’s afternoon, and the vegetables swell and flourish. But this pleasure doesn’t come without pain and disappointments, and not everything you plant will grow or be good enough to reach the judges’ show table.

And perhaps writing is similar. Writing is not always enjoyable. Sometimes it can be frustrating, tedious and difficult when the ideas won’t fly, or the words won’t join into sentences. But like gardening, it’s creative. You create your version of the world, sharing your views and opinions with others and, like any conversation or standing on the box at Speaker’s Corner, not everyone will like what you have to say – but at least you’ve said it.

No two gardens are the same, which is true of authors and books, but the pride and joy of creating is.

 

How have you found your journey to publication?

Burning Secret arose from a conversation in 2012 with my two American cousins, Susan and Kimberley, who encouraged me to tell the extraordinary story of our shared ancestor, Harry Mason. It’s a massive disappointment that neither are with us today to witness its publication. And, as you’ll see, I’ve dedicated the book to their memory.

After many attempts at navigating the labyrinth of the query system, I realised that literary agents and publishers didn’t see me as a commercial prospect. At 70 years of age, I couldn’t waste time going down the traditional route. It wasn’t a career as an author I wanted; it was to fulfil a promise I’d made to Susan and Kim.

So, after reading an inspirational article by the best selling self-published author, Paige Weaver (Promise me darkness) and discovering that in 2017, over one million books were published in the United States, and two-thirds of them were self-published, the way forward was clear – and Matador, an imprint of Troubadour, was the obvious choice.

I liked the open and responsive team at Matador, who put me at the centre of decision-making and worked hard to meet their authors’ expectations to produce a book indistinguishable from a traditional publisher.

 

If you could give one piece of advice to your younger self, what would it be?

Well, I’m going to dodge this question. There’s never one piece of advice and too many what-ifs in life. I have one huge regret for not asking my parents about their lives and the history they lived through; two world wars, the Great Depression, rationing, the swinging sixties, and the roaring twenties. None of which they ever spoke about.

 

What do you think makes a good story?

This is the million-dollar question. There are plenty of creative writing courses that list the essentials of a good story. Some say there are three key elements, while others list ten; structure, character, plot, tension, and so on. I tend to go with the W. Somerset Maugham school of thought, “There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.”

But more seriously, a story that grabs and holds my interest must be authentic, relevant, and real to my experiences and imagination. Most of which depends on the storytelling and the flow of the language. I’m impatient, so a plot must race along to keep me turning the pages, and I want a main character that I can keep rooting for, even if they’re a bit iffy. And I like a book that keeps me thinking long after I’ve come to its end.

 

Do you have any tips for other budding authors?

Tell your story in your own voice, write from the heart and persevere, despite the naysayers – of which there will be many. Writing can sometimes be a slog, but you’ve got to keep going. If you’re going to publish, then invest in a good cover and quality production. Money spent on editing and proofreading is never wasted. There’s little point in going through the wringer to publish if no one is going to read it, so give it your best shot with marketing, and these days that means social media. Marketing is enormously important, but it’s tough, and most writers I meet wince at having to traipse around selling their cherished work. Still, the sad truth is, no one else is going to do it for you, not even in traditional publishing – but that doesn’t mean it can’t be fun.

 

Do you have a set writing routine and where do you like to write?

I’d like to tell you I write on my verandah overlooking the tropical Caribbean Sea, like Fleming at Goldeneye or Hemingway at his Lookout Farm in Cuba, but I can’t. I write from a small bedroom office.

One thing I like to do is to have a routine. My background, I suppose, has instilled the need to plan and schedule. Most of my productive writing occurs between 8 am and midday, but that’s not when I do my best thinking. That’s during the afternoons pottering in the garden or on the allotment. But clarity of thought, when all the ideas gel together, seems to arrive just as I’m about to nod off to sleep. And from bitter experience, I’ve learnt that I must wake myself and make notes because, by morning, every recollection will have deserted me.

 

Whats next in the writing pipeline for you?

I’m currently working on a couple of projects. The first is about another one of my close ancestors, Frederick Henry Seddon, who was hanged at HMP Pentonville for murder in 1912. His story has been told before, but never, as far as I know, from the family’s perspective. Another project involves a recently discovered family connection with two brothers, Peter and Veniamin Timkov, from the Russian village of Mukhouderovka, where Stalin’s secret police executed them both.

 

Is there anything else youd like to add?

When one starts writing, it’s difficult to identify yourself as an author. But you only have to look at Twitter or Facebook to see how social media has democratised writing and has given a voice to so many aspiring authors – so please, have a go.

I’ve learnt such a lot from being involved in the process of publication. Next time I’ll be much better prepared, thinking about the title and book cover long before writing the opening paragraph.

I’d like to take a moment to thank everyone at Matador for their hard work and tremendous talent, and patience in bringing Burning Secret to the market.

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Burning Secret discount graphic

About Author RJ Lloyd:

 

R J Lloyd author picture

Roger is the great-great-grandson of the main character, Enoch Price. A former senior police officer and detective, he has used his investigative skills to fashion this dramatised account of his ancestor’s extraordinary life. Fifteen years of genealogical research and interviews support the various factual strands of this pacy novel.

Roger graduated from both Warwick and UWE and has been a non-executive director with the NHS, social housing, and other charities.

He is retired and lives in Bristol with his wife. He travels, writes and produces delicious plum jam from the trees on his award-winning allotment.

Author links:
Website
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram

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Rocked in Time is set in the rebellion, love, and chaos of the 1960s and ‘70s and explores a world of resistance and celebrates those who dared to buck the system in those turbulent times…

By Charles Degelman

 

 

Book Blurb

 

Rocked in Time (Volume Three in
the Resistance Trilogy) slips behind the scenes of a blasphemous
theater company hell-bent on toppling America’s Vietnam-era
establishment with punch lines, pratfalls, and comic rebellion. Along
the way, our protagonist pursues a love for the stage, a passion for
resistance, and the intimate politics of sexual revolution amid the
tear-gassed campuses and burning cities of a nation at war with itself.

Release Date: October 18, 2022

Publisher: Harvard Square Editions

Soft Cover: 978-1941861882; 408 pages; $22.95

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3AhO7NW

Book Excerpt  

RATMAN MEETS THE 50-FOOT HINDU

The Emeryville flats used to stink of the tide. Dead fish, drying algae, bottles and cans, old tires lay scattered over a landscape of mud and sewage. Stick figures perched on the muddy edges of the East Bay, fanciful driftwood and tin creatures standing stork-legged in the mud, stick-flapping arms, wings, feathers, broken brooms, old flags, weathervanes, hubcaps, rusted saw blades, other detritus.

Celebrating America’s junk. Resistance. We drove together, my cousin Eric and I, in a VW bus weathered to a chalky blue. Across the flats, the Bay Bridge arched toward Angel Island and beyond, to the summer fog bank of San Francisco. We bounced into the Haight-Ashbury to check out a band my cousin had written to me about the previous winter. He called them the Jefferson Airplane and they were playing at a little club called The Matrix.

We were stoned on Mexican weed. I was reciting lines from Ratman Meets the 50-Foot Hindu, a play I had recently closed back in Harvard’s experimental, black box theater. I played a 50-foot Hindu who had journeyed to America to avenge the murder of the sacred cow. This zealot took his revenge by stomping his burger-munching victims to death with a set of hooves.

I’d picked up the fake Indian accent from the cultural ether without offense. White people had begun to stir, waking to the notion that civil rights were human rights and that racism was alive and well in America. When Ratman and the 50-foot Hindu walked the earth, India still seemed like a distant, overpopulated nation, shaped by British colonialism, its independence two decades old but still imbued with the nonviolence of Gandhi and the meditative power of the spinning wheel. The Maharishi hadn’t yet hustled The Beatles, India and Pakistan hadn’t yet become nuclear powers, Bangladesh hadn’t been flooded out by cyclones, and John and Yoko’s meditations hadn’t dispatched my generation on a simpleton’s goose chase.

So, my Hindu accent was still okay and my character diabolical, a complex being who, beyond his fierce and scheming interior, presented himself as an addled older gentleman whose faith had been defiled by America’s hamburger fetish. He was a man with a mission. But the 50-foot Hindu had proven to be no match for Ratman.

In the finale, the superhero and his diabolically tragic foe squared off in a revolving restaurant high above the city.

More…

 

 

 

 

 

About the Author

 

 

Charles Degelman is an award-winning
author, performer, and producer living in Los Angeles. After graduating
Harvard, Degelman left academia to become an antiwar activist, political
theater artist, musician, communard, carpenter, hard-rock miner, and
itinerant gypsy trucker. When the dust settled, he returned to his first
love, writing.

A Bowl Full of Nails, set in the rural counterculture of the 1970s, collected a Bronze Medal from the 2015 Independent Publishers Book Awards and Gates of Eden, set during the anti-war movement of the 1960s, won an Independent Publishers book award.

Degelman’s screenplay Fifty-Second Street garnered an award from the Diane Thomas Competition, sponsored by UCLA/Dreamworks. A second screenplay, The Red Car, reached finalist status in Francis Ford Coppola’s American Zoetrope Screenplay Contest.

In addition, Degelman has written and
produced documentary and educational films for TNT, Churchill Films,
Pyramid Films, and Philips Interactive Media. He co-founded Indecent
Exposure, a Los Angeles-based theater company dedicated to creating
original, high-quality, socially relevant work for the stage. Degelman
is on the faculty of California State University where he teaches writing in the Communication Studies Department.

His latest book is the historical fiction, Rocked in Time.

Website / Twitter / Instagram

 

Sponsored By:

 

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For a list of my reviews go HERE.

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Welcome to my stop on the virtual book tour for Wild Salvation organized by Goddess Fish Promotions.

Author Alfred Stifsim will be awarding a $30 Amazon Gift Card to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Don’t forget to enter!

And you can click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Wild Salvation

by Alfred Stifsim

Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis

Johnson is accused of assaulting a white woman, a deadly charge for a black man in 1876. Knowing he’ll be lynched if he stays in St. Andrews, Indiana, Johnson flees to the grassy plains of Kansas looking for the freedom unavailable to him back East. What Johnson doesn’t know is that the woman’s father is a powerful businessman determined to track him down. For a man on the run, the West seems like the perfect place for someone withdrawn like Johnson to become a new person, until a top Pinkerton agent named Cole Charles comes into town hunting outlaws.

When Cole Charles discovers Johnson is a wanted man, Johnson has no choice but to flee again. This time he escapes to Fort Worth, Texas, where he meets a rowdy woman named Eddie who is quick with a joke and even quicker with her pistol. Despite his lack of experience, Eddie hires Johnson to be a wrangler on a cattle drive made up of other black cowboys headed to Wyoming. With Cole Charles on his trail, the cattle drive will take Johnson further than he ever imagined and force him to confront his greatest fear when he comes face to face with Cole Charles himself.

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Enjoy this peek inside:

The clouds began to break, allowing the white light of the thick crescent moon to shine down, lighting the road. As Johnson made his way back to the jail, he mulled over Rex’s offer. His stay in Flatridge was his longest since fleeing Saint Andrews, and in that time, not a single traveler from out of town had showed any interest in him until Margret tried to get friendly. Then the next day, Cole Charles showed up, prodding around as if he were looking for more than just bandits. That didn’t sit right with him. Could Margret’s advances have been a ploy to catch him in a vulnerable state?

 

What if she’s trying to trick me? he wondered. What if they’re working together? Then he remembered. Cole Charles had been at the inn while he was drinking with Rex! What about Rex?

 

Johnson paused as he pulled up to the jail again and sat in silence for several minutes, staring out at the town before shaking his head. No, it’s been a long day. You’re letting it get to you.

 

The only reason Rex and Margret were still in town was because Cole Charles needed the stagecoach. Cole Charles was the only one worth worrying about. If it wasn’t for his investigation, they’d have moved on by now. They’ll both be gone by tomorrow. She’ll be gone after tomorrow.

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About Author Alfred Stifsim:

Alfred Stifsim is a member of Western Writers of America and has published several short stories about the American West. “The Bastard of the Black Hills,” won second prize in ropeandwire.com’s 2019 short story contest, and “Max and Sherri” was included in Cowboy Jamboree Magazine’s Fall 2020 issue. His short story about Eddie, “A Night Out with the Cowboys,” was published by Close to the Bone (UK) in August 2021.

Alfred Stifsim graduated from IUPUI with a bachelor’s in American History (2014, Indianapolis). From there he worked as an interpretive naturalist for the Indiana Department of Natural Resources before transitioning to park maintenance. He is currently an electrician with IBEW 481 in Indianapolis.

You can find more information at alfredstifsim.com, on Twitter @AStifsim, or Instagram and Facebook @alfredatifsim_author.

 

Amazon buy link: HERE

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Welcome to my stop on the virtual book tour for Rip To The Rescue organized by Goddess Fish Promotions.

The author will be awarding a print copy of the book to three randomly drawn winners (US only). Don’t forget to enter!

Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Rip To The Rescue

by Miriam Halahmy

51868085

Synopsis

It’s 1940 and Nazi bombs are raining down on London, but 13-year-old bike messenger Jack has just discovered something unbelievable: a stray dog with a surprising talent.

Jack navigates the smoky, ash-covered streets of London amid air raid sirens and falling bombs, dodging shrapnel and listening for cries for help, as a bike messenger for fire crews. When Jack finds a dog, miraculously still alive after the latest Nazi bombing of London, he realizes there’s something extra special about the shaggy pup–he can smell people who are trapped under debris.

With his new canine companion, nicknamed Rip because of the dog’s torn ear, maybe Jack can do more than just relay messages back-and-forth–he can actually save lives. And if Jack’s friend Paula is right about the impending Nazi invasion, he and Rip will need to do all they can to help Jewish families like hers.

There’s just one problem: Jack has to convince his ill-tempered father to let him keep Rip.

Based on true episodes during the London Blitz in World War II, this action-packed and touching story explores the beginnings of search-and-rescue dogs and the bravery and resourcefulness of young people determined to do their part for their country.

Amazon

 Check out this peek inside:

The Blitz was bad that night. The German bombers were dropping showers of incendiaries all over London, and St. Pancras Station was a target once again. Incendiaries were small, but they were dropped in baskets containing hundreds.

The fires they caused lit up the streets like a beacon for the bombers to then drop high explosives. In between, the streets were pitch dark in the blackout made worse by the constant swirl of thick smoke. Jack rode with a wet handkerchief tied around his mouth like a mask to stop breathing in the choking air.

It was bad around Camden, Holborn, and the West End, but Jack knew the East End was getting the worst. A great blanket of smoke sat permanently on the horizon toward the river, and every night the bombers tore into the docks and the homes in the narrow streets. Hundreds were killed, thousands wounded, and the hospitals were so blocked up that the Warden told the boys to use the first- aid post instead.

“If you just need a few stitches, don’t go the hospitals, boys. There’s them what needs it more.”

Jack had been up the top of Parliament Hill fields with Mum to see the damage.

“Those poor people,” was all Mum said in a quiet voice.

The wardens said a lot more, and in not such nice language.

“You wouldn’t believe it when they drop them high-explosive bombs,” Warden Yates had told them. “I was visiting my sister in Bermondsey just as they started on the East End. The air was so wild it pushed and pulled me every which way. I thought my eyeballs would be sucked out my head. Couldn’t even get my breath that night, there was smoke like acid all around us. The neighbor’s shirt was ripped off by the blast.”

“What about our boys on the river?” put in another man.

“They had the fireboats pumping water onto the docks, and the fires were so hot the paint blistered on the side of the boats.”

“My cousin’s crew said the fire leapt the river, burning on both sides. Cranes was crashing over and the whole dock’s on fire,” another man said. He shook his head and stared at his boots.

Jack wanted to ask what happened to the man’s cousin, but he didn’t dare. Warden Yates knocked his pipe out against a wall and said, “All those homes on fire, people staggering around the streets with kiddies— how much more can they take?”

No one answered as they turned back to work.

About Author Miriam Halahmy:

Miriam Halahmy is a poet, special needs educator, and novelist. She has worked with refugees in schools as well as in workshops she led for PEN and the Medical Foundation for the Victims of Torture. Her books include Behind Closed Doors and Hidden, which was nominated for the Carnegie Medal.

Website / Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn 

Holiday House

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Hi y’all! Thanks for visiting my stop on the virtual book tour for Where Demons Dance organized by Goddess Fish Promotions.

Emma Briedis will be awarding a $20 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

And be sure to click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Where Demons Dance

by Emma Briedis

demons dance cover

Synopsis

A desperate widow…

It’s 1874 in Cedar City, Utah Territory, when Penelope Cavey finds her beloved husband, Henri, dead from a gunshot wound and the mysterious phrase, “demons dance” carved into the parlor mirror. Despite her brother’s attempts to dissuade her, Penelope is determined to find Henri’s killer and sets out alone for St. Joseph, a rural town in Utah—following the only clue Henri left for her.

A lying father…

Ava Patton is haunted by dreams of another life. Her nightmares give way to reality when her caring stepmother, Nellie, confirms her rising suspicions that the man who claims to be her father is only pretending to be, and that her real parents are dead. Astounded by this revelation, Ava sets out to uncover what became of her parents and in doing so, stumbles upon a heartbreaking tragedy. She is forced to stop her quest when her brother, Lawrence, falls seriously ill.

A labyrinth of a mansion…

Lawrence finds himself trapped within the winding halls of a large house, plagued by taunting voices as he struggles to escape. Unable to distinguish reality from the imaginary, Lawrence doesn’t know who or what imprisoned him there, nor to whom the house belongs. Lawrence realizes he holds the key and must find Ava and Penelope before another person is silenced.

Check out this peek inside:

“Henri?” she called out but received no response. The rhythmic ticking of the clock in the next room taunted her.

Where is he?! she thought with resentment.

She stepped into the parlor and froze. Her blood turned to ice as her stomach dropped, and a cold wave of fear washed over her.

Henri lay across the room on the floor, his lifeless eyes staring at the ceiling. A large puddle of blood had seeped from the bullet hole in the side of his head. His black hair was soaked in blood, and his hands lay limp at his sides.

She rushed to his side and embraced him, his head lolling.

“Henri!” she screamed, pulling him close to her. “Henri, what happened to you?!”

Tears began to run from her eyes as she grasped him, the warm blood soaking the dress she wore.

“Darling, come back to me,” she cried, her voice quivering.

She began to shake with tears as she rocked back and forth, gripping her dead husband to her chest. Unable to contain it, she let out a gasp of grief, shocked at the very circumstances she found herself hurled into. Their useless argument from earlier that day was forgotten as she grasped his lifeless body. She fervently prayed that he would wake as thousands of memories flashed before her eyes. Rocking on her knees, the pain inside of her chest only increased. Time seemed to stand still as she held him, unwilling to let go.

About  Author Emma Briedis:

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demons dance author

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Emma Briedis has written six books in multiple genres, including fantasy, romance, and historical fiction with Where Demons Dance being her debut novel. After reading Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables at the age of thirteen, she decided to write a book of her own, and hasn’t stopped since. She lives in Southeastern Wisconsin with her dog, Chewie.

Purchase Link: Amazon

Website / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram

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For a list of my reviews go HERE.

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​A captivating novel of Renaissance Italy detailing the mysterious life of Bartolomeo Scappi, the legendary chef to several popes and author of one of the bestselling cookbooks of all time.
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The Chef's Secret by Crystal King

The Chef’s Secret

by Crystal King

Category: Adult fiction,  352 pages
Genre:  Historical Fiction
Publisher:  Atria/Simon & Schuster
Release date: Feb 12, 2019
Tour dates: Feb 11 to 28, 2019
Content Rating: R (for a couple of explicit, but loving, sex scenes (no abuse or rape) and minor curse words)

Synopsis

​A captivating novel of Renaissance Italy detailing the mysterious life of Bartolomeo Scappi, the legendary chef to several popes and author of one of the bestselling cookbooks of all time, and the nephew who sets out to discover his late uncle’s secrets—including the identity of the noblewoman Bartolomeo loved until he died.

When Bartolomeo Scappi dies in 1577, he leaves his vast estate—properties, money, and his position—to his nephew and apprentice Giovanni. He also gives Giovanni the keys to two strongboxes and strict instructions to burn their contents. Despite Scappi’s dire warning that the information concealed in those boxes could put Giovanni’s life and others at risk, Giovanni is compelled to learn his uncle’s secrets. He undertakes the arduous task of decoding Scappi’s journals and uncovers a history of deception, betrayal, and murder—all to protect an illicit love affair.

As Giovanni pieces together the details of Scappi’s past, he must contend with two rivals who have joined forces—his brother Cesare and Scappi’s former protégé, Domenico Romoli, who will do anything to get his hands on the late chef’s recipes.

With luscious prose that captures the full scale of the sumptuous feasts for which Scappi was known, The Chef’s Secret serves up power, intrigue, and passion, bringing Renaissance Italy to life in a delectable fashion.

Buy Links:

Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble ~ Indiebound
Books-a-Million ~ Kobo ~ iTunes
Google Play ~ Book Depository

Add to Goodreads

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Enjoy the interview with author Crystal King

What did you like most about writing The Chef’s Secret?

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I love writing about food and Bartolomeo Scappi was one of the most fascinating culinary characters I could have chosen. I loved exploring the cookbook he wrote in 1570 and learning all the regional food traditions. The Renaissance is also such a fun time in history to research–there are so many colorful, artistic characters that lived during that time whom my main character may have known. I loved that I could add famous artists like Benvenuto Cellini and Michelangelo as characters–it’s very probably that Bartolomeo had cooked them a meal at some point in his life.

Do you ever cook any of the recipes described in your book?

Yes! That’s one of the most exciting things to me about exploring the lives of Italian culinary heroes. I think to really know my characters I have to cook the foods that they would have cooked or at least make a grand attempt to. The recipes aren’t always easy to decipher, and many of the ingredients are not as familiar today to a modern palate. Or they are things we just don’t eat any more. For example, peacock, crane, calves eyeballs, hedgehog, or porcupine. But there are many things.There are many things in the 1570 cookbook that Bartolomeo Scappi wrote that we would find delicious, including apple crostata, braised beef, mushroom soup, fritters, and so much more. I include many of these recipes in The Chef’s Secret Companion cookbook, which can be found here. And if you are interested in ancient Roman food, check out my page all about the cuisine of that time, and you can also download the Feast of Sorrow companion cookbook too.

If you could put yourself as a character in your book, who would you be?

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This is hard because I don’t think of myself like my characters. Maybe Stella, Bartolomeo’s great love. Although, it’s funny, when I wrote Feast of Sorrow, my husband said, “oh you are  just like Thrasius,” who was one of the main characters in that book. I was floored, because I think I’m nothing like him, but apparently my subconscious is! When I finished The Chef’s Secret, I asked him if I was like Giovanni and he said absolutely not, so I think I might have successfully taken myself out of the book which is good.

Do you have another profession besides writing?

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I do. I work as a social media professor for a technology company. I develop video lessons on how to use all the social media platforms. Eventually I hope that I am only writing books, but it’s hard for authors to make a living today. Until I’m able to do that, I am lucky to have a day job that I also really love.

Do you ever get writer’s block? What helps you overcome it?

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I don’t. If anything, I get stopped by not having enough time or I don’t feel motivated–which is different than being blocked. I don’t think I would ever be somebody who could suffer from writer’s block–knock on wood. I went to school for my M.A. in critical and creative thinking, and as part of my thesis, I developed writing exercises for authors in progress– authors who are stuck with parts of their plot. And if I ever feel stuck, I go to one of those exercises to unstick myself. I also spend a lot of time talking to myself and working through plot problems. This sounds funny but it’s super helpful for me. I’m the person that you might be next to at a stoplight in your car, and you look over and that woman is just talking away to herself. That would be me asking myself questions. What if this happened? How do I get this character to do that? And I just explore all those ideas and questions out loud. It’s amazing how often answers will come to me when I’m talking to myself.

If you could go back in time, where would you go?

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This is a hard question because I have studied several different time periods, and while I would love to go back and be a fly on the wall in them, I think it would be difficult to want to live in those time frames, particularly as a woman. If I had to say, I would like to visit ancient Rome and see it in all of its beautiful splendor, and I would, of course, love to see Rome in the Renaissance, but well after the sack of Rome.

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Crystal King

About Author Crystal King

​Crystal King is an author, culinary enthusiast, and marketing expert. Her writing is fueled by a love of history and a passion for the food, language, and culture of Italy. She has taught classes in writing, creativity, and social media at several universities including Harvard Extension School and Boston University, as well as at GrubStreet, one of the leading creative writing centers in the US.

A Pushcart Prize–nominated poet and former co-editor of the online literary arts journal Plum Ruby Review, Crystal received her MA in critical and creative thinking from UMass Boston, where she developed a series of exercises and writing prompts to help fiction writers in medias res. She resides in Boston but considers Italy her next great love after her husband, Joe, and their two cats, Nero and Merlin. She is the author of Feast of Sorrow.

Connect with the author: Website ~ Twitter ~ Facebook ~ Pinterest ~ Instagram

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Spotlight Tour Schedule

Feb 11 – Working Mommy Journal – book spotlight / giveaway
Feb 11 – Essentially Italian – book spotlight / giveaway
Feb 12 – Viviana MacKade – book spotlight / author interview / giveaway
Feb 12 – A Fountain of Books – book spotlight / author interview / giveaway
Feb 12 – FUONLYKNEW – book spotlight / author interview / giveaway
Feb 13 – Elizabeth McKenna Romance Author – book spotlight / giveaway
Feb 13 – A Mama’s Corner of the World – book spotlight / giveaway
Feb 13 – 100 Pages A Day – book spotlight / giveaway
Feb 14 – Falling Into A Good Book – book spotlight
Feb 14 – Library of Clean Reads – book spotlight / author interview / giveaway
Feb 14 – Lukten av trykksverte – book spotlight / giveaway
Feb 15 – Paulette’s Papers – book spotlight / giveaway
Feb 15 – It’s All About the Book – book spotlight / author interview / giveaway
Feb 15 – Cat’s Corner – book spotlight / guest post / giveaway
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Title: One of Windsor: The Untold Story of America’s First Witch Hanging
Author:  Beth M. Caruso
Publisher: Ladyslipper Press
Pages: 358
Genre:  Historical Fiction

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My Review

It’s not something we think about in modern times. I can’t imagine being a woman back in the 1600s. There are few prospects beyond marriage. When Alice has no family left in England and no place to go, she takes a position with a wealthy family traveling to North America. They settle in Massachusetts Bay, and Alice hopes to reconnect with some family members there.

As Alice adjusts to her new country, she faces many obstacles. And it’s not the best time to be viewed as different or gifted. The witch scare is on and no one is safe from the persecution of the Puritans.

I fear for Alice, and even though I know how the story has to end, I want her to be safe. To be happy. She’s a gentle woman, loving, bright, and passionate about life.

You can tell the author did extensive research about the peoples and customs of these times. I felt like I’d dipped my toes into the past. The descriptive writing showed me this story. I was on the ship.  I marveled at the new wilderness, and walked the streets. And I read the minds of the people. The paranoid thinking of the Puritans. Their righteous wrath.

It was a scary time. One you may find hard to believe. But the hanging of witches did occur.  And this is Alice’s story. The story of the first witch hanging.

4 Stars

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Synopsis

Alice, a young woman prone to intuitive insights and loyalty to the only family she has ever known, leaves England for the rigid colony of the Massachusetts Bay in 1635 in hopes of reuniting with them again. Finally settling in Windsor, Connecticut, she encounters the rich American wilderness and its inhabitants, her own healing abilities, and the blinding fears of Puritan leaders which collide and set the stage for America’s first witch hanging, her own, on May 26, 1647.

This event and Alice’s ties to her beloved family are catalysts that influence Connecticut’s Governor John Winthrop Jr. to halt witchcraft hangings in much later years. Paradoxically, these same ties and the memory of the incidents that led to her accusation become a secret and destructive force behind Cotton Mather’s written commentary on the Salem witch trials of 1692, provoking further witchcraft hysteria in Massachusetts forty-five years after her death.

The author uses extensive historical research combined with literary inventions, to bring forth a shocking and passionate narrative theory explaining this tragic and important episode in American history.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble

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Enjoy the excerpt

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY, 1692

 

The elderly reverend knew it was crucial to stop Satan. As if in unison with the Dark Lord’s latest antics, tremendous bolts of lightning and deafening thunder heralded the ensuing rainstorm of that early autumn day in Boston. The reverend’s dedicated son would have preferred that he stay home by a fire and rest. Still feisty in his later years of life, he refused. He was fervently determined to discuss pertinent matters at hand concerning the witchcraft calamities in Salem and surrounding towns. As a minister, albeit a retired one, he felt responsible for guiding younger ministers, such as Cotton Mather, to make their congregations understand the menacing threats of witchcraft.

The aged minister was someone who had personally suffered through a demonic incursion in Windsor, a river town of the Connecticut Colony, back in 1647. He was fully cognizant of its evil impacts. Satan had infiltrated Windsor through a consort and witch whom he knew all too well. The Great Demon had been stealthy in his trickery. But this time, the respected pastor hoped to arrest the Devil’s mischief before the same level of destruction and harm could occur. Accordingly, he was there to offer his assistance to Cotton Mather in dealing with witchcraft presently taking hold in Massachusetts Bay towns and villages. The young minister welcomed him into his home.

 “Good day, dear Reverend. You must come in quickly out of the rain and take comfort by the hearth. I will have my servants bring you my finest cider and freshly baked, delicious cakes to eat. I have so much to share with you. By your experience, you have been the inspiration I have needed to start the work that we were speaking of the other week,” spoke Cotton Mather.

“Thank you, Cotton. It will warm my body as well as my heart to sit by the fire and hear of the inspirations that took hold of your soul. I hope it helped you to do the honorable task of warning our people of the great wrath of Satan,” replied the elderly reverend.

With that pronouncement, the old reverend took off his soggy cloak and sat down at a table next to the hearth. He paused and grew distinctly somber before continuing.

“Satan must not be allowed to advance further into our New England wilderness, for we have painstakingly worked at taming it over the years. Yet our young people lapse into disobedience of the commandments of Jesus Christ. Our current admonishment by the Lord through the events in Salem and b yond act to bring us back to the righteous path,” explained the aged pastor as the rain poured down.

He looked wide-eyed and serious at Cotton.

Cotton Mather nodded at the old reverend in agreement and replied, “You see, honored Reverend, by your histories of the very earliest acts of war first waged upon these colonies by Lucifer, I have been able to put the current difficulties in Salem into a broader view of understanding for our present government. I hope it will aid those justices that would weigh their opinions upon such cases of bewitchments. It is also for the benefit of younger generations. I know you prefer not to be mentioned by name, but hear what it is that I have reiterated concerning those times,” he implored.

Cotton quickly pulled out a satchel full of papers written upon with a righteous and eloquent hand and requested, “Please tell me what you think, Reverend. This is from the introduction of my commentary. These words were taken directly from our lengthy conversations of what is transpiring now at Salem and in our congregations in relation to the Devil and his armies’ frustration of

defeat in Connecticut so many years ago. I am naming this commentary Wonders of the Invisible World.”

Wonders of the Invisible World,” nodded the old reverend, speaking loudly over the storm.

A servant came in and poured warm cider for the two ministers. At being interrupted, the elderly pastor pursed his lips, staying silent, but met Cotton’s eyes with a secret understanding. They waited until the servant left before continuing their discussion.

Cotton continued, “This is part of the Introduction, Enchantments Encountered”.

He read, “We have been advised by Credible Christians still alive, that a Malefactor accused of Witchcraft as well as Murder, and executed in this place, more than Forty years ago, did then give Notice of An Horrible PLOT against the country by WITCHCRAFT, and a foundation of Witchcraft then laid, which if it were not seasonably discovered, would probably Blow up and pull down all the Churches in the Country.”

“ Yes. Yes!” agreed the agitated old minister, and added, “ The young people need to know how, if we had not ferreted out the witch that spawned all others on the shores of the Great Connecticut, all of our churches in the colonies would have failed indeed. Nothing would have pleased Satan and his legions more than to see those intent on building a godly and pure Utopian state in this wilderness beaten down and forced by evil to return to England. We, the people of Windsor, agonized much in bringing to light of day the bewitchments brought upon us by a naughty and wayward woman. She who made a pact with the Devil allowed him to nearly destroy us. By the Grace of God he did not, thanks to the watchful vigilance of God’s dedicated and steadfast servants!” he howled with the tempest.

The aged pastor continued, enraged, “No one likes to speak her name. She deserves no recognition for her defamation of this country by unleashing devils that would dare claim this corner of the earth for their own in an affront to the Lord Jesus Christ. By her hand, a

great pestilence of disease infiltrated the daily life of the fledgling colony of Connecticut, especially in the town of Windsor. We had settled into our homes only about twelve years when the Devil was over- come with venomous jealousy that we had claimed formerly heathen territory and tamed wilderness for our Lord Jesus. Satan saw a prime opportunity to permeate and upset our small community through the wickedness and unfaithfulness of that woman,” he spoke as the sky rumbled.

The old reverend took a sip of cider, wetting his dry lips.

“Such was the power that Satan infused her with that a great many people died, including many young children, for the Devil has no conscience and no compassion. Upon her death, she did swear in a fit of lies that she was innocent. She cursed those whose testimonies and swift actions led her to the hangman’s noose. The good Reverend Thomas Hooker was presiding at the First Church in Windsor for the Reverend John Wareham during the time of her bewitchments,” recounted the old cleric.

He clenched his fists as he took a deep breath.

“He helped to expose her and was touched by her wickedness in such a way that he died less than one month later of the same dreaded disease that she helped to proliferate and use to kill other devout soldiers of Christ,” the old reverend said.

Cotton Mather spoke again intensely, “Yes, I understand, Reverend. I pref- ace the first reading I recited just now with this…The New Englanders are a People of God settled in those, which were once the Devil’s Territories; and it may easily be supposed that the Devil was exceedingly disturbed, when he perceived such a People here accomplishing the Promise of old made unto our Blessed Jesus, that He should have the Utmost parts of the Earth for his Possession.

Cotton continued, “I believe that never were more Satanical Devices used for the Unsettling of any People under the Sun, than what have been employed for the Extirpation of the Vine which God has here Planted, Casting out the Heathen, and preparing a Room before it, and causing it to take deep Root, and fill the Land, so that it sent its Boughs unto the Atlantic Sea Eastward, and its Branches unto the Connecticut River westward, and the Hills were covered with the shadow thereof. But in all those attempts of Hell, have hitherto been Abortive and Having obtained Help from God, we continue to this Day. Where fore the Devil is now making one Attempt more difficult, more Surprising, more snarled with unintelligible circumstances than any we have hitherto encountered.

The senior cleric nodded his head approvingly. Their conversation contin-ued for the better part of two hours. The time was interspersed with prayers

as well, imploring the Almighty Father to empower them in their fight against the Prince of Darkness. Cider was refilled several times. They discussed the importance of weeding out all of Satan’s imps and witches in Salem and other nearby villages and towns so that New England could be as pure again as that first generation of godly wayfarers who led the ultimate religious Utopian experiment into the wilderness.

When the conversation eased, the thoughtful and grave old minister stared into the fire. He wondered if she were burning in hellfires in that very moment. And what of the souls of the family who had forever fractured in their defense or blame of her, the first colonial witch? He was becoming quite old now. Soon, he hoped to be called to God’s kingdom. Until that time, he would continue to be of service to the younger generations of ministers trying to guide their lost flocks away from Satan.

Abruptly, there was a knock on the door that jerked the ministers from their pious imaginings. It was the elderly reverend’s son. He had come to retrieve his father. He paid his respects to the Reverend Cotton Mather and then gently guided his father out into the streets of Boston, newly drenched from the rain. The elderly pastor turned around and shouted to Reverend Mather.

“Please feel free to call for my assistance again. For an old man such as I delights in nothing more than making his last acts upon this earth ones that are dedicated to bringing God’s people closer to Him and away from the wretches of the Devil. I shall be honored to continue to help you with your mission,” offered the old cleric.

“Thank you, honorable Reverend,” answered Cotton with a slight bow.

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Author Beth M. Caruso

beth-m-caruso

Beth M. Caruso grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio and spent her childhood writing puppet shows and witches’ cookbooks. She became interested in French Literature and Hispanic Studies, receiving a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Cincinnati. She later obtained Masters degrees in Nursing and Public Health.

Working as a Peace Corps volunteer in Thailand, she helped to improve the public health of local Karen hill tribes. She also had the privilege to care for hundreds of babies and their mothers as a labor and delivery nurse.

Largely influenced by an apprenticeship with herbalist and wildcrafter, Will Endres, in North Carolina, she surrounds herself with plants through gardening and native species conservation.

Her latest passion is to discover and convey important stories of women in American history. One of Windsor is her debut novel. She lives in New England with her awesome husband, amazing children, loyal puppy, and cuddly cats.

WEBSITE | FACEBOOK

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  • By entering the giveaway, you are confirming you are at least 18 years old.
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  • This giveaway ends midnight November 30.
  • Winner will be contacted via email on December 1.
  • Winner has 48 hours to reply.

Good luck everyone!

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