Mary Anne Yarde's Blog: The Coffee Pot Book Club , page 32

Welcome to Day #5 of the blog tour for The Woodsman’s Rose (Donovan Family Saga, Book 2) by Gifford MacShane #HistoricalFiction #Western @AuthorGMacShane @BritonandDane

January 25th – February 5th

Buy this book!

Publication Date: January 25th 2021
Publisher: Independently Published
Page Length: 329 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction / Western Romance

1880s Arizona
Daniel Donovan wants nothing more than to get married, unless it's to restore his friendship with his closest friend, Alec Twelve Trees.
Alec is raging about his mother's murderer, whose identity Daniel knows but will not reveal, as the killer is dead and the family he left behind would be compromised if the knowledge became public. But Alec cannot recognize any needs but his own, and the rift between the friends grows wider every day.
Daniel's fiancée, Annie, is a delicate girl, her health frail and her future uncertain. Prone to vicious headaches that at times rock her to her knees, she’s accepted Daniel’s ring but is hesitant to name their wedding date, worried that marriage and possible pregnancy will exacerbate her physical problems.
Annie inherited the gift of insight from her Welsh mother and digs into the past, searching for a way to help Alec and Daniel mend their relationship. But when she discovers the secret behind the murder, it’s more horrifying than she could have imagined.It may take more than Annie’s small strength and inherited skills to bring the friends together again. And that’s before a new enemy shows his face.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Gifford MacShane is the author of historical fiction that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit.
Her novels feature a family of Irish immigrants who settle in the Arizona Territory in the late 1800s. With an accessible literary style, MacShane draws out her characters' hidden flaws and strengths as they grapple with both physical and emotional conflicts.
Singing almost before she could talk, MacShane has always loved folk music, whether it be Irish, Appalachian, spirituals, or the songs of the cowboys. Her love of the Old West goes back to childhood, when her father introduced her to the works of Zane Grey. Later she became interested in the Irish diaspora, having realized her ancestors must have lived through An Gorta Mor, the Great Irish Potato Famine of the mid-1800s. Writing allows her to combine her three great interests into a series of family stories, each including romance, traditional song lyrics, and a dash of Celtic mysticism. Having grown up in a large & often boisterous Irish-American family, she is intimately acquainted with the workings of such a clan and uses those experiences to good purpose (though no names will be named!)MacShane is a member of the Historical Novel Society, and is an #OwnVoices writer. A self-professed grammar nerd who still loves diagramming sentences, Giff currently lives in Pennsylvania with her husband Richard, the Pied Piper of stray cats.
Connect with Gifford:Website • Twitter • Goodreads • Amazon

Head on over to Let Your Words Shine… to find out five things you may not know about Gifford MacShane!
Click HERE!

Welcome to Day #10 of the blog tour for She Sees Ghosts―The Story of a Woman Who Rescues Lost Souls by David Fitz-Gerald #HistoricalFiction #Supernatural @AuthorDAVIDFG @ViviMackade

 

January 18th – February 5th 2021
Amazon
Publication Date: October 25, 2020 Publisher: Outskirts PressPage Length: 270 pagesGenre: Historical/Supernatural
A blazing fire killed her family and devoured her home. A vengeful demon haunted her. Ghosts of the Revolutionary War needed help that only she could provide. A young woman languished, desperate to survive, and teetered on the edge of sanity.
Mehitable grew up in a freshly tamed town, carved from the primeval forest. Family, friends, and working at the mercantile filled her days and warmed her heart. For Mehitable, life was simple and safe, until tragedy struck. When her family perished in their burning home, she retreated into a world of her own making.
As a young girl, she had seen glimmers, glimpses, and flickers of the spirit world. She closed her eyes. She turned her back. She ignored the apparitions that she never spoke of, desperately hoping they would leave her in peace. She was mistaken.
Grief-stricken, Mehitable withdrew from the human world. Ghosts were everywhere. They became bolder. She could no longer turn her back on the spirit world. Her friends feared for her survival. Nobody understood her. She would have to find her own way.
Fans of TV’s Ghost Whisperer and Long Island Medium will especially love She Sees Ghosts. This historical novel features memorable characters and delivers bone-tingling, spine chilling goosebumps. It stands on its own and it is the next installment in the Adirondack Spirit Series by the award-winning author of Wanders Far―An Unlikely Hero’s Journey. David Fitz-Gerald delivers a historical novel with a bittersweet ending that you won’t see coming.
Would she save the spirits’ souls, or would they save her? Only time would tell.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David Fitz-Gerald writes fiction that is grounded in history and soars with the spirits. Dave enjoys getting lost in the settings he imagines and spending time with the characters he creates. Writing historical fiction is like making paintings of the past. He loves to weave fact and fiction together, stirring in action, adventure, romance, and a heavy dose of the supernatural with the hope of transporting the reader to another time and place. He is an Adirondack 46-er, which means that he has hiked all of the highest peaks in New York State, so it should not be surprising when Dave attempts to glorify hikers as swashbuckling superheroes in his writing. She Sees Ghosts―A Story of a Woman Who Rescues Lost Souls is the next instalment in the Adirondack Spirit Series.
Connect with David:
Website • Twitter • Facebook • Instagram

Head on over to Viviana MacKade’s Official Blog to read about the ghosts and for a sneak peek between the covers of this fabulous book!
Click HERE!

Welcome to Day #10 of the blog tour for The Other Cipher Soli Hansen Mysteries Book 2 By Heidi Eljarbo #HistoricalMystery #HistoricalFiction @HeidiEljarbo @Beatric09625662

 

January 18th – January 29th 2021
Amazon UK • Amazon US
Publication Date: 2 December 2020Publisher: Independently PublishedPage Length: 200 PagesGenre: Historical Mystery
In the captivating second book of the Soli Hansen Mysteries, two women—separated by more than three hundred years—are connected through their love of art.
1613. Fabiola Ruber is been wed to a man she does not know and must live in a country with a new language and different customs. The memories of a lost love in her hometown Malta haunt her, and she sets out to find an artist who can do her portrait and recapture the feelings she had when she once modeled for a renowned Italian master painter.
1944. Four years into World War II, art historian Soli Hansen works with the Norwegian resistance to locate significant artwork and safeguard the pieces from the Nazis. When she finds out the Germans are after a hidden baroque depiction of a seventeenth century woman, she must muster all her courage and skills to decipher encrypted codes and preserve the mysterious art before it’s too late.
Both women are determined to do what they can to bring healing and redemption to their otherwise ominous future. Through tangled, bewildering clues and an eye for detail, Soli’s bond to Fabiola grows closer by the day. She must find the missing painting before the enemy does.
Ranging from a privileged life in seventeenth century Antwerp to Oslo during the German occupation of the second world war, this dual timeline is a historical mystery thriller that will keep you guessing until the very end.
Heidi Eljarbo


Heidi Eljarbo is the bestselling author of historical fiction and mysteries filled with courageous and good characters that are easy to love and others you don't want to go near.
Heidi grew up in a home filled with books and artwork and she never truly imagined she would do anything other than write and paint. She studied art, languages, and history, all of which have come in handy when working as an author, magazine journalist, and painter.
After living in Canada, six US states, Japan, Switzerland, and Austria, Heidi now calls Norway home. She and her husband have a total of nine children, thirteen grandchildren--so far--in addition to a bouncy Wheaten Terrier.
Their favorite retreat is a mountain cabin, where they hike in the summertime and ski the vast, white terrain during winter.
Heidi's favorites are family, God's beautiful nature, and the word whimsical.
Connect with Heidi:
Website • Facebook • Twitter • Instagram • Pinterest.

Head on over to Candlelight Reading to find a review of Heidi Eljarbo’s fabulous book:
“There is so much excitement and tension in this novel that I simply could not put it down. In fact, I read it in one sitting…” Candlelight Reading.

Read the full review HERE!

Welcome to Day #10 of the blog tour for Falling Pomegranate Seeds: All Manner of Things, Book #2 By Wendy J. Dunn #HistoricalFiction #Tudors @wendyjdunn @swiftstory

 

Amazon UK • Amazon US • Amazon CA • Amazon AU
Publication Date: January 15th 2021.Genre: Historical Fiction.Publisher: Poesy Quill PublishingPrint Length: 449 Pages

Winter, 1539
María de Salinas is dying. 
Too ill to travel, she writes a letter to her daughter Katherine, the young duchess of Suffolk. A letter telling of her life: a life intertwined with her friend and cousin Catalina of Aragon, the youngest child of Isabel of Castile. It is a letter to help her daughter understand the choices she has made in her life, beginning from the time she keeps her vow to Catalina to share her life of exile in England.
Friendship, betrayal, hatred, forgiveness – All Manner of Things tells a story of how love wins out in the end. 
ABOUT THE AUTHOR


Wendy J. Dunn is an Australian author, playwright and poet who has been obsessed by Anne Boleyn and Tudor History since she was ten-years-old. She is the author of three Tudor novels: Dear Heart, How Like You This?, the winner of the 2003 Glyph Fiction Award and 2004 runner up in the Eric Hoffer Award for Commercial Fiction, The Light in the Labyrinth, her first young adult novel, and Falling Pomegranate Seeds: The Duty of Daughters.
While she continues to have a very close and spooky relationship with Sir Thomas Wyatt, the elder, serendipity of life now leaves her no longer wondering if she has been channeling Anne Boleyn and Sir Tom for years in her writing, but considering the possibility of ancestral memory. Her own family tree reveals the intriguing fact that her ancestors – possibly over three generations – had purchased land from both the Boleyn and Wyatt families to build up their own holdings. It seems very likely Wendy’s ancestors knew the Wyatts and Boleyns personally.
Connect with Wendy:Website • Facebook • Instagram • Twitter • Goodreads
Head on over to Deborah Swift’s Official Blog to find a spotlight of this fabulous book!
Click HERE!

Welcome to Day #9 of the blog tour for She Sees Ghosts―The Story of a Woman Who Rescues Lost Souls by David Fitz-Gerald #HistoricalFiction #Supernatural @AuthorDAVIDFG @gwendalyn_books

January 18th – February 5th 2021
Amazon
Publication Date: October 25, 2020 Publisher: Outskirts PressPage Length: 270 pagesGenre: Historical/Supernatural
A blazing fire killed her family and devoured her home. A vengeful demon haunted her. Ghosts of the Revolutionary War needed help that only she could provide. A young woman languished, desperate to survive, and teetered on the edge of sanity.
Mehitable grew up in a freshly tamed town, carved from the primeval forest. Family, friends, and working at the mercantile filled her days and warmed her heart. For Mehitable, life was simple and safe, until tragedy struck. When her family perished in their burning home, she retreated into a world of her own making.
As a young girl, she had seen glimmers, glimpses, and flickers of the spirit world. She closed her eyes. She turned her back. She ignored the apparitions that she never spoke of, desperately hoping they would leave her in peace. She was mistaken.
Grief-stricken, Mehitable withdrew from the human world. Ghosts were everywhere. They became bolder. She could no longer turn her back on the spirit world. Her friends feared for her survival. Nobody understood her. She would have to find her own way.
Fans of TV’s Ghost Whisperer and Long Island Medium will especially love She Sees Ghosts. This historical novel features memorable characters and delivers bone-tingling, spine chilling goosebumps. It stands on its own and it is the next installment in the Adirondack Spirit Series by the award-winning author of Wanders Far―An Unlikely Hero’s Journey. David Fitz-Gerald delivers a historical novel with a bittersweet ending that you won’t see coming.
Would she save the spirits’ souls, or would they save her? Only time would tell.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David Fitz-Gerald writes fiction that is grounded in history and soars with the spirits. Dave enjoys getting lost in the settings he imagines and spending time with the characters he creates. Writing historical fiction is like making paintings of the past. He loves to weave fact and fiction together, stirring in action, adventure, romance, and a heavy dose of the supernatural with the hope of transporting the reader to another time and place. He is an Adirondack 46-er, which means that he has hiked all of the highest peaks in New York State, so it should not be surprising when Dave attempts to glorify hikers as swashbuckling superheroes in his writing. She Sees Ghosts―A Story of a Woman Who Rescues Lost Souls is the next instalment in the Adirondack Spirit Series.
Connect with David:
Website • Twitter • Facebook • Instagram

“I especially enjoyed the books imagery along with authors ability to describe the historical details…” Gwendalyn’s Books
Head over to Gwendalyn's Books to read the rest of the review!
Click HERE!

Welcome to Day #9 of the blog tour for The Other Cipher Soli Hansen Mysteries Book 2 By Heidi Eljarbo #HistoricalMystery #HistoricalFiction @HeidiEljarbo @CraftygasheadZo

 

January 18th – January 29th 2021
Amazon UK • Amazon US
Publication Date: 2 December 2020Publisher: Independently PublishedPage Length: 200 PagesGenre: Historical Mystery
In the captivating second book of the Soli Hansen Mysteries, two women—separated by more than three hundred years—are connected through their love of art.
1613. Fabiola Ruber is been wed to a man she does not know and must live in a country with a new language and different customs. The memories of a lost love in her hometown Malta haunt her, and she sets out to find an artist who can do her portrait and recapture the feelings she had when she once modeled for a renowned Italian master painter.
1944. Four years into World War II, art historian Soli Hansen works with the Norwegian resistance to locate significant artwork and safeguard the pieces from the Nazis. When she finds out the Germans are after a hidden baroque depiction of a seventeenth century woman, she must muster all her courage and skills to decipher encrypted codes and preserve the mysterious art before it’s too late.
Both women are determined to do what they can to bring healing and redemption to their otherwise ominous future. Through tangled, bewildering clues and an eye for detail, Soli’s bond to Fabiola grows closer by the day. She must find the missing painting before the enemy does.
Ranging from a privileged life in seventeenth century Antwerp to Oslo during the German occupation of the second world war, this dual timeline is a historical mystery thriller that will keep you guessing until the very end.
Heidi Eljarbo


Heidi Eljarbo is the bestselling author of historical fiction and mysteries filled with courageous and good characters that are easy to love and others you don't want to go near.
Heidi grew up in a home filled with books and artwork and she never truly imagined she would do anything other than write and paint. She studied art, languages, and history, all of which have come in handy when working as an author, magazine journalist, and painter.
After living in Canada, six US states, Japan, Switzerland, and Austria, Heidi now calls Norway home. She and her husband have a total of nine children, thirteen grandchildren--so far--in addition to a bouncy Wheaten Terrier.
Their favorite retreat is a mountain cabin, where they hike in the summertime and ski the vast, white terrain during winter.
Heidi's favorites are family, God's beautiful nature, and the word whimsical.
Connect with Heidi:
Website • Facebook • Twitter • Instagram • Pinterest.

Check out what Zoe's Art, Craft & Life has to say about The Other Cipher:
“I thought this book was a wonderful novel, and it is one that I can see myself coming back to again and again…” Zoe’s Art, Craft & Life

Read the full review HERE!

Welcome to Day #9 of the blog tour for Falling Pomegranate Seeds: All Manner of Things, Book #2 By Wendy J. Dunn #HistoricalFiction #Tudors @wendyjdunn @authorrochelle

 

Amazon UK • Amazon US • Amazon CA • Amazon AU
Publication Date: January 15th 2021.Genre: Historical Fiction.Publisher: Poesy Quill PublishingPrint Length: 449 Pages

Winter, 1539
María de Salinas is dying. 
Too ill to travel, she writes a letter to her daughter Katherine, the young duchess of Suffolk. A letter telling of her life: a life intertwined with her friend and cousin Catalina of Aragon, the youngest child of Isabel of Castile. It is a letter to help her daughter understand the choices she has made in her life, beginning from the time she keeps her vow to Catalina to share her life of exile in England.
Friendship, betrayal, hatred, forgiveness – All Manner of Things tells a story of how love wins out in the end. 
ABOUT THE AUTHOR


Wendy J. Dunn is an Australian author, playwright and poet who has been obsessed by Anne Boleyn and Tudor History since she was ten-years-old. She is the author of three Tudor novels: Dear Heart, How Like You This?, the winner of the 2003 Glyph Fiction Award and 2004 runner up in the Eric Hoffer Award for Commercial Fiction, The Light in the Labyrinth, her first young adult novel, and Falling Pomegranate Seeds: The Duty of Daughters.
While she continues to have a very close and spooky relationship with Sir Thomas Wyatt, the elder, serendipity of life now leaves her no longer wondering if she has been channeling Anne Boleyn and Sir Tom for years in her writing, but considering the possibility of ancestral memory. Her own family tree reveals the intriguing fact that her ancestors – possibly over three generations – had purchased land from both the Boleyn and Wyatt families to build up their own holdings. It seems very likely Wendy’s ancestors knew the Wyatts and Boleyns personally.
Connect with Wendy:Website • Facebook • Instagram • Twitter • Goodreads
Head on over to The Coffee Pot Book Club to find an interview with Wendy J. Dunn, and The Historical Fiction Blog to find a review of this fabulous book!
The Historical Fiction Blog:
Click HERE!

The Coffee Pot Book Club:
Click HERE!

Welcome to Day #4 of the blog tour for The Woodsman’s Rose (Donovan Family Saga, Book 2) by Gifford MacShane #HistoricalFiction #Western @AuthorGMacShane @CraftygasheadZo

January 25th – February 5th

Buy this book!

Publication Date: January 25th 2021
Publisher: Independently Published
Page Length: 329 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction / Western Romance

1880s Arizona
Daniel Donovan wants nothing more than to get married, unless it's to restore his friendship with his closest friend, Alec Twelve Trees.
Alec is raging about his mother's murderer, whose identity Daniel knows but will not reveal, as the killer is dead and the family he left behind would be compromised if the knowledge became public. But Alec cannot recognize any needs but his own, and the rift between the friends grows wider every day.
Daniel's fiancée, Annie, is a delicate girl, her health frail and her future uncertain. Prone to vicious headaches that at times rock her to her knees, she’s accepted Daniel’s ring but is hesitant to name their wedding date, worried that marriage and possible pregnancy will exacerbate her physical problems.
Annie inherited the gift of insight from her Welsh mother and digs into the past, searching for a way to help Alec and Daniel mend their relationship. But when she discovers the secret behind the murder, it’s more horrifying than she could have imagined.It may take more than Annie’s small strength and inherited skills to bring the friends together again. And that’s before a new enemy shows his face.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Gifford MacShane is the author of historical fiction that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit.
Her novels feature a family of Irish immigrants who settle in the Arizona Territory in the late 1800s. With an accessible literary style, MacShane draws out her characters' hidden flaws and strengths as they grapple with both physical and emotional conflicts.
Singing almost before she could talk, MacShane has always loved folk music, whether it be Irish, Appalachian, spirituals, or the songs of the cowboys. Her love of the Old West goes back to childhood, when her father introduced her to the works of Zane Grey. Later she became interested in the Irish diaspora, having realized her ancestors must have lived through An Gorta Mor, the Great Irish Potato Famine of the mid-1800s. Writing allows her to combine her three great interests into a series of family stories, each including romance, traditional song lyrics, and a dash of Celtic mysticism. Having grown up in a large & often boisterous Irish-American family, she is intimately acquainted with the workings of such a clan and uses those experiences to good purpose (though no names will be named!)MacShane is a member of the Historical Novel Society, and is an #OwnVoices writer. A self-professed grammar nerd who still loves diagramming sentences, Giff currently lives in Pennsylvania with her husband Richard, the Pied Piper of stray cats.
Connect with Gifford:Website • Twitter • Goodreads • Amazon

“I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, and I am looking forward to reading more books by this author…” Zoe’s Art, Craft & Life.
Head on over to Zoe’s Art, Craft & Life to read the rest of the review!
Click HERE!

Welcome to Day #4 of the blog tour for Rebecca's Choice by Heidi Gallacher #HistoricalFiction #RebeccasChoice @HeidiGallacher @linneatanner

 

January 25th – February 5th
Amazon UK • Amazon US
Publication Date: 30th October 2019Publisher: Independently PublishedPage Length: 211 PagesGenre: Historical Fiction

‘Can Rebecca find the love and passion she craves within a Victorian world that seems to be conspiring against her?’

It is 1887 and Queen Victoria is on the throne. Businessman and meteorologist Geoffrey de Roussier is passionate about his weather station and railways, yet little of his passion seems to filter through to his shy, naïve young wife, Rebecca. 

Following his tragic demise, Rebecca discovers that Geoffrey’s railroad investments have failed, leaving her penniless. As the past threatens to engulf her, Rebecca realises she has to make a choice. Gwilym Llewellyn, Geoffrey’s trusted friend and advisor, has an emotional debt to repay to Geoffrey and meets Rebecca to offer her a solution. Meanwhile Rebecca has found passion in another direction… 

One man will save her from destitution, the other will offer her the love and excitement that she aches for. Whom will she choose?  

This book has a beautiful setting in Cardiff, South Wales. If you like a good mix of an evocative depiction of the Victorian era and a modern-thinking heroine then Rebecca’s Choice is the novel for you. 

This is Heidi Gallacher’s debut novel, a compelling historical Victorian romance. Pick up ‘Rebecca’s Choice’ today to lose yourself in this wonderful story! 

Heidi Gallacher

Heidi Gallacher was born in London in the Sixties. She grew up in Cardiff and Swansea, South Wales. She jumped at the chance to move to Paris in her twenties to learn a new language and culture. 

Following the arrival of her first son she moved to sunny Switzerland where she has lived ever since. 

She completed her Masters in Creative Writing in 2018 and her first short story Changing Places was published in September of that year. Rebecca's Choice is her first novel.

When not writing, Heidi writes and performs music, swims in Lake Zürich and fundraises for a school in Tanzania. 

Connect with Heidi:
Twitter • Instagram • Facebook • Goodreads
Head on over to Linnea Tanner’s Official Blog for a sneak-peek between the covers of this fabulous book!
Click HERE!

Have a sneak-peek between the covers of Charlene Newcomb's award-winning #scific novel — Echoes of the Storm #futuristic @charnewcomb

 

Publication Date: 27 July 2020 
Publisher: self-published
Page Length: 326 pages
Genre: Science Fiction
A rebel double-crossed. A world fallen. And one relentless enemy who will not rest…
Jack Gamble is a shattered man. His lover betrayed him. His contacts in the resistance are scattered. And his best friend may be dead.
With the Galilei Empire closing in, Jack’s ship is intercepted by mercenaries under the command of Captain Ben Stone. Can Jack turn him to his cause, or will Ben turn him?
But Jack can’t afford any emotional entanglements. Not now. He has a rebellion to win and a homeworld to reclaim before the planet and its people are lost forever.
If you like action-packed science fiction adventure with undercover spies, ace pilots, special forces teams, wild battles, and a slow-burn romance, then this space opera is the book for you.



Norse’s comm buzzed to announce the arrival of FE Rabi Gamble. Norse tapped the monitor on his desk to bring up the cam of HQ’s foyer. An honor guard escorted Gamble, just as Norse had ordered. Gamble would expect that. The Grand Emperor always insisted that power and preeminence were on display, though Norse remembered Rabi hated the spectacle but endured it. Jack always loved the attention…
Gamble had stopped to stare at the devastated interior of the HQ first floor. A good thing, because it took Norse’s thoughts away from Jack.
“Mother of Colonists,” Gamble said. 
Building services bots sifted through the burnt and splintered remains of the hand-carved desk that graced the entryway. Just beyond the foyer, the grand atrium rose five stories above marbled flooring. Once lush vegetation lay wilted and scorched. Damaged balconies dangled menacingly like limbs of a weeping scarlet tree.
Norse hadn’t been down there himself, but imagined the smell of smoke and ash when every wall had been scarred by blaster burns. 
The honor guard filed off as the captain guided Gamble to the south corridor, one of six spokes radiating from the atrium. At the end of the hall, Gamble reached for the touchpad to call for his private lift to the sixth floor office suite, but the captain intervened. “The codes have been changed, sir,” he explained, stepping between Gamble and the pad to enter new access numbers.
“And?” Gamble said.
“Your permissions haven’t been authorized by command…sir.” The captain cleared his throat. “I’m sure it’s just a matter of protocol, extra security. We can’t take chances until the resistance is crushed.”
Norse flicked off the monitor. He was standing in the shadow of the executive suite doorway when Gamble and his escort stepped from the lift a minute later.
“Incredible,” Gamble said. “Not one scratch or blaster burn.”
“The Riga vermin never occupied this floor,” the captain said.
“That may not be entirely true,” Norse added.
Gamble narrowed his eyes as Norse moved out of the shadows. His hands trembled. “Norse?”
“We discovered an aide brutally murdered in his office in the early hours of the invasion. Someone must have gotten through,” Norse added smoothly. “Hello, Rabi. It’s been a long time.”
“What in Mars’ name is going on here?” Gamble’s eyes burned with betrayal.Norse understood. He’d been Gamble’s aide, a confidant, and close friend. He had betrayed him when he defected to the resistance.
“What is this traitor—”
“Please, Rabi. We have a lot of catching up to do.” Norse dismissed the captain with a nod and gestured toward the private dining room. “Come. Sit down.”
Gamble straightened his shoulders, managing to still his hands as he brushed past Norse. The oversized table was bare, but a smaller one by the windows had two plates set, two crystal goblets, and a bottle of wine. They would be dining alone.
“This view has always been one of my favorites.” Norse tapped the controls to open the shades, flooding the room with early evening light. He took a whiff of the wine and poured them each a glass.
“You always insisted on having this table by the window when we dined together,” Gamble said. “I’ll admit those were the few times I actually had to enjoy this view.”
“Can you blame me?” Norse looked at the ruddy-red sky laced with pink clouds, wondering how long Gamble would play along with his small talk. The sun dipped lower shrouding the botanical gardens behind the HQ in deep shadows. “Thank the Colonists the Riga didn’t lay waste to our jewel.” He pointed to the green oasis. “Look at the tendrils on the baziel trees. They are thicker this year, and the trunk spikes longer. A harsh summer ahead.”
“Weather predictions are of little interest to me, Ari,” Gamble said. “I can sit in my office and enjoy this illusion, but the reality is that my capital is in ruins. Perhaps you will explain why a man who has been my enemy for nine years appears to be in charge of Galilei forces on Torredo.”
“You raised quite a few eyebrows when you brought me back after the murder charge was dismissed.” Norse half smiled. “I don’t remember if I ever thanked you for believing in me.”
Gamble ran a hand through his silver hair. “Your record spoke for itself. Years of loyal service. I might have handed you a job in my Cabinet, not that you wouldn’t have earned it. Then you destroyed my faith in you.”
“You were strong, Rabi. You weathered the storm stirred by my defection.”
“Only because my loudest detractors were recalled to Galilei or transferred to other worlds.” Gamble eyed Norse. “I suppose you had something to do with that?”
Norse cocked his head to one side. “In a manner of speaking.” He pointed toward their dinner. “Shall we sit? The ternak is getting cold.” Without waiting for a reply, Norse made himself comfortable.
Hesitating, Gamble stared past the gardens.
“He’s not out there,” Norse said evenly.
“He—? What?”
“Jack. He’s not out there,” Norse repeated.
“My nephew? How do you know that?” Gamble’s voice cracked. “I’ve been worried about him. Is he at a safehouse?”
“Hardly.” Norse sipped his wine. “Jack escaped on a small special forces transport. He works for the resistance.”
Gamble froze, silent.
“One of their top operatives,” Norse added, perhaps enjoying the moment more than he should.



AMAZON
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Charlene Newcomb lives and writes in Kansas. She is an academic librarian by trade (recently retired), a U.S. Navy veteran, and has three grown children. Her love of history led her down the medieval research rabbit hole. 
Char published the Battle Scars trilogy set during Richard the Lionheart’s 12th century reign. All three books are B.R.A.G. Medallion honorees; Book II was a finalist and Book III was short-listed in the Chaucer Awards for pre-1750 Historical Fiction, and both are recipients of numerous accolades.
But Char’s writing roots are in science fiction. A huge Star Wars fan, Char contributed numerous short stories to the Lucasfilm-licensed Star Wars Adventure Journal. She has also published a mainstream contemporary family saga: Keeping the Family Peace centers on the lives of a Navy family.
Char loves to travel, and enjoys quiet places in the mountains or on rocky coasts. But even in Kansas she can let her imagination soar.
Connect with Char:
Website • Newsletter • Amazon  • Facebook  • Twitter • Instagram