Lance Morcan's Blog, page 96
August 5, 2013
Some highly recommended reading on Goodreads’ reader popularity lists
All three books in our conspiracy thriller series, The Orphan Trilogy (The Ninth Orphan / The Orphan Factory / The Orphan Uprising), figure prominently – alongside the works of such greats as Dan Brown, Stieg Larsson, Robert Ludlum and John Le Carre - in readers’ popularity lists on the huge Amazon-owned literary site Goodreads.com
Our historical adventure-romance Fiji: A Novel also comes in at #3 in the Best Action-Adventure Novels category. (The Orphan Uprising is #1 in that category).
Here’s the top performers (as at 6 August, 2013) in Goodreads “Intrigue Book Lists”. Hope you agree there sure are some great books in this list…
Thrillers 1,187 books — 1,677 voters
Best Spy Novels 489 books — 513 voters
Conspiracy Fiction 667 books — 286 voters
Best Gripping Books 354 books — 281 voters
Best Technothrillers Ever 344 books — 251 voters
Best Action-Adventure Novels 254 books — 231 voters
Intriguing book covers 322 books
Best violent action novels 63 books — 120 voters
my Favorite Fantasy books 161 books — 114 voters
Medieval and Renaissance historical fiction 42 books — 54 voters
Best Southern Mysteries 26 books — 33 voters
Tight Plot Novels 22 books — 25 voters
A Memory Away… – Harlequin Intrigue
For the full list go to: http://www.goodreads.com/list/tag/intrigue
Happy reading! -Lance & James
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August 4, 2013
The Great White answers the call of the Shark Caller in ‘Fiji’
Fiji highlights ancient customs.
The mystical powers of Shark Callers ensured they were held in high esteem among the native peoples of 19th Century Fiji – as these excerpts from our historical adventure-romance, Fiji: A Novel, show:
Within the crowd, Nathan watched with interest as the onlookers’ ranks suddenly parted to reveal the Shark Caller being escorted from the village to the beach by Joeli. The onlookers dropped to all fours and bowed their heads as their respected ratu and the equally esteemed Shark Caller approached.
Pausing to adjust a pennant-like piece of masi, or tapa cloth, attached to a post, the Shark Caller then waded out into the sea. The old man stopped only when the water reached his neck then he began chanting. It was a shrill, haunting chant unlike any Nathan had heard. The onlookers watched this ancient ceremony in awe…
… The chanting continued for so long Nathan was ready to return to the village. Then it suddenly stopped. The onlookers collectively gasped as a huge fin sliced through the water toward the Shark Caller.
Pointing the fin out to Nathan, Susannah whispered, “That will be the Great White.”
Nathan couldn’t take his eyes off the drama unfolding out in the bay. The fin veered away only yards short of the Shark Caller. The old man resumed chanting as the shark began circling him. More fins appeared, smaller than the Great White’s. They, too, circled the Shark Caller, who appeared oblivious to the danger. Wild cheering broke out among the onlookers. Nathan could hardly believe his eyes.
Susannah, shouting to be heard, said, “The Great White answers the call of the Shark Caller. It brings other sharks with it.”
Men waiting aboard canoes in the shallows began paddling furiously out from the beach to intercept the sharks. In the lead canoe, Joeli and Waisale reached down and hauled the still-chanting Shark Caller from the water. The crews of the other canoes set about killing as many sharks as they could. They used nets to snare the sharks and then they speared them, but they were careful not to harm the Great White. The sea in the immediate vicinity quickly turned red with blood. A feeding frenzy followed as sharks turned on one another.
One of the men in Joeli’s canoe fell overboard. Willing hands hauled him back on board just before the sharks could reach him.
On the beach, the onlookers were cheering and sea shell horns blared out as the men aboard the canoes began towing their catches back to shore. Despite the danger still posed by live sharks, villagers waded out to greet them. They helped pull the captured sharks up onto the beach, taking care to avoid their gnashing teeth.
Before long, the carcasses of thirty or more sharks had been lined up in rows on the sand. Smiling villagers used hunting knives to carve strips of flesh from them while others cut off the highly valued fins. Slaves carried the spoils back up to the village.
A beaming Joeli surveyed the scene proudly. He announced, “Tonight, my people eat well!”…
… Nathan turned his attention back to the scene on the beach. Beyond the villagers he saw the Shark Caller. The old man was now further down the beach, away from the others. He was kneeling beside a lone shark carcass.
Nathan approached the Shark Caller. As he neared, he heard the old man chanting softly while looking into the eye of the dead
shark.
“Great hunter of the sea, you have lived a noble life,” the Shark Caller intoned in his native tongue. “You have served your purpose. Now you will perform one last act. You will give me your eye so that I can see all things as you do.”
Although the words were foreign to him, Nathan felt he understood what the Shark Caller was saying. He looked on as the old man used a shell to cut out the shark’s eye. The Shark Caller held it up, offered another chant, then popped the eye into his mouth and swallowed it whole.
Shark calling is just one of many ancient customs highlighted in Fiji: A Novel. As one Fijian reviewer with Suva-based Random Writings Book Reviews says, “I give it 5 stars because that’s the maximum allowed.”
Fiji: A Novel is available via Amazon as a trade paperback and kindle ebook. To order this novel, or read sample chapters free of charge, go to: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0057YCZM0/
Happy reading! - Lance & James
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August 3, 2013
‘Sex and the Citadel’ – an intimate peek into the sex lives of Arabs by first-time author
Activist-writer Shereen El Feki’s first book, Sex and the Citadel: Intimate Life in a Changing Arab World, provides an intriguing insight into the customs, laws, attitudes, history and sex lives of the citizens of six Arab countries.
TED reports: Ms El Feki has spent years traveling throughout the Arab region to listen to people’s stories about sex. Stemming from her own work as an HIV/AIDS researcher and activist, the project has been a way for her to reconnect with her own background. Half Egyptian, she grew up in Canada, and she wanted to better understand her own origins. As she adds, “if you really want to know a people you start by looking inside their bedrooms.”
Author Shereen El Feki
In Truthdig.com this week, book reviewer Tracy Quan says, “Family flashbacks are the most surprising (and delicious) revelations in El Feki’s book.”
Excerpts from her review follow:
When Shereen El Feki’s father was a 9-year-old boy in Cairo, he would sneak onto a tram that ran through the city’s official brothel quarter. Clinging to the side to catch “a boy’s-eye view of the action on Clot Bey Street,” he saw change overtake a historic red-light district. The closing of those licensed bordellos as he came of age would be part of a much longer story about hypocrisy and political power in Egypt…
…Raised in Canada by a Welsh mom and Egyptian dad, she’s a cosmopolitan enigma, dividing her time between Cairo and the Kensington district of London (“conveniently close to Heathrow”). When I caught up with her on Skype, during a hectic book tour, she spoke about the soft power associated with her father’s birthplace.
“If we could get a more open discussion around sexuality in Egyptian media, and get some of these themes into a few Ramadan soap operas, that would have huge impact,” she said. “Get something to work in Egypt, and you have a better chance transferring this to countries in the Gulf, like Qatar and UAE. Or even Jordan.”
Chapters on “summer marriage” (an Islam-approved way to profit from sex without breaking the law), modern hymen repair (a steady gig for doctors) and gender bending might make you feel like an armchair Orientalist. Hetero girls dressed as boys, with painted lips, drawing moustaches on their faces in ninth century Baghdad? These early Islamic hipsters, known as ghulamiyyat during the Abbasid caliphate, would confound the uptight Kuwaitis who six years ago passed a law against “imitating the opposite sex in any way.”
For the full review go to: http://www.truthdig.com/arts_culture/item/sex_and_the_citadel_20130801//
Happy reading! –Lance
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July 30, 2013
Free Movie starring Nick Cannon, Chloë Sevigny and Timothy Hutton
The Killing Room is a feature film that is inspired by the secret history of mind control in the United States and elsewhere.
The Killing Room (2009)
Directed by Jonathan Liebesman
Starring: Nick Cannon, Chloë Sevigny and Timothy Hutton
You can watch the entire film for free on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxSzZtubb7g
Here’s the film’s logline: Four individuals sign up for a psychological research study only to discover that they are now subjects of a brutal, classified government program.
The program they refer to is MK-Ultra.
We have researched MK-Ultra and the secret history of mind control in our conspiracy thriller series The Orphan Trilogy, and this is what we uncovered:
MK-Ultra, the CIA’s far-reaching mind control program, was an umbrella project spawned from the US Government’s super-secret Project Paperclip, a sinister venture that involved bringing dozens of Nazi scientists to America immediately after World War Two. Some believe MK-Ultra’s beginnings actually go back to the horrendous psychiatric experiments the Nazis conducted during the Holocaust.
Researching declassified CIA documents, we also became aware of the often-disastrous impact MK-Ultra had had on the lives of CIA operatives and unwitting US citizens over the years.
Some of America’s highest profile assassins (including the likes of John Lennon’s killer Mark David Chapman and Robert Kennedy’s assassin Sirhan Sirhan) claimed they were CIA-programmed killers hypnotized by MK-Ultra…The media portrayed them as crazed lone gunmen, so naturally the public paid little attention to their claims.
Sirhan Sirhan and David Chapman…Manchurian Candidates?
We believe it’s possible some of these men were mind-controlled soldiers, or Manchurian Candidates, carrying out assassination orders their conscious minds were not even aware of.
For more about the murky and disturbing history behind MK-Ultra go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fml1Z5saLH0
Here’s a list of novels that have mind control as a major theme in their plots – courtesy of Goodreads.com -
http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/11984.Mind_Control_Fiction#13250061
Our conspiracy thriller series The Orphan Trilogy (The Ninth Orphan / The Orphan Factory / The Orphan Uprising) features prominently on this list.
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July 24, 2013
‘The Orphan Uprising’ an explosive conclusion to controversial conspiracy thriller series
Book three in The Orphan Trilogy resumes five years after book one, The Ninth Orphan, ends. It’s an action-packed finale in the life story of Nine, the ninth-born orphan, whose idyllic lifestyle is shattered when his son is abducted by operatives of the Omega Agency, the shadowy organization that once controlled every aspect of his life.
With an average review rating of 5 out of 5 Stars on Amazon, The Orphan Uprising is attracting some stellar comments from reviewers…“A heart tearing, mind splitting, gut churning crusade,” according to Welcome Home Soldier Reviews; “An extreme roller coaster ride of emotions,” says My Scribe World; “Constant action and very fast paced,” according to J.Winstead.
Here’s an excerpt from The Orphan Uprising (The Orphan Trilogy, #3):
Nine studied his opposite closely. For once, he seemed to be telling the truth. He motioned to Naylor to move over. The old man gave up his seat for Nine who resumed reading, scrolling through the file’s contents at the rate of a page a second just as he’d been taught to do as an operative-in-waiting at the Pedemont Orphanage.
With every page, his concern for Francis grew. The document contained a litany of medical horrors that ranged from never-before attempted organ and face transplants to unsanctioned cloning procedures and flat-lining experiments. Medical and scientific text was supported by graphic photographs of subjects – children and teenagers – who had been subjected to these experiments. Some were grotesque in the extreme.
Nine opened the second confidential file. It was headed Medical Laboratory #1 and related to Omega’s secret lab in DRC, or the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Scrolling through the pages of this file, the former operative could see it made for equally gruesome reading. If anything, the scientific experiments being conducted at the DRC lab were even more horrific than at the lab in Greenland.
Naylor fidgeted nervously as Nine continued reading. He could imagine what was going through his rogue operative’s mind.
The awful reality of what Francis was going to be subjected to slowly dawned on Nine. It was clear he’d been abducted for some sort of experiment. But what? He looked up at Naylor and pointed his Glock at his head. “Talk old man. And make it good. Tell me why you took my son.” With that, he pulled a mini-digital recording device from his pocket and placed it on the desktop between them. A red light indicated it had been recording all along. “You’ve already hung yourself, so you might as well tell me everything.”
Naylor’s eyes were drawn to the recorder. Tearing his eyes away from the device, he could tell from the expression on Nine’s face that there was murder in his heart. He had to control the sudden pressure in his bladder to prevent himself from pissing where he sat. “I can explain.” He took a deep breath. “You’re the only one of the Pedemont orphans who has a child. Coming from a mixture of your exceptional genes and your wife’s regular genes, Francis has unique DNA. He’s a one-of-a-kind.”
“What will be done to him exactly.”
Naylor hesitated. Nine waved his Glock menacingly, prompting him to continue. “He will assist our cloning program,” Naylor continued. “He’ll undergo a range of tests- -”
“Tests? What tests?” Nine was growing more alarmed by the second.
“I don’t have specifics, but they’ll be scientifically conducted and monitored by Doctor Andrews’ team.”
Nine could feel his disbelief and anger growing in equal measure. He felt like his head was about to explode. Irate beyond words, he jumped to his feet and pistol-whipped Naylor, leaving the old man’s face cut and bloodied. “You bastard!” Nine swore at the Omega boss who now lay groaning on the carpet. “Just what gives you the right to play God with my son?”
As Nine remonstrated with Naylor, he didn’t hear the faint sound of someone behind him until it was too late.
The first that Nine realized something was wrong was when he tried to sit up. He couldn’t. And he had a splitting headache. When he attempted to open his eyes, the light was blinding and everything seemed to be spinning.
As normality slowly returned, Nine realized he was lying on the floor of Naylor’s den. It dawned on him he’d been bushwhacked and he cursed that he hadn’t been more attentive.
The staffer he’d seen outside was now standing alongside Naylor, talking to someone on his cell phone. He was holding Nine’s Glock in his other hand and he surveyed the intruder as he spoke. Naylor was gingerly dabbing at his bloodied face with a tissue.
“He’s conscious now,” the staffer said into his phone. “Don’t worry, he won’t give us any more trouble.”
“Tell them to get here fast,” Naylor said, glaring at Nine. “I want this son-of-a-bitch in secure confinement at HQ.”
“Get here quick,” the staffer said before ending the call. He turned to Naylor. “They’re only ten minutes away.”
Nine guessed the staffer was referring to reinforcements from Omega. The former operative knew once he was interned at Omega’s underground HQ, he’d never be seen again. And neither would Francis. He realized he had to escape within the next minute or two. How to distract them? A desperate plan came to mind.
Naylor remembered the mini-recorder on the desktop. Its red light indicated it was still recording. He picked up the device and hurled it against a wall, smashing it.
Nine chuckled. “You realize I’m also wired,” he lied.
Naylor looked down at him, horrified. He hadn’t considered that someone on the outside could have been listening to the conversation these past few minutes. If that was the case, he knew he was finished. Naylor turned to his staffer. “Search him.”
The staffer handed the Glock to Naylor. “Shoot him if he tries anything, sir.”
Naylor trained the Glock on Nine as his staffer bent down to frisk the intruder. That was the opening Nine had been waiting for. He reached up, grabbed the staffer by his ears and pulled his head down. At the same time, he raised his own head sharply off the floor, effectively delivering an old fashioned Liverpool Kiss, or head-butt, knocking the man senseless.
To order The Orphan Uprising (The Orphan Trilogy, #3), or view the Amazon reviews, go to: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BFC66DM/
For more about this and other Morcan novels go to: http://www.youtube.com/user/SterlingGateBooks
Happy reading! – Lance & James
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July 23, 2013
‘The Orphan Factory’ reveals how 23 Chicago orphans are groomed to become elite spies
Book two in The Orphan Trilogy is a prequel to The Ninth Orphan. It’s an epic, atmospheric story that begins with 23 genetically superior orphans being groomed to become elite spies in Chicago’s Pedemont Orphanage and concludes with a political assassination deep in the Amazon jungle.
With an average review rating of 4.7 out of 5 Stars on Amazon, The Orphan Factory is a coming-of-age spy thriller that sets a frenetic pace. Join Nine, the ninth-born orphan, as he flees his Omega Agency masters and goes on the run across America.
As Amazon review site My Scribe World says, “Buckle up for another wild ride in The Orphan Trilogy.”
Here’s an excerpt from The Orphan Factory (The Orphan Trilogy, #2):
The special agent reached into his pocket and pulled out a color photograph, which he handed to the orphan. Nine could tell by its faded color it was old. It was a portrait photo of a dark-haired, green-eyed woman. Nine instinctively knew the woman was his mother, and not just because she was wearing the same ruby necklace Kentbridge had given him a few months earlier and which he now wore around his neck.
“Sebastian,” Kentbridge whispered.
After a moment, Nine tore his eyes away from the woman in the photograph and looked into his mentor’s eyes.
“Sebastian,” Kentbridge repeated, a little louder this time. “That’s your real name. Your mother named you that when you were born.”
Nine suspected Kentbridge was playing mind games with him. He’d expected that as he was aware Omega’s strategy for dealing with any form of internal dissension was to either terminate the subject or else reprogram them. Given he was still alive – and knowing they’d already invested too much in him to kill him – reprogramming him was the only option. Even so, the information he was being given about his past was so arresting he found it impossible to ignore. “Wish I’d never been born,” he cursed absentmindedly as he studied his mother’s image once more.
“You weren’t born,” Kentbridge reminded him. “You were created. There’s a difference.”
Nine thought on that, but no witty reply came to him.
“Your life has a purpose, Sebastian,” the special agent continued. “You should be grateful for that, believe me, because most ordinary citizens just drift through life with zero direction.” Kentbridge nodded toward the fishermen beneath the bridge and council workers enjoying a morning tea break beyond them, indicating he considered them ordinary citizens.
Having had a taste of the world beyond the orphanage and Omega, Nine didn’t agree. However, he remained silent.
“I want you to know I take full responsibility for what happened.” Kentbridge said. “I’m not angry at you. I was at the time, but now in the cold light of day I can see what motivated you to bust out of here.”
Nine noticed his master was talking to him for the first time ever like an adult. He didn’t know whether that was part of the reprogramming or whether his bid for freedom had earned him some respect. Whatever the case, gone was the patronizing tone Kentbridge had always used when talking to him and the other orphans.
About time!
Nine gave Kentbridge his full attention.
“I take total responsibility, Sebastian, because in hindsight I can see my mistake. I never told you or the other orphans the purpose of the Omega Agency. Or what we are fighting for.”
What we are fighting for? Nine thought that was obvious. World domination to line the pockets of Naylor and his cronies.
“It’s not about greed,” Kentbridge said as if reading the orphan’s mind. “We are the resistance. The last bastion of hope for freedom.”
“Then who are the bad guys?” Nine retorted with more than a hint of sarcasm.
“The fascists. They took over this country straight after World War Two. Kennedy was the last president who knew anything about this. All those who followed him have been in kept the dark.”
Kentbridge was certain all of the US presidents since JFK had been puppets. The lack of any real decision-making power presidents had was reflected in a long-running joke within the agency: One could place a monkey in the White House Oval Office and everything would run just fine.
Nine looked skeptical.
“I’m serious,” Kentbridge insisted. “Why else do you think we are permanently at war in various regions all over the world? And why is it the citizens of this country, one of the richest on earth, get poorer each year?”
The special agent had long-since realized America was not the unified country most people thought it was. Due to his position, he was aware of the extremely fragmented, corrupt and sick state of the nation. He also knew that sickness was entirely due to the conflicting agendas of the various shadow organizations that had infiltrated most Government departments and agencies. Within each power group – be it Congress or the Military-Industrial Complex – there were huge divisions as each of the secret factions strived to be top dog.
Kentbridge explained all this to Nine.
The orphan thought about the Nexus Foundation, and wondered where it fitted in. As long as he could remember, Omega had been fighting or at least competing with Nexus, and he’d always wondered why. Now that Kentbridge was being so open, he decided to ask. “And what about Nexus?”
“Nexus has taken advantage of the malaise that has beset this once great nation. When the Constitution was still respected and followed to the letter, an outfit like Nexus could never have gotten off the ground and there’d be no need for an agency like Omega. Nexus sees us as a threat to its ends and is determined to destroy us, you see.”
Again, Nine wasn’t convinced, and his expression reflected that.
“Think about it, if Omega stood for anything but liberty and the greater good, why would any well-meaning, patriotic group try to prevent us from achieving our goals? I mean, there’s a whole raft of destructive agencies out there Nexus could target. Why pick on us?”
Nine had to admit it was a good question.
To order The Orphan Factory (The Orphan Trilogy, #2), or view the Amazon reviews, go to: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008M9WWKW/
For more about this and other Morcan novels go to: http://www.youtube.com/user/SterlingGateBooks
Happy reading! – Lance & James
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July 22, 2013
‘The Ninth Orphan’ merges fact with fiction…but where does the fiction end and truth begin?
Book one in The Orphan Trilogy explores a plethora of conspiracies involving real organizations like the CIA, NSA, MI6 and the UN, and public figures such as President Obama as well as the Clinton, Marcos and Bush families. It exposes a global agenda designed to keep the power in the hands of a select few.
The novel’s antagonists are members of a shadow government acting above and beyond the likes of the White House, the FBI, the Pentagon and the NSA. Timely considering recent intelligence released by whistleblower Edward Snowden.
Could something like this ever take place? Or is it taking place right now?
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In The Ninth Orphan an orphan grows up to become an assassin for a highly secretive organization. When he tries to break free and live a normal life, he is hunted by his mentor and father figure, and by a female orphan he spent his childhood with. On the run, the mysterious man’s life becomes entwined with his beautiful French-African hostage and a shocking past riddled with the darkest of conspiracies is revealed.
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Here’s an excerpt from The Ninth Orphan (The Orphan Trilogy, #1):
Nine glanced at his reflection in a nearby wall mirror. Perplexed green eyes stared out of a pale, serious face which was framed by dark, curly, slightly longish hair. His was a face that didn’t look lived in.
Handsome in a dangerous sort of way, he had the appearance of a man permanently at war with his inner demons. Despite this, he looked slightly younger than his thirty one years. Only his eyes revealed any sign of his true age; they were haunted – as if they’d witnessed one too many tragedies.
After drying himself, Nine approached the table, selected a scalpel and proceeded to make a three inch incision in the fleshy portion of his left forearm. Although he’d never operated on himself before, the incision was quick and neat. Even so, the blood flowed freely and immediately soaked the towels beneath his arm.
Gritting his teeth against the pain, he cut through the flesh until the scalpel’s wickedly sharp edge came into contact with something metallic. “Got you!” he hissed through clenched teeth. Using a pair of tweezers, he clamped the metallic object and extracted it from his flesh. The blood-stained object, which was almost two inches long, was a miniature tracking device in the form of a microchip.
Placing the device on a towel, he selected a surgical needle and thread, then proceeded to stitch himself up. Nine found this part of the operation even more painful. Sweat rolled down his forehead as he struggled to sew himself up using one hand. Only by jamming his wounded arm between his hip and the table was he able to compensate for not being able to use both hands. Ten long minutes and thirty stitches later, he was done.
As a final act, he bandaged his wound. Limited as he was to using one hand, this took several attempts before he got it right. Nine straightened up and took several deep breaths to fight off the pain and feelings of nausea he was experiencing. He shuddered involuntarily.
Nine was knowledgeable enough about human anatomy and medicine to understand the nerve hypersensitivity he felt was an entirely normal post-surgery symptom.
Despite the pain and light-headedness, he gathered his things – including the tracking device, surgical instruments and bloodstained towels – bundled them into his backpack and checked out of Baguio Mountain Hotel. In the establishment’s car park, he headed toward a rental car and jumped in. After starting the engine, he wrapped the microchip in several sheets of tinfoil before driving off…
…Twenty three red dots flashed at various places on a digital map of the world. The dots represented the locations of the Omega Agency’s field operatives. Carrying out high-level black ops on all seven continents, the twenty three operatives included males and females of almost every race.
The red dots confirmed only two Omega operatives were currently in Asia. Seventeen, a blonde female, had recently landed in Luzon, the main island of the Philippines. Nine’s dot, which only a short time earlier had mysteriously vanished before reappearing, indicated he was also situated on Luzon.
Omega director Andrew Naylor and veteran agent Tommy Kentbridge studied the digital map grimly. Neither looked happy as the two dots in the Philippines rapidly converged.
Physically at least, the two officials were chalk and cheese. Naylor was a short, but dapper man in his late fifties. His skin was badly pock-marked and he had a lazy eye which people found disconcerting as they could never be sure if he was looking at them or someone else. Unfortunately for him, his personality matched his appearance.
Fifty-three-year-old Kentbridge looked like someone who could take control of any situation. At six foot one and with a commanding presence, he quickly earned the respect of all who came into contact with him.
An audible groan from Naylor confirmed what Kentbridge already knew. The director was seething at the latest turn of events.
Kentbridge had seen enough. The results of the past few hours had made him sick to his stomach. Hiding his concern, he swiveled his chair and surveyed the Omega Agency’s headquarters. It was a hive of activity as usual. Scientists, IT specialists, political analysts and other high-ranking officials were on duty. Sworn to secrecy, each was the best in his or her chosen field.
Although it looked like the interior of any corporate headquarters, Kentbridge knew appearances in this case were highly deceiving. For a start, these headquarters were located one mile below ground, hidden beneath a long-since abandoned hydro dam in south-west Illinois.
The secret facility was not only off limits to the general public, it was completely off the US Government’s radar. In fact, like everything else connected with Omega, knowledge of its existence was beyond any government.
The Ninth Orphan (The Orphan Trilogy, #1) is a regular visitor to Amazon’s bestseller lists. It’s available as a kindle ebook and trade paperback.
To order this novel, or view the 85 Amazon customer reviews, go to: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0056I4FKC
Happy reading! – Lance & James
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July 21, 2013
Happy birthday Ernest Hemingway!
Hemingway
The great Ernest Hemingway (born July 21, 1899) would be 114 years old were he still alive today.
In the Arts & Culture section of the award-winning political website truthdig.com (recommended!) columnist Allen Barra pays tribute, of sorts, to the American author and journalist whose economical and understated style had a major influence on 20th Century fiction.
Judging by the critical comments of many truthdig.com subscribers, not everyone agrees with Barra’s summation of the life and times, nor the legacy, of Hemingway. Not sure I do either.
Nevertheless, ‘tis a worthwhile read…if only to remind us what it was that set Hemingway apart from the rest of us ‘would-be’ writers.
Here’s the opening stanzas of Barra’s article:
Pauline Kael, reviewing the film “Islands in the Stream” (1977), wrote, “There may be a time for a Hemingway revival, but this isn’t it. His themes don’t link with our preoccupations, and … the movie version of his posthumous novel, seems to belong to another age.”
Thirty-six years later, as we approach what would be Hemingway’s 114th birthday Sunday, his image is more vibrant now than in the last years of his life. The same could be said for his friend and drinking partner, F. Scott Fitzgerald.
This year belongs to Fitzgerald, with Baz Luhrmann’s glittery and successful film version of “The Great Gatsby” catapulting the novel onto best-seller lists.
The previous couple of years, however, were an unofficial Hemingway celebration, with books about him continuing to be a light industry. “The Letters of Ernest Hemingway, 1907-1922” was published by Cambridge University Press; soon we will have a complete set of volumes containing his entire correspondence. (Hemingway would never have seen the point in this. As he told a biographer of Fitzgerald’s, “I write letters because it is fun to get letters back, not for posterity. What the hell is posterity anyway?”)
“Hemingway’s Laboratory—The Paris in Our Time” by Milton Cohen, a study of the writer’s early prose experiments, was published in May 2012 by the University of Alabama Press. That summer marked the paperback release of Paul Hendrickson’s critically acclaimed “Hemingway’s Boat: Everything He Loved in Life and Lost.”
And, who’d have thought it, Hemingway in the 21st century has re-emerged as a pop (Papa?) icon. Just about everything Hemingway wrote, from his novels to eight collections of short stories to several memoirs and works of journalism, is still in print. That’s more than 25 volumes. Can that be said about any other serious American author?
Character actor Corey Stoll did a terrific turn as the mid-1920s Hemingway in Woody Allen’s “Midnight in Paris” in 2011, with English actor Tom Hiddelston contributing a letter-perfect Scott Fitzgerald. Allen, who won an Oscar for the screenplay, did his homework. Every line out of Stoll’s mouth sounds like the distilled Hemingway of our collective memory:
“It was a good book because it was an honest book, and that’s what war does to men. And there’s nothing fine and noble about dying in the mud unless you die gracefully. And then it’s not only noble but brave,” he says.
And, “No subject is terrible if the story is true, if the prose is clean and honest, and if it affirms courage and grace under pressure.”
Last summer, HBO’s “Hemingway & Gellhorn,” directed by Philip Kaufman, received 15 Emmy nominations. The most in-depth film portrait of the writer featured ferocious performances by Clive Owen as Hemingway and Nicole Kidman as his third wife, the great war correspondent Martha Gellhorn.
All the books about Hemingway have told us everything except why we continue to care so much.
With the exception of his first novel, “The Sun Also Rises,” which still reads with the freshness of an open wound, I can no longer read the big books on which Hemingway’s reputation has so long rested. “A Farewell to Arms” and “For Whom the Bell Tolls” seem stilted, stagey and Hollywood-cornball melodramatic. (I applauded the scene in “Silver Linings Playbook” when Bradley Cooper throws a copy of “A Farewell to Arms” out the window because “She dies. I mean, the world’s hard enough as it is, guys. Can’t someone say, hey let’s be positive? Let’s have a good ending to the story?”)
Like most people I know, I find all of Hemingway’s later novels unreadable. And not just the later works. “To Have and Have Not,” published in 1937, didn’t survive a rereading. According to film director Howard Hawks, Hemingway confessed that he wrote it only “because I needed the money.” Hawks supposedly told Hemingway, “I can take the worst piece of crap you ever wrote and make a good movie out of it.” Hemingway’s worst piece of crap, Hawks decided, was “To Have and Have Not.”
I agree. The novel is dishonest hackwork; Hawks’ film with Bogart and Bacall was first-rate hackwork.
How it must have galled Hemingway over the last 17 years of his life that when the title “To Have and Have Not” was mentioned, it was not his words people remembered but those written for Lauren Bacall by Jules Furthman and, of all people, William Faulkner—particularly “Anyone got a match?” and “You know how to whistle don’t you? You put your lips together and blow.” (Hemingway might have taken some solace in 1948 when John Huston pilfered the ending of “To Have and Have Not” for “Key Largo.”)
The reputation of “The Old Man and the Sea” (1952) hasn’t fared much better than the marlin the old man drags back to shore. Dwight Macdonald scored easy points when he said it was “written in that fake, biblical prose which Pearl Buck used in ‘The Good Earth,’ a style which seems to have a maligned fascination for the middlebrows—Miss Buck also got a Nobel Prize out of it.” Macdonald knew very well that at his worst, Hemingway was in a higher class than Buck and that “The Old Man and the Sea” isn’t Hemingway at his worst.
“Across the River and Into the Trees” (1950) and “Islands in the Stream” (published posthumously in 1970) are worthy of comparison with Buck, and I’m not sure Hemingway comes out ahead. His later fiction is pretty much summed up by a remark he made about John O’Hara, recorded in A.E. Hotchner’s “Papa Hemingway” (1955). When Hemingway first read O’Hara, “It looked like he could hit. … Then, instead of swinging away, for no reason he started beating out bunts.”
For the full article, go to: http://www.truthdig.com/arts_culture/item/happy_birthday_hemingway_20130718/
And while you’re there, check out archived articles on whistleblower Edward Snowden, Detroit’s bankruptcy, Trayvon’s shooting and more. They’re definitely worth a read.
Footnote: Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) “…his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the mid-1950s, and won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. He published seven novels, six short story collections, and two non-fiction works. Three novels, four collections of short stories, and three non-fiction works were published posthumously. Many of these are considered classics of American literature.” -Wikipedia
Happy reading! – Lance
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July 20, 2013
‘Fiji’ is a spellbinding tale of adventure, cultural misunderstandings, religious conflict and sexual tension
This historical adventure-romance is set in the early 1800’s in one of the most exotic and isolated places on earth. It is poignant and romantic, but it’s also true-to-life, bloody and reflective of an era long since gone. As one reviewer said, “Fiji: A Novel is not for the faint-hearted!”
As the pharaohs of ancient Egypt build their mighty pyramids, and Chinese civilization evolves under the Shang Dynasty, adventurous seafarers from South East Asia begin to settle the far-flung islands of the South Pacific. The exotic archipelago of Fiji is one of the last island groups to be discovered and will remain hidden from the outside world for many centuries to come.
By the mid-1800′s, Fiji has become a melting pot of cannibals, warring native tribes, sailors, traders, prostitutes, escaped convicts and all manner of foreign undesirables. It’s in this hostile environment an innocent young Englishwoman and a worldly American adventurer find themselves.
Susannah Drake, a missionary, questions her calling to spread God’s Word as she’s torn between her spiritual and sexual selves. As her forbidden desires intensify, she turns to the scriptures and prayer to quash the sinful thoughts – without success.
Nathan Johnson arrives to trade muskets to the Fijians and immediately finds himself at odds with Susannah. She despises him for introducing the white man’s weapons to the very people she is trying to convert and he pities her for her naivety. Despite their differences, there’s an undeniable chemistry between them.
When their lives are suddenly endangered by marauding cannibals, Susannah and Nathan are forced to rely on each other for their very survival.
Here’s an excerpt from Fiji: A Novel:
The guilt Susannah had felt moments earlier suddenly returned tenfold as she remembered the erotic dream she’d had. She quickly nodded, to indicate she’d slept well before diverting her eyes from Nathan’s and looking toward the shore. It was then she noticed giant sand dunes along the shoreline. She gasped at the sight of them. They seemed to be reaching for the sky.
Noting the object of her interest, Nathan said, “Those are the famous sand dunes of Sigatoka.” He added, “I saw them on my arrival in Fiji.”
“How wonderful,” Susannah enthused, momentarily forgetting her antagonism toward Nathan.
Susannah wasn’t the only one fascinated by the mighty dunes. The Italian artist was frantically setting up his easel further along the deck, anxious to capture the scene on canvas before it disappeared from view.
As the passengers admired the dunes, a deserted Fijian village came into view. Its bure huts had recently been smashed and burned to the ground. Smoke rose from the still-smoldering ruins, and there was no sign of life.
A Welsh deckhand sidled up to the young couple. He nodded toward the village. “That’ll be the handiwork of Rambuka,” he proffered with some certainty.
Susannah studied the distant village then glanced at the Welshman. “Rambuka?”
“Aye. His warriors are the scourge of this coastline. They call them the outcasts.” The deckhand pointed toward Viti Levu’s distant highlands. “They live up there somewhere.” Nathan and Susannah studied the highlands. Dark storm clouds hung ominously over them. “Cannibals, all of ‘em,” the deckhand added before wandering off.
Alone again, Nathan smiled at Susannah. In her usual haughty manner, she gave him a quick glance before looking back at the shoreline. Nathan asked himself why he was persisting with such a young woman who, he could see, was clearly on a different planet to himself. Try as he may, he couldn’t come up with a sensible answer.
“I do not envy the task you and your father have set yourselves here in Fiji,” Nathan said probingly. Susannah looked at him sharply. Pleased to see he had her attention, he continued. “I fear you may be facing an uphill battle.”
“Oh? And why is that?”
“Well,” Nathan paused, thinking on his feet as he went. “Fiji ain’t called the Cannibal Isles for nothing. From what I’ve seen, these Fijians are some of the most savage people on earth.”
Fiji: A Novel is available via Amazon as a kindle ebook and trade paperback. For more information go to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0057YCZM0/
Happy reading! - Lance & James
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July 19, 2013
‘The Orphan Trilogy’ a high octane thriller series with an edge
Books 1, 2 and 3 in our conspiracy thriller series The Orphan Trilogy (The Ninth Orphan / The Orphan Factory / The Orphan Uprising) have an average Amazon reviewer rating of 4.6 out of 5 Stars.
Readers seen to like the fact we merge fact with fiction, illuminating shadow organizations rumored to actually exist in our world. The trilogy reveals a shadow government acting above and beyond the likes of the White House, the FBI, the Pentagon and the NSA. It has a poignant, romantic sub-plot.
4 Stars
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0056I4FKC
The Ninth Orphan: An orphan grows up to become an assassin for a highly secretive organization. When he tries to break free and live a normal life, he is hunted by his mentor and father figure, and by a female orphan he spent his childhood with. On the run, the mysterious man’s life becomes entwined with his beautiful French-African hostage and a shocking past riddled with the darkest of conspiracies is revealed.
4.7 Stars
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008M9WWKW/
The Orphan Factory: This coming-of-age spy thriller novel is a prequel to The Ninth Orphan. It’s an epic, atmospheric story that begins with twenty-three genetically superior orphans being groomed to become elite spies in Chicago’s Pedemont Orphanage and concludes with a political assassination deep in the Amazon jungle. Embark on another frenetic journey with Nine, the ninth-born orphan, as he goes on the run across America.
5 Stars
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BFC66DM/
The Orphan Uprising: In this sequel to The Ninth Orphan, Nine’s idyllic lifestyle is shattered when his son Francis is abducted by operatives in the employ of the Omega Agency, the shadowy organization that once controlled every aspect of his life. Desperate to find Francis before Omega can harm him, Nine soon finds he’s up against his fellow orphans – all elite operatives as he once was – who are under orders to kill him on sight. He must call on all his former training and skills.
4.4 Stars
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BGGM05U/
The Orphan Trilogy: This controversial, high-octane thriller series is available via Amazon as a box set (3 books in 1) at a discounted price. It explores a plethora of conspiracies involving real organizations like the CIA, NSA, MI6 and the UN, and public figures such as President Obama, Queen Elizabeth II as well as the Clinton, Marcos and Bush families. The trilogy also contains the kind of intimate character portraits usually associated with psychological thrillers.
Happy Reading! — Lance & James
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