The Reluctant Master

by Dick B. Long

Zane Dewhurst, a young First Lieutenant, is separated from his Special Forces team during a fierce battle in the Tora Bora mountains of Afghanistan. Wounded, he is discovered by a Tibetan caravan before the Taliban locates him. They move quickly through the mountains of Afghanistan and China into Tibet to the compound of a Tibetan Lord Master, Choden. The Master takes him in and treats him as the son he never had, nursing him back to health. During the next three years, Zane learns all Choden has to teach him and more. He learns Tibetan and reads thousand-year-old scrolls. He becomes a lesser version of Choden and a devout Tibetan monk, gaining Lord status, trained to ultimately be a Lord of the Council of the Universe.The Reluctant Master saga begins after Zane rejoins his Army unit, then takes early retirement due to his wounds. He enters the University of Georgia, intent on getting a degree in Psychology and Finance without the aid of his unique powers. He wants a normal college life before he establishes his family and fulfils his obligations as a Master. He secures a job at the University library and becomes close friends with the widowed librarian, Gwen Wilson. In his second semester, he accompanies Gwen to a library convention in Atlanta, Georgia, where he is forced to invoke his powers to rescue Gwen and her friends from a dangerous predator. Doug Carson masquerades as a master but is nothing more than a hypnotist who enslaves women for personal gain. Bound by his religion and his vows to take care of those he has placed in his ascendency, Zane soon finds his family is so large he must buy a huge house. The one he chooses is three stories and was built in 1888 by a Confederate general. In secret rooms, Zane finds Confederate Uniforms, Confederate money, weapons, and a treasure trove of gold. The Master contacts Sotheby’s to commission an evaluation of the entire contents. David Wayne, an expert in the field, reviews the collection and tells him the Civil War relics alone are worth millions.Living the normal side of his college life, he finds true love with his Psychology professor, Olivia Williams, adding a new dimension to the complexity of his world. Doug Carson does not comprehend the risk he is taking and constantly harasses and threatens Zane’s family. The Master knows it’s just a matter of time before his unusual family will attract insufferable attention in their small town, so the family decides to move west. He finds a perfect location in Colorado, but before they can move, they are attacked by Doug and his henchmen. People are killed; however, and Zane’s family prevails. The Reluctant Master finally gets his family moved to Colorado only to find a new, more powerful, menace waiting them.

681 pages, Paperback

Published August 11, 2019

About the author

Dick B. Long is a pseudonym for an author who retired from investment banking and moved his family to his ranch in South Georgia. He had always wanted to be two things—a rancher and a writer. Now he is both. His wife is his editor and his big yellow cat is an observer and listener, and sometime critic. He and his wife of many years go on long horseback rides at sunset, sometimes picnicking while watching the sun go down.
He has always had a love of reading and writing and women. He writes about men and their relationship with their woman or women, and about women and their relationship with their man or men. He also writes of his own experiences in the Army and loves to create western fiction, based on historical events. He sometimes co-authors with a life long friend.
In college he began writing short erotic stories to pass the time during boring classes. His fraternity brothers began to read them and ask for more stories and longer ones. Thus, a writing career was born. He loves to correspond with his readers, so drop him an e-mail. Be assured, he will answer it.