Use the Comments link below to tell our readers all about your recent or upcoming book release or simply about a historical novel you don't want anyone to miss!
See the right hand column for a list of earlier "Historical Fiction Roundups".
My time-travel, medieval adventure, Blue Bells of Scotland, is on virtual book tour in September and October. I'll be posting the day by day stops at www.bluebellstrilogy.com/blog. The book is available at Amazon.
Title: The Glass Minstrel Author: Hayden Thorne ISBN: 978-0-9828267-1-3 Pages: 206 Recommended Age: 16 and up (LGBT Young Adult fiction)
The Christmas season in mid-19th century Bavaria is brought to life in The Glass Minstrel, a new, original historical novel from Hayden Thorne. Two fathers, Abelard Bauer and Andreas Schifffer, are brought together through the tragic deaths of their eldest sons. Bauer, a brilliant toymaker, fashions glass Christmas ornaments and his latest creation is a minstrel with a secret molded into its features.
When Schiffer sees Bauer’s minstrel ornament in the toy shop, he realizes that Bauer is struggling to keep his son’s memory alive through his craft. At first he tries to fault him for this, but then recognizes that he, too, is seeking solace and healing by reading his son’s diary, a journal that reveals, in both painful as well as beautiful detail, the true nature of his relationship with the artisan’s son.
Then there's fifteen-year-old Jakob Diederich. The young man is burdened with his own secret; he develops an obsession with a traveling Englishman who stays at the inn where Jakob works. The lives of all three men intersect during the holiday as Schiffer tries to focus on his family in the present, Bauer struggles to reconcile his past, and Jakob copes with an uncertain future. The lyrical prose and rich period detail will keep the reader engrossed from the very first page in this tale of redemption, hope, and haunting, but timeless, themes.
Maids of Misfortune: A Victorian San Francisco Mystery is set in the summer of 1879, and Annie Fuller, a young San Francisco widow, is in trouble. Annie’s husband squandered her fortune before committing suicide five years earlier, and one of his creditors is now threatening to take the boardinghouse she owns to pay off a debt.
Annie Fuller also has a secret. She supplements her income by giving domestic and business advice as Madam Sibyl, one of San Francisco’s most exclusive clairvoyants, and one of Madam Sibyl’s clients, Matthew Voss, has died. The police believe his death was suicide brought upon by bankruptcy, but Annie believes Voss has been murdered and that his assets have been stolen.
Nate Dawson has a problem. As the Voss family lawyer, he would love to believe that Matthew Voss didn't leave his grieving family destitute. But that would mean working with Annie Fuller, a woman who alternatively attracts and infuriates him as she shatters every notion he ever had of proper ladylike behavior.
Sparks fly as Anne and Nate pursue the truth about the murder of Matthew Voss in this light-hearted historical mystery set in the foggy gas-lit world of Victorian San Francisco.
Maids of Misfortune was a finalist in the historical fiction category of the 2010 Next Generation Indie Book Awards and is a current best seller in the Kindle historical mystery category. For free excerpt, reviews, go to http://mlouisalocke.com/ to find out more about M. Louisa Locke and her work.
"Valley of Dry Bones", the 7th in my 13th century English mystery series, featuring Prioress Eleanor and Brother Thomas, will be published by Poisoned Pen Press in November. The e-book version is already out. If you like theater, this one might especially entertain since it includes the liturgical drama, "The Play of Daniel". Who could not add a murder to roaring lions...
My next book - "Daughter of Texas" will be released on 21 April 2011, Battle of San Jacinto Day! It's billed as a drama of a woman's life in Texas, before the cattle drives, before the Alamo, before the legends were born.
When she was twelve years old, the witch-woman looked at Margaret Becker's hands, and foretold her future in Texas; two husbands, a large house, many friends, joy, sorrow and love. The witch woman would not say what she saw for Margaret's younger brothers, Rudi and Carl - for Texas was a Mexican colony, and before the Becker children were grown, war would come upon them. During her life, Margaret would observe and participate in great events. She would meet and pass her own judgment on great men and lesser men as well; a friend, political hostess ... and at the end, survivor and witness.
No cover art yet, not until next month. It'll be brought out by a teensy local interest publisher, Watercress Press.
Nice idea Nan. Well as you know (you kindly gave me my first review last winter)I have a Dark Age Historical Fiction:
The Amber Treasure ISBN: 9780956483508 http://www.merciabooks.co.uk
Cerdic is the nephew of a great warrior who died a hero of the Anglo-Saxon country of Deira. Growing up in a quiet village, he dreams of the glories of battle and of one day writing his name into the sagas. He experiences the true horrors of war, however, when his home is attacked, his sister kidnapped, his family betrayed and his uncle's legendary sword stolen.
Cerdic is thrown into the struggles that will determine the future of 6th century Britain and must show courageous leadership and overcome treachery, to save his kingdom, rescue his sister and return home with his uncle’s sword.
The third book in the Lily Sampson series, THE SCORPION'S BITE, published by Poisoned Pen Press came out in August, 2010.
In THE SCORPION’S BITE, it is 1943 and the world is at war. Archaeologist Lily Sampson has been sent to Trans-Jordan, by the OSS, along with Gideon Weil, the famous director of the American School of Archeology in Jerusalem. As part of their survey, they roam the beautiful, silent, Trans-Jordanian desert where the indelible presence of Lawrence of Arabia is still lingers, and where the ancient Nabateans once ruled an empire from their capital in Petra. Soon Lily and Gideon are stranded in the Wadi Rum, and their Bedouin guide is murdered. When Gideon is accused of the crime, Lily must clear him of the accusation.
Lily discovers that two oil pipelines run from Iraq through the desert to the ports on Mediterranean, one through one through Trans-Jordan that supplies the Allies, the other through Syria that supplies the Nazis. Syrians and Vichy French are raiding across the border, threatening to destroy the Trans-Jordan pipeline. Lily discovers their real mission is to help safeguard the Trans-Jordan pipeline and to prevent oil from reaching the Nazis through Syria. At the same time Lily learns of a Nazi plot to kidnap and kill the eight-year old King Faisal of Iraq and take over Iraq.
Now, Lily and Gideon must act to protect the Trans-Jordan pipeline, sabotage the Syrian line, and rescue Faisal to prevent the Nazi takeover of Iraq.
A tale of power and corruption in the New World Order!
And just what do these characters have in common...?
Kitty, a girl with two names...who is she really? Raquel Lovine, a Cindy Crawford look-a-like cop... A psychic bum called Hardly Matters... J. J. O'Brian, a crooked chief of police... Rev. Hawkins, a murdered pedophile... Nathan Real, a "contra" hacker in the Gov. employ... Derrick Lawless, an ex-FBI spy for hire... Maj. Gen. Harlan Pruitt Masters, a "decorated" wife beater/abuser... Senor Fuentes, a Foreign Embassy sadist/torturer... Lucinda, a runaway-child, hooker... Dominic de Los Angeles, UFCO/Mafia kingpin... His estranged wife, Maria...with dark secrets... Senor Gabriel Mendoza, Attorney/child sodomist...
Well, they all shop at Kitty's Bazaar....known as the Museo de Tortura. At Kitty's Bazaar where strange things can be got...sometimes people got DEAD!
But, don't get me wrong...it's not all serious. There's sex in bars and alleys, beaches and boats!
There's love and romance, music and dance...and dead people!
There's cops and courts; conspiracy and truth, as well.
There's girl/girl sex..boy/girl sex...sex that's illegal and sex that's fun!
Powerful men and criminal acts...innocent girls and historical facts!
Genocide, fratricide, homicide and pesticide! And which side is Kitty on?
Kitty's the moth and she's into the flame...read how she escapes with her life and takes care of a few powerful shits in the process.
This is a triumphant(?) story of a tortured girl, caught up in a power struggle with the Criminal Elite; a victim who decides to fight back, even if it kills her!!!
My novel, ROMAN GAMES,from Poisoned Pen Press will be released in October.
Rome: 96 AD. When the body of Sextus Verpa, a notorious senatorial informer and libertine, is found stabbed to death in his bedroom, suspicion falls on his household slaves—a potential death sentence for them all. The emperor Domitian orders Vice-Prefect Pliny to investigate. However, the Roman Games have just begun and for the next fifteen days the law courts are in recess. If Pliny can't identify the murderer in that time, Verpa's entire slave household will be burned alive in the arena. Plinius teams up with Martial, a starving author of bawdy verses and hanger-on to the city's glitterati. Pooling their talents, they unravel a plot that involves Christian "atheists," worshipers of Isis, sleek courtiers, a vengeful concubine, a child bride, and a paranoid emperor.
A few reviews: “Macbain's debut novel convincingly re-creates everyday life in ancient Rome, weaving real and fictional characters with aplomb.” Kirkus
Macbain, a scholar of ancient Greek and Roman history, leads the reader down the mean and dirty streets of Rome to find a conspiracy of hatred and greed that ends in an entanglement of diverse religious groups united by a mutual hatred of the emperor. VERDICT This debut is sure to appeal to fans of Steven Saylor and Lindsey Davis. Library Journal
Title: Serpent in the Thorns ISBN: 978-0312534981 Publisher: Minotaur Books
Released in paperback Sept 28!
This is the second in the Crispin Guest Medieval Noir series.
The third, THE DEMON'S PARCHMENT, will be released October 12.
Title: THE DEMON'S PARCHMENT ISBN: 978-0312621049 Publisher: Minotaur Books Hardcover
Once a knight and nobleman at the court of the English king, Crispin Guest was convicted of treason and stripped of his land, his title and his honor. Effectively banished to the lower social reaches of the crowded neighborhoods of London, all he has left with which to earn a living is his intelligence and keen eye for detail. Now, using those wits and gifts, he has become known as the “Tracker” – a man who can find anything, can solve any puzzle and will do so for a price.
With the winter, however, have come tough times and paying clients are few. Even so, when approached by a mysterious figure, Crispin is wary of taking him on. The client is one Jacob of Provencal - a Jewish physician currently attending the Queen at court, despite the fact that all Jews were expelled from England nearly a century before. Jacob wants Crispin to find stolen parchments that might be behind the gruesome murders of young boys, parchments that someone might have used to bring forth a demon which now stalks the streets and alleys of London. With the help of his apprentice, Jack Tucker, an orphaned street urchin with a thief’s touch, Guest must unravel several mysteries at once if he’s to stop the murders in time to protect those nearest and dearest to him.
Hi, Nan,
ReplyDeleteMy time-travel, medieval adventure, Blue Bells of Scotland, is on virtual book tour in September and October. I'll be posting the day by day stops at www.bluebellstrilogy.com/blog. The book is available at Amazon.
Title: The Glass Minstrel
ReplyDeleteAuthor: Hayden Thorne
ISBN: 978-0-9828267-1-3
Pages: 206
Recommended Age: 16 and up (LGBT Young Adult fiction)
The Christmas season in mid-19th century Bavaria is brought to life in The Glass Minstrel, a new, original historical novel from Hayden Thorne. Two fathers, Abelard Bauer and Andreas Schifffer, are brought together through the tragic deaths of their eldest sons. Bauer, a brilliant toymaker, fashions glass Christmas ornaments and his latest creation is a minstrel with a secret molded into its features.
When Schiffer sees Bauer’s minstrel ornament in the toy shop, he realizes that Bauer is struggling to keep his son’s memory alive through his craft. At first he tries to fault him for this, but then recognizes that he, too, is seeking solace and healing by reading his son’s diary, a journal that reveals, in both painful as well as beautiful detail, the true nature of his relationship with the artisan’s son.
Then there's fifteen-year-old Jakob Diederich. The young man is burdened with his own secret; he develops an obsession with a traveling Englishman who stays at the inn where Jakob works. The lives of all three men intersect during the holiday as Schiffer tries to focus on his family in the present, Bauer struggles to reconcile his past, and Jakob copes with an uncertain future. The lyrical prose and rich period detail will keep the reader engrossed from the very first page in this tale of redemption, hope, and haunting, but timeless, themes.
Maids of Misfortune: A Victorian San Francisco Mystery is set in the summer of 1879, and Annie Fuller, a young San Francisco widow, is in trouble. Annie’s husband squandered her fortune before committing suicide five years earlier, and one of his creditors is now threatening to take the boardinghouse she owns to pay off a debt.
ReplyDeleteAnnie Fuller also has a secret. She supplements her income by giving domestic and business advice as Madam Sibyl, one of San Francisco’s most exclusive clairvoyants, and one of Madam Sibyl’s clients, Matthew Voss, has died. The police believe his death was suicide brought upon by bankruptcy, but Annie believes Voss has been murdered and that his assets have been stolen.
Nate Dawson has a problem. As the Voss family lawyer, he would love to believe that Matthew Voss didn't leave his grieving family destitute. But that would mean working with Annie Fuller, a woman who alternatively attracts and infuriates him as she shatters every notion he ever had of proper ladylike behavior.
Sparks fly as Anne and Nate pursue the truth about the murder of Matthew Voss in this light-hearted historical mystery set in the foggy gas-lit world of Victorian San Francisco.
Maids of Misfortune was a finalist in the historical fiction category of the 2010 Next Generation Indie Book Awards and is a current best seller in the Kindle historical mystery category. For free excerpt, reviews, go to http://mlouisalocke.com/ to find out more about M. Louisa Locke and her work.
"Valley of Dry Bones", the 7th in my 13th century English mystery series, featuring Prioress Eleanor and Brother Thomas, will be published by Poisoned Pen Press in November. The e-book version is already out. If you like theater, this one might especially entertain since it includes the liturgical drama, "The Play of Daniel". Who could not add a murder to roaring lions...
ReplyDeleteMy next book - "Daughter of Texas" will be released on 21 April 2011, Battle of San Jacinto Day! It's billed as a drama of a woman's life in Texas, before the cattle drives, before the Alamo, before the legends were born.
ReplyDeleteWhen she was twelve years old, the witch-woman looked at Margaret Becker's hands, and foretold her future in Texas; two husbands, a large house, many friends, joy, sorrow and love. The witch woman would not say what she saw for Margaret's younger brothers, Rudi and Carl - for Texas was a Mexican colony, and before the Becker children were grown, war would come upon them. During her life, Margaret would observe and participate in great events. She would meet and pass her own judgment on great men and lesser men as well; a friend, political hostess ... and at the end, survivor and witness.
No cover art yet, not until next month. It'll be brought out by a teensy local interest publisher, Watercress Press.
Nice idea Nan. Well as you know (you kindly gave me my first review last winter)I have a Dark Age Historical Fiction:
ReplyDeleteThe Amber Treasure
ISBN: 9780956483508
http://www.merciabooks.co.uk
Cerdic is the nephew of a great warrior who died a hero of the Anglo-Saxon country of Deira.
Growing up in a quiet village, he dreams of the glories of battle and of one day writing his name into the sagas. He experiences the true horrors of war, however, when his home is attacked, his sister kidnapped, his family betrayed and his uncle's legendary sword stolen.
Cerdic is thrown into the struggles that will determine the future of 6th century Britain and must show courageous leadership and overcome treachery, to save his kingdom, rescue his sister and return home with his uncle’s sword.
The third book in the Lily Sampson series, THE SCORPION'S BITE, published by Poisoned Pen Press came out in August, 2010.
ReplyDeleteIn THE SCORPION’S BITE, it is 1943 and the world is at war. Archaeologist Lily Sampson has been sent to Trans-Jordan, by the OSS, along with Gideon Weil, the famous director of the American School of Archeology in Jerusalem. As part of their survey, they roam the beautiful, silent, Trans-Jordanian desert where the indelible presence of Lawrence of Arabia is still lingers, and where the ancient Nabateans once ruled an empire from their capital in Petra. Soon Lily and Gideon are stranded in the Wadi Rum, and their Bedouin guide is murdered. When Gideon is accused of the crime, Lily must clear him of the accusation.
Lily discovers that two oil pipelines run from Iraq through the desert to the ports on Mediterranean, one through one through Trans-Jordan that supplies the Allies, the other through Syria that supplies the Nazis. Syrians and Vichy French are raiding across the border, threatening to destroy the Trans-Jordan pipeline. Lily discovers their real mission is to help safeguard the Trans-Jordan pipeline and to prevent oil from reaching the Nazis through Syria. At the same time Lily learns of a Nazi plot to kidnap and kill the eight-year old King Faisal of Iraq and take over Iraq.
Now, Lily and Gideon must act to protect the Trans-Jordan pipeline, sabotage the Syrian line, and rescue Faisal to prevent the Nazi takeover of Iraq.
A NEW RELEASE BY J.ST.DANIEL : KITTY'S BAZAAR
ReplyDeleteAt "Kitty's Bazaar" not everything is for sale!
A tale of power and corruption in the New World Order!
And just what do these characters have in common...?
Kitty, a girl with two names...who is she really?
Raquel Lovine, a Cindy Crawford look-a-like cop...
A psychic bum called Hardly Matters...
J. J. O'Brian, a crooked chief of police...
Rev. Hawkins, a murdered pedophile...
Nathan Real, a "contra" hacker in the Gov. employ...
Derrick Lawless, an ex-FBI spy for hire...
Maj. Gen. Harlan Pruitt Masters, a "decorated" wife beater/abuser...
Senor Fuentes, a Foreign Embassy sadist/torturer...
Lucinda, a runaway-child, hooker...
Dominic de Los Angeles, UFCO/Mafia kingpin...
His estranged wife, Maria...with dark secrets...
Senor Gabriel Mendoza, Attorney/child sodomist...
Well, they all shop at Kitty's Bazaar....known as the Museo de Tortura. At Kitty's Bazaar where strange things can be got...sometimes people got DEAD!
But, don't get me wrong...it's not all serious. There's sex in bars and alleys, beaches and boats!
There's love and romance, music and dance...and dead people!
There's cops and courts; conspiracy and truth, as well.
There's girl/girl sex..boy/girl sex...sex that's illegal and sex that's fun!
Powerful men and criminal acts...innocent girls and historical facts!
Genocide, fratricide, homicide and pesticide! And which side is Kitty on?
Kitty's the moth and she's into the flame...read how she escapes with her life and takes care of a few powerful shits in the process.
This is a triumphant(?) story of a tortured girl, caught up in a power struggle with the Criminal Elite; a victim who decides to fight back, even if it kills her!!!
My novel, ROMAN GAMES,from Poisoned Pen Press will be released in October.
ReplyDeleteRome: 96 AD. When the body of Sextus Verpa, a notorious senatorial informer and libertine, is found stabbed to death in his bedroom, suspicion falls on his household slaves—a potential death sentence for them all. The emperor Domitian orders Vice-Prefect Pliny to investigate. However, the Roman Games have just begun and for the next fifteen days the law courts are in recess. If Pliny can't identify the murderer in that time, Verpa's entire slave household will be burned alive in the arena. Plinius teams up with Martial, a starving author of bawdy verses and hanger-on to the city's glitterati. Pooling their talents, they unravel a plot that involves Christian "atheists," worshipers of Isis, sleek courtiers, a vengeful concubine, a child bride, and a paranoid emperor.
A few reviews:
“Macbain's debut novel convincingly re-creates everyday life in ancient Rome, weaving real and fictional characters with aplomb.” Kirkus
Macbain, a scholar of ancient Greek and Roman history, leads the reader down the mean and dirty streets of Rome to find a conspiracy of hatred and greed that ends in an entanglement of diverse religious groups united by a mutual hatred of the emperor. VERDICT This debut is sure to appeal to fans of Steven Saylor and Lindsey Davis.
Library Journal
Title: Serpent in the Thorns
ReplyDeleteISBN: 978-0312534981
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Released in paperback Sept 28!
This is the second in the Crispin Guest Medieval Noir series.
The third, THE DEMON'S PARCHMENT, will be released October 12.
Title: THE DEMON'S PARCHMENT
ISBN: 978-0312621049
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Hardcover
Once a knight and nobleman at the court of the English king, Crispin Guest was convicted of treason and stripped of his land, his title and his honor. Effectively banished to the lower social reaches of the crowded neighborhoods of London, all he has left with which to earn a living is his intelligence and keen eye for detail. Now, using those wits and gifts, he has become known as the “Tracker” – a man who can find anything, can solve any puzzle and will do so for a price.
With the winter, however, have come tough times and paying clients are few. Even so, when approached by a mysterious figure, Crispin is wary of taking him on. The client is one Jacob of Provencal - a Jewish physician currently attending the Queen at court, despite the fact that all Jews were expelled from England nearly a century before. Jacob wants Crispin to find stolen parchments that might be behind the gruesome murders of young boys, parchments that someone might have used to bring forth a demon which now stalks the streets and alleys of London. With the help of his apprentice, Jack Tucker, an orphaned street urchin with a thief’s touch, Guest must unravel several mysteries at once if he’s to stop the murders in time to protect those nearest and dearest to him.