Book Title: GIRL ON THE RUN (The Doktor’s Daughter) by Nancy McDonald Category: Middle-Grade Fiction (Ages 8-12), 174 pages Genre: Historical fiction Publisher: Iguana Books Release date: September, 2021 Content Rating: G. It’s middle grade. No foul language. No sex scenes.
Book Description:
It’s 1933 in Berlin. The Nazis have seized power, and for thirteen-year-old Amelie Meyer life is changing in ways she never could have imagined.
Her new teacher is picking on Jewish students, her friends are starting to shun her for not joining their Aryan youth group and her father is getting remarried. As tensions mount at home and school, Amelie embarks on a perilous journey – with nothing less than her whole future at stake.
Book Title: The Last Saxon King: A Jump in Time Novel Book 1 by Andrew Varga Category: Middle-Grade Fiction (Ages 8-12), 361 pages Genre: Historical Fiction, Time Travel, Middle-Grade/YA Publisher: Imbrifex Books Release date: March 7, 2023 Content Rating:PG + M
Book Description:
One Jump to Save All Time
Life is progressing normally for sixteen-year-old Dan Renfrew when he accidentally transports himself to England in the year 1066. He soon realizes that he’s trapped there, and that’s not his only astonishing discovery. Dan learns that he’s descended from a long line of time jumpers—secret heroes who travel to the past and resolve glitches in the time stream that threaten to alter subsequent history. The only way Dan can return home is to set history back on its proper course in the Anglo-Saxon age. This is no easy task. A Viking horde is ravaging England in the north while a Norman army threatens to invade from the south. In between and desperately struggling to hold on to his throne is Harold Godwinson, the newly-crowned English king. Dan is fighting to ensure that events play out correctly when he finds himself plunged into an even more lethal conflict. To save history, Dan must battle a band of malevolent time jumpers whose lust for wealth and power threatens the entire future of the world.
Ever since his mother told him he was descended from Vikings, ANDREW VARGA has had a fascination for history. He’s read hundreds of history books, watched countless historical movies, and earned a BA from the University of Toronto with a specialist in history and a major in English. Andrew has traveled extensively across Europe, where he toured famous castles, museums, and historical sites. During his travels he accumulated a collection of swords, shields, and other medieval weapons that now adorn his personal library. Andrew currently lives in the greater Toronto area with his wife Pam, their three children, and their mini-zoo of two dogs, two cats, a turtle, and some fish. It was his children’s love of reading, particularly historical and fantasy stories, that inspired Andrew to write this series. In his spare time, when he isn’t writing or editing, Andrew reads history books, jams on guitar, or plays beach volleyball.
Andrew currently lives in the greater Toronto area with his wife Pam, their three children, and their mini-zoo of two dogs, two cats, a turtle, and some fish. It was his children’s love of reading, particularly historical and fantasy stories, that inspired Andrew to write this series. In his spare time, when he isn’t writing or editing, Andrew reads history books, jams on guitar, or plays beach volleyball.
I am intrigued by the amazing cover, the great title and the mystery within Poisoned Lily by Nik Grybaski. The story is okay and a quick read, 72 pages. Be prepared to be transported to the past in this historical mystery. The treatment of the dead woman could be happening in real time, seeing she is unimportant to some and deserving of an investigation to others.
Leo Katz, a photographer, and Klaus Rosnbloom, a pathologist, stumble onto each other, working together to help the police solve the crime. This is a quick, yet enjoyable read that some may like more than I.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Poisoned Lily by Nik Grybaski.
2 Stars
AMAZON SYNOPSIS
Was Lily murdered, or did her sinister secret force her to take her own life?
In a room above a tavern, on the hedonistic streets of Praterstrasse Vienna, is the dead body of a kept woman.
A mysterious lady sits alone in the bar. A man exits the premises through the back door, gripping onto a cane with an amber head. A youth, clutching a bottle, stumbles down the stairs and drinks the remnants of the poison his dead lover, Lily, took just minutes before.
Was it suicide?
It’s up to photographer Leo Katz and his new friend, pathologist Klaus Rosenbloom, to solve the mystery. But how can they discover who the killer is when vicious thugs steal vital evidence and threaten their lives?
Grab you copy of this thrilling murder mystery now!
ABOUT NIK GRYBASKI
Nik Grybaski is neither real nor imaginary, existing solely in the shadows of the worlds Nik creates.
Nik is responsible for creating Leo Katz and the things that Leo gets up to when Nik is asleep.
A dabbler at most things useless but creative, Nik writes to forget…Nik has already forgotten.
An awareness, a sense something was amiss trickled through Tori Winters.
First off, I love the cover. It surely hints at the story inside Murder’s Legacy. The clock is ticking on Tori Winter’s plan to convert the mansion she inherited after her grandmother’s murder to a B&B. There are those who wish to stop the renovation and condemn the property. The reason? Secrets are about to be exposed.
A mystery is afoot and it will take Tori and all of her friends to solve it. I have come to love this group of women who have come together, not only as friends, but as business partners. Each has something special to offer, and Tori is constantly amazed at how they have become a cohesive unit, the ladies going above and beyond anything she could have anticipated. They are fun, determined, and I am so happy to be with them again.
The danger is insidious, the villain, or villains, not immediately apparent. Power corrupts, twisted to serve those who have ulterior motives. The villains did not anticipate all those who would come to her aid. Those who will protect her and expose them.
Red Door Inn is officially a business. Tori is the owner, Mia the General Manager, Heidi is Director of Operations, Cammis is the Culinary Director and Tina is the Advertising Director. Tori is the wealthy owner, but believes in sharing her wealth. They will become partners.
Do I see romance on the horizon?
Anita Dickason’s bio helps show why she is able to make it look so easy to write a fabulous mystery. She is able to develop complex characters who come to life through the written word. I like to try and place myself into character’s situations and wonder what I would do.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
Secrets that defy time!
An inconceivable disaster strikes, bringing Tori Winters’ plans to turn her historic house into a bed and breakfast inn to a traumatic standstill. A section of the escape tunnel built by her great-grandfather, a notorious Dallas gangster, collapses. Within the rubble, there is a gruesome discovery. A skeleton with a bullet hole in the skull.
The shocking cave-in sparks more than a police response. Accusations that the tunnel is dangerous triggers an ominous scheme to condemn her property.
Tori soon discovers more than the destruction of her beloved house is on the line. It seems she can’t escape the past. It keeps clawing its way into her life with deadly consequences.
Someone wants to permanently shut her down.
ABOUT ANITA DICKASON
Code Name: Trackers: The elite of the elite. FBI agents, each with a secret, an extra edge, that defies reason and logic.
Characters with unexpected skills—that extra edge for overcoming danger and adversity—have always intrigued Anita. Adding an infatuation with ancient myths and legends of Native American Indians, and Scottish and Irish folklore creates the backdrop for her characters.
Anita is a retired Dallas Police Officer. During—what she refers to as an extraordinary career—Anita served as a patrol officer, undercover narcotics officer, advanced accident investigator, and SWAT entry/sniper.
Upon retirement, she became involved in a research project that dealt with the death of a witness to the Kennedy assassination. The research led to her first book, JFK Assassination Eyewitness: Rush to Conspiracy, that details the results of her reconstruction of a 1966 motor vehicle accident that killed Lee Bowers, Jr., a key witness to the assassination.
Once the Bowers book was written, Anita reached the same point many authors ultimately face: I’ve written it, now what do I do? Answering that question has become another career, one she has wholeheartedly embraced. The publishing field is in a constant state of flux, offering unlimited possibilities for an author, but also endless landmines.
Anita started a new company, Mystic Circle Books & Designs LLC, offering cover design and manuscript services. In addition to her works as an author, she enjoys helping other authors see their dream become a reality.
GENRE: Historical (Metaphysical) Fiction / Coming of Age Fiction
BLURB
In this trio of novellas, three game young ladies enter into dangerous liaisons that test each one’s limits and force them to confront the most heartrending issues facing society in the early twentieth century. The Phantom Glare of Day tells of Sophie, a young lady who has lived a sheltered life and consequently has no idea how cruel public-school bullying can be. When she meets Jarvis, a young man obsessed with avenging all those students who delight in his daily debasement, she resolves to intervene before tragedy unfolds. Mouvements Perpétuels tells of Cäcilia, a young lady shunned by her birth father. She longs for the approval of an older man, so when her ice-skating instructor attempts to take advantage of her, she cannot resist. Not a month later, she realizes that she is pregnant and must decide whether or not to get an abortion. Passion Bearer tells of Manon, a young lady who falls in love with a beautiful actress after taking a post as a script girl for a film company—and is subsequently confronted with the pettiest kinds of homophobia.
EXCERPT
London, 29 September, 1917.
In the dead of the night, Manon returned to her hotel suite and lay down in bed. Please, no more nightmares.
At dawn, she had a terrible dream.
A long, plump, phallic, pulsating Zeppelin approaches the city.
Like every other tenant, she exits Chelsea Court Hotel. Alas, as she races past one of the refuge islands rising above the thoroughfare, she trips and falls.
From all directions, meanwhile, various artillery units open fire—and the terrific cacophony of battle roars and blasts and rumbles and bawls.
As the shell-shocked crowds rush down into the neighboring tube station, a lady beggar approaches. “Stay where you are,” the wretched woman tells her. “It’d be your destiny to perish during a tribulation such as this.”
In time, a fragment of what looks to be the Zeppelin’s rudder plummets into the park not thirty feet from the place where Manon stands.
And now she looks up to find that a torrent of flames has engulfed the airship’s nose.
As the doomed Zeppelin drifts this way and that, the bittersweet-orange blaze spreads down the length of the passenger gondola.
With an awful hiss, the airship’s carcass descends toward her and then . . .
She awoke from the dream, quite certain that she must be tangled up in the gondola’s guy-ropes. Blinded by the morning light, she thrashed about.
Ultimately, she fell out of bed. How to go on living here?
At one o’clock, when she arrived at the offices of the London Moving-Pictures Company down on Coronation Avenue, she paused before the reeded-glass doors and debated whether she ought to resign her post. Why not go home to Manchester?
A dark presence rolled through the sky. Could it be a Zeppelin passing by overhead, the bomb bay slowly opening?
The darkness proved to be nothing more than a large skein of geese, but even so, she felt positively frantic—and now she continued through the door. Hopefully, the hall porter would be willing to tell Mr. Pomeroy that she had decided to back out. If so, she could be on her way before the production manager had even had a chance to protest.
AUTHOR Bio and Links
M. Laszlo is the pseudonym of a reclusive author living in Bath, Ohio. According to rumor, he based the pen name on the name of the Paul Henreid character in Casablanca, Victor Laszlo.
M. Laszlo has lived and worked all over the world, and he has kept exhaustive journals and idea books corresponding to each location and post.
It is said that the maniacal habit began in childhood during summer vacations—when his family began renting out Robert Lowell’s family home in Castine, Maine.
The habit continued in 1985 when, as an adolescent, he spent the summer in London, England. In recent years, he revisited that journal/idea book and based his first work, The Phantom Glare of Day, on the characters, topics, and themes contained within the youthful writings. In crafting the narrative arcs, he decided to divide the work into three interrelated novellas and to set each one in the WW-I era so as to make the work as timeless as possible.
M. Laszlo has lived and worked in New York City, East Jerusalem, and several other cities around the world. While living in the Middle East, he worked for Harvard University’s Semitic Museum. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Hiram College in Hiram, Ohio and an M.F.A. in poetry from Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York.
His next work is forthcoming from SparkPress in 2024. There are whispers that the work purports to be a genuine attempt at positing an explanation for the riddle of the universe and is based on journals and idea books made while completing his M.F.A at Sarah Lawrence College.
Kate Warne’s Sister Is Missing by J A Schneider was a big departure from the other novels of hers that I have read. At first it threw me off. The writing felt dry, textbooklike. BUT, the more I read, the more I got lost in the characters and their circumstances.
Kate Warne’s Sister Is Missing is historical fiction at its finest. We have fiction woven into facts seamlessly. The events take place during 1861. Think of your history. the Civil War had just broken out. There were those who wanted Lincoln dead. Kate Warne did her part to try and save him, but we all know, eventually, he was killed.
Kate Warne was the first female detective with the Pinkertons, thanks to Alan Pinkerton’s ability to judge a person’s character and see that she would be able to go places and learn things because people would overlook a woman. No one would suspect her of being a detective.
Kate and Saskia’s brother and sister in law are quite the pieces of work. When Saskia goes missing, my eyes are on them. Kate, Saskia and their brother shared ownership of the home they lived in.
Opium, in the form of laudanum was the be all, cure all. History repeats itself in drug addiction and abuse of dangerous substances.
Kate’s friends, Buck and Hattie, are also her partners. Will there be a love interest for Kate? The Flower Girl, a girl with a heart so big she put her life on the line for another. She may not be a star in the book, put she shone brightly regardless. I love when peripheral characters take center stage. That is some good character development that makes me want more.
I would have loved to get to know Saskia better. She was sweet, innocent, adventurous, artistic…Will she be found in time? Is it already too late?
The descriptive writing brought to life the horror, the smells, the danger…my anger and disgust, my wonder and delight, my curiosity and desire to know more. The characters grew on me the more time I spent with them. The mystery kept me guessing and the villains, because there are plenty to go around, filled me with revulsion. What a great word, revulsion. Just saying it conveys how poorly I felt about them, especially a certain someone, who, at this time, will be left nameless.
I appreciate a book that has me going on a hunt, surfing the web, searching for more answers on my own. I love that we ended on a high note, with love and inspiration.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Kate Warne’s Sister Is Missing by J A Schneider.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
April 1861, New York City. Civil War has just broken out. Kate Warne, first female detective and a Pinkerton, returns to find that her beloved sister, Saskia, has gone missing. Where to turn? Who to suspect?
Danger surrounds Kate. Secessionists’ fury has followed her since she thwarted their recent attempt to assassinate Lincoln in Baltimore. New York City is also a powder keg, with most elites and even the city’s mayor violently pro-South. Or could Kate’s possibly pro-South relatives have anything to do with Saskie’s disappearance?
Buck Hackett, a handsome fellow Pinkerton, teams up to help but also yearns for Kate. She resists loving him, fearing more heartache after the loss of her husband. Instead, she and her frequent partner Hattie Lawton – whose family Pinkerton helped escape to Canada via the Underground Railroad – plunge headlong into the dangers of 1861 NYC: from the theater scene to scenes of squalor and vast wealth – then through the raging opium epidemic and the secret tunnels of Chinatown. To find her sister, Kate braves every danger, knowing that every second counts.
ABOUT J A SCHNEIDER
Wheaton College, Norton MA (French Lit Major, Minor in Spanish & squeezed in Russian.) Sorbonne, Jr. Year in Paris
Exchange student in the Soviet Union, where I got arrested for spreading anti-Soviet propaganda – ha! Caught with friends laughing at their pea-green-colored drinking water; that was the offense; four of us arrested. Let go after a day, guess they decided we weren’t worth an international incident. Then weeks later I landed in a Soviet hospital because I fell down a ravine during a student hike in the Caucasus mountains near Sochi. It wasn’t bad. Docs in Sochi were nice…
Former writer at Newsweek Magazine. Author of the 6-book EMBRYO medical thriller series; the 4-book Detective Kerri Blasco Police/Psychological Thrillers FEAR DREAMS, HER LAST BREATH, WATCHING YOU, & SHOELESS CHILD.
Also 5 standalone thrillers: INTO THE DARK, GIRL WATCHING YOU, WHAT YOU’VE DONE, CRY TO ME, & THE WIFE LIST. Also the U.S. Civil War thriller, KATE WARNE’S SISTER IS MISSING. (She was America’s first female detective and a Pinkerton. The story takes place in NYC – a pro-South hotbed – at the outbreak of the Civil War.)
Exceptionally Unconventional Victoria Clarke Publication date: February 27th 2023 Genres: Adult, Historical, Historical Romance, Romance
The Honorable Miss Lucilla Iverson is an exceptionally unconventional young heiress trying her best to be unexceptionally conventional despite her love of horses and racing curricles. When she attracts the attention of a hardened older bachelor, a duke, no less, it sets the ton afire with anticipation.
Many young bucks seek her approval, including a notorious (and now penniless) gamester who intends to marry Miss Iverson and her money whether or not she agrees. On an inside track for Lucilla’s attention is Oliver, Lord Hartwell, despite a near miss at running her over while driving his phaeton in the company of his cousin, the handsome and mysterious duke. Which of the three will win her heart and hand, to live happily ever after? That is the question!
“Miss Iverson has been quite amicable to every young man that we have presented to her all evening. Is something amiss, Lady Edevane?”
“Sharp as ever, Clementina. The boy has been toadying her for weeks and does not seem to take a hint.”
“I see!” Mrs. Drummond-Burrell replied, her eyes narrowed and her lips pursed. She did not appreciate being used as means to force a young lady’s hand and made mental note to mention this episode to her fellow patronesses at their next meeting.
In the ballroom, Miss Iverson allowed herself to be led to the floor and begrudgingly took her place. As the music began, Mr. Moore’s arm came about her waist. Her eyes glanced up at his and she fixed a withering glare upon him. He was undaunted, and indeed barely managed to conceal a smirk.
“Why do you look at me so, Lucilla?” he asked mockingly.
“I do not recall giving you leave to use my name, Mr. Moore.”
“Perhaps you did not, but we are such old friends, what is the harm in it?”
“It may not be harmful, but as it is not pleasing to my ear, I will request you not use it, if you please,” she replied witheringly as they whirled about the room.
“Whatever have I done to make you so upset, Miss Iverson?”
“Other than your underhanded effort to force me to accept a waltz with you, Mr. Moore?”
“I should think the effort was rather successful,” was his cheerful reply.
Miss Iverson’s jaw clenched. People were watching, she knew, so for quite some time she performed her steps in silence while he spoke on mundane topics and considered himself to have won the round. No one could overhear them, but anyone could surely guess she was angry at her dancing partner, and so she forced herself to fix a smile on her face as she looked up at him again.
“It is clear to me that in spite of my mother’s efforts to convince me otherwise, you are quite aware that I do not seek to encourage your familiarity.” Her words were deliberately blunt in an attempt to knock him off his perch, and it appeared to succeed, for his brow darkened momentarily. But as suddenly as it appeared, the frown vanished and he plastered a false smile on his face.
“You wound me, Miss Iverson! What have I done to draw such ire? I have surely not offended you.”
“You are well aware that your attentions offend me.”
“I am at a loss to understand why, for I am your humble servant.”
This drew her eyes up in a flash, and she said scornfully, “Indeed!”
“Have I not loved you since childhood?”
“I vividly recall your penchant for tossing spiders at me.”
“Only in my childish efforts to gain your notice, I assure you.”
“Then I suppose you were also in love with my brothers?” she replied with sarcasm ebbing in her voice.
As he paused to consider the right thing to say in reply, she suddenly pulled away from him and he realized the music had ended. She bobbed a quick and shallow curtsy before spinning on her heel and marching away. He felt irritation wash over him at her defiance. Yes, a less troublesome wife would be best. But he might enjoy breaking Miss Iverson of her spirit.
Author Bio:
I am an Australian writer, traveller, and horse rider. I am a lover of all things England and history – with a healthy side of sci-fi and fantasy.
My debut novel ‘Exceptionally Unconventional’ was written during 2020-21 while my late mother was fighting her final battle with breast cancer. I wrote it in a largely light-hearted way in an effort to keep her spirits up during that time – several of the characters were parodied versions of her acquaintances, so I was very happy to have succeeded in that particular endeavour!
She never got to see it published, but just a few weeks after she passed away, I was offered a contract on it from one of the first publishers I submitted it to. You’ll notice the dedication I chose when it finally came time to write one.
Yours and Mine A.E. Bennett Publication date: December 21st 2021 Genres: Adult, Historical, Historical Romance, Romance
She told a lie. He confirmed it. Now they’re secretly betrothed against their families’ wishes…
Lady Octavia Dorchester is the most desired young lady in the Realm. Now that she has twenty years behind her, society has deemed her ready to marry. Although she’s not enthusiastic, she promises to act like a proper lady and look for a good husband—just like her powerful father Lord Roman Dorchester wants.
Lord Gerald Verte has been painfully shy his entire life. He’s never been comfortable in society and lives in the shadow of his older brother, the imposing Lord Tristian Verte. Despite his desires to remain indoors and away from people, he promises his older brother that he won’t shame the family name, no matter how much his anxiety threatens to overwhelm him.
After sharing a dance at a ball held in Octavia’s honor, both she and Gerald know what no one else believes—it’s love at first sight.
When their respective family members object to the match, Octavia lies about their betrothal and Gerald corroborates her story. Raising the ire of both Lords Dorchester and Verte, Octavia and Gerald are torn apart and kept from one another until tragedy strikes.
This high-heat romance with a guaranteed HEA is a prequel to Gathering of the Four: Book One of the Serrulata Saga but can be read as a standalone.
Octavia grimaced and turned back to her reflection to give herself a final once-over, wishing the words her sister spoke seemingly without care didn’t carry an immense amount of truth behind them. She was a lady of the Realm who had recently reached her twentieth year—the age of majority— and now it was time for her to find a suitable husband.
Age of majority. Octavia had always sniffed at the term. For men of the Realm, gentry and peasant and servant alike, the words meant that they were legally able to control any assets they might possess. For women, it merely meant they were supposedly ready to pass from the protective care of their fathers to that of a husband. No woman in the Realm, no matter her status, was legally able to own or control anything without a guardian, even her own body.
She resisted the urge to shiver as her sister held out her hand and offered to help her stand. “I don’t think I’m ready for this.”
Selma smoothed her hands over her sister’s shoulders. “I didn’t think I was ready, either. And now look at me
—engaged!”
Octavia locked her deep brown eyes onto her sister’s in their reflection in the mirror. She gulped against the lump in her throat, angry that her nerves were suddenly getting the better of her. She was a lady—and a Dorchester. Dorchesters never showed weakness! It was a mantra their father had drilled into them since they were young children.
“It took you more than one season to finalize your agree- ment,” Octavia huffed, teasing Selma in order to quell her anxiety. “I’ll wager I leave the ball tonight a taken woman.”
Selma laughed heartily. She was two years older than Octavia, but Octavia had always been considered the more studious and serious of the two Dorchester children. She leaned over and placed an affectionate kiss on her sister’s cheek. “Always the overachiever.”
“Don’t you know it,” Octavia snorted.
Selma gave her a knowing look as she turned to face her sister.
Octavia threw up her hands and fluttered her eyelashes dramatically. “That’s the last un-ladylike thing I do tonight, promise!”
Selma offered her arm to her younger sister and smiled. “Come along. It won’t do to be late to your own debut!”
Author Bio:
A.E. Bennett (she/her) lives in Washington, D.C. She is originally from North Carolina.
Skull’s Vengeance(Curse of Clansmen and Kings Book 4) by Linnea Tanner
GENRE: Historical Fantasy
BLURB
A Celtic warrior queen must do the impossible—defeat her sorcerer half-brother and claim the throne. But to do so, she must learn how to strike vengeance from her father’s skull.
AS FORETOLD BY HER FATHER in a vision, Catrin has become a battle-hardened warrior after her trials in the Roman legion and gladiatorial games. She must return to Britannia and pull the cursed dagger out of the serpent's stone to fulfill her destiny. Only then can she unleash the vengeance from the ancient druids to destroy her evil half-brother, the powerful sorcerer, King Marrock. Always two steps ahead and seemingly unstoppable, Marrock can summon destructive natural forces to crush any rival trying to stop him and has charged his deadliest assassin to bring back Catrin's head.
To have the slightest chance of beating Marrock, Catrin must forge alliances with former enemies, but she needs someone she can trust. Her only option is to seek military aid from Marcellus—her secret Roman husband. They rekindle their burning passion, but he is playing a deadly game in the political firestorm of the Julio-Claudian dynasty to support Catrin's cause.
Ultimately, in order to defeat Marrock, Catrin must align herself with a dark druidess and learn how to summon forces from skulls to exact vengeance. But can she and Marcellus outmaneuver political enemies from Rome and Britannia in their quest to vanquish Marrock?
EXCERPT
PROLOGUE
White Cliffs in Southeast Britannia,
Eve of Samhain, 31 October, 26 AD
Three human skulls hung over King Marrock’s stallion, dangling from a rope like ornaments. Feeling as invincible as a god, he rode to the precipice of the sheer cliffs and listened to the roar of the waves crashing below. Yet, the raven soaring overhead chilled him to the bone—an omen he was but mortal and could plunge to his death.
He embraced the warmth of Boudicca, his younger half sister, who sat astride his horse in front of him. A toddler full of mirth, she was a healer who could connect to the souls of the dead.
Whereas their mother accused him, also known as Blood Wolf, of being a soulless murderer.
On this eve of Samhain, Marrock knew the souls of the dead freely roamed among the living. He spotted his deadliest assassin, Gawain, searching for the wraith on the emerald hilltop. Gawain had a blue, triangular tattoo of a dagger’s blade on his forehead and deadly weapons underneath his black cloak—the royal insignia of the red dragon stitched to the front panel.
For Marrock, the Otherworldly dragon, with its leathery wings and fiery breath, symbolized perpetual power. It was said that where dragons trod, mystic energy flowed. The untamed beast guarded the portal into the Otherworld.
He yearned for the dragon’s mystic power—the power to summon forces from the earth’s molten underbelly to immolate his rivals.
Gawain pointed to a pile of rocks. “The sheepherder saw the wraith over there,” he said in his deep, gravelly voice.
Marrock handed Boudicca to him and then dismounted, pulling the rope of skulls off his horse and draping it over his shoulders. His family’s skulls served as a warning to anyone who threatened his sovereignty.
Until now, he had only been able to summon the deadly powers from the skulls of his stepmother and bastard sister; their souls were encased in the bone crowns. The soul of his father, King Amren, still eluded Marrock, even after he had sliced off his father’s head. If his father’s soul was indeed wandering the hilltop, he would imprison it in the largest empty skull he had.
Then, he would be able to unleash the collective forces from all three souls.
Glancing all around, he could not see his father’s ghostly figure in the thickening fog. Boudicca’s gleeful giggle roused his attention. He watched her waddle toward a mound of stones and place her tiny hands on the stacked rocks.
“Pa. Pa. Am,” she squealed with delight.
Marrock cast a glance at Gawain. “Did the sheepherder see the wraith disappear into those rocks?”
Gawain nodded. “Indeed, I believe so.”
Marrock transferred the roped skulls from his shoulders to the grassy ground and looked at Gawain. “Help me remove the rocks so I can see what is underneath.”
Gawain joined Marrock in the task of removing the white stones one by one. They inspected each rock for any defect before setting it aside.
Boudicca, mimicking the men, picked up flint pebbles and dropped them on the chalky ground.
After a while, they uncovered the gemstone handle of a dagger; its blade was embedded in a coil-shaped serpent stone. Marrock recognized the jewel-studded dagger as once belonging to his father. Intrigued, he gripped the handle with both hands and strained to pull it out, his muscles aching and his face dripping with sweat from the effort.
Suddenly, to his shock, the hilt turned sizzling hot. He jerked his hands away and inspected the blisters that had formed on his reddened palms. Hearing Boudicca’s gleeful babble, he looked down just as she gripped the dagger’s handle.
“Pa. Pa. Am,” she trilled.
To Marrock’s surprise, Boudicca’s hands did not burn.
A prickling sensation noosed around his neck as he recalled the original curse cast by his mother just before his father had executed her.
The gods demand that the scales be balanced for the life you take. If you deny my soul’s journey to the Otherworld by beheading me, I curse you to the same fate as mine. I prophesy your future queen will beget a daughter who will rise as a raven and join your son, Blood Wolf, and a mighty empire will overtake your kingdom and execute my curse.
King Amren had etched the words of the curse on the dagger’s blade using the Roman alphabet with the belief he could thwart the dark prophecy.
Marrock shuddered.
Does my father’s soul live in the dagger? Has he come back to exact vengeance on me?
AUTHOR Bio and Links
Award-winning author, Linnea Tanner, weaves Celtic tales of love, magical adventure, and political intrigue in Ancient Rome and Britannia. Since childhood, she has passionately read about ancient civilizations and mythology. Of particular interest are the enigmatic Celts, who were reputed as fierce warriors and mystical Druids.
Linnea has extensively researched ancient and medieval history, mythology, and archaeology and has traveled to sites described within each of her books in the Curse of Clansmen and Kings series. Books released in her series include “Apollo’s Raven” (Book 1), “Dagger’s Destiny” (Book 2), “Amulet’s Rapture” (Book 3), and “Skull’s Vengeance” (Book 4). She has also released the historical fiction short story, “Two Faces of Janus.”
A Colorado native, Linnea attended the University of Colorado and earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemistry. She lives in Fort Collins with her husband and has two children and six grandchildren.
Book Title: FOR LOVE AND MERCY: A Novel by C. Ingrid Deringer Category: Adult Fiction (18+), 195 pages Genre: Literary Fiction, Mystery, Historical Fiction Publisher: FRIESEN PRESS Release date: August 2022 Content Rating: PG-13. There is a death, near-death experience, some swearing, no explicit sex scenes.
Book Description:
“Suddenly angelic beings of light appeared. They said I was at a crossroad, and it was here where I had to make a choice . . .”
In 2022, forty-two-year-old Dr. Stormy Hera, a music professor at the University of Victoria, is serving a manslaughter sentence at Sunnydale Forensic Hospital in British Columbia.
Although she can’t recall committing the crime, she feels strongly that she did the right thing. In the hopes of jogging her memory and healing her soul, Stormy is tasked with writing her autobiography as part of her rehabilitation.
Spanning the 1940s to 2026, and set in the Saskatchewan prairies, Olympia, Greece, and Canada’s West Coast, For Love and Mercy follows the lives of free-spirited Evangeline, and Stormy herself—including a near-death experience that changes everything.
Charlotte Ingrid Deringer was born into a large family in Saskatchewan, Canada and has lived all across the country, on the east coast, west coast and everywhere in between.
Her family’s love of music, dance and practical jokes left a tremendous impression on her, but it was her voracious appetite for adventure that has driven her to experience life to the fullest. She was in her 50s when her creative passions ignited, fueling her desire to write fiction.
Ingrid holds a BA in Psychology, an MA in Women’s Studies and is also an Acupuncturist, Shiatsu Therapist, a Life Cycle Celebrant and a Meditation Teacher. She has worked in the health and wellness field, specializing in the treatment of chronic pain and chronic illness for over 25 years.
Now semi-retired, Ingrid loves to hang out with her grandchildren and spend winters in warm climates with her feet in the sand where she can write to her heart’s content.
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