Jessica H. Stone delivers a killer first book in her new murder mystery series, Blood on a Blue Moon: A Sheaffer Blue Mystery.
Somewhere on the line between Kinsey Milhone and Stephanie Plum, sails insurance investigator Sheaffer Blue on her sailboat Ink Spot. Probably sailing a bit closer to Plum’s chaos magnetic style than Milhone’s more professional demeanor as a fellow insurance investigator. But then, it’s the madcap nature of Plum’s investigations that makes her series so much fun – and the same is certainly true for Blue.
Blue’s job as an insurance investigator starts out as temporary as every other job she’s ever held. She’s just there to save up enough money to get her beloved Ink Spot’s back dock fees paid off. Once that happens, she will sail away to Mexico, live on part-time work, and sail as much as she wants.
Can you live on a dime in Seattle?
Even living aboard a boat in a low-rent dock slip, as Blue does, nearly breaks the bank. She needs funds to live her dream, and that’s where her current job comes in – and it very nearly takes her out.
The case starts out small. A fire on a houseboat where an elderly woman dies of smoke inhalation. Open and shut, right? Not so fast. There’s a big fish who’s pressuring Blue’s boss to solve the case pronto. He’s been eyeing the lakeshore property with plans to develop it into a playground for the wealthy. All he needs is a swift settlement and the rest of the houseboat owners gone.
Everyone wants the case solved.
Blue wants to do her job and get the boss off her back. She’s one step closer to sailing away, but the cops – or at least one cop, Detective David Chen, doesn’t believe the case is as straightforward as it appears – or as someone wants it to appear. And there are plenty of clues to make the reader’s detective hackles rise along with the cops, even if it takes Blue a bit to get there.
That’s what makes the story so fascinating, and the mystery so compelling. The more that both Blue and Detective David Chen poke into the life of the victim, and the more that the wealthy developer pokes into Blue’s boss, the more tentacles of the case begin to slither and the more the coincidences pile up.
And the more the reader is on the edge of their seat.
While the police detective brings his professional knowledge and detachment to this investigation, Blue’s style owes a lot to Stephanie Plum’s more chaotic process, or mostly lack thereof. In fact, her amateur detective status gets her into trouble – a lot of trouble. And this is what makes the novel work spectacularly.
Blue’s style of controlled chaos allows her to see things that the detective misses. Through her slapdash methods, readers understand why Shirley, the original victim, was the kind of person who fought great battles, inspired great friendships, and put herself in the crosshairs of a long-ago tragedy that resulted in her murder.
Award-winning author, Jessica H. Stone builds her characters with plenty of spark and mayhem – enough to carry an entire series. Readers looking for a female detective to follow now that Kinsey Milhone has left her alphabet unfinished, or who love the madcap and sometimes maddening methods used by Stephanie Plum and just can’t wait for her next number, will find a lot to bite their nails over in Sheaffer Blue’s first – but hopefully not last – case.
Hello Chanticleerians and we hope you are enjoying your Three Day Weekend for Labor Day!
For many of us who write, it’s a full time job on top of the day job we already have. And, as writing is a full time business, we deserve a little recognition for all the work we put in on top of any other labor we already do. Let’s look at the history of Labor Day and some stories that remind us how far we’ve come, and others that show us possibly how far we may be able to go!
First off, while Grover Cleveland officially signed Labor Day into law in 1894, people aren’t sure if it was Peter McGuire or Matthew Maguire, the cofounder of the American Federation of Labor and a secretary of the Central Labor Union respectively, who actually began the holiday. While there are more Maguires there than in the new Spiderman movie, there is no confusion on why Labor Day started. You can learn more from the Department of Labor here.
While Tobey Maguire was a great Spiderman, that’s not who were talking about here.
Labor Day is a celebration of the achievements, both social and economic, of workers in the United States. The holiday recognizes the contributions these workers make to the nation’s prosperity and well-being. Now, more than ever, it’s clear that our essential workers deserve recognition, celebration, and a thriving wage.
In describing the need for Labor Day, History.com says:
People of all ages, particularly the very poor and recent immigrants, often faced extremely unsafe working conditions, with insufficient access to fresh air, sanitary facilities and breaks.
Remembering Labor Day is a great way to remind ourselves that conditions can always be better for workers across the board.
The Ferengi Rom facing down his brother Quark and forming a union in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’s episode “Bar Association”
When we think of the history of labor in this country, ways people can make a difference right now, and where we might be going, there’s a whole world of books that opens up to us! Here are just a few that we recommend!
Working Fiction
Infants of the Brush By A.M. Watson
A little boy is sold into an apprenticeship as a chimney sweep in eighteenth-century London, and soon learns the horrors of that profession.
Six-year-old Egan lost his father from an accident at sea, and now, may lose his little sister from illness. The only way his penniless mother can save her daughter is to sell Egan into an apprenticeship in order to purchase medicine. As a small boy, he will make an ideal “broomer;” a businessman named Armory gladly takes Egan into the fold. Under Armory’s absolute dictatorship he will sleep with other wretched boys on soot sacks, eat gruel, get bloody beatings for the slightest infraction, and risk his life almost daily.
The Selah Branch By Ted Neill
First Place Winner in Cygnus Awards
The Selah Branchcombines two surprising stories into one enthralling whole.
It begins with a ripped from the headlines feel, diving deeply into issues of race, class, poverty, and hopelessness in Selah Branch, WV. A town whose brighter future of uplift, integration, opportunity, and prosperity was wiped out one summer night in 1953 when a chemical explosion destroyed the promising university town and replaced it with a hazardous waste site. Like Chernobyl, only with a smaller footprint and chemical residue substituting for nuclear waste. But just as deadly.
The story views Selah Branch through the eyes of Kenia Dezy, an African-American public health student on a summer practicum. She’s to determine if a simple app can steer people towards healthier food choices and better health outcomes in a town empty of jobs, filled with poverty and hopelessness, marooned in the middle of a food desert.
Beyond Balancing the Books By George Marino, CPA, CFP
George Marino, a practicing CPA and Mindfulness Coach, explores the possibilities for sustainable positivity in one’s work-life through mindfulness principles and practices in his new book,Beyond Balancing the Books: Sheer Mindfulness for Professionals in Work and Life.
It would be difficult to find a profession more fraught with detail, deadlines, and distress than a typical CPA. Applying to that particular realm the idea of mindful meditation is a challenge that author Marino has taken on because it is a process he has lived. He opens his book by comparing two CPAs and their approaches to life and work-life.
Thomas Wideman, the author of this dynamic self-help manual,Welfare Cheese to Fine Caviar: How to Achieve Your Dreams Despite Your Upbringing, rose from poverty and dismay to a life of security and personal achievement through techniques he shares with readers who can incorporate them into their own life plans.
Wideman came from an impoverished African American family wracked by confusion, chaos, and, at times, criminality. His mother had three sons by three fathers, and he would come to know his own father only peripherally, eventually learning that the man murdered people and subsequently died in prison. The boy grew up in tough neighborhoods and ate “welfare cheese” (a block of pre-sliced heavy American cheese that supposedly melted well). Every month, making ends meet became more and more difficult. In an early chapter of this finely woven chronology, we see him taking food from trains parked along the railroad tracks and running from the authorities. In this, as in each new chapter, he speaks of confronting severe issues and finding ways to resolve them. In the case of the theft and other childhood incidents of fighting, experiencing bullies, and battling racism, he speaks of making up his mind that “my circumstances need not be my limitation.”
A colorful fable resonates with contrasting modalities of mysticism and social action, exploring how culture and religion can separate us or bind us together.
Narada is a traveler and a stranger when he first meets the lovely Hohete and her people in the ancient city of Ja’Usu. Given water, food, and shelter by Hohete’s family, Narada is sharply questioned by village elders who are stymied by his forthright statement that he is a representative of a deity named The Great Mystery. So they conspire to remake him as a storyteller, to reduce his power and profit from his talent for spinning yarns by selling refreshments to his audience.
Have a great story about workers and overcoming adversity?
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If you’re confident in your book, consider submitting it for a Editorial Book Reviewhereor to one of our Chanticleer International Awardshere.
Also remember! Our 10th Anniversary Chanticleer Authors Conference (CAC22) will be April 7-10, 2022, where our 2021 CIBA winners will be announced. CAC22 and the CIBA Ceremonies will be hosted at the Hotel Bellwether in Beautiful Bellingham, Wash. See the latest updates here!
Sylva Fae helps early readers learn their alphabet with another delightful children’s book, Elfabet: An A to Z of Woodland Folk.
Little Eric, king of Ladybirds, also known as ladybugs, needs a way to learn his letters to spell many dazzling words. Little Eric uses the world of the forest folk around him as inspiration for his elfabet. Get ready to meet a whole trove of fantastical creatures from dragons to pixies, to fairies and goblins, and many more for every letter of the elfabet!
Fae’s Elfabet charms readers and fills us with love on every page. Just like in Rainbow Monsters, where readers got to learn about colors by getting to know a rainbow of monsters, Fae makes learning the alphabet fun and engaging. Everyone knows that “A” is for apple and “D” is for dog, but now readers will get to explore a whole new and fantastical world. A world where “A” still stands for apple but is collected by elves, and “D” is for fire-breathing dragons!
Both Sylva Fae and illustrator Katie Weaver dedicate this book to their children, who inspire their work.
In her illustrations, Weaver uses an array of bright colors and draws various subjects to encourage creativity in children. On each page, the drawings are within each corresponding letter, and readers will wonder and daydream about what magic lies beyond the edges of each letter. By the time children reach the end of Elfabet, they will be inspired to write and draw their own stories of the woodland folk.
Author John W. Feist unfolds a true-love story, old-fashioned letter style, in his historical romance novel, The Color of Rain: A Kansas Courtship in Letters.
Three and a half years pass before Irene Webb, a college-educated schoolteacher, hears about the beloved Wilson family she stayed with as a boarder, caring for Harold and Wallis, their two sons. But the news sent to her in August of 1896 is not good; Allie, Frank’s wife, unexpectedly dies. “I realize this is no time for letters,” Irene writes to him before expressing her most profound condolences. Formalities aside, the letter sparks renewed friendship, and the two Kansas friends begin exchanging letters regularly.
A handsome, well-respected local banker and now eligible bachelor, Frank Wilson, is nothing less than a hot ticket item with “the path to [his] home … a pilgrimage for unmarried women bearing casseroles.”
While the attention is encouraging, he’s not interested in finding a replacement for Allie right away. Except for Irene. Three months after Allie’s death, Frank makes the day trip via two trains from Horton to visit her at her parents’ farm in Nortonville—a mere half-hour drive with today’s modern conveniences. Thus, a long-distance courtship commences.
Frank and Irene remain busy people – his with banking, and Irene (the oldest of seven children) cares for her ailing father and holds down the fort of the large Webb household. The two lovers keep to weekly letter-writing since they barely have the chance to see each other, especially when trials and tribulations convolute their individual lives. Irene cannot imagine the issues she must confront, including an enticing school principal offer, as she contemplates marriage.
Rising author, John W. Feist, utilized his storytelling skills to bring a love journey to life.
The benefactor of his grandparents’ courtship correspondence, Feist saw an opportunity to go back in time and recreate what “dating” looked like near the turn of the twentieth century. It’s difficult to imagine the formalities behind courtship, let alone women succumbing to patriarchal ties. But that was not necessarily the case with Feist’s grandparents.
If Irene wasn’t the intellectual she was, she might have balked at Frank’s direction toward marital preparation. Instead of following through with the usual romantic proposal, Frank gave her Orson Squire Fowler’s groundbreaking Creative and Sexual Science to read and for them to discuss. To his delight, she took up the challenge. Although the hefty read might have carried an undercurrent of male domination, what made it revolutionary was Fowler’s eye-opening stance that husbands and wives should be considered equals, an ideal Frank had with Allie and hoped he’d have Irene.
Of course, there is so much more to Frank and Irene’s relationship.
The Color of Rain: A Kansas Courtship in Letters goes beyond recording a family legacy; it is a human-interest story. Feist’s rich writing style stitches historical details, providing a seamless flow from letters-writing to narrative sections that capture everyday life’s realities amid unsettling times. Concerns over Indian Territory and Negro Freeman allotments (which Frank was involved in as a banker) and contracting diseases like malaria and typhoid (both Irene’s mother had, eventually dying from the latter) are two prime examples.
The Color of Rain: A Kansas Courtship in Letters is a must-read for all, especially history aficionados.
As a wealthy member of the landed gentry, Fitzwilliam Darcy has obligations in Colette Saucier’s mashup, Pulse and Prejudice: The Confessions of Mr. Darcy, Vampire.
Darcy must secure a suitable match for his younger sister, maintain his cool facade of indifference, and live as quietly as possible. He refuses to consider marriage for himself due to his unusual “affliction.” Forced to live a shell of his former existence for the past six years, Darcy relies on his valet, Rivens, for his every need. He shuns most company because Darcy is a vampire. So, when his close friend, Charles Bingley, insists that Darcy accompany him to a country ball, Darcy is loath to accept. When Bingley meets and is immediately captivated with Jane Bennet, Darcy suspects the Bennets are fortune seekers, interested only in finding wealthy matches for the five Bennet daughters, including the fiery Elizabeth, Jane’s sister.
As Bingley spends more time with Jane, Darcy is thrown together with Elizabeth and begins to see something extraordinary in the headstrong girl, so much so that he fears his growing hunger goes beyond mere admiration. When Darcy feels his control beginning to slip, he knows he must distance himself from Elizabeth, but he soon learns nothing, not even distance, can diminish the strength of his need.
Based on Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, this novel is a fantastic adaptation which most Austen fans will love.
It has the cozy familiarity of the classic with an unexpected twist, creating something that feels as comfy as your favorite jeans but is sexy as a little black dress. In this retelling, the author explores the same time-tested love story as the original but from Darcy’s perspective, which in and of itself is truly interesting; however, add the fact that he is a vampire, and the story explodes in a fresh, new way while seamlessly aligning with the original. Even the vocabulary and sentence structure of the novel matches that of Austen, making the story seem like the perfect companion.
Darcy’s tortured psyche is the star of this novel.
Ironically, this dynamic character experiences a dramatic change that makes him much more human – although he is not – than in Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. As the plot follows that of the original, the reader can see and feel his growth from a man of extreme pretension, a man spoiled by his parents into believing himself above most of society. Though he must maintain this belief for decorum and the safety of others, he is also a lonely man who misses that human part of himself that he has suppressed.
In the beginning, Darcy doesn’t realize how miserable he is nor how much he hates himself, but the more time spent with Elizabeth, the more he sees the “pinnacle of [his] self-loathing.” Having pretended indifference for so long, Darcy now feels unworthy of Elizabeth’s love or forgiveness for the many slights he gives her and her family. Darcy also wonders which part of him, the vampire, or the bit of humanity to which he clings, that Elizabeth excites. His yearning for her goes beyond anything he experienced as a man and drives his vampire nature insane. He cannot stay away from her, nor does he desire it. He wants her body and blood, but he mostly wants to be worthy of her love. In short, she brings him back to life and makes him feel, maybe for the first time. He is the perfect tortured, dark hero, and romance lovers will not be disappointed.
The Corpse Wore Stilettos by MJ O’Neill brings down the house in a most delightful way.
Four months ago, Kat Water’s life fell apart. Her father, a prominent insurance broker, was arrested on racketeering charges, accused of laundering money for the mob. A successful museum curator in Boston, Kat immediately dropped everything to return to St. Louis, leaving her fiance and career behind. With all of their possessions seized and their bank accounts frozen, Kat’s mother, Lauren, and her grandmother, Theodora, are left poverty-stricken. Kat, with her family name now dragged through the mud by the media, can only find a job in the county morgue. With her minor in biology and her detail-oriented personality, she finds her work most rewarding.
When tasked with processing the body of a believed prostitute, it’s all business as usual.
But the deceased girl doesn’t bear the typical signs of her profession. Then a gun-toting bad guy steals the body before Kat begins her task. Oops. Now, once again, Kat’s family steps in as fodder for the rumor mill, and everyone believes the body must be connected to her father, his crimes, and the mob. Kat determines to find the body, solve the mystery of the girl’s identity, and clear her family name. She grudgingly teams up with the distractingly attractive ex-military special forces turned security firm owner, Burns McPhee. As they chase the mystery – and the body – all over St. Louis, the two realize the girl’s death is part of a much larger, much more dangerous plot.
This novel’s character line-up shines!
With one misfit eccentric after another, they all seem to work seamlessly to create a memorably fun read. From shoe-obsessed drag queens to heroic strippers, this novel definitely delivers on character development. Grand, Kat’s grandmother Theodora, sparkles. The borderline “geriatric Nancy Drew” is a hoot! Often the feisty troublemaker, Grand cannot help but instigate – or fan the flames – in any bad situation. If she isn’t “shopping” in their police-patrolled, off-limits former home, she’s running around in kitschy visors (one for all occasions) and making revenge scrapbooks on ways she’ll get even with her long-time nemesis.
Another example of character craftsmanship is DC, Kat’s best friend and co-worker. He is, perhaps, the most interesting of all the supporting characters. With his fashion savvy and his cat therapist, DC has a flair for the dramatic. As Kat’s figurative and literal sidekick, he is in the middle of all the action. When he turns superhero – complete with costume – Kat engineers a complicated rescue scheme to get him away from what he believes are Russian mobsters. Kat’s other co-workers won’t disappoint either with super-timid Henry, gothic Meg, Marshall the perv, and Sam the tattooed, motorcycle-riding, aspiring chef.
Armed with outstanding fashion sense, a minor in biology from Harvard, and uncanny random facts that she spouts whenever nervous, Kat Waters is an absolutely unique and memorable character herself.
Her entire life, Kat’s been pampered and made to feel special. Her life was exactly on the expected trajectory: great job, correct fiancé, and numerous pairs of expensive shoes. She never dreamed she’d be literally penniless and working in a morgue to keep Grand and her mother off the streets, and though her mother doesn’t really respect Kat’s work with the dead, Kat learns the importance of her job in a way she never expected. She discovers that she is much more than a two-time Miss Missouri winner in the best makeup category, and certainly not the mob princess the media like to portray her as.
Kat’s a woman who refuses to abandon those she loves and one who willingly gives up her own dreams to keep together the family she has remaining. After the girl’s body disappears on her watch, she transitions that attitude into her need to find Jane Doe. While initially her amateur investigation stems from her suspension and punishment at work, her search evolves into a quest for justice for a string of prostitutes similarly murdered by a serial killer six months prior. Kat refuses to let these women remain victims of a faceless killer; their stories must be told regardless of the risk. She won’t let flirty reporters, sinfully handsome ex-army guys, or psycho stalkers get in her way, and she’ll do it while looking fabulous!
The game is afoot! It’s years before Sherlock Holmes’ ponderings from 221B Baker Street. Sherlock is a teenager when challenged to solve his first case, The Adventure of the Murdered Midwife by Liese Sherwood-Fabre.
The stakes are among the highest. Sherlock’s beloved mother is the accused killer when he and his infamous brother Mycroft are summoned home from their boarding schools. The family reunites to a single purpose. They must prove Violette Holmes’s innocence. They soon discover that proving her innocence will not be enough to restore her standing in the court of public opinion. They can only clear her name by also finding the actual killer. That investigation involves a dangerous pursuit that requires detailed observation, logic, and action. Young Sherlock Holmes will also need to watch his back.
The adventure begins with a brief glimpse into Sherlock’s school days.
It’s an illuminating peek into his growing personality. As the men of the family come together, nerves fray with their mother and wife jailed. Sherlock’s Uncle Ernest is also anxious to help free his sister. Ernest and Sherlock visit Violette in jail, and together the three of them create a plan they hope will bring her home. If successful, they may catch the killer, an endeavor that may be an even more significant threat to them all. The determined Holmes family will need all the help they can get along the way. The killer is watching their every move.
During his analysis of the case, Sherlock encounters a most intriguing teenage girl who has perfected the execution of the enviable skill of sleight of hand.
Her name is Constance, and she is the most talented pickpocket he’s ever met. A handy tool to have on your team if you can, but there’s more about this girl that attracts Sherlock. He wants to strike up a friendship. Is this the start of young love, a first crush? Of course, there are complications. If Sherlock can save his mother from conviction and the gallows, then someone very close to Constance risks becoming the main suspect in the murder of the unfortunate midwife.
Author Liese Sherwood-Fabre paints a lively, historical setting that draws the reader immediately into a curiosity about the social conventions and people of the story.
Crafted to perfection, the Sherwood-Fabre offers several suspects and a crime scene clever enough to engage the reader at every step of the investigation. The investigation takes unexpected twists and turns that will keep a reader guessing until the end. The most outstanding achievement is the author’s skill in creating her characters, including one of the most famous mystery characters of all time. She paints the most credible portrait of him in his youth. The characters’ motivations and family dynamics are revealed in due time, throughout the adventure, with some surprises. Situational and character humor delights as they race to solve the mystery. And so, the adventure begins.
In A Hand of Vengeance, the fourth volume in John Stafford’s Vengeance series, the Darkness stops at nothing to destroy Brady, the boy who can call the angels, and continue its never-ending war against The Holy Mother and Her forces of good on earth.
More of an action novel and less of a polemic than previous novels in the series (A Prayer of Vengeance – Book 1, A Sword of Vengeance – Book 2, and A Song of Vengeance – Book 3) the book begins in 1983 with the intended assassination of Pope John II by four girl assassins trained by Gudren Himmler, daughter of Nazi leader Heinrich Himmler, introduced in the previous book and an actual historical figure. Without intervention, the nefarious plan might just succeed.
The Darkness is just getting started, including the murder of Mother Theresa in India come to fruition. Fans of the series will find the fates of key figures of great interest include Brady’s grandfather, Giovanni, the Vatican’s Father Anthony, and Brady’s young daughter Grace, whose special powers become increasingly crucial to the saga. Equally riveting revelations include how the forces of Good influenced global decisions and influenced cultural icons, including the Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil” and J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy.
Evil moves on to assassinations.
Among the more chilling developments, a facility in India tortures innocent orphan girls. The workers extract the girls’ blood at the peak of their terror to produce a human blood-based “fountain of youth” elixir consumed by rich and powerful people worldwide. Dining on the flesh of young children is also a featured meal for Darkness followers.
With time, 20-something Brady leads the worldwide fight against the Darkness, with the Vatican and several nations backing his efforts. The latest mission ll takes them to London to interrogate Gudrun Margarete Elfriede Emma Anna Burwitz’s (a.k.a. Gudrun Himmler’s) right-hand man. Then the team travels to Paris, where they destroy a chateau where trafficked children died in front of audiences for their “elixir.” One more battle between the Light and Darkness emerges in Calcutta, India, but this one does not leave the forces of Good untouched. The consequences are monumental, the loss of lives for the Light inconsolable. This time, Brady and the Light will not save everyone, but a new family emerges with Brady’s powers to carry on the war against evil.
Stafford weaves historical events into his storytelling.
While alternate history plays a role in every Vengeance book, this latest book sees events from the assassination attempt on President Reagan to the near-fatal bombing of Margaret Thatcher as chess pieces in the war of the Darkness against the Light. While reading previous novels would offer a greater understanding of the events in this book, readers who come across this stand-alone novel and crave militant Catholic occult fiction will find it a good read all on its own.
Newly-turned vampire Abigail Tate desperately wants to protect her human boyfriend, Tyler, in Ashley Robertson’s second book in The Crimson Series, Crimson Flames.
Tyler has been accused of helping the Resistance, a rogue band of vampires who want to bring down the Council, but Abby believes in Tyler’s innocence and refuses to hand him over as the law requires. Since being turned, Abby has gained unbelievable pyrokinesis powers thanks to her mother, the powerful sorceress, and counselor to the High Council. With her burgeoning ability and the promise of much more to come, the Council agrees to give her time in exchange for her tentative help in fighting Lars, the Resistance leader and a vampire capable of harnessing the powers of darkness and death.
Abby’s loyalty to Tyler is tested when she meets Trace, a member of the High Council.
The handsome, ancient vampire can’t control his feelings for Abby, and the more she learns about Tyler’s treachery, the less convinced she becomes that he is truly innocent, making her more and more willing to give Trace a chance. As the war between the Council and the Resistance intensifies, Abby discovers truths she isn’t sure she wants to know. As her powers increase, she’s driven to connect with the spirit of her sorceress mother. But doing so leads her closer to a clash with her destiny. Will she be powerful enough to defeat the darkness?
The strength of this novel lies in the development of the main character, Abby.
Abby is part-vampire, part-sorceress, and all hero. While learning the extent of her pyrokinesis, the ability to call up an internal fire hot enough to bring down not only her vampire enemies but also entire buildings, she must also learn how to control it. As the novel progresses, so does her power. Elliot, arguably the strongest member of the High Council, has the ability to communicate with the dead, allowing them to inhabit his earthly body, and in Abby’s case, pass on much-needed information and help. When Elliot calls forth Madelaine, Abby’s deceased biological mother, he fulfills Abby’s strong desire to know the woman who passed on her unbelievable abilities. Having been raised by a human blood donor whom Abby believed to be her birth mother for most of her life, Abby’s reunion with her mother creates joy but uncertainty. This uncertainty creates the more human element of the character, showing that ultimate power doesn’t necessarily bring ultimate fulfillment.
Still, Abby is a consummate hero.
Even when it could mean her death, Abby refuses to leave anyone behind. She sees herself as a “monster” with the responsibility to care for the race to which she recently belonged. To Abby, mercy and second chances seem almost second nature. In fact, she refuses to allow anyone to harm Tyler, even though he betrayed her, until she gives him another opportunity to make things right and explain his strange behavior. She stands against the most powerful vampires in her world as long as righteousness and justice remain her goals.
A clear theme issue within the novel is trust.
Surrounded by betrayal, Abby must learn whom she can truly trust. The biggest betrayal happens, in part, before the novel’s action begins. In book one, her soon-to-be ex-boyfriend, Tyler, plays a part in the murder of Abby’s father. Though he claims not to have been aware of his treachery, everyone believes him to be duplicitous. It isn’t until later that Abby will learn the full truth, a much more complicated story than she would have ever guessed, and come to terms with all that that means in her life.
The issue of helping the High Council presents yet another trust situation. Though the Council offers the chance to “meet” the mother she didn’t know existed before her transformation, she must submit to their expectations and demands, putting herself fully within their hands and possibly committing acts she cannot reconcile with her own beliefs. When she does meet Madelaine, she once again doesn’t know how much to allow herself to trust. She repeatedly questions her mother’s motives, whether she wants to help her daughter or help the Council.
Most importantly, Abby must learn to trust herself and her new powers. It isn’t until she begins to trust in her own strength that she becomes strong enough to defeat the ultimate darkness. That confidence in oneself remains the hardest to earn and comes with the highest cost. Crimson Flame won 1st Place in the CIBAs 2013 Chatelaine Awards for Paranormal Romance books.
Antonius: Son of Rome by Brook Allen focuses on one of history’s most vexing and perplexing figures, Marc Antony. It is also inevitably a prism on modern American politics, with its characters behaving duplicitously, greedily, and ignobly while spinning up service to the greater good.
Historians often cite Antony as a controversial figure whose accomplishments and flaws have been noted by his enemies. Yet, he is as compelling as Richard III or Richard Nixon, with gaps in the accounts of his life that create grounds for curiosity and speculation as to how he became the pivotal figure in western history that he is. Allen weaves a wonderfully realistic and organic story of how a boy grows up desperate and bitter in a disgraced patrician family yet desperately transmutes mistake and tragedy into military achievement.
Marcus Antonius was the eldest of three male children of his namesake father, Marcus Antonius, and Julia Antonia. Of noble birth in Republican Rome, the novel begins as eleven-year-old Marcus learns of his father’s fatal illness, a man who had failed in his duty to govern overseas provinces. His actions as provincial governor – extorting gold from those he should protect, then failing to commit suicide as a Roman general should when such disgrace is discovered – angered the Senate and left his widow and orphans to bear his dishonor.
Young Antonius vows to restore honor to the family name.
He commits to instruction in military practices and interacts with a cast of relatives and characters who aid him and provide additional problems with their political intrigues. His distant cousin, Gaius Julius Caesar, gifts him with a slave who becomes trainer and friend. But young Antonius also acquiesces to baser pursuits, becoming involved, with two other young Roman men of noble birth, in a brothel and gaming club where he indulges copiously. He begins to accrue gambling debts, which lead him to desperation as his moneylender demands repayment that the family’s modest wealth cannot meet. Roman proprieties and political savagery come together as his mother remarries. A plot to rebel against the Republican order includes his new stepfather, whom Antonius has come to esteem, and one of his brothel compatriots. The plot’s failure leads to his stepfather’s death and additional contempt for his family. Even his own joy sows horror; he frees and marries a family slave, only for her to be murdered by his usurious moneylender. Despondent and concerned for the others in his family, he is convinced by his cousin, Caesar, to study abroad in Greece, where his fortunes change.
Allen makes historical Rome real.
She brings to life areas readers might be familiar with, but she also takes us into the homes and less-pleasant places in mid-first-century BC Rome. From murder dungeons to strolls along the Palatine, receiving guests at a family Domus, and the daily interactions of Roman nobles and plebians and slaves, the perspective of young Antonius provides insight to a time two millennia distant and yet of human behavior not much different. As familiar names like Cicero and Caesar and Ptolemy plot and scheme and inveigle for personal glory with the lives of people they disregard in the balance, it’s difficult not to transfer young Antonius’s learning experience into our own era where the covetousness remains pervasive. The backstabbing is only slightly less literal.
Indeed, the novel’s strength lies not in the admirable accuracy of its descriptions and accounts but in Allen’s ability to place the reader directly in the head of her hero. Perhaps it’s difficult to think of a man who drinks, fornicates, and wagers excessively as a hero – but Marcus Antonius relies on honor in most instances, including when it may be to his detriment. As readers share his journey from the Domus Antonii to Alexandria, many will come to understand his philosophy and may be swayed.
Steeped in history, but more than fiction, Antonius: Son of Rome ultimately invites readers to visit another place and time.
Allen presents a flawed but sympathetic character to an enigmatic two-dimensional historical figure that will appeal equally to those already inclined to Roman history and those who might be just as inclined to the modern singer. Antonius: Son of Rome took home 1st Place in the CIBA 2020 Chaucer Awards for Early Historical Fiction.
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Antonius: Son of Rome by Brook Allen focuses on one of history’s most vexing and perplexing figures, Marc Antony. It is also inevitably a prism on modern American politics, with its characters behaving duplicitously, greedily, and ignobly while spinning up service to the greater good.