Monday, December 7, 2015
Books We Love New Releases
Books We Love has some fantastic new releases for December. Don't forget, all Books We Love authors are experienced pros with years of experience and when you buy one of their books you know you're getting a quality book -- great for personal reading and gift giving. The prices couldn't be better at $2.99 for individual books and you'll find these books at your favorite online retailers: Amazon, Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Nook, All Romance Ebooks, wherever you like to shop, and many of these books are in print - ask for them at your favorite bookstore.
Saturday, December 5, 2015
Books We Love Spotlight - Author Jamie Hill
One of Books We Love's 2014 best selling authors, Jamie Hill is also one of our most prolific and talented authors.
If you haven't read any of Jamie's books, you're in for a rare treat. They're available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple, All Romance Ebooks, Smashwords, and any of your online retailers. Several of her books, including her new Witness Security series is also available in print from your local bookstores.
If you haven't read any of Jamie's books, you're in for a rare treat. They're available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple, All Romance Ebooks, Smashwords, and any of your online retailers. Several of her books, including her new Witness Security series is also available in print from your local bookstores.
Coming Soon
|
Friday, December 4, 2015
Secret Service, Spies and Underhanded Dealings by Katherine Pym
17th
century England was volatile. The Stuarts ruled most of this century. There was
civil unrest. One king was beheaded outside the Banquet House in London. Cromwell
died on a cold and dreary night. His body was embalmed and dressed as an
emperor’s; then whisked away to be buried (due to a noisome stink). His son was
considered weak, so King Charles II was returned from exile. After he died (a
pretty horrible way to go, by the way, which I should probably tell you about
one day) his brother took the crown but as a Roman Catholic, he lost it almost
immediately and was pretty much kicked out of England. After almost two
centuries of kings and queens in religious battles, by the end of the 17th
century, true-blue Protestantism held sway. The rest is history (as I swipe at my sweaty brow).
During all these different reigns, there was a lot of Espionage.
King Charles II |
King
Charles II professed to be Protestant and returned to England with great pomp
and ceremony. His new populace greeted him with exuberance along the roads and
into London. Everyone who hated him last week, loved him today.
Our
new king was not a stupid man. He
understood people are fickle. He fully expected to be assassinated or beheaded
as his father was. While in exile, his life was often imperiled. Men had
conspired against him. One example: During the Cromwell years, his spymaster
orchestrated a plot where Charles and his brother, James, were to be lured out
of exile and back to England. The plot was to kill both brothers the minute
they disembarked onto home soil. Thankfully this plot failed but espionage in
England had turned really devious.
Men
in power used good spymasters. Cromwell’s was John Thurloe, a brilliant man. He
created a network of spies (men & women) who infiltrated the most royal of
houses. His net was vast. His spies could be located in every English county,
overseas, i.e., in Charles II’s exiled court, in the Americas, and the far
Indies.
John Thurloe |
Thurloe
compiled lists, sent spies into enemy camps, had men tortured and killed. One
such fellow, Samuel Morland, confessed
to witnessing a man ‘trepanned to death’ at Thurloe’s word. (Dictionary.com states the following
definition to trepan: “a tool
for cutting shallow holes [in this case the skull] by removing a core.”) Really really painful and a horrid way to go.
Commonwealth
spies infiltrated homes, churches, and businesses to destroy the royalist
enemy, and under Charles II’s, his government did the same. Their goal was to destroy nonconformists, or
“fanaticks”. Plots were a part of political life.
After
the Restoration, Thurloe was dismissed, but not executed for crimes against the
monarchy (Charles I and II). He was released in exchange of valuable
Commonwealth government documents.
King
Charles II placed Sir Henry Bennet as the Secretary of State and overlord of
England’s espionage, who in turn brought in Joseph Williamson, another man born
to this work. He took the
bull by the horns and enhanced the processes Thurloe had begun.
Joseph Williamson |
Williamson
built a brilliant spy network. He
allowed informers who, for money, turned on associates. He burrowed spies into households, businesses
and churches. He used grocers, doctors
and surgeons, anyone who would send him notes against persons who were against
the king. He had men overseas watch for any plots. Informants were literally
everywhere.
His
tools were numerous. Williamson loved
ciphers and cipher keys. Known as Mr.
Lee in the underworld, he used the Grand Letter Office for ciphered messages to
pass back and forth between the undersecretary’s office and spies. He expected
his people to keep him informed by ciphered letters at the end of each day, and
passed through the post office.
Williamson
obtained ambassador letters, had them opened and searched for underhanded
deceit. He developed a system of local informers, letters and money crossing
palms. Under Thurloe, the secret service
received £800
per year. Under Bennet, the money doubled. Most of the annual budget was spent
on spies to keep them alive.
As
a result, most plots failed. Besides Williamson’s expertise and doggedness,
most plotters employed too many people. Everyone around the countryside knew of
one plot or another, a family member probably involved. Because of Williamson,
these plots dissolved before they were brought to fruition.
Spies
seem to be a part of every decade, every century. Today is no different but electronics
have replaced ciphered notes sent to spymasters through the post offices.
Labels:
17th Century,
Bennet.,
Cromwell,
Duke of York,
espionage,
King Charles I,
King Charles II,
King James II,
Spies,
Thurloe,
Williamson
Author of historical novels set in 1660's London with one novel of the French Revolution.
Thursday, December 3, 2015
Following Your Passion by Diane Bator
When I was a kid, I'd write using my left hand. Each time I'd drop my crayon, my mom would put it back in my right hand. I'd switch to my left after a couple of swipes of color. Using my right hand just felt wrong and I "knew" what was right for me. Holding a pencil in my hand and telling stories became something that made me happy.
Fast forward several years. Writing with my right or left no longer mattered, just that I was writing. Being a writer seemed as natural as breathing. Stories flowed from my brain and through my pencils. Never once did I question whether they were good or bad, all that mattered was that I wrote. Writing made me feel free, happy, and like I had an amazing life full of friends and great adventures. Since I lived outside of a small town, the escape was a welcome distraction from everyday life.
Even when I moved to a larger city and went to college, I still wrote. In fact, I wrote right up until I got married. My husband had issues with me writing. He insisted it took time away from "us", even when he watched sporting events I wasn't interested in or when he'd be away from home. Writing had become an outlet, however, and I refused to give up my passion.
Over the years we had children and I wrote as they grew up, while they napped, while they were in school, and even while I cooked dinner. Eventually I ended up publishing my first book, then wrote many more after that. Then my husband gave me the ultimatum: I needed to get a better job and quit writing. I was crushed.
Since that day, I've kept writing. In all, I've written six novels and one novella. I have three more to write in the next year to finish one series and start a new one. I'm actually seeing small royalties and have fans from all over, including acquaintances I've met over the years and family from all over the country. I've never given up on my dream of being a published author.
I'm fortunate to have held jobs where I talk to people and have been a part of a writing group for several years now. Wherever I go, I wholeheartedly encourage people to follow their passions and do the things that light them up and make them happy. In short, to live an authentic life rather than pursuing things that make them miserable.
I've had to take a brief break from writing lately to deal with some major life changes. I also have some physical challenges to cope with. Through it all, I remain positive and will keep on writing the way I love to do. In fact, I have decided to dedicate a little more time to my creative side and focus on making my writing even stronger and learn to market my work even better.
To every writer, every where, and all the readers who give us something to strive for thank you and...
Merry Christmas!
Diane Bator
Please feel free to drop by my website Pens, Paints, and Paper to find out more.
You can also find me on the Books We Love website.
Click on my book covers to find out more!
Labels:
following your passion,
not giving up,
perseverance,
writing
Prolific author, Editor, Associate Publisher, and Book Coach. Also mom of three grown ups and two fur babies.
Wednesday, December 2, 2015
GRATITUDE - MARGARET TANNER
BEING GRATEFUL FOR SMALL THINGS - MARGARET TANNER
I am grateful for many things. Good health, happy family and
fond childhood memories. The thing that really sicks in my mind when it comes
to gratitude is the garden of my childhood home, and the produce grown there.
To say it was life-saving would be an understatement.
My parents didn’t have much money when I was young. I didn’t
really think that much about it at the time, but as I grew older I suddenly
realized that my mother was a genius when it came to running the household on
meagre amounts of money. She was also a great cook.
My father returned from the 2nd World War
carrying injuries, the physical ones we knew of but not the psychological ones.
He had a heart attack in the early 1950’s when I was very young, and he could
no longer work. Things were tough as we had to survive on a small military
pension. He should have received a much larger pension but somehow never did.
No matter how bad things got, we were never hungry or
dressed in ragged clothes, and we had a roof over our heads. Luckily my parents
had paid off our house before Dad got sick.
Dad had a wonderful garden and we were very thankful for the
produce he grew there. Tomatoes were his speciality. He loved them and grew
heaps of them. I can still remember the tomatoes, we ate them raw, in salads,
cooked, fried, steamed. Green tomato pickle, tomato sauce, chutney, tomato
relish. You name it, mum cooked it. She used to preserve tomatoes so we could
have them all year long.
Looking back on things now I realize I should be grateful
for the humble tomato, it certainly kept our bellies full. I can’t even recall how many different dishes
mum used to make with tomatoes as a base.
Apples were another thing Dad grew well. We had about six
different varieties of apple trees growing in the garden. Once again Mum, baked
them, stewed them and preserved them. We used to pick them green sometimes and
store them in the roof cavity of the house and they would ripen up there. They
lasted for months. Potatoes were another one of his specialties. I firmly
believe to this day that it was the garden that kept Dad sane. He used to spend
hours there.
So, I am grateful for my mother’s cooking expertise and other
housekeeping skills and my father’s gardening skills, otherwise life would have
been grim.
My early upbringing has stayed with me and I think that is
why I mainly write about heroines who are poor and doing it hard. I can’t
remember ever having written a rich heroine in any of my stories. As for my
heroes, well they are always rich, arrogant and tough men who are redeemed by a
gentle heroine who is strong because she has survived the tough times.
In my novel, Falsely Accused, the heroine is exiled to the
penal colony of Australia for a crime she did not commit. She has to survive
the degradation and desperation of the convict ship, and once she disembarks,
her problems increase a hundredfold.
Available in print and e-book format.
Labels:
books we love,
falsely accused,
gratitude,
margaret tanner
I am an award winning multi-published Australian author. I love delving into the pages of history as I carry out research for my historical romance novels. I pride myself on being historically correct. Many of my novels are inspired by true events, with one being written around the hardships and triumphs of my pioneering ancestors in frontier Australia. Outside of my family and friends, writing is my passion.
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
COLD WINTER, HOT WAR (BATTLE OF THE BULGE) by SHIRLEY MARTIN
PURCHASE FROM THE BWL STORE |
By December of 1944, Hitler’s Nazi Germany appeared defeated, its once great cities reduced to rubble. The British, Canadians, and Americans had freed France; Paris was liberated. The Russian army menaced from the east. Why, the GIs might be home by Christmas.
But Hitler had a few tricks up his sleeve, a plan to turn the tide in Germany’s favor. Code named Wacht am Rhein (Watch on the Rhine), the plan would defeat the Allies by capturing the port of Antwerp, Belgium. Aware he’d need increased manpower, Hitler extended the draft for males sixteen to sixty.
Here we should state the opposing chains of command. As head of SHAEF (Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Forces), Gen. Dwight Eisenhower was in command of all Allied forces in the West. Under him, Gen. Omar Bradley commanded all of the American armies. Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery commanded the British and Canadian armies.
In Germany, Hitler had absolute control of the German armies both in the East (Russia) and in the West. Under him, he gave command of the German army in the West to Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt, an aristocratic officer who held Hitler in utter contempt.
Bruised and battered from a recent battle against the Germans, several American divisions recuperated in the Ardennes, a forested area of gently rolling hills that borders France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany. This, during one of the coldest winters Europe had experienced.
Early on the morning of December 16, ‘44 (a Saturday) three German armies smashed through the American lines in the Ardennes. The front of the attack hit four American divisions: the 4th, the 28th, the 106th, and the 9th Armored division.
That the attack caught the Americans by surprise was not due to faulty intelligence. The British had broken the German code (ULTRA), and friendly Belgians had warned the Americans of increased troop and tank movements behind German lines. As we would say today, the Americans didn’t connect the dots.
Numerous small villages, many of them inside Germany, dot the Ardennes.Villages such as Malmedy, Honsfeld, St. Vith and La Gleize will forever remain part of the historical record.
According to Hitler’s plan, once the Volksgrenadier (people’s army) achieved its breakthrough, Col. Jochen Peiper was to drive through the northern reaches of the Losheim Gap. Peiper was a handsome, well-bred SS officer who spoke fluent English. He was one of Hitler’s favorites. (After the war, Peiper was charged with war crimes, although he probably was not present when men of his command in Kampfgruppe (Battlegroup) Peiper massacred American soldiers who had surrendered with their hands up. He was tried and sentenced to die by hanging. Later, the sentence was rescinded, but he served several years in prison. In his later years, he died when left-wing terrorists burned his house down.)
Another of Hitler’s favorites was SS Officer Otto Skorzeny. Hitler gave him a specific task: sow confusion among the Americans. Find as many soldiers as possible who spoke English, grab uniforms from dead American soldiers. Confuse the Americans. Soon, the confusion took a ridiculous turn, when even Eisenhower had to present his ID to Military Police. Successful at first, changing signs and giving false directions, too soon German ignorance of American habits gave them away. For instance, a Jeep will hold four people. So didn’t it make sense to seat two in front and two in back? But Americans didn’t operate that way. One of Skorzeny’s men was flummoxed by opening a pack of American cigarettes. Those Germans who were captured faced the firing squad.
The American divisions fought bravely, but caught by surprise and outmaneuvered, they were forced back (west), eventually fifty miles. Hence the title Battle of the Bulge; it actually made a bulge in the American line. The 106th Division had to surrender, all 8,000 men.
The battle had its lighter moments. Gen. Fritz Bayerlein commanded one of the Panzer (armored) divisions. In the course of the battle, his division came into contact with an American field hospital. There, he became so entranced with a “blonde, beautiful” American nurse that he dallied when he should have been moving.
At first, the Americans didn’t realize the magnitude of the German offensive. Before long, it became obvious that this was a major battle. Eisenhower called a meeting of his generals, those affected by the offensive. Noting their glum faces, he told the men he wanted them to look on this battle as an opportunity. He instructed Gen. Bradley to order Patton–fighting a separate battle farther south– to swing his army north to aid the Americans in the Ardennes. When Patton protested to Bradley, and Bradley relayed the protest to Eisenhower, the latter said, “Tell him Ike is running this damn war.” After that, Patton's Third Army fought bravely, making a huge difference in the fighting.
Within days, the Americans stopped the Germans at the Elsenborn Ridge, forcing them to take a less favorable route through the Ardennes.
Soon, the battle became a race for Bastogne, a major road center. The 101st Airborne Division under Gen. Terry McAuliffe reached Bastogne first, but were soon surrounded by Germans. Under a white flag, the German commander sent a message to McAuliffe. Surely he could see he was surrounded; why not surrender to save further bloodshed? To this, McAuliffe had a one word answer, “Nuts.”
By the latter part of December, the skies cleared, enabling the Army Air Force planes to find their targets. But the Germans didn’t give up easily. It wasn’t until the end of January that the battle was over. Hitler’s gamble had failed. Henceforth, it was referred to as Hitler’s last offensive.
Months of horrific fighting and many deaths loomed ahead. (One of the author's neighbors was killed while driving a truckload of ammunition that hit a mine.)
By May of ‘45, Hitler had committed suicide. (cyanide pill) The British, French and Americans held western Germany. The Russians held Berlin and the eastern portion of Germany, a division that would have tragic consequences in the coming years. Germany faced utter defeat. When one of Hitler’s generals asked von Rundstedt what they should do, the general snapped, “Surrender, you fool! What else?”
The Battle of the Bulge marked the beginning of the end for Nazi Germany. Although caught by surprise and outmaneuvered at first, initially driven back, the Americans soon recovered and fought bravely. As Capt. Charles B. MacDonald relates in his excellent history of the battle, it was “A Time for Trumpets.”
I've written historical, paranormal and fantasy romances, so there should be novels and novellas to please just about everyone. My books are sold at Books We Love, Amazon, Snashwords, All Romance ebooks, Barnes and Noble, KOBO, the Apple IStore, and at other sites where ebooks are available online. Several of my novels are in print, and you can find them at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
Please visit my website at www.shirleymartinauthor.com
I'm also on Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter.
I was born and raised near Pittsburgh. Married for 44 years, now a widow.
I write historical, paranormal, and fantasy. . You can order my books from amazon.
Monday, November 30, 2015
Building a Fantasy World
Available in all ebook formats and on amazon.com |
While I never attempted to write one before, I am a big fan of the fantasy genre and I relied heavily on my experience as a “world re-creator” to build the alternate universe in my new fantasy adventure series. In my historical novels, I strive for believable settings, details, and mores to play a major role that adds believability and boundaries for the characters to act out their lives. For me this is one of the most challenging and enjoyable parts of the writing process, and I will add that for this book, it was more fun than I ever imagined.
Starting out, I wanted to avoid some of the common genre archetypes found in a lot of fantasy fiction these days (elves, orcs, dwarves, and “dark lords,” to name but a few). So I drew on my knowledge—and lots of research—of actual peoples and cultures and endowed them with other qualities.
In creating the characters that populate The Return of Tachlanad, I
combined elements of our world and its historical past with those from my
imagination. For example, one of the secondary characters, Ulunc, is a very young member of a species of known as Skaddock. These creatures somewhat resemble
primitive hominids that roamed the earth in prehistory, but with a Stone Age
skill set. Milith people, while having many traits common to elven types (without pointy ears), share
certain “aboriginal” cultural attributes with many indigenous people from around the world, among them a matrilineal social
structure and coming of age rituals. Nortlunders (mostly bad guys) are a mosaic of ancient Roman
and Viking cultures, with their violence and lust for conquest. Lothrians
are a mishmash of Celtic and ancient Britons, including some of their myths,
legends, and druidic hierarchy. All with a bit of a twist.
Magic, is a strange power, and nearly always a component of
fantasy fiction. While it exists in the universe in which my book is set, I
tried to anchor it in a physical world, where Nirmanath, “the current of life,”
is a tangible force, and things like the casting of auras, astral projection, potions
that can cause amnesia (or death), and the ability to invoke one's own invisibility are possible. In this world the rumble of thunder is the roar of an angry god, and an old man with a living crystal can harness the power of the elements.
As with every author, the primary goal in writing any book is
to create an entertaining story about likeable (and unlikeable) people dealing
with adversity, love and hate, people the reader wants to cheer on—or boo and
hiss at—people who undergo physical and emotional changes. A story about the human
condition.
Kathy Fischer Brown is a BWL author of historical novels, and The Return of Tachlanad, her newly released epic fantasy adventure for young adult and adult readers. Check out her The Books We Love Author page or visit her website. All of her books are available in a variety of e-book formats from Books We Love, and from Amazon and other online retailers retailers.
Labels:
# Books We Love Blog,
epic fantasy,
fantasy adventure,
fantasy series,
Kathy Fischer-Brown,
strong characters,
The Return of Tachlanad,
YA fantasy
Location:
Connecticut, USA
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Popular Posts
-
Deadly Undertaking Click here to purchase ‘Tis the season of the year when the transformation occurs from the darkness of winter to th...
-
Goodbye winter. Hello spring. Another round of setting clocks ahead is behind us as well as all the rant on social media about why we co...
-
Click here to get your copy! Even as a kid growing up in Detroit Lakes, MN, I have always loved a rainy day. I loved the smells the rain b...
-
Please click this link for book and author information While researching 1918 fashion for my hist...
-
Click here for purchase options for this award-winning series. https://www.bookswelove.net/kavanagh-j-c/ In last month's blog, I told ...
-
The cover of the Ontario offering for the Canadian Historical Mysteries Collection from BWL Publishing to be released November 2024 To fin...
-
https://bookswelove.net/stover-karla/ BY THE SAME AUTHOR: Available through BWL Publishing Parlor Girls Wynter's Way Murder, When...
-
AVAILABLE HERE I have a cousin in Australia who loves to travel. She and her husband are currently in Vietnam, and the photographs she share...
-
Vanessa Hawkins Author Page Yes! You see correctly! I have finally included another cover amongst my books! Twice Hung i...
-
https://books2read.com/Her-Scottish-Legacy I’m so glad winter is over and the days are getting longer and warmer. I have spent my winter...