historical fiction

Abroad: A Novel of Cross-Cultural Encounters by Greyson Bryan

Come along for the ride with this “supremely readable” coming-of-age story about clashing cultures and complicated relationships. ABROAD follows Skip, Maddie, and Rex as they travel overseas and navigate romantic loves and friendships during the cultural upheaval and sexual revolution of the 1960s and 70s.

Booklife praises ABROAD saying, “In this literary novel centered on travel and the lessons we can learn from crossing borders with an open heart, Bryan, author of the Big thriller series, weaves an ambitious, globe-crossing narrative of interconnected lives and loves.”

Travel to Mexico and Paris, take a steamship to Europe, crisscross Japan, Taiwan and Indonesia all in one story. Read ABROAD and bring adventure with you wherever you go.

The Oldest Word by Johnny Firic

By Book Lovers Magazine

The Oldest Word by Johnny Firic

The story opens with the discovery of a mysterious box from the distant past. Its makers are five orphaned friends who hope to help civilizational knowledge survive disruptive climate change centuries in the future: the ending of the Ice Age. The bar is continuously raised as the box traverses more than a dozen settings to the present day. Readers are tacitly encouraged to partner with the author and fill in the blanks by considering their metaphorical boxes, lessons for the future from their past.

Exchanges between cultures and generations highlight human transience. Adoption is the preeminent motif, many characters being orphaned, or having adopted, or both. Nature’s agency is felt throughout the story, with animals, plants and landscapes presented as respected partners rather than resources to be exploited. Nothing can fully reconcile human contradictions, and true equilibrium must come from a transcendent perspective. Plural identity followed by association with all humans, past, present and future, is only a good start. Can we progress beyond all life forms? The book ends on the question: what can you do but hope?

The Oldest Word by Johnny Firic

By Book Lovers Magazine

The Oldest Word by Johnny Firic

“Plural identity is where respectful practice begins.”
Who are you? Just the one body and mind? Does your story begin with your birth? Or how far back would you go?

The Oldest Word spans ten thousand years and more than a dozen settings. Human contradictions are reconciled time and again, with tragedy and humor feeding off each other. From the twin mirror mazes of history and psychology, amid ever-shifting social and natural landscapes, enduring patterns emerge.

The story opens with the discovery of a mysterious box from the distant past. Its makers are five orphaned friends who hope to help civilizational knowledge survive disruptive climate change centuries in the future: the ending of the Ice Age. The bar is continuously raised as the box travels through space and time to the present day. Readers are tacitly encouraged to partner with the author and fill in the blanks by considering their metaphorical boxes, lessons for the future from their past.

Lafitte’s Chance by Michael Roberts

By Book Lovers Magazine

Lafitte’s Chance by Michael Roberts

Thomas Cain puts it all on the line again in this exhilarating alternative American History time travel adventure novel! Thomas has managed to rescue Aden, but his futuristic gear is still missing while the Pirate King, Jean Lafitte, is breathing down his neck.

In his efforts to track his items down, will Thomas keep his agreement to bring the pirates to Jackson’s aid and achieve America’s first victory as a new country? Or will pride bring them all to defeat?

Aden is safe for the most part, and now Thomas must retrieve his missing weapons and gear. In doing so, he’s made an enemy of the Pirate King, Jean Lafitte, and his associates, and now he must trudge through the marshes of the Mississippi to follow them, find his missing Webley and vest, and make it back in time to meet up with Jackson.

Just when Thomas thinks that he’s managed to find his missing gear, he learns that not only has Lafitte’s wastrel brother Pierre absconded with the gear, but he’s left Jean Lafitte ready to hang.

In a last ditch effort to find Pierre, Thomas must make a deal with the devil himself and bring the villainous, once-reputable now-Pirate Queen Lady Theodosia with him to locate Pierre and his weapons, and make sure the pirates don’t hang for their offenses. Will the enemy of his enemy become his friend?

Another impossible task, or so it seems. But can the Pale Rider rise to the occasion once more, save the lives of hundreds, and keep his own neck out of a noose?

Lafitte’s Chance is the fifth book in the Pale Rider series, an alternate American Historical Military retelling, and is the next book in the trilogy set that focuses on the War of 1812. If you like American historical fiction, time travel, and alternate history, then discover Lafitte’s Chance today! ** it is recommended that the books are read in order! **

The Maiden of the Storm by Michelle Deerwester-Dalrymple

By Book Lovers Magazine

The Maiden of the Storm by Michelle Deerwester-Dalrymple

When the power of love is stronger than the chains of bondage . . .

She’s a powerful Scottish Highland Celtic woman. He’s a Roman warrior, captive in her village. When their passion for each other grows, can they find a way to be together?

Or will the conflicts between the Celts and Romans drive them apart?

In the Caledonii village, Riana is the chieftain’s oldest daughter and accustomed to position and authority. Until the day a Roman soldier is brought in and made a slave.

Despite her moral objections, she is directed by her father to tend to the Roman, to bring him back to health and make sure he’s fed.

At first, he’s nothing more than a curiosity for her, but as they spend time together during her duties to him, they forge a camaraderie that quickly becomes something more.

Something passionate and forbidden.

Horatio is a confident Roman soldier brought low after a night of missteps. Bound to slavery for the Caledonii tribe, he spends every waking moment biding his time and planning his escape. What he doesn’t plan is the desire he feels for the very woman directed to keep him in chains.

His desire grows, as does his love for the red northern woman.

As their passions rise, Riana decides that she cannot see the man she loves enslaved. They concoct an escape that is successful on the surface but leads to disastrous results.

When they believe all is lost, their love for each other gives them one final chance for survival. Will their love overcome the obstacles that would tear them apart?