Category: adventure novel
Backstory: Ean has been falsely accused of stealing from his sweetheart’s employer, Lord and Lady Colridge. After several days in London’s Newgate Gaol, he’s removed by a constable. He thinks he’s to be freed. We walked along narrow, twisting streets. The smell of wood and tar mingled with that of stale beer and rotting vegetables. A sea of barefoot men dressed in rough jackets and canvas breeches steered past, hauling boxes and crates on their rickety carts. The constable yanked my tether and used the loose end of the rope to whip my back and head. He smiled as the...
Us northern hemisphere residents forget that southern hemisphere residents have weather that is opposite to ours. When I wrote Tasman—An Innocent Convict’s Struggle for Freedom the differences were a constant concern because in Tasmania, June was winter and December was summer. Talk about needing to be consistent! Tasmania is comparable to the Pacific Northwest if you reverse the seasons. The island lies between 40° and 45° degrees while the Pacific Northwest lies between 45° and 50° degrees. Antarctica and the Indian Ocean influence Tasmania’s weather; the Arctic and the Japanese Current in the North Pacific influence ours. Both locations have...
Time to start thinking about the readers on your holiday giving list. Here’s a sale for you and your friends! Order copies of TASMAN, my newest historical fiction, my ballet-themed trilogy, and/or Educating America materials between today, Dec.5th and December 16th. You’ll receive a 20% book discount and free priority shipping (within the U.S.A.) valued at $10 per novel or up to $6 per educational book. Click the links above to order! When you order the entire trilogy, you’ll receive special wrapping materials and a set of ballet-themed note cards at no additional change. That’s an additional $4 discount per...
Following are quotes that are relevant to Tasman’s story. I suggest you keep them for the days when you are reading the novel to see why I selected them and how they impact the storyline. “Until you step into the unknown, you don’t know what you’re made of.” ― Roy T. Bennett “Keep reading. It’s one of the most marvelous adventures that anyone can have.” ― Lloyd Alexander “To venture causes anxiety, but not to venture is to lose one’s self…. And to venture in the highest is precisely to be conscious of one’s self.” ― Søren Kierkegaard “Love, like...
The following is a glimpse inside the book, Tasman: An Innocent Convict’s Struggle for Freedom. Back story: The local constable has hauled Ean into London with no comment as to why. From the novel: As we entered the edge of city the workers extinguished the gas lights, street sweeps and gawkers laughed at me and spit at my feet. Lavender ladies whispered behind their hands as they strolled to their rooms to rest up for tonight’s return to their corners where they stood to entice men to their beds. The jumble shops stood open; their bric-a-brac crowding onto the sidewalks...
Pinterest is a wealth of information collection by millions of people with a million different interests. Fortunately some pinners have an interest in topics related to elements I address in Tasman-An Innocent Convict’s Struggle for Freedom. Here are a few images I found related to London in the 1850s. I hope you will keep a copy of these and future Pinterest images I post to enhance your reading of Tasman. Newgate Prison housed the worst of the worst criminals sent there for murder, theft and such. It was “a labyrinth of dark cells, subterranean corridors and iron bars as thick...
This is the beginning of page one of Tasman: An Innocent Convict’s Struggle for Freedom. Wham! Strong arms yanked me from my cot and dragged me to standing. My eyes popped open. I shook my head to get my wits about me and tried to twist myself free. The Langsgtone constable pulled my arms behind my back, tied them with a rope, and shoved me roughly out the door of the print shop Fear clutched like a raven claw. “What’s happening? Where are you taking me? I’ve done nothing wrong!” “Silence!” The constable whacked my head as he forced me...
