Sneak Peak at the Sequel to The General and The Horse-Lord by Sarah Black (Excerpt)

Early this month, we had a guest blog by author Sarah Black and a giveaway of her latest book, The General and the Horse-Lord. Well, the response was wonderful and the book’s reception has been great. I gave it 5 stars (as have other reviewers) and picked it to land on Scattered Thoughts Best of 2013. So I was delighted to hear that Ms. Black was hard at work on the sequel, The General and the Elephant clock of Al-Jazari.

Recently Sarah Black posted an excerpt on her blog. It was wonderful so I asked permission to post it here for those readers who loved The General and the Horse-Lord as much as I did. I think it will blow you away. At the end of the excerpt, watch the You Tube vid on The Elephant Clock of Al-Jazari, such an elegant and amazing invention. Thank you, Sarah, for bringing it to my attention. Here is the promised excerpt:

The General and the Elephant clock of Al-Jazari by Sarah Black

John received a couple of interesting emails the next morning. Gabriel was up and gone early, with plans to stop by his house and have breakfast with the kids. The first email was from an old colleague and fellow Brigadier General, David Painter. John didn’t particularly like the man. They had worked together several times in the past. Painter was good, had what John would call episodic brilliance, but his work tended to be sloppy. He didn’t always put in the time and research that John felt was needed for their work to bring about lasting change. He also tended to be sloppy in his dress, in his personal manner, as if his wild and original mind meant the same rules didn’t apply to him. But they knew each other well, both strengths and weaknesses. John winced at the name on the email, thinking Painter was exactly the sort of man he did not want to discuss his coming out with in any detail. Not that he had much choice, since he’d splashed every bit of privacy he’d ever had across the cover of Out magazine.

The second email was from Abdullah, a very polite thank you note to himself and Gabriel for rescuing him yesterday. John looked at it for a moment, appreciating Abdullah’s good manners, and then he replied: Are you sending me an email from the garage? Or have you skipped town already?

The answer came moments later: I’m in the garage.

If you would like, you can come into the kitchen and speak to me in person.

Abdullah wrote back: I’m about to climb into the shower. See you in a few minutes.

John shook his head at the screen for a long moment, and wondered if Abdullah and Kim emailed each other from the bathroom. No, email was dead, he’d read that somewhere. Instant Messaging? Texting, that was it. So much easier than speech, apparently. Maybe they would evolve right out of their vocal cords, and human communications would consist exclusively of written messages and a few grunts and gentle hoots, like the Great Apes.

John turned back to the first email, wondering if he needed to complain about the younger generation first thing in the morning, every morning, or if his time would be better spent doing pushups.

“Hey, John, long time. I saw the cover of Out. It’s making the rounds in DC, everybody saying they knew it all along and wondering what took you so long to grab your cojones and tell the truth. Your pilot looks like he’s held up well.”

John could feel his blood pressure spike, a drumbeat behind his eye that might be an aneurysm getting ready to blow.

“I heard you quit the university. Little dust up with the locals? Well, you were always a sucker for a boy in trouble. That’s why I’m calling on you. I’ve got a couple of boys in serious trouble, former Rangers, in lovely Tunisia. They’ve been working for me as contractors in Algeria. I could go in and level the fuckers and get my boys out of there, but things seem a bit fragile in northern Africa right now. Maybe a peacemaker would be a better choice. And no matter our differences, John, you were a peacemaker. You always brought home the right solution. That was your great gift, understanding the right solution to the problem. So how about you hop on a plane to DC and talk to me about these boys? I heard your pilot went to law school. Why don’t you bring him along? I’ve got a couple of plane tickets at the airport for tomorrow, and a hotel reservation. First class, if you care about that shit. I’m assuming you two can share a room? Appreciate it, John.”

He forwarded the email to Gabriel. John Painter knew how to hit the soft spots. “Just give me a little job to do, and I’ll follow you anywhere, you fuckhead,” John said to the kitchen wall. He walked back to their bedroom, pulled an overnight bag from the closet shelf.

Kim found him putting a load of clothes into the washer. “Hey, Uncle J. What’s up?”

John looked at him for a long moment. Kim had his hands on his hips, had prepared himself for a royal ass-chewing. He was a brave kid, John thought suddenly, and the affection he felt for the boy was suddenly on his face. Kim reached out and hugged him, his face buried in John’s neck. Even at twenty-three, his first thought had been to come find his uncle and face the music. But John had no time right now to get into it.

“Kim, I’ve got to leave tomorrow, go up to DC. I don’t know any more than that.”

“What can I do?”

John shook his head. “Everything’s done. I’ll need you to watch over Billy and Juan if Gabriel comes with.”

“Sure, no problem.”

“Keep everyone safe,” John said, and Kim’s face flushed.

“I hear you. You can count on me.”

“I always do, kiddo.”

He followed John to his bedroom, studied the clothes laid out on the bed, and the passport. “Not that white shirt. Take the gray one. You have to leave the country? Where are you going? I can keep an eye on CNN for a sudden flare in hostilities.”

“Not exactly sure, but I heard talk about Algeria and Tunisia.”

“Oh, God.” Kim sat down on the side of the bed. “Tunisia, isn’t that where Arab Spring turned from smoke to fire?”
John glanced at him. “Nice metaphor. And yes, it started in Tunisia. But we don’t have to assume that’s the only trouble that can brew. It’s still a Muslim country at the end of the day. Lots of ways for Americans to get into trouble.”

“That’s what this is? A rescue mission?”

“Seems likely, but I don’t really know. Kim, you know that stupid magazine came out this week and every jerk at St. Matthews High School is going to mention to Juan that they’ve seen it. I’m worried about him.”

“And the Horse-Lord says he needs to just suck it up and take it like a man?”

“No, it’s not like that.” John sat down on the bed. “He wants Juan to stop making Martha crazy with his behavior, using this issue as an excuse to act out every hostile teenaged impulse, and he also wants to let the adults handle issues of bullying. The school authorities, or the police.”

Kim was nodding. “Right. That is so not going to happen. Have you both forgotten Juan is fifteen now?”

“He’s not one of your baby gang-bangers, Kim. He’s an Army kid. He has braces and goes to Catholic school and lives in the suburbs.”

“Yeah, I know. I’m worried, too. He’s hardly talking to me anymore, or Billy. It’s like he’s grown up really fast and he’s tough inside. He’s strong in his anger. Young Luke is turning toward the dark side.” Kim grinned for a moment. “I wonder how I would show that in a picture? Maybe I’ll get him to let me take his picture. Feel him out a little bit.”

“Whatever you think is best, Kim. I usually try to stay out of sight until a crisis looms. He’s not speaking to me, either.”

“You’ll keep yourself safe, won’t you? And the Horse-Lord? Just because I’m grown up doesn’t mean I don’t need you anymore.”

“Now you have Abdullah. Is that what I’m to understand? The two of you, together?”

Kim nodded, pulled at a loose thread on the bedspread. “Yeah. I think so. I think we’re going to be like you and Gabriel. Two bodies, one heart, all our lives. That’s how it seems to me, but I don’t want to jump the gun. It’s early days yet. Half the time we start a conversation getting along and end the conversation fighting and I have no idea why.”

“You’re just feeling your boundaries, defining yourselves to each other. That’s what I’ve always wanted for you, a real relationship, a family of your own. You guys can even adopt kids if you wanted. I’m really very pleased, Kim.” He looked at what Kim was doing and frowned. “Don’t pull on that thread. I’ve got some scissors in the bathroom if you need to clip a loose thread. I know how much you spent on this new bedspread.”

“Speaking of that.” Kim stared at him until he put the tie down on the bed.

“What? We’re not going to talk about the furniture again, are we?”

“No, we’re not. But there is something I want to talk to you about. Uncle John, you need to update your style.” Kim raised a hand to quell any protests, but John was too surprised to complain. “You’re still wearing your military haircut, still wearing suits that look to my eye about twenty years out of date. I mean, a single breasted navy blue with three buttons? Please, stop torturing me. You need a makeover, and you needed it, like, yesterday.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“You’re out now. You have to maintain a certain style, up your cool factor just a bit. You have an image to maintain now you’re out of the closet.”

“Why?”

“Because people will judge you by your clothes. For God’s sake, nobody would believe you’re related to me! This is my rep too, Uncle John. You’re about to go back to DC, and you need to stroll in with some killer style, not like some lonely, bored, miserable retired general who’s mooning around, thinking about the glory days. DC has seen plenty of those. You want to blast in there and have the town talking about you.”

“I think that ship already sailed, Kim.”

“Talking about you in a good way. Look, you’re a winter. You shouldn’t be playing about with all these muddy blues.” Kim was flipping through his ties.

“What are you talking about? It’s the middle of summer.”

That got him a pitiful look. Kim stood up and crossed his arms. “What I am talking about is gunmetal gray with teal accents, made by Emporio Armani. What the Army cares about is the work. But you’re about to jump into a new shark tank, Uncle John, and in this shark tank they care about money. I will not have those dickhead bluebloods look down on you because of your clothes. We’re going shopping tonight, after supper.”

John’s mind was flipping frantically through any reasonable excuse. “But what about Abdullah? He just got here.”

“He’s not going anywhere. I know more about this than you.” Kim’s face softened, and he looked at John kindly, a doting smile on his face. “I know more about this than you, and I’m not going to argue anymore. We’re going to buy a new suit, along with two shirts and ties, and one leisure outfit. I repeat, I will not argue with you. I know there is available credit on your Navy Federal Visa. You paid off the furniture already. If you argue with me,” he said, holding up a hand to stop John, “I am going to start going to the plasma bank and I will sell blood until I have paid back every cent I spent on the couch.” John had no doubt, looking at the angle of his jaw, that Kim meant every word.

What the hell was a leisure outfit? John looked down at himself, jeans and a faded chambray shirt. Kim closed his eyes as if he were in pain.

“These are weapons, Uncle John.” Kim was speaking as if John were a little slow. “This is a new war, and these are your weapons.”

Review: Masked Riders by Lucius Parhelion

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

When ex union cavalryman and now California rancher Jesse Putnam is summoned by his wealthy aunt and boss to come to San Francisco for a meeting. he uses the night before to visit a bawdy hotel where he could satiate his illegal desires for men. But nothing prepared Jesse to seeing his sexual companion of the previous night standing in his aunt’s office, apparently an employee of hers as well.

Wardley Bridger, now his colleague, is there to help Jesse investigate the peculiar goings on at the ranch in California where the profits are less than they should be and rumors are rife over bad management as well as potential illegalities. Previous investigators have come up empty handed so the men are going in undercover as ranch hands to see if they can ferret out the truth.

On s their journey south on a trail that stretches out from the dusty Pueblo of Angles into the brush-covered hills of Ranchero Los Robles, Jesse and Wardley find they have much in common, from a love of fine literature to beautiful horses and finally a illegal sexuality that they don’t have to hide from each other. When a ghost rider appears at the ranch, threatening their investigation, Wardley and Jesse find that the truth jeopardizes evverything, including their burgeoning love affair.

Lucius Parhelion is one of the first names that pop into my head when someone asks for a recommendation for m/m historical fiction about the American West. Parhelion’s stories are told with an authentic, dry tone that seems to come up from the very soil and arid climate of the land the characters ride over and exist on. The author’s stories are factual, full of information and dates that locate the story in a specific time and place. But these details always serve to enhance rather than obfuscate or weigh down the discourse. Here is a sample:

Jesse shut the ledger hard enough to stir the smoky air. Above them, the nine years of accumulated spider webs that gave the Cobweb Palace its name, swayed gently. The proprietor felt that spiders were lucky. The patron confronted by a spider might or might not agree.

“I assume that our leaving the steamer before San Pedro would have something to do with obtaining mounts.”

“Well, there are horses a-plenty at the Playa Negra, but given what Mrs. Gifford said to me about due speed, I can’t see her being happy with our taking the time to ride all the way down from north of Santa Barbara to Los Robles.” Bridger shook his head while smiling, a rather mild reaction to Ada.”

Parhelion easily inserts the name of The Cobweb Palace, an establishment that opened up in 1856 at the foot of Meigg’s Wharf , in a lovely blend of fact and fiction, a trademark of this author I have come to expect from all of Parhelion’s stories.

Masked Riders is composed of 11 chapters, each with an amusing and old sounding title, such as Chapter VIII — You May Lead a Man Towards Aiming, but You Cannot Make Him Hit. The opening paragraph is perfectly suited to title and content:

If there was one lesson Jesse had been grateful to learn during the late rebellion, it was the difficulty of actually hitting a man with a bullet. He’d never expected to feel that particular gratitude again. He’d been wrong.

There are many issues discussed within the story, plight of the Celestials as the Chinese were called as well as the freed slaves who came west after the war was over. Parhelion gives the reader a real feel for the state of western society and the many layers it was comprised of through descriptions that paint such a vivid portrait of the people and land that I could almost feel like I was walking the streets or riding along the trails. The author’s characters are as strong as the historical setting they find themselves in. From Jesse and Wardley to Aunt Ada, a tower of strength and intellect in a diminutive body, all are fully fleshed out and totally human.

At 90 pages, I always end up wishing for more of a drawn out resolution to issues the men find at the ranch, although the ending was perfect in its realism and tone. If you love westerns, this is for you. If you love beautifully done historical novels, this is for you. If you love a realistically portrayed growing affection that turns into something more, than this is for you. Masked Riders is a wonderful introduction to the works of Lucius Parhelion. Don’t pass it or the author’s other works up.

Cover illustration by BS Clay. Beautiful cover, luscious, and perfect for the trail to the ranch and a relationship.

Review: On The Lee Shore by Elin Gregory

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

When his last ship is lost at sea and he is the only officer to survive, Lt Christopher “Kit” Penrose finds his reputation tarnished, leaving him unable to secure a new position on another ship. Things are looking grim when his godfather, Admiral Tregarne of the Navy Office suggests that Kit work as an aide to Sir George Wilberforce, traveling on the Hypatia on a mission for the Navy. Kit is desperate to get back to sea and accepts the job, even though it means he is little more than a lackey in the eyes of the other sailors.

At sea, the Hypatia is attacked by pirates and three men of the Hypatia are taken aboard the pirate ship, Africa, impressed into joining the pirates crew or suffer dire consequences. One of those men is Kit whose training as a sailing master is highly prized by pirates in need of his skills. The Captain of the Africa is the notorious pirate, La Griffe, known as Griffin to his crew. Forced to obey the Captain and live by the pirates rules, Kit soon realizes that not all of his assumptions about pirates and the pirate life are correct. These pirates seem honorable, leaving the ships and crews they attack alive and able to sail away once the pirates have taken the booty they want off the ship. Captain Griffin is a real enigma, intolerant of abuse, a graduate of Cambridge, he is honorable in a way Kit never expected. Griffin is also very handsome, and charming when the occasion arises, leaving Kit confused and if he were to admit it, attracted to the man in every way.

The longer Kit stays on board, the less sure he becomes about where his loyalties lie. Is it with the Admiralty and the Navy or with Griffin, the Africa and a crew that now welcomes him as one of their own. And his heart is just as confused as his head. Things come to a head when another pirate ship clashes with their own, and Kit must make a decision that will haunt him no matter which way he decides.

What a glorious book! I picked it up and immediately found myself at sea on a vessel so yar she sped through the waves like a porpoise, sails booming in the wind and the mast creaking as the ship rocked in the currents. Elin Gregory plunges us into a world where the British Navy ruled the seas, the East India Company is doing brisk trade and pirates are taking advantage of the situation by plundering every shipping lane of the era. And Gregory does so by rendering the time period and events taking place in vivid detail along with marvelous descriptions that bring it alive on every page. Elin Gregory has gathered her historical facts and blended them beautifully with her fiction to create a sumptious banquet for the mind and soul.

When she describes Kit on his way to Moorgate, you can understand why the sea would have its appeal to a Cornishman like Kit:

Kit had been aware of the clock chiming when he left Mother Carey’s. He had not caught the hour, but he knew it was late, not perhaps midnight but certainly eleven. The streets were busy. Night soil carts and delivery drays headed out against the tide of incomers bringing goods from the countryside to the city. Men pushed barrows, horses and oxen strained against their harnesses. Lanterns flickering above doorways and on corners and torches carried by linkboys accompanying chairs, coaches, and pedestrians, made great leaping shadows in which anything could lurk. Kit walked quickly and with care. It was important to stay alert. Too many of his acquaintance had been robbed after such a night out. He kept to the broadest roads and had climbed most of Gracechurch Street before he was approached.

“Call you a chair, sir?” The linkboy was a dirty scrap of a youth with bony wrists showing at the cuffs of his jacket. He bounded along at Kit’s side, torch bobbing.”Or I could light your way. Only a farthing, sir. I’ll see you right.”

Contemplating shoes soaked in horse piss or worse, Kit gave the boy a short nod. “I’m bound for close to Moorgate. If that is too far, best say now.”

“Ha’penny if you want me to take you past the Wall, sir.”

“Fair enough.” Kit agreed and placed the boy on the inside of the pavement. A half penny wasn’t cheap, but the light was welcome.

You can almost feel the grime and filth of the streets climbing up Kit’s boots. Kit’s plain outfit is in direct contrast to his best friend, Tristan, a diamond if ever there was one.

“Ah, there you are!” Tristan set his three-cornered hat on his glossy curls and tucked his hand into Kit’s elbow. “Good man, good man. Dear Lord, as you love me, Kit, smaller strides.”

“If the shoes hurt why are you wearing them?” Kit asked, moderating his pace. “They make you walk like an old duchess with corns.”

Tristan snorted. “Fashion, dear boy. If one wants to do well at work it’s best to look as though one has no financial worries. As long as they all think I’m being very good at what I do on a whim, they’ll keep promoting me to try to pique my interest.”

“Bloody silly reason for promotion,” Kit growled, and Tristan gave his arm an affectionate squeeze.

“Maybe you should try it?” he suggested. “You look like a Quaker. That’s not going to give them any faith in your fighting spirit, now is it?”

Kit glanced at Tristan’s tightly curled wig, his exquisitely fitted coat, the riot of embroidery on his waistcoat, those ridiculous shoes whose heels brought Tristan up to equal Kit’s height. Kit own attire, mostly shades of sensible hard-wearing brown, including his own naturally curly hair, did look penny-pinched in comparison.

Before you realize it, you are walking shoulder to shoulder with Kit, taking the clothes, mannerisms and news of the day as commonplace as Kit finds them. And it’s not just Gregory’s ability to make history come alive that pulls the reader into the story, it’s her characters and plot as well.

Every character you will meet in this book is as unique an individual as any I have met in real life. Whether they be scoundrel like Captain Wells or loved, somewhat addled pirate Denny, all will be remembered after the story is done and most of them quite fondly too. I love the complexities to each character. Each pirate and each Naval officer have their own merits as well as seedy elements to their character. Some are horrific, no matter which side of the law they are on. And the of life of a sailor can switch from an easy berth to one of hardship and abuse depending upon the captain and crew. Equally amazing is the ages that young men went to sea, as early as 8 or so. It is all here, a even handed portrait of life on the sea, made all the more remarkable because it is a backdrop or foundation for both a love story and tale of adventure and not the focus of the story itself.

On The Lee Shore is not your typical love story. Remember, during that age, it is not only dishonorable but a hanging offense to love other men. So it is not surprising that Kit pushes down his “unnatural” desires at the beginning, hiding them in furtive glances and nameless encounters. But the pirates ways and expansive viewpoint, along with a certain Captain, starts to free Kit from his conventional notions and the reader is along every step of the way. It is a realistic journey with nary a case of “instalove” in sight. Kit and Griffin engage in a slow dance around each other, complicated by their stations aboard ship, Kit’s identity as a Naval officer as well as Griffin’s as a pirate. There are other obstacles as well, but I will leave that joy of discovery to the reader.

Within this book, you will find fast paced action, breath taking adventure, piracy on the high seas, booming cannons and a future fraught with danger and pain as well as love. Trust me, once you pick this book up, you won’t want to put it down. I didn’t and once finished, wanted to start the journey all over again.

I had to look up the nautical term “lee shore”, and found that it meant a shore, towards which the wind is blowing, and to which there is the danger of being driven aground on shoals or reefs. A lee shore is to be avoided, and yet Kit feels himself to be on a lee shore throughout most of the story, uncertain, sometimes adrift in his emotions and thoughts. But Elin Gregory knows her craft and you can be sure she leaves her men sailing smoothly into fresh waters under clear skies, their future interesting as their times. I really wish I could be there for the rest of their journey, but I am delighted with the tale I got. You will be too.

Published By
Etopia Press
1643 Warwick Ave., #124
Warwick, RI 02889
http://www.etopia-press.net
On A Lee Shore
Copyright © 2012 by Elin Gregory
ISBN: 978-1-939194-44-2
Edited by Jennifer Fitzpatrick
Cover by Mina Carter is just outstanding and matches perfectly with the story within.

A Cluttered Sunday and the Week Ahead In Reviews

Somehow I’ve done it again. It creeps up on me with all the discretion of a whispering wind, but its effects can feel more like a nor’easter by the time I realize it’s occurred once more. It starts with one project, maybe overhauling one small section of a garden, then spreads to cleaning out the library, and then, like some giant amoeba, slides gelatinously over every aspect of my life, sinking me in projects, expanded plans and , oh yes, clutter. Clutter of the gardens, house, Kindle, and mind, making me plant my butt in my favorite chair, mouth dropped to the floor as I stare in horror at the chaos I have created.

I have ferns, hostas, primroses and toadlilys amassed by the backdoor, the library looks like the yarn fairy and the book gnome had a brawl, throwing their wares willy nilly around the room, cook books are spread open in the kitchen to various receipes needed to cook for Mothers Day (have to try them out first you know, another thing on my list to do), and Kirby has found the mole holes, gleefully rolling about in the muck. Dogs to wash, add to list. My Kindle is loaded with books to read and review. And I promised one author to beta his book immediately. So many promises and things waiting for my attention. Then the tsunami arrives. My father becomes seriously ill due to the effects of new medication. Things come to a complete standstill until he is home once more. Then the reality of Dad getting sick (this man never gets sick) hits my Mother, she gets ill, and things remain in status.

Now both parents are back at home and doing well. But the effects are still reverberating through my life. As I sit amongst the clutter of my life, I can only think, my parents were seriously ill and I am stunned. At their age and mine, this should not surprise me, but it does, hitting me with an emotional wallop I was in no way prepared for.

So I need to move forward and start to clear away the chaos that life, generously helped along by moi, has created. The plants will start to go in the ground on Wednesday when they say it will be warmer, the books I will tackle one at a time, the library will see its books reshelved and the yarn organized starting tomorrow (ever so slowly), I will apologize to Brandon once more about his novel and get to it, and slowly, ever so slowly order will be restored. Sigh. Even without my parents getting ill, I can see that things were getting a little out of control.

How does that happen again? Oh yeah, life. I know there are people out there this never happens to. Organized, compartmentalized gems of folks. I just don’t know them. I often wonder what their lives must be like, with uncluttered surfaces that gleam and spotless floors with nary a dog toy in sight. I do know that will never happen here. Welcome to my world, lowered expectations!

Now I had a thought at the beginning of this post……I just don’t know where I put it. It’s somewhere under the yarn or maybe out in the garden. It’s time to go look for it. In the meantime while I am gathering up my scattered thoughts, here is the week ahead in reviews:

Monday, April 22: Into This River I Drown by TJ Klune (yes really)

Tuesday, April 23: On A Lee Shore by Elin Gregory

Wed., April 24: Masked Riders by Lucius Parhelion

Thursday, April 25: Unearthing Cole by AM Arthur

Friday, April 26: Astral Mage by Hurri Cosmo

Saturday, April 27: Scattered Thoughts On World Building in Fiction

Review: The General and the Horse-Lord by Sarah Black

Rating: 5 stars

General John Mitchel has recently retired after serving 25 memorable years in the Army. By his side for all those years was helicopter pilot Sgt. Gabriel Sanchez. Together across five continents John and Gabriel counted on each other to have their backs as they fought in every American engagement. Over 25 years of honorable service, putting the mission and the safety of the nation first. Renowned, even idolized by the troops who serviced with them, both men carried a secret with them all through those years in the Army and into retirement. And that was that they loved one another deeply and had almost since the first time they met.

The General and the Horse-Lord as Gabriel was called (due to the fact that he flew Apache helicopters) served in the Army at the time when even the hint of homosexuality was cause for dismissal. Both John and Gabriel knew that their special skills were necessary on the battlegrounds and so their own need for love and companionship were secondary to the mission. But now both are retired and finding said retirement and their lives lacking in almost every way. The General misses the comradeship and the sense of purpose, but most importantly, he misses Gabriel. Gabriel too finds retirement and his personal life hollow in some respects. Gabriel had made some decisions while in the Army that he now regrets, but his love for John has always been a certainty in his life. Now with both John and Gabriel retired, the men start thinking that perhaps finally they might have their chance at the happiness they have long denied themselves. Life has never been easy for the General and the Horse-Lord and their long awaited path to happiness still has obstacles they have to overcome before they can finally be together. What will it cost them before they can take that last step together?

I think The General and the Horse-Lord may be my all time favorite book of Sarah Black’s yet. As a retired Naval Officer herself, her military characters always rang true to the military code they honored and served under, but never more so than with General John Mitchel and Gabriel Sanchez, his pilot. Black’s characters are human warriors so full of life that I often expect them to stride off the page. These two have remained talking to me in my dreams a week after I put down their story. John and Gabriel, their honor and their unhappiness in retirement, got to me. Here is John reflecting on the past:

They had made their choices a long time ago, and he thought Gabriel, just like himself, was happy for the grace notes in his life, the few hours they could be themselves, with all their public masks removed, a few gentle and intimate hours between friends. Wasn’t that the best one could ask for? A life of service to others, with the occasional grace note? So why did he still feel so lonely? Why had so much of this last year been spent feeling an ache for something he couldn’t describe even to himself?

You can just feel the puzzlement of a warrior lost when his mission has moved forward without him. Sarah Black’s dialog is perfection. You can just hear the military tone and inflection in everything they say. Being a warrior is part of them, like the blood flowing in their veins. Here they are at a baseball game, talking about Juan, Gabriel’s 14 year old son:

Gabriel speaking: “She said we have to support him and let him make his own choices. Really? I don’t think so, not at fourteen. He’s like one of those soft-shell crabs in the middle of molting. Not ready to make choices about anything. Absolutely at risk from any passing predator. Dumb as a fucking stone. That’s why he’s not speaking to me. I told him he can’t be a video game tester, and then he says why don’t I know he hates seafood?”

“You shared with him the soft-shell crab analogy?”

Gabriel nodded. “That was probably a mistake.”

These men are exactly who they say they are. Straight forward, honorable and somewhat adrift in modern civilian life. Both are at home making difficult decisions but now are faced with one that they have been avoiding for years because they never thought it would be possible – that they might have a life together in a society much changed from the one they were familiar with.

I know immediately that some people will have a problem with the fact that Gabriel is and has been married for 15 years, albeit a troubled one. This is an issue that is treated seriously from every aspect. The men remind several other characters (and themselves) that the 70’s were a far cry from the open mindedness of today and that if one wanted to have a family, getting married was the only option, again not a decision or commitment that was made lightly. Both John and Gabriel take responsibility and their actions with the gravity one would expect from such men. And we see and feel what each decision cost them along the way. Perhaps it is easier to accept when you realize John and Gabriel had one focus for much of their life and that was their service in the Army, everything else, including their feelings about each other, came second.

But John and Gabriel don’t exist in a vacuum any more than we do and Sarah Black has surrounded these men with an array of characters that I not only connected with immediately but came to care for as much as John and Gabriel themselves. There is Kim, John’s adopted nephew, who know lives with him. Kim is young, artistic, gay and adores John and Gabriel. Kim is the victim of an attack and the men decide they will accompany him to a bar that night as protectors:

You bring me in, then how I deal with him is no longer your concern, Kim.” “Yes, it is my concern, and I don’t want to be responsible….” John held up a hand to stop him. “You don’t have any kids, so don’t tell me how I need to follow your Greenpeace PETA pacifist butt into a gay bar to not take care of an asshole who only understands one thing.” He held up a clenched fist. “Now how about you fetch us some more of that coffee?” Gabriel held out his empty cup without a word, and they watched Kim flounce out the door.

What Kim does with that statement later just cracked me up. One great fully realized character after another comes into the picture as the events of the book unfold, including ex bull riders and their sons. So many joys in this book, from the sparkling and tight dialog to the events that bring old pain and new hurts to the surface to be examined and dealt with by two warriors trying to find their way together as lovers in a civilian world.

This is one of the author’s longer books to my delight. At 200 pages, the story comes to a lovely conclusion without me feeling that more is due. Would I have loved to have been given a few more glimpses of John and Gabriel’s future? Certainly but I am very happy with the way I left them. Of course, it helps to know that Sarah Black is currently writing a sequel to The General and the Horse-Lord, so that certainly figured into my current state of bliss.

I will leave you all with Gabriel’s playlist as compiled by Sarah Black, a wonderful thing for dancing by yourself or with a man you have waited 25 years for:

Gabriel’s Playlist- Music for Some Quiet Dance Time in the Garage

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYHxGB… SUPER FREAK!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcATvu… ADDICTED TO LOVE!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PK2HAN… LA BAMBA!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pk-W_i… SHAKEDOWN! (talk about a silver fox!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cv6tuz… WALK LIKE AN EGYPTIAN!

Now go out and grab this book. It will be on my Best of 2013 list, that you can count on. Let me know what you think, ok?

Cover art by Paul Richmond. I love this cover, perfect for John and the Horse-Lord, perfect for the story in every way.

Glorious Books, A Web Hunt and Glorious Weather Too! What A Week It’s Going To Be!

The weather is perfection today so I am getting ready to pull on the gardening gloves, turn the water for the outside faucets back on and prepare to spend the day getting down and dirty. I have ferns, some grasses and even an English Daisy or two to plant and weeds to uproot. To say the least, I am grinning like crazy in anticipation.

Also this week I am reviewing some books that are not only on Scattered Thoughts “Must Read” lists, they have made my Best of 2013 List as well. Among them are Sarah Black’s The General and the Horse-Lord, T.J. Klune’s Into This River I Drown, Abigail Roux’s Touch & Geaux and Jay Kirkpatrick’s Freedom. I can’t remember when I had so many wonderful books to read and recommend that released almost at the same time. A surfeit of riches for us all to enjoy time and time again.

And on Monday, Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is participating along with many other websites in Riptide Publishing’s Web Hunt for Abigail Roux’s Touch & Geaux, book 7 in the amazing Cut & Run series. On April 8, 2013, all participating book blogs will be joining the party by posting about the book and including one of their favorite quotes from any book in the Cut & Run series. Readers who collect each quote and submit their findings to marketing@riptidepublishing.com will be eligible to win one of two runner-up prizes and one grand prize. More about this Cut & Run fun will be posted tomorrow along with my blog of Cut & Run favorite moments in the afternoon.

What a week! So here is the full schedule, don’t miss a day!

Monday, April 8: Riptide Publishing’s Web Hunt for Touch & Geaux,

Scattered Thoughts Favorite Cut & Run Moments

Tuesday, April 9: Touch & Geaux (Cut & Run #7) by Abigail Roux

Wed., April 10: Freedom by Jay Kirkpatrick

Thursday, April 11: The General and the Horse-Lord by Sarah Black

Friday, April 12: Brute by Kim Fielding

Saturday, April 13: Into This River I Drown by T.J. Klune

Really, just turn this week’s lineup into a shopping list because you won’t want to miss a single one. Now the flowers and worms are calling me, really I can hear them right now. So off I go or should I say Geaux in keeping with the books this week. Have a wonderful Sunday everyone and I will see you right here on Monday.

Happy Saturday! Book Giveaway Winner is Susan!

Thank you everyone for stopping by on Friday and leaving comments. And a special thanks for Sarah Black on her guest post. Sarah picked a name and the winner of the eBook is Susan, happy reading! Again my thanks to Dreamspinner Press for generously donating a copy of the book to be given away. I am thrilled that Sarah Black will be writing a sequel to The General and the Horse-Lord. These characters have not relinquished their hold on me since I finished the story. I want to know more about them and their histories and will be eagerly awaiting the sequel. Look for my review of The General and the Horse-Lord to posted next week.

The General and the Horse-Lord by Sarah Black

Dreamspinner Press,

ebook, 200 pages

Published April 5th 2013 by Dreamspinner Press

ISBN13

9781623805142

url

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=3684

Author Spotlight – Sarah Black

This was first published spring 2012 and since then my admiration for Sarah Black as a writer has grown stronger. Her characterizations are multidimensional and come fully alive before your eyes, complete with a authentic back story and dialog that fits in their mouths like water in a river. It flows and carries with it the regional characters that the earth has endowed it with. As I said, I can always pick out a Sarah Black character or dialog.

Tomorrow The General and the Horse-Lord will be released by Dreamspinner Press and Sarah Black will be here with a guest post to mark the occasion. Scattered Thoughts will mark the occasion too by giving away a copy of this book, courtesy of Dreamspinner Press to the lucky person chosen at the end of the day from those who comment on her guest blog. It’s a fascinating look at one manner in which the author gets to know her characters, don’t miss it.

My review will be posted on Tuesday, but really I will say it right now. I loved this story and you will too.

*************************************************

May 12, 2012

Today I thought I would start a new feature called Author Spotlight, highlighting authors who books I love and often recommend. Today the spotlight falls on Sarah Black. Just her name on a cover is enough for me to buy it, She has over 42 books to her name. I aim to read them all. My hope is that this will get you to pick one up as well.

Here is her bio from her website Sarah Black Writes:

“Sarah Black is a fiction writer living in beautiful Boise, Idaho, the jewel of the American West. Sarah is a family nurse practitioner and works in a medical clinic that takes care of homeless folks (they have lots of great stories). Raised a Navy brat, she’s lived all over the country. She and her son James recently moved to Boise from the Navajo reservation in Arizona. When she isn’t writing, she’s doing something with wool. She learned weaving out on the reservation and now has her eye on an antique circular sock knitting machine.”

The author’s love and knowledge of her subjects permeates each story she writes. Whether they feature a former Navajo Marine heading into the desert or a wildlife photographer capturing the photo of the year in a river in Alaska, the authenticity her background brings to each story is unquestionable and the realistic characterizations and locations is never in doubt. I could pick up one of her stories and know it is hers without ever glancing at the cover, her voice is that unique.

Sarah Black’s stories have often informed and educated me. In Anagama Fires I learned just enough about raku pottery and the intricacies of glazes to fire my own curiousity, sending me off into the realms of research and adult education classes on pottery nearby. As a former Park Naturalist I am familiar with wildlife photography, yet she made it fresh once more with Sockeye Love, especially in the scene captured in the title. It had me laughing in joy and the delights that nature continues to surprise me with. The author’s own military background as well as her family’s shines forth in her characters with their own Marine backstories. In Border Roads 4 members from a platoon return home from Iraq and try to reintegrate in the society they left behind. These veterans are scarred physically and emotionally, holding onto the brotherhood formed in war to help see them through the trenches and ambushes of life back at home. One character is so physically disfigured he hides behind a kerchief, ashamed of how he looks and feeds. Black’s background as a clinic nurse brings this character close to our heart, helps us understand some of the mental and physical challenges he is going through, gives us a man in pain, instead of a victim. I always thought it was a shame this book was narrowed down to m/m fiction as that covered only two of the men from the platoon, the other two were heterosexual. I think it is possible that the inclusion of m/f content hurt this book and caused it to have a lower following than her other books. Either way, this is an incredible book of injured veterans returning home, an issue that will be with us for some time to come. A hard, painful must read.

The only time Sarah Black has lost me so far is in Slackline. Slacklining is a practice in which a 1 inch nylon rope is strung between two anchor points. The rope is not tightly strung as in tightroping but looser so it has a degree of play so the rope becomes dynamic (in some cases stretching and bouncing to allow stunts and tricks). In other words, slack not tight. The main character injures himself when attempting to cross the sea of Hoy off the coast of the Orkney Islands in Scotland on a slackline. He was by himself, no backup, no one knew he was there, he was trespassing and didn’t take into account the high winds off the sea and up the cliffs. I started off thinking what an idiot and unfortunately that impression never left me. I will give Sarah Black credit in that the character knew he was flouting slackling rules as well as the local laws, but such stupendous stupidity (especially as a Park Naturalist who has seen people do incredibly insane things in nature) left me with no connection to this character and therefore to the story. But one out of all I have read? I would love to have those odds at the track.

And finally when Sarah Black gives you a character that combines her love of the Navajo people and the military, then you have characters that will stay with you long after the book has ended. Lorenzo Maryboy, Navajo, former Marine and cartoonist (Marathon Cowboys) or Code Talker Logan Kee of Murder at Black Dog Springs still linger on, in my heart and thoughts. Give them a chance to introduce themselves to you. I know you will love them. I know you will love Sarah Black.

You can find her at her website: Sarah Black Writes She has free reads there for the taking.

She also has stories at Goodreads M/M Romance Group. Find it here!

Marathon Cowboys

The Legend of the Apache Kid

Gregory’s Ghost

Authors News, Book Reviews and Book Giveaway

What an exciting and blustery week this has been at Scattered Thoughts! Things are quite topsy turvy around here! There are so many notable and anticipated books being released this week that I can almost hear the twitching and scrambling as people get ready to click “download”. Two of those books are being touted here this week and the next. And I am equally scampering around trying to get my reviews finished for all of them. But I will just say this, you are going to love them, hate parts of them and reread them often! Just saying.

Now another thing to bring up is that I had scheduled T.J. Klune’s latest novel, Into This River I Drown for review on Saturday and that is not going to happen and here’s the reason why, I finished the book and then just sat there speechless, just absolutely floored. Really, folks, I was in no way prepared for this novel. I have read all of Klune’s books, most of which I adored, one not so much and still would never have guessed he would have written such a milestone of a novel, one that people always hope to write but few do. But I can’t figure out how to write the review, don’t know even where to start yet. So look for it at the end of next week, hopefully I will have figured it out by then. But please go get this book, right now even if you have to drop what you are doing to do so. Read it, finish it, and then let me know what it means to you. I really want to know.

Next on the agenda is that I am participating in Riptide Publishing’s Cut & Run Web Hunt in celebration of the release of Abigail Roux’s seventh book in the Cut & Run series, Touch & Geaux. On April 8th, Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words, along with other terrific book blogs, will be joining the party by posting about the book and including one of their favorite quotes from any book in the Cut & Run series. Readers who collect each quote and submit their findings to marketing@riptidepublishing.com will be eligible to win one of two runner-up prizes and one grand prize, to be revealed soon. I will have more on this web hunt on Saturday so stay tuned in. Again, fyi, I think this is one of the best books in a superlative series, just outstanding, but you will have to wait until Monday to read the full review.

Finally, I know this is going to be a very expensive week for all of you book buyers so I hope to lighten the financial load just a bit for one lucky person. Tomorrow Sarah Black’s latest book, The General and the Horse-Lord is being released by Dreamspinner Press. To celebrate, Sarah Black is guest blogging here about her characters and soap making. It’s fascinating post and the book is just terrific. Sarah Black is a must read author for me and you can always find her on my “favorite” lists (see Marathon Cowboys and The Legend of the Apache Kid). So stop buy tomorrow and leave a comment. At the end of the day, one lucky person will be chosen from those who commented and they will receive a free copy of The General and the Horse-Lord.

Wow, so much going on around here! Later today I will be reposting my Author Spotlight on Sarah Black in preparation for tomorrow’s giveaway. So mark all these dates on your calendar, check in with us tomorrow, and let’s finish this week up in style shall we?

Review: The Mayfield Speakeasy by L.A. Witt

Rating: 4 stars

Walter Mayfield’s life is quite the balancing act. The Mayfield Speakeasy, owned by himself and his brothers, is neutral ground in an area subjected to continual turf wars by various gangs. It is only due to Walter’s reputation as an honest man and his diplomatic skills that the gangs check their grievances and guns at the door of his establishment. The same goes for the cops, Vice cops that is. For Prohibition is in full swing and serving liquor to the sounds of easy music is the name of the game for The Mayfield Speakeasy. The balancing act also includes keeping his volatile brothers in check and the liquor flowing. But that all changes when Detective Joe Riordan comes through the door.

The bodies of three women have been dumped in the river and the only connection between the three is Walter’s brother, John. Detective Joe Riordan and his partner are there to get information and to find the murderer. And they are going to start with asking questions of Walter. As the investigation gets underway, Joe and Walter realize that the other man is gay and act on their attraction to one another. But the gangs soon notice that the cops are continuing to hang around and soon the delicate juggling act is threatened by the murder case as well as Joe and Walter’s ongoing relationship.

As the case hits closer to home than either man expects, it is a race to catch the murderer before everything threatens to collapse under the investigation, from The Mayfield Speakeasy to the new burgeoning love affair of Walter and Joe’s.

The Mayfield Speakeasy is a short story of 62 pages and L.A. Witt manages to cram a lot of historical flavor and plot into such a short length. She starts off the story in a very “film noir” manner . Here is Walter as he views his club:

The O’Reilly brothers and their goons liked to put back some bootlegged whiskey and smoke cigars–those Cuban cigars that cost way more than the cheap ones everybody else had to make do with–while that pretty dame in the red dress sang next to the piano. That was Shirley. She was new here. She’d be Walter’s sister-in-law soon, if Billy didn’t mess things up.

There are plenty of dames and gangsters and bodies floating in the river. And into this speakeasy of Walter’s walks Detective Joe Riordan. Cue the music as Walter walks over to the table the cops are sitting at:

Music still played, and Shirley was still singing in that pretty voice of hers, but nobody was talking. Nobody except Walter. “Name’s Walter Mayfield,” he’d said. “I don’t want no trouble.”

L.A. Witt does a fabulous job of bringing the Prohibition era to life in the form of The Mayfield Speakeasy, you can almost taste the smoke and hard liquor. But the short length brings its own issues, primarily that of lack of character development and depth of plot. The men jump into bed even with all the dangers surrounding such actions. And Billy and John, Walter’s two brothers, need fleshing out for their roles to gel and their animosity towards each other to feel real. The mystery too needed a little more length so that you don’t see the identity as soon as you do in the story.

But still, within these 62 pages, the 30’s come to life once more as the liquor flows illegally, and so does a love that dares not speak its name. While it takes time for the affection to build between Joe and Walter, the reader will enjoy every moment from the smokey beginnings to the end.

Cover art by Trace Edward Zaber. Great cover, looks as though it just came off one of the dime store novels of the era.

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