✧ Blog Tour ✧ The Founding (Across the Great Divide, Book #3) by Michael L. Ross #historicalfiction #biographicalfiction #BlogTour @MichaelLRoss7 @cathiedunn

The Founding
(Across the Great Divide, Book #3)
By Michael L. Ross

Publication Date: December, 2022

Publisher: HistoricalNovelsRUS

Pages: 455 (PDF)

Genre: Historical Fiction

Two men, two dreams, two new towns on the plains, and a railroad that will determine whether the towns—one black, one white—live or die. 

Will Crump has survived the Civil War, Red Cloud’s War, and the loss of his love, but the search for peace and belonging still eludes him. From Colorado, famed Texas Ranger Charlie Goodnight lures Will to Texas, where he finds new love, but can a Civil War sharpshooter and a Quaker find a compromise to let their love survive? When Will has a chance to join in the founding of a new town, he risks everything—his savings, his family, and his life—but it will all be for nothing if the new railroad passes them by.

Luther has escaped slavery in Kentucky through Albinia, Will’s sister, only to find prejudice rearing its ugly head in Indiana. When the Black Codes are passed, he’s forced to leave and begin a new odyssey. Where can he and his family go to be truly free? Can they start a town owned by blacks, run by blacks, with no one to answer to? But their success will be dependent on the almighty railroad and overcoming bigotry to prove their town deserves the chance to thrive.

Will’s eldest sister, Julia, and her husband, Hiram, are watching the demise of their steamboat business and jump into railroads, but there’s a long black shadow in the form of Jay Gould, the robber baron who ruthlessly swallows any business he considers competition. Can Julia fight the rules against women in business, dodge Gould, and hold her marriage together?

The Founding tells the little-known story of the Exodusters and Nicodemus, the black town on the plains of Kansas, and the parallel story of Will’s founding of Lubbock, Texas, against the background of railroad expansion in America. A family reunited, new love discovered, the quest for freedom, the rise of two towns. In the end, can they reach Across the Great Divide? The Founding is the exciting conclusion to the series.

Praise 

“Michael is an excellent storyteller and has done a wonderful job depicting Luther, and the other black characters in this book.  He has done his homework and depicts many historical facts about Nicodemus in a most enlightening and creative way.  It has been a pleasure working with someone who has made a concerted effort to get things right.  

 

~ Angela Bates

Nicodemus Descendant/Historian

Executive Director

The Nicodemus Historical Society and Museum

Purchase Links

International Buy Link

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Amazon AU

Series Link Amazon US

Series Link Amazon UK

Michael L. Ross

Michael Ross is a lover of history and great stories.

He’s a retired software engineer turned author, with three children, and five grandchildren, living in Newton, Kansas with his wife of 39 years. Michael graduated from Rice University and Portland State University with degrees in German and software engineering. He was part of an MBA program at Boston University. 

Michael was born in Lubbock, Texas, and still loves Texas. He’s written short stories and technical articles in the past, as well as articles for the Texas Historical Society. 

Across the Great Divide now has three novels in the series, "The Clouds of War", and "The Search", and the conclusion, "The Founding".  "The Clouds of War" was an honorable mention for Coffee Pot Book of the Year in 2019, and an Amazon #1 best seller in three categories, along with making the Amazon top 100 paid, reviewed in Publisher's Weekly. "The Search" won Coffee Pot Cover of the Year in 2020, and Coffee Pot Silver Medal for Book of the Year in 2020, as well as short listed for the Chanticleer International Book Laramie Award. 

Social Media Links:

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✧ Cover Reveal ✧ Wolves of Wagria (Olaf’s Saga, Book 3) by Eric Schumacher #Viking #HistoricalFiction #BlogTour @DarkAgeScribe @cathiedunn

 

Wolves of Wagria
(Olaf's Saga, Book #3)
By Eric Schumacher

Publication Date: November 15th, 2022

Publisher: Bodn Books

Pages: 344

Genre: Historical Fiction / Historical Action

Three kingdoms. Two friends. Only one way to survive.

For fans of Bernard Cornwell and Conn Iggulden comes the tale of Olaf Tryggvason and his adventures in the battle-scarred kingdom of Wagria.

It is AD 972. Olaf Tryggvason and his oath-sworn protector, Torgil, are once again on the move. They have left the Rus kingdom and now travel the Baltic Sea in search of plunder and fame. But a fateful storm lands them on the Vendish coastline in a kingdom called Wagria.

There, they find themselves caught between the aggression of the Danes, the political aspirations of the Wagrian lords, and the shifting politics in Saxland. Can they survive or will they become just one more casualty of kingly ambitions? 

Find out in this harrowing sequel to the best-selling novels, Forged by Iron and Sigurd’s Swords.

Purchase Links

Amazon

#KindleUnlimited

Eric Schumacher

Eric Schumacher discovered his love for writing and medieval European history at a very early age, as well as authors like J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Bernard Cornwell, Jack Whyte, and Wilbur Smith. Those discoveries fueled his imagination and continue to influence the stories he tells. 

His first novel, God’s Hammer, was published in 2005.

You can follow Eric Schumacher on Amazon or by joining his newsletter at https://www.ericschumacher.net/readers-club.

Social Media Links:

Website ✧ Twitter ✧ Facebook ✧ LinkedIn ✧

Amazon Author Page ✧ BookBub ✧ Goodreads

Tour Schedule 

 

Join The Coffee Pot Book Club on tour with…

The Hearts of All on Fire

The Guid’Antonio Historical Mysteries

by Alana White

December 6th, 2022

Publication Date: September 27th, 2022

Publisher: Atmosphere Press

Pages: 392

Genre: Historical Mystery

Florence, 1473. 

An impossible murder. A bitter rivalry. A serpent in the ranks.

Florentine investigator Guid’Antonio Vespucci returns to Florence from a government mission to find his dreams of success shattered. Life is good—but then a wealthy merchant dies from mushroom poisoning at Guid’Antonio’s Saint John’s Day table, and Guid’Antonio’s servant is charged with murder. 

Convinced of the youth’s innocence and fearful the killer may strike again, Guid’Antonio launches a private investigation into the merchant’s death, unaware that at the same time powerful enemies are conspiring to overthrow the Florentine Republic—and him. 

A clever, richly evocative tale for lovers of medieval and renaissance mysteries everywhere, The Hearts of All on Fire is a timeless story of family relationships coupled with themes of love, loss, betrayal and, above all, hope in a challenging world.

Buy Links

Amazon UK • Amazon US • Amazon CA • Amazon AU

Barnes and Noble • Bookshop • Waterstones • Parnassus Books

Alana White

Alana White’s passion for Renaissance Italy has taken her to Florence for research on the Vespucci and Medici families on numerous occasions. There along cobbled streets unchanged over the centuries, she traces their footsteps, listening to their imagined voices, including that of her protagonist, Guid’Antonio Vespucci and his friends, Sandro Botticelli, Michelangelo, Lorenzo de’ Medici.  

Alana’s first short story featuring real-life fifteenth-century lawyer Guid’Antonio Vespucci and his favorite nephew, Amerigo Vespucci, was a Macavity Award finalist and led to the Guid’Antonio Vespucci Mystery Series featuring "The Sign of the Weeping Virgin" (Book I) and "The Hearts of All on Fire" (Book II).  

She is a member of the Women’s National Book Association and the Historical Novel Society, among other organizations. She loves hearing from readers, and you can contact her at her website, www.alanawhite.com.

Social Media Links:

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✧ Book Spotlight ✧ A Shape on the Air by Julia Ibbotson #historical #timeslip #BlogTour @JuliaIbbotson @cathiedunn

A Shape on the Air 

By Julia Ibbotson

A haunting Anglo-Saxon time-slip of mystery and romance

Can echoes of the past threaten the present? They are 1500 years apart, but can they reach out to each other across the centuries? One woman faces a traumatic truth in the present day. The other is forced to marry the man she hates as the 'dark ages' unfold.

How can Dr Viv DuLac, medievalist and academic, unlock the secrets of the past? Traumatised by betrayal, she slips into 499 AD and into the body of Lady Vivianne, who is also battling treachery. Viv must uncover the mystery of the key that she unwittingly brings back with her to the present day, as echoes of the past resonate through time. But little does Viv realise just how much both their lives across the centuries will become so intertwined. And in the end, how can they help each other across the ages without changing the course of history?

For fans of Barbara Erskine, Pamela Hartshorne, Susanna Kearsley, Christina Courtenay.

Praise

“In the best Barbara Erskine tradition …I would highly recommend this novel” - Historical Novel Society

“Amazing …a really great book …I just couldn’t put it down” - Hazel Morgan

“Well-rounded characters and a wealth of historical research make this a real page-turner” - Amazon review

“Enthralling” - Amazon review

“Julia does an incredible job of setting up the idea of time-shift so that it’s believable and makes sense” - Amazon review

“Viv/Lady Vivianne … lovely identifiable heroine in both time periods … I love her strength and vulnerability. And Rory/Roland is simply gorgeous!” - Melissa Morgan

“gripping … a very real sense of threat and danger, an enthralling mystery … a wholly convincing romance, across both timelines” - Anne Williams

✧ Purchase Link ✧

Amazon

#KindleUnlimited

Julia Ibbotson

Julia Ibbotson is fascinated by the medieval world and the concept of resonances across time. She sees her author brand as a historical fiction writer of romantic mysteries that are character-driven, well-paced, evocative of time and place, well-researched and uplifting page-turners. Her current series focuses on early medieval dual-time/time-slip mysteries. 

Julia read English at Keele University, England, specialising in medieval language/ literature/ history, and has a PhD in socio-linguistics. After a turbulent time in Ghana, West Africa, she became a school teacher, then a university academic and researcher. 

Her break as an author came soon after she joined the RNA’s New Writers’ Scheme in 2015, with a three-book deal from Lume Books for a trilogy (Drumbeats) set in Ghana in the 1960s. She has also indie-published three other books, including A Shape on the Air, an Anglo-Saxon timeslip mystery, and its two sequels The Dragon Tree and The Rune Stone. Her latest, Daughter of Mercia, is the first of a new series of Anglo-Saxon dual time mystery/romances where echoes of the past resonate across the centuries. 

Her books will appeal to fans of Barbara Erskine, Pamela Hartshorne, Susanna Kearsley, and Christina Courtenay. Her readers say: ‘compelling character-driven novels’, ‘a skilled story-teller’, ‘evocative and well-paced storylines’, ‘incredible writing style’, ‘intricately written’, ‘absorbing and captivating’, and ‘an absolute gem of a trilogy’.

Social Media Links:

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Tour Schedule

 

✧ Book Review ✧ Squire’s Hazard (The Fifth Meonbridge Chronicle) by Carolyn Hughes #Medieval #HistoricalFiction #BookReview @writingcalliope @cathiedunn

Squire’s Hazard
By Carolyn Hughes

How do you overcome the loathing, lust and bitterness threatening you and your family’s honour?

It’s 1363, and in Steyning Castle, Sussex, Dickon de Bohun is enjoying life as a squire in the household of Earl Raoul de Fougère. Or he would be, if it weren’t for Edwin de Courtenay, who’s making his life a misery with his bullying, threatening to expose the truth about Dickon’s birth.

At home in Meonbridge for Christmas, Dickon notices how grown-up his childhood playmate, Libby Fletcher, has become since he last saw her and feels the stirrings of desire. Libby, seeing how different he is too, falls instantly in love. But as a servant to Dickon’s grandmother, Lady Margaret de Bohun, she could never be his wife.

Margery Tyler, Libby’s aunt, meeting her niece by chance, learns of her passion for young Dickon. Their conversation rekindles Margery’s long-held rancour against the de Bohuns, whom she blames for all the ills that befell her family, including her own servitude. For years she’s hidden her hunger for retribution, but she can no longer keep her hostility in check.

As the future Lord of Meonbridge, Dickon knows he must rise above de Courtenay’s loathing and intimidation, and get the better of him. And, surely, he must master his lust for Libby, so his own mother’s shocking history is not repeated? Of Margery’s bitterness, however, he has yet to learn…

Beset by the hazards these powerful and dangerous emotions bring, can young Dickon summon up the courage and resolve to overcome them?

Secrets, hatred and betrayal, but also love and courage – Squire’s Hazard, the fifth MEONBRIDGE CHRONICLE.

✧ Review ✧

This novel is the kind of book that once started is near on impossible to turn away from. It throws the reader right into the middle of the life of  Dickon de Bohun, who, due to merciless bulling, finds himself unjustly abused by Earl Raoul de Fougère. And yet, he dares not stand up for himself and tell the Earl of the relentless torment he is under. It is no surprise that Dickon's returns to his family home with a downhearted spirit. From there on in the adventure begins, and once begun I was hooked.

The author really knows her stuff and has depicted the historical setting with a flawless accuracy and an understanding of how to interrupt that history and create a story around it. I thought the historical backdrop and the characters were wonderfully depicted, and both came across as very real in the telling.

I had not read the first four books in this series, but that did not stop me from enjoying this book immensely and at no time did I feel lost or confused by what was happening. I will certainly be putting the other books onto my to-read list.

✧ Purchase Links ✧

Amazon

This title is on #KindleUnlimited. 

Carolyn Hughes

CAROLYN HUGHES has lived much of her life in Hampshire. With a first degree in Classics and English, she started working life as a computer programmer, then a very new profession. But it was technical authoring that later proved her vocation, as she wrote and edited material, some fascinating, some dull, for an array of different clients, including banks, an international hotel group and medical instruments manufacturers.

Having written creatively for most of her adult life, it was not until her children flew the nest several years ago that writing historical fiction took centre stage, alongside gaining a Master’s degree in Creative Writing from Portsmouth University and a PhD from the University of Southampton.

Squire’s Hazard is the fifth MEONBRIDGE CHRONICLE, and more stories about the folk of Meonbridge will follow.

You can connect with Carolyn through her website www.carolynhughesauthor.com and on social media.

Social Media Links:

Website ✧ Twitter ✧ Facebook ✧ BookBub ✧ Amazon Author Page UK ✧ Goodreads

Tour Schedule

✧ Book Spotlight ✧ Skull’s Vengeance (Series: Curse of Clansmen and Kings, Book 4) by Linnea Tanner #AncientRome #AncientBritannia #BlogTour @linneatanner @maryanneyarde

 

Skull’s Vengeance

(Series: Curse of Clansmen and Kings, Book 4)

By Linnea Tanner

A Celtic warrior queen must do the impossible—defeat her sorcerer half-brother and claim the throne. But to do so, she must learn how to strike vengeance from her father’s skull.

AS FORETOLD BY HER FATHER in a vision, Catrin has become a battle-hardened warrior after her trials in the Roman legion and gladiatorial games. She must return to Britannia and pull the cursed dagger out of the serpent's stone to fulfill her destiny. Only then can she unleash the vengeance from the ancient druids to destroy her evil half-brother, the powerful sorcerer, King Marrock. Always two steps ahead and seemingly unstoppable, Marrock can summon destructive natural forces to crush any rival trying to stop him and has charged his deadliest assassin to bring back Catrin's head.

To have the slightest chance of beating Marrock, Catrin must forge alliances with former enemies, but she needs someone she can trust. Her only option is to seek military aid from Marcellus—her secret Roman husband. They rekindle their burning passion, but he is playing a deadly game in the political firestorm of the Julio-Claudian dynasty to support Catrin's cause.

 

Ultimately, in order to defeat Marrock, Catrin must align herself with a dark druidess and learn how to summon forces from skulls to exact vengeance. But can she and Marcellus outmaneuver political enemies from Rome and Britannia in their quest to vanquish Marrock?

Trigger warnings:

Sex, Slave trafficking and abuse, Violence, Childbirth

✧ Purchase Links ✧

Amazon

✧ Series Links ✧ 

Apollo’s Raven 

Dagger’s Destiny

Amulet’s Rapture

Skull’s Vengeance

Linnea Tanner

Award-winning author, Linnea Tanner, weaves Celtic tales of love, magical adventure, and political intrigue in Ancient Rome and Britannia. Since childhood, she has passionately read about ancient civilizations and mythology. Of particular interest are the enigmatic Celts, who were reputed as fierce warriors and mystical druids.

Linnea has extensively researched ancient and medieval history, mythology, and archaeology and has traveled to sites described within each of her books in the Curse of Clansmen and Kings series. Books released in her series include Apollo’s Raven (Book 1), Dagger’s Destiny (Book 2), Amulet’s Rapture (Book 3), and Skull’s Vengeance (Book 4).

A Colorado native, Linnea attended the University of Colorado and earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemistry. She lives in Fort Collins with her husband and has two children and six grandchildren.

✧ Social Media links ✧ 

Website ✧ Twitter ✧ Facebook ✧ LinkedIn ✧ Instagram ✧ Pinterest ✧ Book Bub ✧ Amazon Author Page ✧ Goodreads

Tour Schedule 

✧ Book Excerpt ✧ Floats the Dark Shadow by Yves Fey #HistoricalFiction #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub @YvesFey @cathiedunn

 

Floats the Dark Shadow 
By Yves Fey

Young American painter Theodora Faraday struggles to become an artist in Belle Époque Paris. She’s tasted the champagne of success, illustrating poems for the Revenants, a group of poets led by her adored cousin, Averill. 

When children she knows vanish mysteriously, Theo confronts Inspecteur Michel Devaux who suspects the Revenants are involved. Theo refuses to believe the killer could be a friend—could be the man she loves. Classic detection and occult revelation lead Michel and Theo through the dark underbelly of Paris, from catacombs to asylums, to the obscene ritual of a Black Mass. 

Following the maze of clues they discover the murderer believes he is the reincarnation of the most evil serial killer in the history of France—Gilles de Rais. Once Joan of Arc’s lieutenant, after her death he plunged into an orgy of evil. The Church burned him at the stake for heresy, sorcery, and the depraved murder of hundreds of peasant children. 

Whether deranged mind or demonic passion incite him, the killer must be found before he strikes again.

 

✧ Excerpt ✧

Invitation to the Catacombs – Floats the Dark Shadow:

Turning around, Theo found Averill still leaning in her open doorway, artfully insouciant, a wicked little smile hovering about the corners of his lips. “I have an invitation for you.”

“An invitation?” she prompted.

He sauntered over. “To the Gates of Hell…and beyond.”

A riddle. La Barrière d’Enfer. Theo knew Hell’s Gate was what they called the old southern toll gate out of Paris. And beyond? The guillotine had once stood nearby, but no longer. Then, beneath? “The catacombs.” 

“Exactement.”

Theo smiled, feeling a shiver race along her spine—apprehension, but anticipation too. Wandering through a labyrinth of ancient bones wasn’t her first choice for an evening out in Paris, yet Averill made the darkness alluring. Life was more vivid when contrasted with death. Theo had been promising to go to the catacombs ever since Averill said he was writing a poem about them. To illustrate it she would need to see the beauty in their desolation, as he did.

“Casimir is playing his violin in a midnight concert tomorrow—at midnight on April 1st. We are all invited.” 

Casimir Estarlian, baron de la Veillée sur Oise, was Averill’s oldest and closest friend among the Revenants, the group of poets—and one California artist—who’d joined together last year after the performance of Oscar Wilde’s Salomé. Their magazine, Le Revenant, had created quite a stir in the literary world. “A revenant is a ghost that is not only visible but tactile,” Averill had explained to her that night. “Sometimes even a corpse risen from the grave. A ghost that feeds upon emotion. Upon desire.” Averill had written four poems, all highly praised. Theo had illustrated them for him in the intricately twisted style he favored. Those illustrations had won her praise as well.

“A midnight concert in the catacombs?” She tilted her head, considering. “How can I resist?” 

Averill smiled with such boyish delight that this time her answering smile was unforced. He had challenged her. She had accepted. It would be an adventure, and however forbidding the territory, she would be with him.

“It will be unique.” He looked at her intently, frowning slightly now.

“What?” 

Reaching out, Averill smoothed back a strand of wet hair sticking to her cheek. Then he broke off a cherry blossom from the branch she’d put inside her jacket and tucked it behind her ear. He nodded toward the easel. “You should do a self-portrait—The Bedraggled Amazon.”

Theo sputtered with laughter, amused and embarrassed. The Revenants had dubbed her their Amazone blonde. She was skilled with horses and weapons. Her nickname was masculine, and she often wore trousers instead of skirts. That choice was daring. Illegal. They applauded her for it, their bold American. But sometimes she felt she was permitted her brashness because she was from California, a name they pronounced with the same exotic savor as Trinidad or Madagascar. She was something not quite tame. At times, Theo felt more like a mascot than a person. But never with Averill. “Beware the bedraggled Amazon doesn’t skewer you for the insult.”

“The Amazon is far too merciful to inflict pain.” Even in shadow, his blue eyes had a luminous glow she knew her own did not possess. “Theo,” he said hesitantly, “I must apologize. I promised to pose.”

“Yes?”

“There were arguments at home…exams for which to study….”

“Or not?” Theo hated the acid in her tone.

“Or not.” Averill shrugged elaborately but did not look away. “Sometimes I am tempted to fail again just to aggravate my father.”

Theo did not look away either, though she was sorry for her cut. “But you are succeeding. For yourself.”

“Yes. The new school of psychology fascinates me—almost as much as a new poem.” He smiled ironically. “I was distracted this past week, but that is not why I avoided posing.”

“Then why?”

He hesitated. “I think I fear what you will see if you paint me.”

✧ Purchase Link ✧

Amazon

Yves Fey has MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Oregon, and a BA in Pictorial Arts from UCLA. Yves began drawing as soon as she could hold a crayon and writing at twelve.  

She’s been a tie dye artist, go-go dancer, creator of ceramic beasties, writing teacher, illustrator, and has won prizes for her chocolate desserts. Her current obsession is creating perfumes inspired by her Parisian characters. 

Yves lives in Albany with her mystery writer husband and their cats, Charlotte and Emily, the Flying Bronte Sisters.

 

 

Social Media Links:

 

Website ✧ Twitter ✧ Facebook ✧ LinkedIn ✧ Instagram: Gayle Feyrer (@yves_fey) • Instagram photos and videos ✧ Pinterest ✧ Amazon Author Page  ✧ Goodreads

Tour Schedule