The Final Alchemy—Promotion

FREE

This Weekend Only

Pick up a copy of The Final Alchemy for free this weekend. A tale of mystery, intrigue and magic set in the Age of Discovery.

An "…exceptional novel…I have never read anything quite like this book…Highly recommended." Amazon reviewer.

Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca, Amazon.fr, Amazon.de, and all other Amazon sites.

FREE eBOOK—AUGUST 2013

Flags of War

A tale of the war that divided America 100 years ago.

Nate MacGregor knows he must fight for Carolina and his southern homeland in the Civil War, but for his cousin Walt in Canada West it's not so simple. Walt knows slavery's wrong but, as the war increases in ferocity, there's a very real chance that Canada will be drawn in—on the side of the Confederacy. The two cousins are linked by Sunday, an escaped slave who is using the Underground Railroad to flee from Nate's plantation to Canada. As the war gathers momentum, Walt, Nate and Sunday are sucked in until they arrive at a shattering conclusion during the battle of Shiloh.

"…action-filled, tightly written prose. Realistic battle scenes illustrate the senselessness of war." Albany Public Library, New York.

"…each character is well-rounded with interesting sides to tell in the story…Easy to read, yet based on historical facts, this book takes the Civil War from a dry read…to a real situation…The impassioned beliefs and actions of people on both sides of the conflict captures the interest and makes the horrors of war real."-Susan Miller, Resource Links

Download your free eBook of Flags of War in any format by clicking on the title at the top of the page or following this link. Select your preferred format and enter the Coupon Code:

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This code is good for unlimited downloads until August 31, 2013, so enjoy the book and send the code to a friend.

You can continue following Walt, Nate and Sunday's adventures in the sequel to Flags of War, Battle Scars.

Okanagan Book Tour

Penticton

Wonderful week touring libraries in the Okanagan (Mission, Westbank, Peachland, Summerland and Naramata). Seamlessly organized by Okanagan Regional Library and great bunches of kids—of course, the sunshine and wineries didn't hurt!
Best comment—a kid asked if any of my books had been turned into movies. I joked that I was waiting for a call from Spielberg. A grade five put up his hand and said, "Aren't you afraid he'll mess it up?"
Coolest moment, meeting a grade four kid who was descended from Sir John Franklin—in Naramata—what are the chances?
Happy Canadian Thanksgiving to all.

September 21st—Bournemouth

For all you Austenites out there.

Not a lot to report, except an excellent couple of hours in Winchester on the way down to Bournemouth. Got to see the cup in which King Canute's heart was buried, the ship's bell from Beattie's flagship a Jutland, the house where Jane Auste

n died and King Arthur's round table. Some of those I believe, some I don't!
Research is done now, some socializing and then flying home on Sunday. I now have the Franklin novel clear in my head and lots of rich detail to put in it. I also have ideas and details for several other stories. Now I just need some of what Wordsworth called "quiet reflection" to write it all down.

I'll stop the travel blog now, hope you've enjoyed at least some of it. Drop by my other blog, facebook or website to find out what's going on on a less regular basis. Next trip is a library tour n central BC on the first week of August.

September 19th—London

A three museum day—Museum of Childhood, Ragged School Museum and Docklands. Got lots of great stuff, but was a little disconcerted to find toys that I'd played with in the Museum of Childhood (no comments from you Iain, thank you very much!).
The photo will be a scene in the book, east end of London circa 1830. Average of ten people per row house (only one room wide), the street shares one water pipe (that's it in the middle of the road) and toilet. Work out the sums, you can almost see the typhoid and cholera.
Fascinating walking through the east end, by Regent's canal, down to docklands. Nice little parks—until you realize that that's where a stick of German bombs landed in 1940 and it was never rebuilt.

September 18th—London

Excellent evening of beer and curry. Just like being back at university except my friends seem older and the beer is more expensive.
Museum of London yesterday with much good cultural background for the novel.
A short stop on the way home was the Petrie Museum of Archaeology. It's part of University College London and was started by old Flinders himself. Awesome place, like somewhere out of the Victorian era. When you go round the cabinets, they give you a torch because the lighting's so bad!
The day's highlight was also at University College—a wax model of Jeremy Bentham, the reformer. He donated his body to science and requested that it be displayed. They couldn't preserve him and the head became too gruesome, so they built a model around his skeleton and put a wax head on top (the hair is real). The head is in storage in the basement. On special university occasions, they take Jeremy out and sit him as a no-voting member of the board! What a weird country this is.

September 17th—London

Wonderful display of medical stuff at the Victoria & Albert including graphic wax models from the days when it was hard to get real bodies and superb knives and saws. Who is going to have a limb cut off in my novel and do twelve-year-old boys ever grow up?
Unfortunately, nothing photographed well, so I'm attaching an old favourite. It's the famous, imaginative painting of Franklin's men busy forging the last link with their lives. Love the greenish/blue faces!
Getting pages of notes on life in the 1830s and 40s. Problem is going to be leaving stuff out.
Don't hold your breath for a post tomorrow. After museums, I am meeting a couple of friends from university, whom I haven't seen since 1974. Enough said.