Thursday Doors is a weekly feature allowing door lovers to come together to admire and share their favorite door photos from around the world. Feel free to join in on the fun by creating your own Thursday Doors post each week and then sharing your link in the comments below, anytime between 12:01 am Thursday morning and Saturday noon (North American eastern time).
Dan has featured gingerbread houses for Thursday’s doors this week so I thought I would follow in his footsteps and share pictures of some of my gingerbread, cake and chocolate houses.
WordCrafter is having a party today starting at 2pm MST.
Meet some of the contributing authors of three WordCrafter anthologies, who will be doing author takeovers, and will be available to engage and answer questions, including: Kaye Lynne Booth, Cynthia Vespia, Janet Garber, Margareth Stewart, Jeff Bowles, Jordan Elizabeth, Art Rosch and myself.
8 p.m. – Author Roberta Eaton Cheadle (5 a.m. Pretoria Central Time on 8 December)
8:30 p.m. – WordCrafter: Holiday Send Off
I have short stories in two of the WordCrafter anthologies, namely, Whispers of the Past and Spirits of the West. I am delighted to tell you that both of these books are now available as paperbacks:
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After completing the biggest case of his career, private detective Hank DeShear returns home to start treatment for a disabling genetic condition that could end his life, but he learns his partner on the prior case has just been murdered. Was he wrong to conclude the secretive killer known as The Greyhound had declared a truce? Or have disciples of The Greyhound surfaced to carry on with the murders? DeShear is able to attach himself to an overseas goodwill mission headed by the U. S. Vice President, enabling him to pursue leads in foreign hospitals he thinks could be offshoots of Angelus Genetics’ illegal organ harvesting programs and human trafficking operations. Determined to pursue the truth wherever it leads, DeShear must also keep a low profile so he doesn’t become the next murder victim—but the onset of his debilitating condition may kill DeShear before the murderer gets a chance. FANS OF ROBIN COOK, MICHAEL CRICHTON, AND AG RIDDLE WILL LOVE THE LATEST ADDITION TO THIS WELL-WRITTEN AND SUSPENSEFUL SERIES.
PRAISE FOR ROGUE ELEMENTS:
“WOW”
“Grabbed me right away and soon after got an actual “WOL” (WOW’D-Out-Loud)… seriously, I only stopped reading to feed the dogs and heat up a bowl of soup for myself. You’ve outdone yourself .”- Claire Nevins Reviews
“A MASTERFUL THRILLER”
“A riveting thriller by Dan Alatorre, the fast-paced plot is loaded with suspense, intrigue and chilling implications for the future of genetic research. I cannot wait for the next book in this spine-tingling series!” – J Barr Reviews
“ANOTHER WINNER”
“Another winner! 5 stars. What a surprise ending. Didn’t see that coming. Can’t wait for book 3. ” – Shirley Boerstler Review
My review
Rogue Elements is the second book in this series and I have read book 1. I am of the view that while it is nice to read the books in order as it gives you back story to the characters, it is not necessary to have read The Gamma Sequence to enjoy this book.
Rogue Elements gets off to an exciting start with private investigator, Hank DeShear, and his partner returning to the USA after the conclusion of their investigation in Indonesia. Hank is just about to start his life saving treatments to prevent the Gamma Sequence from triggering and killing him, when he gets a phone call saying that his partner has been brutally murdered on her way home from the airport. Hank believes that a killer called The Greyhound may not have died in Indonesia and may be the perpetrator of the murder. He prepares to leave for the murder scene having persuaded Maya, the lady who must administer his treatments, to accompany him and provide the treatments remotely. This is the start of another investigation which will take the pair to the United Kingdom and Hank on to Europe.
This is an exciting and fast paced book with plenty of intrigue and red herrings. There is lots of political intrigue with the Vice President of the USA once again offering to aid DeShear in the pursuit of his objectives and behind the political scenes corruption and profiteering. The genetic engineering premise in this book is well research and fresh, providing an exciting and horrifying new angle on this theme.
Who is the woman called Jaden Trinn and how does she fit in with possible further illegal activity by Angelus Genetics? I was pleased to see the introduction of a new strong willed and agile minded female character into this series and I also enjoyed the tiny flame of romance that seems to have ignited between Trinn and DeShear by the end of this book. Trinn is tough and clever with her own objectives and plans. She is loyal and determined and DeShear couldn’t have a better companion for this adventure.
DeShear lives up to his previous reputation of being a hero who allows nothing and no-one to stand in his way of saving innocent victims. It was an interesting twist to have him fighting a life threatening illness in this book and having moments of vulnerability and weakness.
If you enjoy exciting thrillers with a medical theme and strong and interesting characters, then this is the book for you.
Every story starts with a stranger in town or a journey. “Pa, we’re takin’ the wagon to Virginian City,” every story ends with “Golly gee, Wally. I thought we were goners.” True or False?
Tolstoy Said
“All great literature is one of two stories; a man goes on a journey or a stranger comes to town.”
Leo Tolstoy
I love Tolstoy’s stories, but do I agree with his observation?
I must be honest, when I first saw this prompt I had no idea what it was about. It was only after I visited Lela Markham’s post that I understood what the prompt was about. I copied the Tolstoy quote above out of Lela’s post which you can read here: https://aurorawatcherak.wordpress.com/2020/11/30/bring-on-the-tropes/
I realised the other day that all three of my books for older children and adults are about war and conflict of some kind or another. While the Bombs Fell is about a young child growing up in the small town of Bungay, East Anglia in the UK during WWII, Through the Nethergate is about a possible third world war incited through the use of targeted technology and the murder of leadership figures to stir up the masses, and my forthcoming book, A Ghost and His Gold, is about the Second Anglo Boer War in South Africa. I have recently started writing After the Bombs Fell, the sequel to While the Bombs Fell and this is about the end of WW2 and the aftermath of the war in Britain.
Hmmm! I definitely like reading, researching, and writing about war. When presented with the topic for this prompt, I gave it some thought, and realised that most war books fit into the ‘a stranger comes to town’ concept. In the case of a war, however, its not one stranger who comes knocking on the country’s door, but a whole army of them.
While the Bombs Fell features the German pilots and their bombing of London and other major cities in the UK, including Norwich, which is the closest city to Bungay. The little girl in the story [my mother] imagined Hitler as a wicked witch dressed all in black and knew that the German’s ate black bread. This made them strange and unfamiliar and increased her fear of them.
After the Bombs Fell continues to feature the German’s as invaders, but the strangers have evolved into faceless machines called Doodlebugs and V2 rockets. This book will also feature the Italian prisoners of war who occupied a camp at Flixton. Many of them worked on farms in East Anglia. The Italians were also ‘strangers’ in the eyes of the little English girl. They ate different foods, spoke differently, and had different customs. My mother remembers the Italian POW as being kindly and friendly.
Through the Nethergate has the stranger comes to town theme in the form of firstly, Hugh Bigod’s evil ghost, and then Lucifer coming into the lives of a variety of different characters in the book. This book also includes the concept of a man goes on a journey, as Margaret goes to a number of places, including hell, in this supernatural fantasy.
A Ghost and His Gold features both concepts too. Robert is the English soldier who is stationed in Mafeking in the Cape Colony when the war breaks out. He is a stranger to South Africa and an invader of the two Boer Republics. The other two ghosts, Pieter and Estelle, are both Afrikaners who were born in South Africa. As a result of the war, these two characters both end up going on journeys. The three ghosts are also strangers who enter the lives of the modern main characters, Michelle and Tom. The modern couple embark on a strange and horrifying journey to defeat the poltergeist, Estelle, and regain their normal lives.
Having analysed my stories in terms of these two concepts, I can see they both feature strongly in my books. They are not, however, the only types of stories I have read. I read a huge array of books and genres and there are a lot of stories that don’t fit into these two storylines. Romeo and Juliet, for example, doesn’t involve a stranger coming to town, all the characters know each other. I also doesn’t involve anyone going on a journey in the literal sense of the word. Unless one views first love as a journey. Memoirs and comedies also may, or may not, include these two storylines.
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