The children and their mothers walked through the camp gates.

Their eyes widened in shock as they gazed at the sea of white, bell-shaped tents pitched in straight lines at equal intervals all over the large and dusty field. It had once been veld but the grass had been hacked away leaving barren, exposed earth between the tents and in the cooking area. There was not a single tree in sight to provide welcome relief from the sun which shone down harshly, even during the winter months.

There are so many tents!

A small number of defeated looking men and large numbers of thin and raggedy women and children sat or lay listlessly in the dirt among the tents. Marta could see a few black house servants and farmworkers scatted among them. None of them seemed to have any sort of useful occupation.

Marta was shocked at the filthy state of the people. Did they not have soap and water to keep themselves clean?

A tannie [respectful term for an older woman] roused herself and came over to them.

“I’m Mrs De Wet. Come this way”, she said, leading them towards one of the tents. As they walked, Marta noticed a number of tree stumps, like keloid scars on the earth.

“Where have all the trees gone?”

“They were cut down and their wood used for fires to cook food and boil water. There are none left now.”

The woman approached one of the tents. “There is space for you in this one,” she said. “Mrs Odendaal and her son are currently the only people living here.”

She looked at Ardrina and Dorthea. “It will be a tight fit as you have brought your servants with you. No extra rations or blankets are provided for servants,” she said. “Did the Khakis tell you that?”

Sannie nodded that they had.

The front flap of the tent was tightly closed. The tannie opened it and gestured to them to enter. Marta’s first impression was of neatness despite the dim lighting and stuffiness inside the tent. A smell of sickness and impending death hung in the oppressive air.

A women in her thirties knelt on the floor next to a makeshift mattress. Her small son lay on the mattress, weak and frail. His flushed face and the bright, red rash that marred his white skin indicated his illness.

“He can’t bear the light,” the mother said, by way of explanation for keeping the flap closed.

“What is wrong with him?” asked Marta. She already knew but she needed to be sure. Her whole being shrank away from what she already feared.

“He has measles. It is rife here in the camp.”

Marta looked at Sannie, aghast. Their two families and their house servants had always lived a rural life and had little immunity to such illness. It was bad enough to deal with the multitude of biting insects and vermin but how could they deal with this?

Discouragement filled Marta’s heart as she walked around the camp, stopping to speak to the other women. She averted her face in disgust from the few men who had clearly deserted their commandos. She was proud of the fact that her husband was a bittereinder [bitter ender].

She quickly discovered that water was in short supply and some of the pumps were broken and had not been repaired. Animals, both dead and alive, had polluted the scanty water resources. Other prisoners quickly confirmed that all the available fuel had already been stripped from the area inside the camp so making a fire to boil water had become impossible. Very few inmates had utilities to hold the water for boiling even if fuel had been obtainable.

Written for Sue Vincent’s weekly write photo challenge. You can join in here: https://scvincent.com/2019/04/25/thursday-photo-prompt-shade-writephoto/

Linda G Hill’s prompt is as follows: Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “xp.” Use it as a word, or find a word with “xp”in it. As always, use any way you’d like. Enjoy!

I wrote a bit of a story. An imagining of the beginning of a nuclear war for someone living outside a target city. Here it is:

“Her fingers flew across the keyboard creating new words and sentences, highlighted in red, on her computer screen. The document she was working on had to be submitted to the stock exchange the following morning or the roadshow timetable would not be achieved. That would make all the teams to this initial public offering look incompetent in the eyes of potential investors. She was pushing hard to get all her changes made so she could send the financial sections back to the lawyers before the 6 P.M. deadline. They would turn the changes around overnight and she would check them first thing the following morning. I’m glad the lawyers will have to do the night shift, she thought. I should be finished by 4 P.M. and can get home in time to take Tom to his psychology appointment at 5 P.M.

The murmur of excited voices from the rest area down the passage did not filter through her deep concentration until it escalated to shouts of horror and shock. Looking up, she noticed that her desk was the only occupied one in her section of the office; even her assistant had disappeared. A frown wrinkled her forehead. We won’t finish early if Sue doesn’t get her section done quickly.

“Jen! Come quickly. You’ve got to see this,” Sue’s voice, loud and distraught, broke into her thoughts. A mild feeling of alarm stirred her into action. I’ll go and see what she wants. I could use a trip to the loo anyhow.

A throng of her colleagues was gathered in front of the television. Every pair of eyes was fixed on the large screen television and not a sound or moment disturbed the sudden complete silence as they gawped at the events unfolding in front of them.

Turning her own eyes to the screen, she saw a picture of a man filling the screen. His skin sloughed from his body and his flesh seemed to be running like candle wax as he staggered towards the camera, blinded eyes staring, and arms held out in a gesture of appeal. The scene changed. Jen could almost feel the practically noiseless but blinding explosion, followed by a brilliant fireball that boiled upwards into the blue sky. The sky darkened and the soft, white clouds rippled as shock waves fanned outwards, with a grey cloud of radioactivity surging after them. Oh, my God. What’s happening? Dread clutched her in its tight embrace making breathing difficult. Other cities flashed onto the screen, showing similar scenes of devastation as a frenzy of retribution fell upon the leadership of the world. New York, Washington, London, Sidney, Tokyo, Shanghai, the list when on and on. Nothing here; not yet.

She shifted her eyes to the large windows. Outside the room nothing had changed and inside, only the terrible astonishment and horror of the small audience, bunched around the television, blighted the normalcy of her surrounds.

Suddenly, fear hit her. She needed to get home to Tom. Around her, the other watchers were stirring, expressions of panic on their white faces. The group suddenly splintered in all directions as people ran towards their desks, grabbed their bags and keys, and stampeding towards the elevators and stairwells. Jen made her way down the stairs, weeping silent and horrified tears at this unexpected turn of events.”

You can join in here: https://lindaghill.com/2019/04/26/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-april-27-19/

Those of you who follow this blog will know that I am one of eleven authors who have each contributed three short stories to a murder mystery anthology due to be released in early July. In advance of the publication of this book, I am running a series of posts to introduce you to some of the other contributing authors.

This week I am introducing you to author Kelly Artieri. Welcome Kelly to Roberta Writes.

About Kelly Artieri and her contribution to Death Among Us

Kelly Artieri is a professional illustrator with degrees in Medical & Scientific Illustration. She is also an award winning author of her personal memoir A Spot in My Heart. Living on the south shore of Lake Ontario in the Buffalo, NY area, she is a passionate storyteller about real life.

Awarded the Grand Prize of the 2017 TCK Publishing Readers’ Choice, her book not only won top honors overall, but was also voted the winner in the memoir genre. Kelly began journaling after the loss of a beloved pet, she and her family had adopted due to his special needs. Her journals became Vinnie’s story, an award winning memoir. It is not a dog book; it is a powerful memoir with a dog in it.

When I was invited to participate in the Anthology, I was a bit nervous. I had never written Murder Mystery before. I did some research on what should be included, read a few other authors’ works and gave it a go! I fell in love almost immediately.

Though not Murder Mystery per se, I am more of a Mystery Thriller reader. My favorite Author is Stephen King followed closely by James Patterson.

My Theme for Death Among Us:  Three Murder Mystery stories written with a Memoir writer’s hand  . . .  The Lake.

As an avid boater on Lake Ontario, I chose to write about life on the lake. The beauty and siren-like draw of the water . . . mask the dangers that lurk within.

You can find Kelly here:

Website: https://www.kellyartieri.com

Amazon Author Page: https://amzn.to/2DqrSqE

Spot in my Heart:  https://amzn.to/2rwS8Zk

Twitter: @spotinmyheart

FaceBook: Kelly Artieri

A Spot in My Heart: Loving a special needs dog

What Amazon says

Grand Prize People’s Choice Award Winner

Often reviewed to have fond similarities of  stories like Marley & Me . . .  this is a heartwarming memoir of life with a bi-laterally deaf Dalmatian. Kelly and her family chose to accept the challenge of raising a deaf dog even though they had no experience before. They learned as they went.  Kelly’s story has become an award winning memoir. It is not a dog book; it is a powerful tale of a family with a dog in it.  Vinnie was full of life and ready to experience everything there was for him to learn and know.

 Vinnie allowed us to live in his world. This is a book about his time with my family, and his spot in my heart.

A review of A Spot in My Heart

A five star review on Amazon by a verified purchaser:

“I almost don’t know where to begin with this brief but beautiful memoir.

Kelly Artieri, like me, loves Dalmatians. Like me, she’s had more than one. And, like me, one of those dogs had special needs: Vinnie was bilaterally deaf.

Artieri and her family fall in love with Vinnie long before his puppy BAER test reveals his hearing impairment; the breeder tells the family that they are going to have the pup euthanized, but Artieri says they will adopt him anyway.

The challenges of training a deaf dog are brought to light in this book as we see Vinnie’s high spirits and need for extra attention running rampant through the house and hearts of his new family. Training with hand signals, while still talking to the dog, is something that came in handy when my own dogs lost their hearing due to age, but it was more of a convenience for me. For Artieri, it was a necessity.

Vinnie also developed OCD (it can happen to any dog, but is common in dogs with hearing impairments) and pica (eating things that aren’t food), both of which caused their own set of difficulties.

This is a beautiful, loving book about a handsome dog (there are lots of color plates to enjoy) and a family who clearly adored him. Artieri makes a point that she is not an animal expert, “just a dog mom,” but wanted to share her insights and resources with other people who have special needs pets. Nicely done indeed.”

Purchase A Spot in My Heart

You can pre-order Death Among Us here:

What Amazon says

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” (Edmund Burke) Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Franklin attempts to make it through life day by day. Roosevelt is a widower, who lost his beloved wife to cancer and a retired history professor, and he has not stopped grieving. He and his two closest friends, also retired and who have also lost loved ones, form a paranormal investigation group. They hope to find an answer to the question: is there life after death? When asked by a local teacher to investigate a possible haunting of her house, the group discovers an evil beyond anything they could have imagined. This is no mere ghost. Maledicus, who was in life a pimp, torturer, and murderer during Caligula’s reign in Rome, in death has become a sociopathic demon that attacks the weak and the innocent. Maledicus threatens a five year old child’s life and soul. Terrified by what they have discovered, Roosevelt and his friends must choose to either walk away from this threat , or to do battle with this ancient creature at the potential loss of their sanities, their lives, and their souls.

My review

Maledicus is the right hand man to Caligula, Emperor of the Roman Empire, and they are equally despicable, inhumane and outright evil. Maledicus has plans, great plans, whereby he will ascend to the top position of Emperor but he underestimates the incumbent, Caligula, and his many eyes and ears. Maledicus never achieves his aspirations and is dispatched to the afterlife in an unpleasant and painful way.

In the non world between Heaven and Hell, Maledicus lurks. He is not reconciled to his unnatural death and believes his chance to aspire to greatness will come. He sets about manipulating events and circumstances to achieve his ultimate goals of greatness.

Meanwhile, time has moved on and in the 21st century, three elderly and retired men, Roosevelt, Sam and Jeremy, have formed a ghost-investigating group, with the occasional help and support from Roosevelt’s nephew, ex-US Marine, Patrick. They have all suffered personal losses and this is a great way for them to keep themselves mental and physically active and to indulge in an interest in ghosts and the supernatural. When their Investigative Paranormal Society (“IPS”) gets its first really legitimate case, they find themselves up against an on-going evil that refuses to die. Can the IPS go up against an ancient and expanding evil and expect anything other than untimely deaths?

I enjoyed the characters of Roosevelt, Sam, Jeremy and Patrick and learning about their individual losses and life experiences, all of which weave together into the fabric of this well planned story.

The idea behind this book is fresh and clever and the ending was superb. I was really impressed by the author’s unique and thrilling ending.

Purchase Maledicus by Charles F. French

I am visiting Smorgasbord Blog Magazine today with a post about baby farming in the late-Victorian Era Britain and Amelia Dyer. Thank you, Sally, for hosting me today on you lovely blog. You can read more of Sally’s amazing posts and articles here: https://smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com/

They were not really the good old days, especially for women and children, particularly the babies. Robbie Cheadle shares the truly terrible tale of Amelia Dyer……

Baby farming in the late-Victorian Era Britain and Amelia Dyer by Robbie Cheadle

What is baby farming?

Baby farming during late-Victorian Era Britain was the practice whereby individuals acted as adoption or fostering agents for children and infants in return for either an up-front payment or monthly payments from the mother.

Although baby farmers were supposed to provide care for the children they took into their custody, the name developed due to the fact this was rarely the case and improper treatment of the children frequently occurred.

A related business was the practice of taking in young expectant women and caring for them until they gave birth. Many of these women subsequently left their unwanted babies after the birth to be looked after as “nurse children”.

Unscrupulous baby farmers often starved the babies in their care, either to save money or to hasten their deaths. Alcohol and/or opiates, particularly Godfrey’s Cordial also known as Mother’s Friend, was administered to noisy and troublesome babies in order to sedate them. Such babies usually died of starvation and severe malnutrition as the opium made them disinclined for food.

Why did the practice of baby farming come about?

In 1834 the poor Law Amendment Act was introduced in Britain which removed any financial obligation from the fathers of illegitimate children. This left unmarried mothers in a dire financial position as single parenthood and illegitimacy were stigmatized by the society of the time.

Amelia Dyer

Continue reading this post at Smorgasbord Blog Magazine here: https://smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com/2019/04/23/smorgasbord-blog-magazine-guest-writer-baby-farming-in-the-late-victorian-era-britain-and-amelia-dyer-by-robbie-cheadle/https://smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com/2019/04/23/smorgasbord-blog-magazine-guest-writer-baby-farming-in-the-late-victorian-era-britain-and-amelia-dyer-by-robbie-cheadle/

Sannie and I spent an anxious night locked in the house with the four children. Earlier in the day a cloud of dust appeared on the horizon. As it drew ever closer, we could make out a great crowd of horseman and ox-wagons.

The Boer Commando* stopped in our yard and the commandant knocked on our door. He told us they would be resting at our farm overnight and asked for some milk. I was angry with the commandant. A lonely farmhouse inhabited by two women and four children was no place to rest with so many “friendly” men.

* – The Boer commandos or “Kommandos” were volunteer military units of guerilla militia organized by the Afrikaans-speaking farmers of South Africa. The term came into English usage during the Second Boer War of 1899-1902.

This 99-word flash fiction about gender was written for Charli Mills’ weekly prompt. You can join in here: https://carrotranch.com/2019/04/18/april-18-flash-fiction-challenge/

I stood in front of the judge, trembling, as the eyes of the thousands of spectators seated in the arena focused on me. I could feel their blood thirsty gazes stabbing into my back but no-one broke the complete silence.

How easy it is to sway the opinions of the masses, I thought in a hysterical sort of way. Faced with shortages and personal deprivation, together with a breakdown of civilization as we knew it, and any behaviour can be justified in their short-sighted eyes. My own eyes moved to the pale and shining face of my beloved son and I straightened my shoulders. I could do this. I would tell our story.

“Your Honour,” I said, “before the dropping of the great bombs that destroyed so much of our world and irradiated 90 percent of our water supply, my son was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder by a number of respected psychiatrists and psychologists. He had a number of experimental operations as a young boy to treat an unusual condition and, all but the last of the series of eighteen procedures, failed. The psychiatrists and psychologists that treated Thomas all agreed that he has an unusually high intellect and this, combined with the pain and mental anguish he suffered as a child had lead to his conditions, which centre around a horror of germs and illness.”

I paused and looked up into the dark brown eyes of the judge, was I imagining things or did I see a look of sympathy lurking in their depths. He was leaning slightly forward, listening intently, and this, together with the look I had seen, gave me the courage to continue.

“Thomas started treatment with the first psychologist when he was four years old. Mary was excellent but she was never able to advance her treatment beyond a certain point. She thought this was due to the fact she didn’t have the necessary specialist skills and experience with treating PTSD and OCD. She recommended I take Thomas to a psychiatrist and she gave us a name and contact details.”

I withdrew my diary from my bag and opened it at the first marker:

From the diary of Jennifer Saunders

I am so tired. I have a work deadline for tomorrow and my mother needed to be away today so she was not able to help me with Thomas. I called the agency yesterday, knowing that today would be a difficult day for me and they agreed to send a young man to play with Tom. I thought a male would work better as they could play ball games outside together.

It did not work out like this at all. Thomas like the young man, whose name was Brad, and, once I had them settled playing a board game, I slipped down the passage to my office and started working.

Less than 30 minutes later, the frantic sound of small footsteps running down the passage filtered through my intense concentration and my office door opened. There was Tom, his face as white as a sheet. “What’s wrong, Tommy?” I asked alarmed. “You were gone, Mommy. Don’t leave me alone.”

I got up and gave him a cuddle. “I’m right here, just down the corridor.” I took him back to Brad and re-settled him with another game. The whole morning was spent like this. I would work for a short while and then Tom would realise I was no longer in the room with him. He would run down the passage and I would have to comfort him and return him to Brad. Brad looked utterly confused and left as quickly as possible when 1 P.M. rolled around.

I could not get my work beyond a certain point as the next phase required focus and concentration. Putting it aside, with a sigh, I took Tom out for a walk in the park after lunch. We have a lovely afternoon and when I finally got him off to sleep at 7.30 P.M. I settled down to my work.

I finally finished at 2 A.M. and am just jotting down these few quick notes about the days activities so that I can show them to Mary when we see her again next week.

This post was written for Sue Vincent’s weekly Write Photo challenge. You can join in here: https://scvincent.com/2019/04/18/thursday-photo-prompt-beyond-writephoto-2/

Those of you who follow this blog will know that I am one of eleven authors who have each contributed three short stories to a murder mystery anthology due to be released in early July. In advance of the publication of this book, I am running a series of posts to introduce you to some of the other contributing authors.

This week I am introducing you to author Stephen Bentley. Welcome Stephen to Roberta Writes.

Author biography

Stephen Bentley is a former UK police Detective Sergeant and barrister (criminal trial attorney). He is now a freelance writer and an occasional contributor to Huffington Post UK on undercover policing.

His memoir ‘Undercover: Operation Julie – The Inside Story‘ is a frank account of his undercover detective experiences during Operation Julie – an elite group of detectives who successfully investigated one of the world’s largest drug rings.

Stephen also writes crime fiction in a fast-paced plot-driven style including the fictional Steve Regan Undercover Cop Series.

When he isn’t writing, Stephen relaxes on the beaches of the Philippines with his family where he now lives, often with a cold beer and a book to hand.

You may find him on:

Twitter as @StephenBentley8

www.stephenbentley.info

Facebook

Amazon

Tell us a bit about yourself

Other than what people learn about me from my bio, I guess I can add I possibly read as much as I write. My favourite genre is crime fiction but I have a fairly catholic taste in books so I do enjoy other genres such as historical fiction, and memoirs of interesting people.

Oh, I would also mention I am a big fan of Liverpool Football Club.

What drew you to writing short stories in the genre of murder mystery?

I spotted a contest on Goodreads, entered with three stories, and one of them won.

I was naturally delighted and encouraged me to write shorts. I do enjoy writing them as there is a completely different technique involved from writing longer books.

Who is your favourite murder mystery writer?

Difficult to pick out just one. If forced, I would say Michael Connelly.

What is your favourite murder mystery book or series of books and why?

The Harry Bosch series by Michael Connelly. But I also like his books featuring Detective Renee Ballard, particularly The Late Show.

I love these books written by this author mainly because the characters, locations, dialogue, and plots simply ooze credibility. As a former detective turned writer, nothing galls me more than crime fiction lacking any basis in reality.

Connelly was for many years an LA crime reporter with the LA Times. It shows. He knows cops and what makes them tick and understands the murky depths of deadly crime and human weaknesses.

What is the overarching theme of your three short stories in Death Among Us?

That one is easy. My three short stories were those I wrote for the Goodreads completion including an award-winner, The Rose Slayer.

Part of the competition rules was all submissions had to include this line of dialogue: “when I saw the bouquet of seven roses, I knew exactly who had murdered Mrs. O’Connell.”

Other than that, I would add the theme underpinning all three stories is human frailties that sometimes cause people to snap and go on to kill.

Thank you, Stephen, for your great answers to my questions. 

Undercover: Operation Julie by Stephen Bentley

About Undercover: Operation Julie

‘Are you guys cops?’ the Canadian mobster asked.

Steve Jackson heard him. His blood ran cold.

Jackson was not his real name. He was an undercover cop.

Have you ever wondered what it takes to be an undercover cop? How you infiltrate a worldwide drugs gang?
What it feels like to live a double life? – to ‘live a lie.’

Read this gripping true story of Britain’s biggest drug bust and get inside the head of a real undercover cop, an infiltrator.

The underworld knew the author as Steve Jackson. How did he successfully infiltrate the two gangs? Did he have to take drugs? And how did ‘living a lie’ affect him?

The author, Stephen Bentley, was one of four undercover detectives engaged on Operation Julie, one of the world’s largest drug busts. Together with his undercover partner, he infiltrated the gang producing around 90 percent of the world’s LSD and uncovered a plot to import huge quantities of Bolivian cocaine into the UK.

He operated in the era of no undercover training, improvising as he went along: a pioneer infiltrator left to his own devices.

At the culmination of Operation Julie, fifteen defendants, including doctors, research chemists, a writer, and ‘professional’ drug dealers were sentenced to a combined total of one hundred- and-twenty-four-years imprisonment.

This huge and unique covert police operation is still today the point of reference for all British undercover operations and training. In 2011, the BBC claimed this massive operation was the start of the war on drugs.

The author and his book have featured on BBC Newsnight, BBC Wales News, BBC Radio 4 World at One and BBC Five Live, BBC regional radio in addition to Wales on Sunday, London’s Guardian and Sunday Express newspapers.

It is now optioned to be adapted for a feature film.

A recent review of Undercover: Operation Julie

Nate Bridges

5.0 out of 5 stars Cerebral, intense page turner. Turn off Netflix and read this true crime novel!

April 2, 2019

Format: Kindle Edition

We all love undercover cop movies but this book allows you to really get into the head of what’s it feels like to be deep uncover. Mr Bentley shares the gritty details with a touch of humor along with good old fashioned police work.

Purchase Undercover: Operation Julie