Tempus Fugit is an independent investigator of curious conundrums who was attempting to navigate his way through the 21st century, only to find himself attending to the fears and uncertainties in the remote English village of Greyfield. What they wanted was proof of spectral hauntings in the remains of a historical stately manor. What he sought was to rain the light of reason and rationale upon their panicked senses. The answer, however, may be neither of the two and something altogether unexpected!
Daedalian Muse, the paranormal humour book by Jamie Crothall, is available for free on Smashwords.
Author Darcy Scott’s new mystery, Matinicus, is now available. It was released in May of 2012 by Maine Authors Publishing.
Matinicus pits a renegade fishing community against an unhappy child-bride of the 1820s, a defiant twenty-first-century teen, and a hard-drinking botanist—Dr. Gil Hodges—who escapes to the island of Matinicus to avoid a crazed ex-lover and verify a purported 22 species of wild orchid.
But if Gil’s hoping for peace and quiet, he’s come to the wrong place. Infighting among loose-knit lobstering clans have left them hostile to outsiders. When a beautiful stranger arrives, old resentments re-ignite and people begin to die—murders linked, through centuries of violence, to a diary whose secrets threaten to tear the island apart.
Kirkus Reviews says that Matinicus is “The kind of book readers will tear through, only to find themselves hungry for more.”
Matinicus is available through Amazon.com in print and for Kindle, Smashwords and select Indie book stores.
Twilight of the Drifter is a crime story with southern gothic overtones. It centers on thirty-something Josh Devlin, a failed journalist who, after a year of wandering, winds up in a Kentucky homeless shelter on a wintry December.
Soon after the opening setup, the crosscurrents go into motion as Josh comes upon a runaway named Alice holed up in an abandoned boxcar. Taken with her plight and dejected over his own squandered life, he spirits her back to Memphis and his uncle’s Blues Hall Cafe. From there he tries to get back on his feet while seeking a solution to Alice’s troubles. As the story unfolds, a Delta bluesman’s checkered past comes into play and, inevitably, Josh finds himself on a collision course with a backwoods tracker fixated on the Civil War and, by extension, the machinations of the governor-elect of Mississippi.
In a sense, this tale hinges on the vagaries of chance and human nature. At the same time, an underlying force appears to be driving the action as though seeking the truth and long awaited redemption. Or, to put it another way, past sins have finally come due in the present.
City: Mainz, Germany Year: 1399 CE Location: A café that caters to scribes, illuminators, and publishers.
A tired looking man walks into the café and joins a group at one of the tables.
“What a day, guys,” he says. “I wrote almost six pages today; we practically ran out of quill pens. I need a beer.”
One of the men sighs. “Soon this will be the last of your problems, Heinrich.”
“Ha? Problems? Why?” said Heinrich. “You all look so gloomy, what’s wrong? And what’s with Friedrich over there?”
Everyone turns to look at Friedrich, who is sitting at another table, his head buried in his hands.
“He is an illuminator, Franz. He is doomed, and he is afraid to tell Magda and the children…”
“What are you talking about? He works for the best publisher in town!” Franz says. “He has nothing to worry about since they just started writing a new Bible for King Zrob of Khazaria!”
“So you haven’t heard, Franz,” said another person. “You remember last year, when Johannes said he was going to invent a printing press, and we all laughed? Well, he did. The first Gutenberg Printing Machine was just set up right here in Mainz, and he has very important, wealthy investors. Scribes and illuminators are a thing of the past.”
“Na,” said Franz. “It’s just a fad. The kids will enjoy it, but real scholars are not going to look at those things they call books. I remember how he described them, they are so ugly, you don’t even roll them out, you flip pages… who can read like that? And what about art? They will never be able to insert art properly since it will break down between those pages. Forget it, we are fine. Herman!!!! Would you bring me some beer already? And take another one to Friedrich over there, he needs to cheer up.” Continue reading “The Second Revolution and the Authors Guild—by Ilil Arbel”
