Against All Odds

Liza’s journey in life continues through the eyes of the modern-day writer Ellie Fuller, and this second book of the series follows her return to America with her husband, Patrick, and children but no sooner are they on their way when disaster strikes and Liza’s life is threatened when she is considered a ‘Jonah’ by some members of the crew.

Many adventures occur on her journey but finally she reaches her beloved town of Benson. There are still highs and lows in her life and when she experiences a powerful vision of the future, she risks her marriage, her family and her freedom by acting on what she has seen.

Ellie Fuller also experiences that vision but she has yet to interpret its meaning, although she knows that what Liza saw and acted upon was so important that the risks that she took were justified.

Ellie also realises that Lord Jamie Edgeworth had played an important part in Liza’s life but the current Lord Edgeworth was being particularly uncooperative, as he expressed that he had no desire to delve into the past of someone whom he did not wish to consider as ever having had anything to do with his family. Ellie and her brother, Eddy, knew that they would have to face the wrath of Lord Edgeworth in order to get to the truth.

As the story continues, both Ellie and Eddy are captivated by Liza’s enthusiasm and they look forward to experiencing the next chapter of her life.

Forgotten America

Sensational work of literature. Eminent of its time. While turning each page, readers go on a riveting journey of the self. Every chapter is an adventure with characters that readers cannot help but to develop a paradoxical relationship with. A heartfelt piece the author created to shed light on how easily we forget that others’ problems may be our own problems.

The Boy from Kalimpong

This story is about a boy who grew up in Kalimpong at an approximate distance on a straight line as the crow flies 100 miles (162 kms) towards southeast of the highest mountain in the world, Mount Everest, amongst the Rong folks, Lepchas the autochthones, ‘Ronkup’, ‘Ronkum’, or ‘Rong’ people. Lepcha people designated as UN ancient tribe, native to the region; and their land ‘Mayel-Lyang’ once bordered further into Tibet, eastern Nepal, western Bhutan and as far south as Siliguri and Jalpaiguri in West Bengal and some parts of Duars than it does today.

Kalimpong part of Lepcha culture was the ridge where Mary and Nigel played happily with unabated joy until his sister, Mary Maung Taung Lai’s early, untimely death and Nigel Kenchinz Lai’s journey to America because of the impact of the 1960 Sino-Indian border war. Many Chinese Indians were stranded, declared stateless, homeless and their inability to get jobs in India caused them to move abroad. Nigel was fortunate to receive four scholarships, four from American universities and one from Canada.

Some parts of the story are true and some portions of this book have been developed that closely parallel the real events experienced by the author. The author and his sister were fascinated with the dragon ‘Thunder and Lightning’, where clouds burst into flashing lightning followed by a big thunder storm every monsoon season. Mr. Karamkurung was their common thread for connection.

Chris Ahoy was born in Kalimpong in 1939. He started at St. Joseph Convent, Kalimpong all girls’ school, co-educational school at Dr. Graham’s Homes, Victoria Boys’ School, Kurseong, St. Xavier’s College Calcutta (Kolkata), Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur and University of California, Berkeley, California (UCB), where he received the coveted Regent’s Fellowship Award to complete his masters’ degree in nine months. Chris is a US citizen, served as Assistant Director and Campus Architect at UCB, Statewide Director for Systemwide of Higher Education in Alaska, Assistant Vice President Business and Finance and Director of Facilities Planning and Management at University of Nebraska central offices and finally Associate Vice President for Facilities Planning and Management at Iowa State University. Before retiring in 2010, his organization received the coveted State of Iowa, Iowa Recognition Performance Excellence (IRPE) 2009 Gold Award (State Baldrige Award). After retirement he continues to mentor and provide consulting in ‘Creating World-Class Organization’.

The Sand's Final Serenade

The ways of the old world are dying. Cowboys, pirates and many other ways of making a living are slowly being phased out in favour of progress as the last edges of the varied, violent and often bizarre world of Terralong are being explored as the world grapples with itself in deciding how to progress.

On the tail end of the 19th century, the world is changing with technology seeping through every crevice of this world. However, the majority of its inhabitants remain stubborn in clinging to nostalgia and tradition.

Meanwhile, others try to change around them. Among them is a marshal on a final push to conquer all of Terralong, a soldier seeking revenge and an optimistic tribesman determined to unite his people before facing annihilation in the ways of his ancestors.

Everyone within this brave new world now faces their own personal quests as they try to embrace the world of change about to be presented to them. But will they succeed before the world leaves them behind?

For nothing stops The Sand’s Final Serenade.

The Wolves of the Radfan

War is not a pleasant business. People die, cut to ribbons by bullets, limbs blown off by mines and roadside bombs. Not just the soldiers, but the non-combatants: young women, the elderly and children. 1963 to 1967 saw Britain fighting in a hostile and arid country, trying to stem the expansion of communism in the Middle East. On the ground, the ordinary soldiers, infantry, gunners, engineers and armoured regiments did what the British soldier always does – getting on with the job come hell or high water! Bomber’s story is written from real-life experience. Although Bomber, the main character, is fictitious, he is based on a combination of many soldiers. Many of the events took place as described but with the storyteller’s licence when melting them together. The Wolves of the Radfan, the largest tribe that straddled the then-border between North and South Yemen, started the war and the British soldiers put paid to the Wolves in 1964, but then came the push by the communists from North Yemen and it was then the contest started in all the brutality that war produces. Many acts of great courage have not been mentioned in the book, especially in the period from 1963 to the end of 1964, perhaps someone else will write about that. Fact and fiction, fiction or fact? This is a story of a normal British infantryman who faced combat and it was nothing like he had ever imagined.

Breaking the Flood

In Breaking the Flood, the first of four novels about the fall of Constantinople, Niccolo Gritti, a nineteen year-old scion of an aristocratic merchant dynasty in mid-15th century Venice, recounts his upbringing, his family’s impoverishment and his decision to take ship in a trading fleet to the eastern Mediterranean. Ambushed by corsairs, Niccolo is pressed as a galley slave. Soon, a fellow oarsman identifies himself as Demetrius Angelos, member of a distinguished military family in Constantinople. Demetrius is desperate to return there, threatened as his city is by the bellicose ruler of the Ottomans, Mehmet II. Eventually, the two young men escape the corsairs’ clutches and Niccolo decides to throw in his lot with Demetrius, journeying with him to the decayed Byzantine capital. At once, Bildungsroman and quest narrative, Breaking the Flood is both vivid and haunting, recreating a forgotten world with cinematic and at times hallucinatory clarity.

Napoleon: Uprising

Amidst the turmoil of chaos and revolution, a young Napoleon Bonaparte leaves the safety of his Corsican homeland to be thrust into the corruption of the French aristocracy as he pursues a career in the artillery. Facing riot and rebellion throughout France, Napoleon must fight to protect a society that sees him as an outsider. As the world threatens to crumble around him, Napoleon must prove himself in order to protect his family from those who would destroy all he loves. This outsider, shunned and despised, may well prove to be France’s only hope.

The Hounds of Diana - The Romulus and Remus Trilogy - Part I

Alba Longa is the ancient capital of Latium, on the Italian peninsula. The Roman Empire was born from this great city. However, behind the glory of what Rome became is a darker tale of secrecy, betrayal and death.    Numitor is a good man and a great diplomat; his brother Amulius an envious plotter and brave conqueror. Their struggle for power will bring out the best of one and the worst of the other. Only one can be king.  Rhea Silva (Lillia) is the daughter of Numitor, her first son will become heir to the throne. Her life is thrown into turmoil by events out of her control, putting her and her twin boys in mortal danger.  The Hounds of Diana are the secret sect that protects the realm from within. Yet, there are those that would undermine it. Then, there are the Dormienti, the sleepers. Only when the Hounds call, do the Dormienti awaken, and only when death desires it.