An Age of War and Tea

2021 HFC Gold Medal Winner for Historical Fiction

An epic tale of intrigue, betrayal, and revenge, set in the turbulent era of sixteenth-century Japan. Sakichi is a provincial Samurai boy who reluctantly becomes ensnared in a conspiracy by a Shogun determined to reclaim his power. It is within this developing turmoil that events emerge to forever shape Sakichi’s life. With his life now shattered, Sakichi discovers that he is adopted, and his biological mother is a ruthless assassin, who is determined to prevent him from discovering the true identity of his father.

With such high stakes at play, Sakichi’s life is placed in grave danger. Rival factions compete with each other to assassinate him and his mother before he discovers the truth. Should the identity of Sakichi’s father become common knowledge it would not only threaten the rule of a powerful war lord but plunge the nation into greater turmoil and bloodshed.

Acclaim for An Age of War and Tea

“This book is one for the ages and ranks right up there with Shogun by James Clavell. For anyone who loves an immersive story, full of power struggles, life-changing secrets, and the full richness of the ancient exotic history of Japan, then this is must-read.” 

-HFC Awards/Book Reviews

An Agony of Flame and the Fury and the Mire

A two-part climax to The Last Vigil, An Agony of Flame and The Fury and the Mire, concludes the story of the fall of Constantinople. Here is an intense evocation, both of the gruelling eight-week siege itself and of the chaotic as well as terrifying aftermath.

In part three, Niccolo and Demetrius serve on the great Roman land walls, enduring bombardment and nocturnal hand-to-hand combat. Nestor-Iskander reappears, a deserter now from the Turkish camp. Niccolo is badly wounded, recovering in Theodora’s house in the suburb of Studion. Then comes the night of the final Ottoman assault when, after a valiant defence, treachery leads to massacre (including the death of Demetrius) and Niccolo finds himself among a scatter of survivors. 

Part four centres on Niccolo’s frantic attempts to find a way through a city, now being systematically sacked. Moreover, he must think of others. Demetrius might be dead but Nestor-Iskander has survived and demands refuge. Then there is Theodora locked up with the faithful in Hagia Sophia. Can Niccolo reach her before the marauding enemy? So, he travels deeper and deeper into his adopted city’s heart of darkness. Nestor finds protectors, loses, then regains them. Theodora is found then lost forever. Mehmet appears once more; Cinnamon never reappears. Finally, after the city has been overwhelmed and pacified, Niccolo sets sail westward across the Mediterranean, not home to Venice but to an Atlantic shore where a new age of exploration is about to dawn.  

An Alphabetical Menagerie

Are you baffled by the word "axolotl"? Do the words "unau" and "vicuña" mean nothing to you? If so, this book will enlighten you, and thanks to the illustrations, give you an idea of what they look like. It may also alert you, if you need alerting, to the threat to the existence of many species brought about by human activity.

The author wrote the verses originally to humour himself in the midst of the Covid pandemic, when he was obliged to self-isolate. Subsequently, he thought they might entertain his sister's grandchildren, or indeed anyone else's, especially if they (the verses, that is) were accompanied by illustrations. It is the author's hope, however, that the book will appeal to young and old alike. If the verses don't make you laugh or at least smile, the illustrations by Dave F. Smith should.

Oh, and by the way, just in case you don't know your alphabet, this book will provide you with ample opportunities to learn it.

An Element of Mystery

An Element of Mystery combines complex human emotions along with ghosts and mysteries of Egypt that come together in one compilation of stories and poetry.

An array of poems that delve into the mysteries of emotions – anger, depression, anxiety and loss – as well as what the stars can hold and the journey of a waterdrop, examining them in a unique style that will allow you to begin to understand some of the complex ideas around them.

Allow yourself to be transported to the wonders of Egypt in The Pharaoh’s Curse. Feel the terror of awakening on a ship that you have no recollection of getting onboard in Pressganged into the Navy. Finally, follow Henry as he collects the clues that will guide him to his lost fortune in The Mystery of the Red Diamond.

An Element of Mystery will help you question how you see the mysteries of Life.

An Enquiry into the Delight of Existence and the Sublime

In his debut collection of poetry, H. K. G. Lowery explores a journey incorporating all the natural anxieties and pains of living, leading to an understanding of real forgiveness and redemption.

From the first poem of the collection, An Ode to Father John Misty, he sets the scene touching on societal issues such as racism, homophobia, religion, addiction and consumerism. The darkness of such issues, as well as other emotional issues, are given light gradually when he journeys into the positive attributes of forgiveness, hope in the God, the wonderment of nature, self-acceptance and salvation. The collection begins to rotate towards the Sublime with A Requiem for St. Francis which holds a strong personal resonance from the time he visited Assisi in Italy.

Each poem commences with an epigraph which summarises each individual poem. The final poem sees all twelve epigraphs combine into a conclusion of the collection which results in a cathartic outpouring where the delight of existence is realised.

An Enquiry into the Delight of Existence and the Sublime is a personal journey, a rise from darkness to light, from despair to hope.

An Eternal Circle - Part 6

For 2,000 years the Ephesus gladiator cemetery has been more than simply a home to the bones of fallen warriors. Unbeknown to Tyra and her group, as they search for Alruna – the slave child and Drusilla's half-sister – merely standing on this hallowed ground beneath the ominous black marble obelisk with its sinister warning, has inadvertently set in motion the forces of destiny once again while the stars and planets in the night sky all point to an earthly event of cosmic proportions. When the next moon rises, the most celebrated gladiatrix and High Priestess to Minerva will throw off the restraining bonds of the afterlife and embark upon a desperate odyssey to find those she once loved in another time.

What does the future hold in store for a woman born twenty centuries ago and who, presumably, knows nothing of the modern world along with its unfamiliar peoples, customs and technology? Will her presence be accepted amid the hoped-for atmosphere of conciliation, fond memories and atonement? Or is it her fate to be spurned, rejected and turned away a second time, as her former lover regards her in the manner of a bizarre anomaly of the spirit world, impossible to exist in the first place and here on a mission of questionable motives?

An Ideal Daughter

Annie Grant loved her family, her violin, and her study. Once, a long time ago, she had also loved Liam.

When Annie opened the door that evening, she expected the supermarket delivery. Instead, it was Liam on the doorstep, begging for help. Annie, still a schoolgirl, was drawn into a situation that threatened not only Liam’s life, but the lives of many others, including her own.

The Covid-19 pandemic was raging as Annie fought to keep Liam, her family and herself out of danger. It would take every bit of her remarkable intellect and her incredible ingenuity to achieve this. All the while, she had another struggle on her hands – to maintain her focus and achieve the ambition that involvement with Liam was threatening to derail.

If it all went wrong a lot of people were going to die and not just from Covid-19.

An Impossible Quest

In this story set in the ‘Dark Ages’ of British history, two brothers – twins Alfred and Leofric – help win a tribal conflict, but faced with ‘a fate worse than death’, they take to the road. They are seeking adventure and fame and are faced with opposition when Alfred falls in love with a beautiful (aren’t they all?) princess. He is challenged to complete a quest to prove he is worthy of her. That’s when the difficulties begin.

An Open Verdict

Dr David seeks to establish the truth behind the unnatural cause of death of Stephen, one of his patients. He promises Stephen’s parents, that he would search out the explanation, having a strong suspicion that Stephen’s death was caused by a new psychiatric medication. Dr David did not realise that his quest for answers would lead to him being the target of an assassination attempt, and also endanger the lives of others. The story has many twists, unfolding to reveal a major pharmaceutical company’s cover up plot and attempt to conceal the truth using deadly force. Police involvement in the case introduces Dr David to a soulmate and romance.

Ancestors Descendants

Were the piles of powder found on the streets of York natural phenomena, a hoax or a bizarre practical joke?

Matt is recruited by a secret government organisation to help find the answers.

With York albinos disappearing, blood being taken and memories being erased Matt and the team’s investigations take them to a bizarre finale where the only losers are the government.

And Man Created Eve

The time is the future. Robots are doing the work previously performed by humans. The replacement of workers by robots is both predictable and inevitable. The owner of the largest robotics company in the world decides to create the perfect woman. He hires the best engineer to construct her body, and the best programmer to construct her brain. He buys an island and changes its name to Eden Island. He names the plan Project Eve, and she is planned to be the prototype for a new race of women to replace flawed womanhood. He does not foresee the consequences of his plan, such is his obsession. He does create the perfect woman in body and mind, but when she acquires human characteristics his plan starts to unravel. Project Eve ends in disaster.

And So It Is

Struggling with the emotional aftermath of her husband’s death, Yvonne takes a sabbatical in an old French Villa. During the return journey to a demanding job, she enters the peace of the well-ordered Letour household only to find her presence creates chaos by arousing hidden emotions in Ricard and others as old, deeply buried wounds are opened. What are the secrets Ricard is hiding that keeps him estranged from his parents and impedes a potentially fulfilling relationship with Yvonne? What is the cause of the recurring dream, Suzanne, his daughter is experiencing? Happiness, joy and laughter are experienced alongside tears, anger and frustrations over the period of a few months as the story travels many times between France with Ricard’s family and England with Yvonne’s as promises, histories, and regrets are unravelled. Two families, each with their own secrets, desires, ambitions, loves and hates try to come to terms with their own issues and hope for a happy outcome. But are all the outcomes beneficial for everyone, or is this a case of sometimes somethings are best left undisturbed?