Guest Posts – Baskerville Book Reviews

Feature: Trial and Tribulation

It is 1943. In the skies above war-torn Europe a savage battle continues as Allied bomber crews rain down fire and destruction on Hitlers cities and Luftwaffe fighters tear the bombers to pieces. Faced with the destruction, Churchill asks, Are we barbarians?

Back in England, after the Siege of Malta and continents away from her estranged husband, fighter pilot Johnnie Shaux, strategic military analyst Eleanor Shaux is ordered to develop plans for the systematic destruction of Hitler’s wartime economy. To do so, she must navigate the quicksand of Allied politics and face the relentless male chauvinism of the bureaucratic and military establishments on both sides of the Atlantic—not to mention battling with the qualms of her own conscience.

Meanwhile, decorated air combat hero Johnnie Shaux is at work developing ways to make Allied bombing more effective. He’s a survivor in a war in which very few survive, where casualty rates are sixty percent, and the only rule is kill or be killed. But he is finding it harder to view enemy soldiers as worthy of killing. When Eleanor discovers that Johnnie is back in England and is flying one last horribly dangerous mission—a mission she recommended—she rushes to await him. Will he survive? If he dies, can she live with her complicity in developing the mission he flew?

In the fourth book of the award-winning Breaking Point series, John Rhodes weaves the fictional story of fighter pilot Johnnie Shaux and military strategist Eleanor Shaux into the heartbreaking, inspiring historical fabric of World War II.

Cover Reveal: Sea of Souls by N. C. Scrimgeour

Dark be the water, and darker still the creatures that lurk within…

Free-spirited Isla Blackwood has never accepted the shackles of her family’s nobility. Instead, she sails the open waters, searching for belonging on the waves.

But when tragedy calls Isla home, she realises she can no longer escape the duty she’s been running from. Selkie raiders have been terrorising the island’s coasts, and when they strike at Blackwood Estate, Isla is forced to flee with her hot-headed brother and brooding swordmaster.

To avenge her family and reclaim her home, Isla will have to set aside old grudges and join forces with an exiled selkie searching for a lost pelt. The heirloom might be the key to stopping the bloody conflict—but only if they can steal it from the island’s most notorious selkie hunter, the Grand Admiral himself.

Caught between a promise to the brother she once left behind and an unlikely friendship with the selkie who should have been her enemy, Isla soon realises the open seas aren’t the only treacherous waters she’ll need to navigate.

As enemies close in on all sides, she must decide once and for all where her loyalties lie if she wants to save what’s left of her family—and find the belonging she’s been searching for.

Sea of Souls is a dark fantasy filled with selkie folklore, ancient magic and high-seas adventure. Perfect for fans of Scottish-inspired settings and dark mythological creatures.

Guest Post: Eleventh Cycle Writing Inspiration

t has been a thousand years since the last Seed abandoned their duty. The mists are closing in. Finally, the Morning Bell tolls. A new Seed is born, but is it too late?

The rot eats away at mortals. The Witnesses pray so that they may not turn into one of the forgotten. And the constricting mists infect the lands with fear.

But there is more to this tale than just the Elders and their Seeds. Four mortals will have a part to play in Minethria’s fate.

A farmer girl with only love in her eyes.

A warrior born to the life of a refugee.

A highborn stuck between the realm of gods and men.

And a woman running into front lines and away from home.

Will the cycle finally be completed? Or will the mist swallow all? A seed is born and the evil is slain, so doth another cycle commence. Yet the last Seed born hath turned traitor, and the mists which had been pushed back, returneth.

Interview: R.J. Hanson on Stalking Shadows and the Bloodlines Reforged Saga

Dunewell and Jonas pursue the last villain on Jonas’s list… a Shadow Blade. Will the Lord of Order and the Grey Spider be up to the task of tracking and killing a master assassin?

Meanwhile, Lady Dru wrestles with her newfound powers as a Blood Lord and Master Vampire. Will she be able to control those new powers as she and Silas plan their attack on the infamous Blue Tower, which has stood impregnable for millennia?

Join them as the Bloodlines Reforged Saga continues in Stalking Shadows, book IV in the Lords of Order & Chaos Series (Book VII in the Bloodlines Reforged Saga).

Guest Post: Why I Wrote Autumn Moon by C.I. Kemp

Homestead, Montana is like any other small western town. There are people
trying to make a dollar, people trying to forget their past, and those who want
nothing more than to live their best life. And then the wolves came.
Sheriff Walt Baker doesn’t quite know what to make of it, so he calls on Niels
Johns, a local wolf expert, for help. As the men reassure the town and deal with
the odd behavior of the animals, Niels realizes that the wolves are here
searching for something… or someone. And they won’t stop until they find it.
Autumn Moon is a classic tale of timeless love, vengeance, and redemption
brought to you by the master storyteller C.I. Kemp, author of Demon Ridge.