Spring

SPRING!!!! Its here says this guy. He's hiding his identity in case it snows again. Most of the country watches the groundhog, but we have a guy in disguise.

Happy Fathers Day

Happy Fathers Day To The Greatest Man I know!
           Randy George Hirtle

I love you with all my heart my Turkey!

Let the dad that you know how much you love him! I don't know what I would do with out my ole dad.

The Grip of God By: Rebecca Hazell

5 of 5 stars

Read from May 08 to 10, 2014

This book takes place in the 13th century and is about a princess named Sofia a wonderful soul from Kievan Rus a stunning and well educated girl she was. Her father sent her away to Constantinople to her uncle, Sofia was excited at first but her father said he wouldn’t be traveling with her disposition turned dark. The Tatars were on the move toward Rus and her father had to stay.
So her voyage began, and it went well for a while and she was adding pheasants all throughout her travels. Then she was woken up one morning and she heard a peculiar noise, she looked for her servant and couldn’t find her, she peeked out of her tent and saw the sound was arrows whistling through the air, she couldn’t find Oleg her protector, or Alexander her educator. Bodies were everywhere and there were men with torches, then she found her maid Kateryna, with a slash across her breast. Just then someone grabbed her they finished Kateryna off with a knife across her throat. And then she fainted. She was alone except for some pheasants. These men who were attacking were so smelly, brutal, and talked in weird tongue, she knew some languages but she didn’t recognize this one. This one guy he seemed he was in control started to brutalize Sofia, he did some unimaginable things to her. She figured these people were the Tatars, they rape the woman, the men forced to watch then they kill them. But little did she know these were the Mongols an equally brutal clan. She found the man who made her a woman was Argamon and he was working his way up to be a great warrior.
Argamon treated Sofia ok when she started understanding what she was supposed to do and do it right she was his concubine, a slave she had to do what he demanded of her. As time went on they got to be like they were in a regular relationship, However she didn’t want her servants to have all the household responsibilities so she would help and when Argamon would find out he would get truly angry.
Sofia had made friends with Q’ing-ling Argomons mother they were best of friends they sewed together rode together and just spent so much quality time with her. Unfortunately Q’ing-ling died and Argomon was never the same because his brother and fathers other wife had a hand in her death the other wife poisoned Q’ing-ling and Argamon’s father had her put to death.
Sofia no matter what happened to her she was a gentle person willing to help anyone and her religion played a big part in her life, being with the Mongols they let her practice her faith, she learned the language of the Mongols pretty fast and Batu Khan wanted her to be his translator for newly captured individuals to find out about their armies, soon she was writing up the plans of attacks for Batu Khan. While this all was happening she was becoming a young woman and was falling for Argamon and he brought home an additional concubine. She was reminded of herself at the beginning the girl Anna was so young and afraid Sofia knew the brutality her man had in him and she was hurt.
At the conclusion of a celebration Batu Khan gave Argamon wealth and sent him to Rus, Sofia’s homeland to supervise tax collectors and Batu Khan was sending word to Argamon’s wife and son to start off where they left off before he went to war. And Batu asked for Sofia and of course Argamon couldn’t decline. Sofia was crushed. Find out what Sofia does when she is to go to Batu Khans ger to make a home for herself.
This story is AMAZING I loved Sofia, I went through the emotions with her. Sofia grows up in front of us and she has a beautiful disposition to anyone in her life. Rebecca Hazell has left my mind blown with this story, some of it is Historical facts, and in my interview with Rebecca she tells us she is related to Sofia. For a 1 through 5 scale I give this a 9. I don’t know what else I can say without repeating myself. Thank you Rebecca!

Win the kindle edition of Solomon's Bride here!

 Solomon's Bride is the dramatic sequel to The Grip of God. Sofia, the heroine, a former princess from Kievan Rus' was enslaved by a Mongol nobleman and then taken as a concubine by the leader of the Mongol invasions, Batu Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan. Now, having fled the Mongols with a price on her head, Sofia escapes into Persia and what she believes will be safety, only to fall into the clutches of the Assassins, who seek to disrupt the Mongol empire. In a world at war, both outer and inner, the second phase of her adventures unfolds. Can she ever find safe haven, much less the lost love and family that was almost destroyed by the Mongols?



Just leave a comment below telling me what your favorite Historical Fiction is. Have your comments in by June 13th 12:00 am and i'll pick a winner. Good luck!

Interview with Rebecca Hazzel

The Grip of God          

The Grip of God is the first novel in an epic historical trilogy, The Tiger and the Dove. Set in the thirteenth century, its heroine, Sofia, is a young princess of Kievan Rus. She begins her story by recounting her capture in battle and life of slavery to a young army captain in the Mongol armies that are flooding Europe. Not only is her life shattered, it is threatened by the bitter rivalries in her new master's powerful family, and shadowed by the leader of the Mongol invasion, Batu Khan, Genghis Khan's grandson. How will she learn to survive in a world of total war, much less rediscover the love she once took for granted? Always seeking to escape and menaced by outer enemies and inner turmoil, where can she find safe haven even if she can break free? Clear eyed and intelligent, Sofia could be a character from The Game of Thrones, but she refuses to believe that life is solely about the strong dominating the weak or about taking endless revenge. Her story is based on actual historical events, which haunt her destiny. Like an intelligent Forrest Gump, she reflects her times. But as she matures, she learns to reflect on them as well, and to transcend their fetters. In doing so, she recreates a lost era for us, her readers.

                                                                   

Solomon's Bride 

Solomon's Bride is the dramatic sequel to The Grip of God. Sofia, the heroine, a former princess from Kievan Rus' was enslaved by a Mongol nobleman and then taken as a concubine by the leader of the Mongol invasions, Batu Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan. Now, having fled the Mongols with a price on her head, Sofia escapes into Persia and what she believes will be safety, only to fall into the clutches of the Assassins, who seek to disrupt the Mongol empire. In a world at war, both outer and inner, the second phase of her adventures unfolds. Can she ever find safe haven, much less the lost love and family that was almost destroyed by the Mongols?

The novel is available both in paperback and Kindle versions and through your local bookstore by special order. The third book in the trilogy,Consolamentum, will be released soon.

Rebecca Hazzel

Hello, Rebecca. Thank you for stopping by. I have read The Grip of God and Solomon’s Bride. They were amazing books.

Thanks for inviting me. I'm so glad you liked both books.

What kind of schooling did you receive and how long did it take to learn this extensive history and become a senior teacher in Shambhala? I must say I’m impressed.

I received an honors BA in Russian and Chinese history from the University of California, Santa Cruz. I never went for further degrees because I was tired of not getting to read whatever I wanted to read, mostly historical fiction!

Researching and writing the three novels took about 17 years once I got going. I wrote the first few pages of what I thought would be one novel when still at university, but then I set it aside for years, promising to return to it someday.

Becoming a senior teacher in Shambhala came about because I wanted to pay forward the kindness of my teachers. After so many years of teaching Shambhala Buddhist meditation, I guess I finally got good at it and was appointed a Shastri, a senior teacher and mentor for other teachers. I had to retire from that role after three years in order to get these novels published. But certain core values crept into them from my Buddhist background, not only about meditation but about empathy and broad perspective.

What made you want to write about the Mongols? They were such a brutal clan. Were any of the Mongols in the story a part of history? And if they were, were all their conquests in the book in history?

I can't imagine why I thought writing about Mongols was a good idea! I had no idea they were so brutal until I started seriously researching them, but my favorite period in my studies at university was Kyivan Rus', which fell to the Mongols. And once I got into the heart of the writing, things began to take shape. By the final novel, Consolamentum, out soon, it becomes apparent how the entire story hangs together and why the Mongols' brutality is integral to it.

All the major Mongol leaders were real historical figures, and many details about them are on record: like the color of Berke Khan's boots! And the big quarrel between Batu and Kuyuk is what they actually said to each other. The surprise true historical figure is Argamon, though I invented his life and his family. 

All the battles and conquests really happened as I described them. Or as close as my imagination could take me to how it would have been.

Sofia…what a beautiful soul. Is she written from history?

While Sofia is fictional, and also a rarity among noblewomen of her time, I tried to create a realistic picture of a young, sheltered princess embedded in that time and place, but who is also a typical teenager. She is both a dreamer/idealist and also quite sure of her moral high ground, which is a common phase in growing up. And when she grows older and loses some of her connection to the earth she loves so much: that's something I've observed.  

What's truly uncanny about her is that I am related to her, as I have royal Rus' ancestry, something I didn't know when I was writing the series. I found that out when researching my family tree.

What rights did woman have in this era? It seems they were of a lesser human compared to the men of this time.

Alas, women were treated pretty badly then from our point of view, as they were more like childbearing property with few rights. Be a good child, wife, parent, and you are taken care of, so within those bounds you are powerful if you're in charge of the household or some aspect of it. So it was a funny mix: everyone knew their place and noblewomen took pride in theirs, and maybe others did, too. But there were serious limitations, like the way men all across Europe assumed that beating their wives was a good thing.

Sofia was incredibly smart. Did she have special privileges to learn because she was a princess, or was that a good parenting choice from her father?

That was a good parenting choice, though Rus’ noblewomen would be literate enough to read the Bible. And being a princess was why her father educated her; on one side, she was all he had once he was widowed, and he was more sensitive than the average warmongering prince, more truly devout. On the other side, she was a bargaining chip for him in Rus' politics, so polishing her up was a smart move. Motives can be pretty ambiguous.

Would Sofia lead a good life with Batu Khan or would it be a disaster? Did she make the right choice to flee?

Batu Khan truly did have so many concubines that once he'd tired of her, she'd have been seriously at risk for a dismal future. Certainly she wouldn't have experienced the good things that came her way later, like her daughter. It would have meant a much shorter story for her to tell, though!

How did Sofia’s enslavement make her react in future situations?

She really saw the other side of life, and because of her tender heart, she identified with others' suffering. So she became a champion for both justice and mercy, at least when she could. Of course that also led her into serious danger at times.

I always like to ask…what does your writing space consist of?

I don't like to write in just one place. My husband and I share a big basement room that is office for him and computer space/art studio for me. But I also go outside with my laptop in good weather or hang out and write in our 'cozy area', a seating area with fireplace right next to the kitchen, handy for remembering to eat!

What advice would you give an aspiring writer?

Read, read, read and learn from the greats: how they frame a story, choose points of view, choose what to describe, etc. Then write, write, write, perhaps in the same style as your favorite authors, just for practice. Then write from your heart and fiercely edit from your intelligence. Some people think The Grip of God is a bit too long, but I cut out sooo much! Like how to cook marmot; I took it out because it didn't promote the plot.

About the author

Rebecca Hazell is an award winning artist, author and educator. She has written, illustrated and published four non-fiction children’s books, created bestselling educational filmstrips, designed educational craft kits for children and even created award winning needlepoint canvases.

She is a senior teacher in the Shambhala Buddhist lineage, and she holds an honours BA from the University of California at Santa Cruz in Russian and Chinese history.

Rebecca lived for many years in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 1988 she and her family moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and in 2006 she and her husband moved to Vancouver Island. They live near their two adult children in the beautiful Cowichan Valley.

Visit Rebecca:

Website | Goodreads | Facebook

Visit the Official Tour Schedule

 Follow this blog tour Rebecca Hazell is A gifted writer  Solomon's Bride is a story out of history. Join me June 4th for an interview with Rebecca then follow us to for my reviews of The Grip of God Book 1 and Solomon's Bride and a special giveaway!

Heroic Fantasy Writers: Using Social Media to Maximize your Amazon Reviews...

Heroic Fantasy Writers: Using Social Media to Maximize your Amazon Reviews...: Those of you who follow me on my Heroic Fantasy Facebook group know that I sound like a broken record when it comes to reviews.  The f...

Mother's Day

    Happy Mother's Day Mom

I Love you with all my heart and soul, your the best mom!

Don't forget to let your mom know how much you love her.

Caledonian Skies - Hugh Wilson : Archway Publishing

Caledonian Skies - Hugh Wilson : Archway Publishing

Caledonian Skies By Hugh Wilson

5 of 5 stars

Read on May 06, 2014

This book is about WWII and espionage. Ian Mickey wanted to join forces in The Foreign war at 17 his parents wouldn’t hear of it, his mother was horrified, so Ian had to wait till he turn the legal age. Ian was from Scotland and lived in Germany for some years and enlisted in the Allied Forces when he turned 18. When Ian got to the recruiter he told him he had to take an aptitude test and a physical before he could join and that didn’t deter him at all, after reading about Ian I’d say it gave him more determination. So he waited in line for his physical at the beginning of the line was a tired looking nurse and named Ellie, she perked up when she met Ian as did he. They started getting chummy and the doctor split them up, and sent Ellie to lunch to Ian’s dismay. But things were about to look even better, the doctor found Ian had commendable eye site, he dismissed the lot of boys and took Ian to the flying corps recruiter right away. The recruiter didn’t think he could get him flying without special accommodations but he said he’d look into it. Ian was good he was learning all the maneuvers and how to shoot a speeding plane. His Flight Leader commented on his outstanding gunnery skills, later he got shot down and made a crash landing in a field……
Fast forward about 20 yrs. Ian Mickey a bachelor back in Scotland went for a morning view of the birds and the sunrise, he was relaxing enjoying the view and he saw a glint of a plane coming his way and he knew something was fishy. Ian Mickey had the best eyesight in British military history since when they began recording eyesight in 1880. He told his acquaintance Major Andrew Wilson the about this because he had a feeling the plane was taking pictures in flight of the Royal Naval Torpedo Factory and this didn’t sit right with Ian. Wilson is the regional intelligence liaison in Glasgow and he therefore went higher up the ladder and brought this up to head of domestic military intelligence, M15 in Scotland, Colonel Owen Taylor-Brown. He didn’t believe that Ian would know this plane was spying he was really skeptical. Wilson argued that Ian was a highly decorated aviator. So with that info and that he was fluent in German, and he once worked as a freelance engineer under Junkers and then it was Heinkel on new aircrafts when he was a civilian now Luftwaffe no longer was civilian run. He was going to back to Heinkel and spy on the Germans and find that photograph. Ian was scared to a point but he was also proud and loyal to his country.
Ian went through some refresher courses at the university then he was good to go. He got to Rostock, met Norbert Mueller he liked Ian at the beginning he got his foot in the door no problem. Mueller thought he’d look better to Luftwaffe. Major Schmidt thought maybe Ian was a spy but Schmidt didn’t think Ian had a specific goal. Ian was assigned to the high wing altitude design unit which works on the photographs they take of the land. Ian met the only other foreigner Miguel Santillan and he was on Ian’s team, Ian made a big mistake though he started asking questions a little too much for some of the questions were answered but Miguel started getting ansy and said he was asking too many questions. Though Miguel did tell Ian that the pictures were coming out crummy because of the altitude. Then the foreman Herman Ritter comes in and tells them to get back to work they were talking too much. Then he thought better of have the 2 foreigners working for him so he told Miguel to go to a different project effective immediately! As time went on Ian was learning snippets of info and Ritter caught wind of it and watched even closer. Miguel also told Ian that he was a Jew so that little information made Ian feel a little more comfortable talking to Miguel knowing if the Germans found out he’d be arrested.
As time went on Ian became friendly with everyone and he didn’t find out a whole amount of info so he thought he’d set up a football game then some time at the pub after the game, the guys showed up and some brought their families. The losers had to buy the beer. Ian thought he’d chum up with Mueller, so Mueller brought him over to meet his wife and daughter, come to find out the wife was an older widow and they met after her husband past away they decided to marry and he loved the girl like she was his own. Mueller asked Ian to sit with his wife and daughter while he went over and had a drink with the boys. When he came back and Ian was about to walk off he asked Ian to come over for dinner one night the next week, his wife and daughter really enjoyed his company, well Mueller was getting suspicious of Ian and he had a little problem himself, he was a homosexual and the Nazi’s frown upon that and persecute and an acquaintance of his was brought in so it was urgent he found out what Ian was all about so he could play his cards right. The night of the dinner Mueller brought Ian out into the night and told him he’s been asking a lot of questions around work and if he didn’t tell him what was going on he’d get him in trouble so, as, Ian saw it was time for the grand escape along with a mother daughter and lover he may want to get a hold of his contact……..
I absolutely LOVED this book I don’t venture in this era maybe a romance but not a spy book because it usually gets confusing but this author wrote it like a pro I hope I did justice for this piece of work!

                                                       Hugh Wilson M.D.

Dr. Hugh Wilson earned his medical degree in 1983 from the University of California, San

Francisco, where in 1988 he also completed his residency in anatomic pathology and

laboratory medicine. He completed an internship in internal medicine at the Pacific

Presbyterian Medical Center, also in San Francisco. He earned his undergraduate degree

with highest honors in cell biology from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

In 2010, he received his certification in Age Management Medicine from the

Cenegenics® Education & Research Foundation in 2010, opened his

practice in Monterey, CA in 2011.

Dr. Wilson is also the author of: Live Better Longer: Your Guide to a

Healthier Life

For more than 20 years, Dr. Wilson has practiced surgical pathology and

laboratory medicine (hematology, immunology, microbiology and clinical chemistry) in

Monterey County and has managed hospital and outpatient medical laboratories.

~ ~ ~

“My parents came to the States in 1957 with 5 kids (Catholic and

careless apparently) and me in utero. I was born in Cleveland in 1957 and

my family moved to California in 1959 so I have no recollection of Ohio at

all. I grew up in Los Angeles, went to public schools then went to UC Santa

Barbara, initially as a Marine Biology major but eventually graduated with a

degree in Cell Biology. I attended medical school at UCSF, did an internship

in general medicine (everything except pediatrics and obstetrics) at the

Pacific Presbyterian Medical Center in SF, then completed a residency in

Anatomic Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, back at UC San Francisco.”

“Over the years I’ve enjoyed multiple outdoors activities. I took up cycling in

junior high, backpacking in high school, surfing in college, hunting in my 30s

and golf in my 40s.”

“I've been interested in writing since high school but never pursued it until

recently. The old expression that you can't get published without an agent

and you can't get an agent if you haven't been published seemed to me to

be entirely true. But the tech boom changed all that and it is now possible to

publish without an agent and now I have done it.” - Dr. Hugh Wilson

                                           Endorsements 

                               

"A fast-paced historical thriller, filled with fascinating, memorable characters and nonstop action."

-Gerard Rose (Attorney and Author)

“Hugh Wilson's new book, Caledonian Skies is a spell binding account of what could have been and a

definite don't want to miss read especially if you're a history nut like I am. The liberties taken by the author

to create this epic journey in the time of war weaves a believable account and a story that's so much more

compelling than just a book you'll put down after you've read it.

Its a sure fire bet you'll remember and thoughts will keep rolling around in your head til you can't help it

anymore and you'll have to reach back, grab it, and start reading again.

I'm giving it a huge thumbs up and highly recommending you get your hands on it too.”

-Daniel Diehl (Multi-Award Winning Author & Historian)

"I'm endorsing 'Caledonian Skies' and giving my rave review for this inspiring book. There's great lessons

to be learned, and we must never give up on hope or striving to do what is right in our world. Its an

exciting and entertaining read"

-Allen Wells (SGT - US Air Force)

"This was an exciting read. Fast-paced, surprising twists and well-drawn characters keep you on edge

and guessing. Grabs you and pulls you into the story. Get it."

- Gary Hovland (Artist and former faculty at Art Center College of Design)

“I truly enjoyed the historical perspective mixed with the "what if"? Having some personal familiarity

with the locations really made the book come to life for me. A very entertaining and thought provoking

read.”

- Rob Dimel (Owner/ Chief Pilot Conway Aviation)

"Hugh Wilson has a natural talent for story telling. This is his first novel and I would highly

recommend it as excellent holiday reading."

- Elizabeth Elliott (Retired Head Teacher, Scotland)

"Like it? I loved it! I couldn't put it down." - Diz Newman ( B-17 pilot U.S. 8th Air Force 1944-1945)

                                          Caledonian Skies buy now