These are the characters of my new mystery series: Jane's Buns Mystery.
Book 1: The Missing Ingredients
It’s Christmas season. Jane is busy baking buns and other holiday treats. Some things are missing: people and ingredients.
Jane Meyer and Alfie Dawkins are working for an impoverished Duke on one of the UK’s failing estates. The Duke’s son has gone missing, raising alarms within the British government. Meanwhile, vagrant Burt Duffy, Jane’s friend, has disappeared without a trace.
Alfie hatches an out-of-this-world plan, combined with Jane’s baking skills, to hunt for Burt as well as track down the Duke’s son.
Will the missing ingredients be found in time for Christmas?
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In this series, Jane Meyer and Alfie Dawkins are aspirational heroes whom ordinary people can aspire to be.
Alfie takes on the role of the handyman and helps out the widow ladies.
Buns are Jane's forte.
Check out this English recipe below--something Jane might make.
The adventures of
British Commander, Reginald Barrett, and Native American
“Chief,” Nova Orlovic, continue as they take on new
political intrigue and mysteries. Part Serbian, part
Cheyenne, Nova opened up a Pandora’s Box when her team
uncovered the inconvenient truth behind the death of her
husband, a revered war hero. Foul play pointed to President
Lincoln Todd. Yet clever politician Todd spun the narrative in
his favor while international powers manipulate him to do their
bidding. Meanwhile, a psychic convinces the First Lady that
Nikola Tesla sent papers with alien technology to Nova’s
grandfather during World War II. The First Lady embarks to
recover them from Nova, Enemy Number One on the Todd Enemies
List. As the Commander used
his medical skills to keep Nova alive during her expedition, he
now uses them to sleuth dead men’s secrets. But at his best
friend’s wedding in Wyoming, the confluence of superstition,
old feuds, and international intrigue peak in this version of
Close Encounters of the Weird Kind.
What's with Nova's ancestor Nikola Tesla? As he still stirs up trouble from the grave. The clip below makes his long story short:
As Peacemaker has been released during the holidays, here is a sample chapter reflecting one aspect of the Christmas spirit:
The party from Nevada—Jack, Charlie, Frank, Bonita—arrived at Nova’s private lodge, a week before the wedding. And they all were given a whirlwind tour of the ranch.
When that was done, Reggie and Nova met Jack and Charlie at Peacemaker Chapel. The engaged couple paced it to get a measure of the place and inspect the venue.
The altar faced the Sapphire Mountains. Its large windows overlooked the Little Medicine Wheel. Beyond, the green meadows and snow in the mountains tussled for territory after spring.
It was chilly out. So they bundled up in fleece jackets. Though the sun in the clear sky warmed them up some.
“During spring and summer, Peacemaker Chapel is a favorite spot for weddings.” Nova pulled out the guest book. “And after Memorial Day, regular Sunday morning services start up here for the guests.”
Charlie walked to the altar and looked out the big picture window. “What’s the story about the Little Medicine Wheel?”
“Happy to tell you.” And Nova beckoned them outside to join her at its perimeter.
“Here,” Nova began, “Grandfather made a copy of the Medicine Wheel in the Bighorn Mountains. A giant wheel with spokes. Though many thought the original was aligned with the constellations and events—like solstices, equinoxes, other astrological stuff.”
“And I see,” Reggie looked about, “there’s no shortage of rocks on the ranch.”
Nova nodded. “So Grandfather gathered them up to make this big wheel. But instead of a buffalo skull at its center, he put a cross.”
“So your grandfather was a spiritual man then?” Jack asked.
“He was a Christian as well as a Medicine Man,” Nova said. “And he believed in the healing of the whole man…body, mind, and spirit. But only one man could do that. The One who died for our sins. Which was why Grandfather put a cross in the middle of the wheel.”
“That explains the plaque.” Reggie read the sign at the perimeter. It invited all to walk around the Little Medicine Wheel and say their prayers to the Great Physician in Heaven.
“Later,” Nova said, “I added Peacemaker Chapel below the Little Medicine Wheel. And when the Wild West Shows became a big tourist draw, the Chapel became a popular place for weddings and worship services.”
To the side of the Chapel, Charlie spied a barn, cordoned off with No Trespassing signs. Its boards and shingles were weathered gray. Wild flowers poked their heads out of the grasses about the fence and building.
“There must be a story about that old barn,” Charlie said.
“There is,” Nova said. “I was born there.”
The three looked puzzled, so she explained.
“My mother was a great lover of horses. One day—she was nine months pregnant at the time—she was tending to her favorite mare in that barn. But I couldn’t wait to come out. Fortunately, Kaya Stillwater was with her and helped bring me into the world. And I was wrapped up in a horse blanket and laid in the hay.”
Charlie smiled. “Like the baby Jesus.”
“You told me and Jacko about that last Christmas.” Reggie stepped alongside Nova. “When we were in the cave looking for water. Where we found the Admiral.”
“That was some Christmas,” Jack said. “Full moon rising in the Forbidden Area. The three of us with the Admiral’s dead body. Who left us one hell of present.”
“Like twenty million of them,” Reggie said. They all knew he was referring to the number of CyBytes on the microchip inside Admiral Quinn’s Navy ring.
Then Nova chuckled. “When I left the door open as a kid, the grown-ups would yell at me, Were you born in a barn? And I’d say, Yes, I really was. And they thought I was just being a smart ass.”
“Well, were you?” Reggie raised his eyebrows. And Nova answered with a playful swat.
“So your mother was an only child, Nova?” Charlie asked. “Like you.”
“No and no,” Nova said. “Don’t forget my half-brother Nick. My dad’s son. And Mother had two older brothers and twin sisters.”
The three looked surprised, so Nova explained.
Her mother’s twin sisters had died from measles as infants. As for her mother’s older brothers, they both had survived to adulthood. Then Uncle Gideon was killed in the Korean War. Uncle Malachi, a logger, was crushed by a big tree. A fatal workplace accident.
The boys had no children. Only Sunshine Rainmaker survived to produce a child. That was Nova.
“I was glad to have known my dad’s mother in Montana,” Nova said. “Yet I never knew Grandmother Rainmaker. Her maiden name was intriguing though. Myrna Mankiller.”
“There must be quite a story about that,” Jack piped up.
“There usually is,” Nova said. “In her day, you needed the permission of the tribal elders to select your Indian name. But this grandma passed away before I was born. So for now, it’s a mystery.”
So many levels of meaning in Book 3 ... the latest US Peace Treaty with a tyrant, which is not good for the free world. The symbol of the Peace Pipe. The Peacemaker missile silos on Nova's Wyoming ranch, a relic of the Cold War. Peacemaker Chapel, a popular place for weddings, such as the coming wedding of the Commander and the Chief's friends. And making peace, settling old feuds. As the Good Lord said...
Blessed are the peacemakers:
for they shall be called the children of God.
Matthew 5:9 (KJV)
And this Christmas songs remind us that the Prince of Peace has come....
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6 (KJV)
Blessings for Christmas 2017 and into the New Year of 2018.
As you see from the cover above, it is a Native American Indian kind of thing. Here is a definition, according to the Encyclopedia of the Great Plains: Counting Coup
And below is an excellent explanation in this Montana History Minute as the prerequisite of a Chief and ranking within a tribe:
And that gives an insight to the theme of Book 2 of The Commander and Chief series called ...
Counting Coup
Here is a teaser as to what it's all about.
Art by Davis Creative
Dr. Nova Orlovic, known as "the Chief" - she's half-Cheyenne - is on the warpath again. After her team uncovered the inconvenient truth as to how her second husband had died, President Lincoln Todd circles his wagons in major damage control. And it's payback, big time, for the Chief when she's indicted for the murder of her first husband eleven years ago.
Then a tyrant, eager to rebuild his weapons of mass destruction, gives Nova an offer she can't refuse. In exchange for her expertise in nuclear physics, he tempts her with new revelations about both her husbands' deaths, perhaps clearing her name. But by "counting coup" with her enemies on both sides of the ocean, will the Chief lose the Commander, her latest love, as well as unwittingly unleash the dogs of war?
---------------------------------
The coup stick, Star of David, British and American flags in the image above have meaning in this latest story.
If this has piqued your interest, please feel free to read the book.
Apollo 11 was a watershed mission. It was unique. It would never be repeated to have another first human being walk on an extraterrestrial world. [For more info: Apollo 11 Mission Overview ]
In 1969, an estimated 530 viewers watched Neil Armstrong take his first step on the moon:
And he said these words: "...one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind"
What about the second man?
Buzz Aldrin is the man in the spacesuit in the photo at the top of the page. And Neil Armstrong took his picture. His words were most poetic recorded in the clip below:
In the first book of The Commander and the Chief series, His Tribe of One, Chief Nova Orlovic remembers the second man on the moon as well as the first. The following excerpt takes place in the Middle-Eastern desert with Nova, Colonel Jack Sheffield, and Commander Reginald Barrett during their search for Admiral Quinn:
Mid-morning, Jack stopped on the crest of a bluff and
surveyed the landscape. “I need to do a recalibration.” He turned on his smart
tablet, then connected a cable into the KNOSE.
“Magnificent desolation.” Nova scanned the wilderness—edifices
of stone, rising like fortresses, floating on an ocean of pale yellow sand.
“I’ve heard that before. Somewhere.” Reggie skimmed the
desert-scape from his backseat window.
Nova turned around. “Buzz Aldrin.”
“Buzz who?” Reggie squinted at her.
“How quickly we forget.” Nova shook her head. “Buzz Aldrin
was the second man on the moon…after Neil Armstrong, of course.”
“Right-o.” Jack chimed in. “Admiral Quinn was an astronaut.
So you know this ancient history.”
“Doesn’t seem that long ago, though it happened before I was
born.” Nova panned the moonscape-like desert. “Yet this place reminds me of the
Badlands in the Dakotas, only with sand and stuff.”
Jack said, “So these Badlands look like the moon?”
“In many ways, they do.” Nova returned a fond look.
“Actually Jack, parts of Wyoming have been likened to Antarctica.”
from Part 5: The Badlands, Chapter 1: The Backside of the Desert. [for more info on the book: smithsk.com/cc.htm ]
To Infinity and beyond ....
Though Neil Armstrong had shunned the limelight and passed away in 2012, Buzz Aldrin has been more active in popular culture as well as promoting his vision of space.
And he inspired Disney's Toy Story character, Buzz Lightyear. In the clip below, one Buzz coaches another Buzz for a coming shuttle mission to the International Space Station. [reference: Buzz Aldrin FAQ ]
In step with the times, Buzz Aldrin is active on social media, such as twitter@TheRealBuzz and FacebookBuzz Aldrinas well as his own website: buzzaldrin.com.
The picture above is Uros Predic's 1919 painting, inspired by the Serbian poem - The Maiden of Kosovo. During the aftermath of the Battle of Kosovo (1389), the maiden, who is seeking her fiance, gives the fatally wounded Pavle Orlovic some water. At this moment, this Serbian knight gives her the news that her beloved and her brothers are dead. Then Pavle Orlovic dies and passes into legend as well as an epic poem and a famous painting. [reference: Kosovo Maiden Painting]
Below is a video clip from the movie, The Battle of Kosovo (1989), made for the 600th anniversary of the event. The scene when the sultan was killed by a Serbian noble dramatizes this long struggle between the Serbs and the Turks:
From the 14th into the 21st century, the battles of Kosovo continue. Most recent are the Kosovo conflict (1998-1999) and the continuing reprisals into the new century. [reference: Kosovo Conflict]
And if you read some of the comments in YouTube video above, the battle (with words) goes on and on.
Part 6 of the Commander and the Chief (CC) thread looks at this Balkan history.
In this excerpt from Book 1: His Tribe of One,the heroine Dr. Orlovic "the Chief" and her lineage (she is half Cheyenne and half Serbian) are discussed. Her agent Lord Wise is briefing Colonel Jack Sheffield on Nova's expedition to find her missing husband, Admiral Connor Quinn.
Jack questions Wise about his proposal:
“Remind me, again, why have you come to me with this mystery and not the Americans?”
“I come at the request of Dr. Orlovic.”
“Doctor…who?”
“Admiral Quinn’s widow, my client, Dr. Nova Orlovic.” Then Wise presented her business card for Chief Rainmaker Winery. A silhouette of an Indian maiden in a war bonnet held a goblet with stars and galaxies bubbling out and surrounding the quote: The whole universe is in a glass of wine.
“Yes, yes, your boss, of course. I forget this bird didn’t take the Admiral’s name.” Jack twirled the card in his fingers. “Orlovic. That’s quite ethnic sounding.”
Wise raised his brown eyebrows. “Her father’s side goes back to the Serbian knights. She’s quite proud of that name.”
“Orlovic, yes. Stuff legends are made of. And I recall that name in War College studying the Battle of Kosovo.” Then Jack raised a corner of his mouth. “But that first name—Nova? Sounds explosively stellar. And I can just imagine what she must be like in bed.”
“No doubt many have, but I assure you she’s a woman of virtue.” Wise returned a fatherly look. “Her name has nothing to do with exploding stars. It’s Indian as in Native American Indian. She has quite a fascinating family history. Father’s side from the Balkans, mother’s side Native American. But that’s another story.”
from Chapter 3: Soldier of Fortune
What about the name of Orlovic, the stuff legends are made of?
Some claims indicate one of Pavle Orlovic's notable descendants is the legendary scientist and inventor Nikola Tesla. [reference: Origin Orlovica]
To find out more about Pavle Orlovic's fictional descendant, Dr. Nova Orlovic, "the Chief" in "The Commander and the Chief," please read the book and its coming sequels.
Welcome to Part 4 of my The Commander and the Chief thread, known more succinctly as CC. It follows anything related to ... you guessed it ... The Commander and the Chief series.
Today's topic is books, any books, and what's inside ... the story. When engaged with a reader, ...
Also, some research suggest that for a book in print, we gain all these benefits:
1. Increased intelligence
2. Brain power boost
3. Increased empathy
4. Increased understanding of what is read
5. Possible way to fight Alzheimer's disease
6. Help in relaxation
7. Help in getting to sleep
8. Reading habit that is contagious to our neighbors
On the topic of the Power of the Story, I've crafted a novel in my latest eBook, His Tribe of One, the first in The Commander and the Chief series. And now that story is available in paperback.
It can be purchased directly as a paperback on createspace.com
It is one of the transliterations of the Greek word from which we get apocalypse. And the mention of that word - apocalypse - conjures images of the end times ... the end of the world ... or some cataclysmic event. It's the stuff of prophesy, dystopian novels and movies, such as:
The Apostle, St. John, wrote about the end times in the last book of the New Testament - Revelation - the Apocalypse. And this book gets its title for the first sentence:
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: Revelation 1:1(KJV)
So the Book of Revelation is not just a foretelling of the coming plagues of Biblical proportion. It is the revelation of Jesus Christ - the Apokalupsis. But what about these thing which must shortly come to pass -
* The End Times?
St. John gives an indication of the end times, which he calls the "last time" as well as the coming of the Antichrist, associated with the Apocalypse, when he writes:
Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. I John 2:18(KJV)
The end times - "the last time" - began in the 1st century. Indeed, it's been 20 centuries since John penned those words and the end of world has not come yet. But Jesus never set a date of His second coming, which would usher the end of the age, as He said:
Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh. Matthew 25:13(KJV)
Indeed, there are many who have set dates, and they have been proven - every time - to be wrong.
Meanwhile, we have the Apokalupsis of Jesus Christ as is revealed in the Bible, a book which has been suppressed throughout the ages, like during the Dark Ages. One such story is told in my historical fictional series,
* The Forbidden Book and the Upside Down Kingdom
The first book of the series, Anastasis - The Forbidden Book Concealedis about the suppression of the Bible for supposedly good and not so good reasons. [reference: S. K. Smith - Anastasis]
Now, the second book of the series is out and available as an eBook -
Apokalupsis - The Forbidden Book Revealed
This second book can stand alone. This novel makes sense without reading the first book of the series, though it chronologically follows the first book that gives the details of the back story. Apokalupsis continues the story of the power of the revelation of the Forbidden Book, the Bible. And its revelation stirs up division among people, as Jesus said that He would:
Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division: Luke 12:51(KJV)
Below is a short description of this second book:
In the year anno
Domini 1377, Queen Anastasia has purposed in her heart to spark a revival in
her kingdom of Opulentia, beginning with herself. Under the counsel of Bishop Sinjin, the Queen
commissions the Bible to be read to her people in their own language. Meanwhile, her favorite courtier Lord Adryan Crippen
implements Her Majesty’s reforms in her mines, translating the Gospel into deeds.
Yet these reforms meet
opposition on many fronts. Prelates move
to crush this movement to hold onto their power over the people. Merchants, clerics, and other powerful men balk
as these reforms hit their purse. And
the peasants resist any change that upsets their perception of the natural
order.
Apokalupsis - Greek for
Apocalypse – means revelation, especially the revelation of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And this revelation turns their kingdom
upside down.
---------------------------------------
The Apokalupsis – the revelation of Jesus Christ – shakes up the old order in the Dark Ages. One definition of the Dark Ages is the period from the fall of the Roman Empire to the Renaissance. It can also mean an oppressive or unenlightened period or stage. But the good news is that in any dark age, Kings and Gentiles come to the Light of the World as the people walking in darkness see the His great Light. And the darker it is, the more He shines as -
It's the Darkest Ages that reveal the brightest Light.
On that note, this theme of Apokalupsis is sung (in notes) in these movements, 10. Bass Recitative and 11. Bass Air, from Handel's Messiah:
For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. Isaiah 60:2-3(KJV)
The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. Isaiah 9:2(KJV)
Do you like historical fiction set during World War
Two? If so, the Winged Coronet by Joe Freitus weaves an engaging yarn during the
tensions ramping up to D-Day.
During a storm, Sister Anne Marie, a nursing Daughter of
Charity, mysteriously appears and bicycles toward the communities on the French
side of the English Channel. Her
official documents indicate her mission is to serve the medical needs of the
various seaside denizens, so symbolized by her winged coronet in her
pannier. But her mission almost fails
from the start with a nearly fatal roadside accident.
Herr Major Henri Reichert steps in to help the Sisters of
Charity after the occupying German forces confiscated or destroyed their
previous clinic and housing quarters.
This former German army officer and World War One veteran has opened up
his chateaux apartments to Mother Mary Rachael and her latest charge, Sister Anne
Marie, who arrives unexpectedly as a casualty.
Herr Major, a man of surprising resources, revives the injured sister as
he sees to it she is on the mend so she can work in the local clinic.
Meanwhile, the Gestapo watches the resentful civilians for evidence
of the French Resistance, including new comer Sister Anne Marie, whom they
suspect is on more than just a mission of mercy. Their suspicion puts the nun in peril,
especially when skirmishes with the Allies intensify and radio broadcasts from
London babble with coded messages.
So the Winged Coronet
unfolds a cloak-and-dagger mystery with a taboo romance between a French nun
and former German officer. The flavor of
the English, French, and German accents in the writing makes the characters
more distinct and real, while maintaining the balance of a smooth read without
distraction. Simply put, I recommend Winged Coronet as a story that both men
and women would enjoy.
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