During the reign of the Emperor Vespasian and shortly after Roman armies have crushed the Jewish revolt in Judea and destroyed the Temple, a young Roman Questor and investigating magistrate, Julius Varro, is commissioned to investigate the story that a Jew rose from the dead after being crucified in Jerusalem some forty years before. Implicit in his commission is the mandate that he must return with proof that such an event could not have happened.

The fast-growing cult of the Nazarene is becoming a threat to the political stability in the region—and to the power of Rome as well. Many of the witnesses to the tale are long dead, the trail of evidence is chancy at best. Surviving witnesses lie to protect their own lives. Questor Varro pursues his mission with zeal and conviction, determined to produce a report that will demolish the claims of those he regards as religious fanatics and crackpots. Along the way, his investigation stirs religious passions, immerses him in unexpected intrigue and foments violence. He also finds himself attracted to a beautiful Jewish slave girl.

Varro completes his devastating report. It demolishes the myth fueling the new Christian movement. He is set to return to Rome when an extraordinary -  in fact miraculous – event changes everything…including Varro’s own deepest convictions.

In Inquest, a magnificently conceived and executed historical novel, Roman historian Stephen Dando-Collins creates a historical conceit worthy of the work worthy of comparison with The Da Vinci Code.

RC

After an absence of far too long we’re delighted to reintroduce the romantic historical Novels of Elizabeth Mansfield, starting with these two delights.
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Miscalculations

In Miscalculations, Viscount Luke Kettering was a Corinthian: self-confident, elegant, with a talent for all the manly arts, and a penchant for taking risks. He was admired by his peers, yet his constant requests for funds to settle his gambling debts caused his mother deep concern. He eagerly accepted her challenge to give him control of his inheritance if he could prove to be financially responsible. All he had to do was act prudently for one month. He did not factor in one detail–that Lady Martha’s financial advisor would be overseeing his accounting for the month–and that he was–a she!

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The Girl With the Persian Shawl

“The Girl With Persian Shawl” was a strangely bewitching masterpiece that had hung in the Rendell household for generations. Kate Rendell graciously let the dashing Lord Ainsworth view the work, and was outraged when he dared to insinuate that the painting came into the family by nefarious means. She was unfazed that Lord Ainsworth left her estate believing she was little more than an arrogant spinster. But everything changed when she discovered that her beloved but flighty younger cousin was to be betrothed to–a rake!

Keep an eye out for more delicious Elizabeth Mansfields on the E-Reads website.

A holy war is sweeping France, razing cities and destroying the peaceful lives of those considered heretics.

Sybille d’Astarac, born to pampered luxury, is a gifted female troubador. But her poems grow dark as the Catholic crusade seeks to eradicate her sect. In the face of massacre, can Sybille survive the Inquisition? Will her love songs?

A work of stunning historical fiction, Sybille displays Marion Meade’s pitch-perfect understanding of strong women facing the harsh realities of life in medieval times. As Robin Morgan, author of The Anatomy of Freedom, writes, this book is “an inspiration for women and an illumination for all readers.”

Janet Dailey’s American Dreams and its sequel Legacies follow the sorrowful train of the Cherokee nation after it is wrenched from its native home and resettled on an alien territory.

In the first, set in the 1830s, two proud Cherokees, a Southern belle and a landowner called The Blade share a passion for their people that bursts into a passion for each other. As pressure mounts for resettlement, one lover wants to stay to protect the Cherokee way of life, the other vows to join them on the death march that is to become the infamous Trail of Tears.

Originally published as The Proud and the Free, American Dreams brims with historical tragedy and unwavering courage. You cannot help but be moved by this intense story of passion and hope.

But that is only half the story. Legacies advances the story two decades as the looming Civil War looms threatens to tear the nation apart…and draw the Cherokee people into the maelstrom. Old hatreds have festered between the two sides ever since the Trail of Tears. Now, the split between the Confederacy and Union offers a perfect excuse for these prideful men to re-bloody their hands.

Diane Parmelee, the beautiful daughter of a Union officer, finally has the chance to marry the love of her life, the handsome, Harvard-educated Lije Stuart. But, despite his love for Diane, Lije’s allegiances lie with his plantation-owning Cherokee family and, in turn, the Confederacy.

Further clouding Lije’s heart, the war reignites a feud within the Cherokees, specifically that of Lije’s father, whose name is…The Blade.

Can Diane’s pleas for compromise save Lije from the horrors of war? Can true love reach across divided loyalties and blind honor?

Previously published as American Destiny, Janet Dailey’s Legacies serves as a stunning follow-up to her American Dreams and proves that passion and pride can be as explosive as cannon fire.

“There was little noticeable, little remarkable about Edward Chance, saving perhaps that he had once shot and killed a man….His craft, medicine, was more than a business with him, more than a professional skill. It was a way of healing his own heart too.”

In Ghost Dance, it is through Chance’s keen eyes and weary heart that readers travel along on a journey of discovery and sorrow.

On the run across the plains, Chance stumbles upon Running Horse, a Sioux warrior enacting the sacred and violent ritual of the Sun Dance. Quickly, Chance is pulled into the world of the Sioux people. As their civilization teeters on the brink of destruction, the Sioux perform the mournful and frightening Ghost Dance. Clashes with the white man are rising; the Wounded Knee Massacre approaches, still in the unknown distance; and violence and anger threaten the traditions of a proud and once-great people.

Nearby, in her quaint sod house, Miss Lucia Turner awaits the full impact of those clashes. Dust on the horizon signals great change coming to her once-simple life. Lucia will soon become a different kind of woman.

With Ghost Dance author John Norman brings the same vigor and passion of storytelling and imagination that enriches his classic Gor novels to a vivid story of historical upheaval and personal exploration.

Only a few years ago, a 50% reduction in the first printing of a bestselling author would mean she had entered the dreaded Death Spiral from which there is no recovery.

For those of you who have not been trapped in the cockpit of a plummeting career, the Death Spiral works like this.  If the printing of your first novel was 100,000 but net sales were only 35,000, your publisher will print only 35,000 of your second book.  And if that one nets only 15,000 your publisher will print only 15,000 of your third book – if your publisher is loyal enough to offer you a contract on a third book.  In all too many cases, as printings and sales spin to earth in a sickening downdraft of failure, publishers will not sign you up for new books.

Blockbuster author Jean Auel – 45 million copies of her Earth’s Children prehistoricals  in print worldwide – has just taken a big hit with the printing of the sixth book in the series, Land of the Painted Caves. Her publisher, Crown, issued 465,000 copies, a big drop over prior printings.  Yet neither she nor her publisher seem overly concerned.  Why?

“There has been a sea change in publishing since Ms. Auel’s last book, ” says New York Times book beat reporter Julie Bosman.  “In the last year, many anticipated novels have sold as many e-books as print books in the first week of publication.” Auel says ““I don’t care if they read it in e-book or in hardcover….If they enjoy it, I don’t have any objection.”

For authors threatened with a nosedive, e-books may be the wind beneath their wings.

Read Promoting Jean Auel’s ‘Land of Painted Caves’ as an E-Book.

Richard Curtis

Every Blogger owes a debt of gratitude to newspapers and magazines. This posting relies on original research and reporting performed by the New York Times.

E-Reads continues its rediscovery of thriller novelist Dan Sherman with The White Mandarin

John Polly enters Shanghai in 1948 on a muggy, velvet evening, just in time for the Communist takeover of China. It marks only his fourth month in America’s newly-formed Central Intelligence Agency. Over the next two decades Polly will become The White Mandarin, a double agent buried so deep within the inner circle of the People’s Republic as to shape the futures of both that nation and his own.

Dan Sherman’s intricate, superbly crafted spy thriller follows Polly as he walks a dangerous tightrope of intrigue and suspense. As China rebuilds itself, Polly attempts to start a family in the intersection between the American intelligence system and the Asian drug trade. Can Polly keep his wife and daughter safe? Can he keep track of the shifting stories and changing allegiances in the CIA? Will his emotion get in the way of his mission?

Only pages into this stunning novel, readers will easily understand why Sherman has earned comparison to the great John La Carré and Graham Greene. It is both a story of very personal love and loss and an insightful history of China between the rise of Chairman Mao and the 1972 visit by President Nixon. Anyone looking to understand China of yesterday and today—its power, its flaws, its beauty—need look no further than The White Mandarin.

Visit Dan Sherman’s author page for news of more gripping thrillers.

Travis Heermann grew up in the countryside of Nebraska but was drawn to Japan and in 2003 moved there to teach English and write role-playing game guides. He was inspired to combine the Japanese culture and his passion for fantasy to write Heart of the Ronin, a tale of a teenage warrior in 13th century Japan. It is projected to be the first installment of a trilogy, and E-Reads is delighted to offer it to you.

Ken’ishi is just 17 years old and an orphan after the mysterious death of his parents. He dreams of training with a master who will some day help him become a samurai.

Traveling with Silver Crane, a sword that belonged to his father, and a dog, Akao, for a sidekick, Ken’ishi’s adventures begin after he murders a policeman and must flee. Just when he thinks he has escaped trouble, he saves Kazuko, the daughter of an influential lord, from a group of bandits. In return, he is asked to live in the lord’s house, where he falls in love with Kazuko.

Forced to flee once again, Ken’ishi goes on a hunt to discover his past while fighting off warriors and demons, not to mention worrying about the bounty that’s on his head. Will he find out if his father really was a samurai or why the sword he wields seems to be infused with magic?

Heart of the Ronin combines historical fiction with fantasy to keep readers guessing what Ken’ishi will encounter next in Heerman’s mystical universe. Publishers Weekly says: “Numerous tantalizingly unresolved plot threads will have readers anxiously awaiting the second installment in this gripping tale of ill-fated love, betrayal and destiny.”

In a quiet room in the White Swan Inn, sunlight slowly breaks through the curtains revealing two young lovers–an American seamstress and an English Officer. They have been brutally, ritualistically murdered in their sleep. It’s a grisly scene that can only mean one thing: there’s a traitor within the American Revolution.

Dan Sherman’s The Traitor launches E-Reads’ reissue of the works of Dan Sherman, a novelist whose thrillers I had the pleasure to handle in the 1980s and have the pleasure to present to contemporary readers.  His novels have not lost any of their relevance or urgency.  As you pick up his books, note how he focuses on all the senses – sight, sound, smell, taste, touch – to evoke the milieu and the mood.

And his choice of milieu is astonishingly broad.  From the American Revolution in The Traitor to China from 1949 through the 1960′s (The White Mandarin) to the 1950s and ’60s (The Prince of Berlin) to World War I (The Man Who Loved Mata Hari) and others.  Watch Sherman’s author page for all of them.  I guess you’ve figured out that I’m a huge fan of Dan Sherman!

Back to The Traitor:

The year is 1779. General Washington, struggling to keep his army together, sends his best spymaster, Matty Grove, to investigate the killings. As Matty follows the trail of clues, he comes up against more questions. Who gave the killer his orders? How much does the mole know of the Revolution’s plans? Is this treason a matter of principle or simply profit?

With The Traitor author Dan Sherman brings the political and economic maneuverings of the Revolution into vivid detail. The rising pace and complex characters in this stunning work of historical fiction will have history buffs and fans of modern espionage alike clamoring for more.

RC

In the annals of tragic and forbidden love, the names of Abelard and Heloise seldom appear far from Romeo and Juliet or Tristan and Isolde. But while the characters glorified by Shakespeare and Wagner are drawn from legend and imagination, Abelard and Heloise are historical figures.

You would guess that there is not a lot of latitude for reimagining their story. Yet this tale of delirious passion and the gruesome price the lovers paid for it has been interpreted and reinterpreted differently in every age according to the temper of the milieu. In Stealing Heaven: The Love Story of Heloise and Abelard novelist Marion Meade has re-created the story in a unique and compelling way that carries special resonance for contemporary readers. A hint of the viewpoint may be seen in her reversal of the customary order of the lovers’ names.

In twelfth-century France, two of Europe’s greatest minds met and fell in love. It was a love forbidden by the world around them and eventually they were torn apart from each other. But, the spark of it remained smoldering inside the lovers until their death and beyond.

Heloise and her tutor, Peter Abelard, share a devotion passionate in its depth and beautiful in its thoughtfulness. They marry, and Heloise bears a son whom she names Astrolabe. However, all of this must be done in secret, for Abelard is forbidden to wed by the church which considers him a cleric. When the truth of their relationship is exposed, they are separated and punished both in body and soul.

Marion Meade has written novels, biographies and non-fiction books, many focusing on women cut from heroic cloth: Eleanor of Aquitaine, Victoria Woodhull, Madame Blavatsky and Dorothy Parker. E-Reads is bringing a number of them back, plus bios of some males who have gripped her attention too: Woody Allen and Buster Keaton. Keep your eye peeled on Meade’s author page to discover new releases.