Finished! I’ve just put my latest Major Gask & Erroll Rait novel to bed with my one hundred thousand, one hundred and fifty-first word. The word was ‘nuptials’ if you are interested.
I am planning to release the eBook and Paperback on my birthday, the 5th of December – I’m currently working through the logistics and there’s a free offer at the end of this screed….
The story is set in 1864/65, mostly in Scotland but, like most of my novels, you’ll visit other places too – Australia, New Zealand (touching on the Maori wars), England, Poland. You’ll also visit Biblical times and the 13th century briefly – and come across the Knights Templar, the Freemasons, a South African secret society, the embryonic British Secret Service, Jacobites and a host of real and imagined mid-19th century events and characters.
I’ll catch my breath before moving on to the next book. One thing I and my wife are planning is to visit Hobart in Tasmania next January. Victoria is a direct descendant of two Brits who were transported from England in the 1830s. Their lives formed the subject of my ‘Helots’ Tale’ series, Book I – Downfall and Book II – Redemption. It took me two years of exhaustive research to uncover their story and the books meld these facts with imagined events, as I say in the frontspiece, to ‘breath life into the flickering embers of their lives’.
Victoria’s great, great, great grandmother was held at the Cascades Female factory in Hobart when she arrived after sailing on a perilous journey half-way around the world. The ‘factory’ was actually a prison for female convicts. Today, it holds some of the original records from that time, including Mary Ann Goulding’s records – the very person we are talking about and it seems she was a feisty character indeed. When we arrive next January, we’ll be donating the autographed books to the Cascades library – nowadays home to a fascinating museum/memorial to those days.
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In writing the Case of the Beth-el Stone, as always, I spent a lot of time researching the period to supplement my knowledge and colour the story. And my conclusion is that the 1860s was not a decade to cherish.
In North America, it was notable for the election of Abraham Lincoln and the savage American Civil War which witnessed the impact of advancing technology such as steel battleships, submarines and machine guns. And mass slaughter.
And there was much more. There was conflict in Mexico after the French installed Maximilian I as Emperor until President Benito Juarez returned to power in 1867. The Triple Alliance of Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay assaulting Paraguay – a conflict that continued until 1870 and witnessed the annihilation of almost 60% of Paraguay’s population.
In Europe, the balance of power was evolving with the union of Austria-Hungary in 1867 and Victor Emmanuel’s campaign to become the first King of Italy in 1861. The second Schleswig war saw Prussian and Austrian forces cross the border into Danish Schleswig. It ended with the Treaty of Vienna in1864, and saw Denmark ceding the Duchies of Schleswig, Holstein and Saxe-Lauenberg.
In the same year, Russia began its genocide in Circassia, a sovereign nation then located on the north-eastern shore of the Black sea. This was a particularly grisly and outrageous event that the powers of the day ignored. It was systematic mass murder; today we’d call it ethnic cleansing. Russian generals described their targets as ‘subhuman filth’ which they used to justify their use of these poor people in scientific experiments and to rape and torture, impaling and tearing the bellies of pregnant women to intimidate the Circassian population. It resulted in the death of one and a half million – mostly Muslim Circassians and the death of a nation.
In Asia, the Meiji Restoration of 1868 began the process of transforming Japan into a global imperial player which would have a significant impact on the world over the next 75 years and in China the British, French and Americans were instrumental in the decline of the Qing dynasty after winning the Second Opium war which would eventually open the door for Mao Tse-tung’s revolution and modern China.
It is all a reminder of the depths to which mankind can fall and a sober reminder of the need to battle these base instincts. Today, the Russian assault on Ukraine is a grim reminder of what happened to the Circassians some 160 years ago. Personally, I am of the opinion that Putin is desperately hanging on in the hope that Donald Trump will win the US Presidential election, after which he will flatter and bully his way to what he hopes will be a subjugation of Ukraine and probably more countries besides.
The formation of NATO after WWII and the Treaty of Rome in 1958 which led to the EU today had a calming and stabilising effect on modern history. However, the formal/informal alliance of Russia, China, Iran and North Korea marks an ominous turn in world affairs. Just yesterday Putin rattled his sabre once more in response to talk about Ukraine using western arms to strike military sites in Russia. It looks to me like the desperate rantings of a bully who keeps crying wolf but never carries out his dark threats because of fears of retaliation.
In the Middle East, we have seen the horrific, inexcusable attack by Hamas on innocent Israelis and the unacceptable taking of hostages followed by an ‘over-the-top’ bloodthirsty response from Netanyahu and his right-wing cabal. Yes, Israel has a right to defend itself, but it does itself no favours with the way it confiscates Palestinian land and blocks a 2-state solution. Like Donald Trump, I sense that Netanyahu’s primary reason for his actions is to avoid going to prison once the war ends. The outlook is not good and will not improve without a much firmer US response in my opinion.
But, bad as all this is, there is an underlying malaise to cause concern. In Europe (Hungary, France, Germany, Brexit Britain), we see the rise of prejudice and dogma that echoes the impulses that drove the Circassian genocide and the later rise of Hitler and Mussolini. In America we see the same (MAGA Americans and Venezuela in particular).
We are at a crossroads and the direction we take will in many ways be influenced by the result of the US Presidential election in November in my view. A Trump victory would send the US down an isolationist and autocratic path, damage NATO, negatively impact world trade and inject adrenalin into inflationary pressures. A Harris win would strengthen NATO and world trade and provide a check on the drift to autocracy and offer some hope in Ukraine and Palestine.
Will Trump succeed in November? I watched the debate with Kamala Harris and have followed comments since then from both sides of the partisan divide. Clearly Trump came away from that a wounded animal. But he has continued to double down on the lies he spouted during the debate – with potentially violent consequences. I heard today of bomb threats in Springville, Ohio following his fantastic comments about pet-eating Haitian immigrants. And I use the word ‘fantastic’ as an adjective derived from fantasy in case there’s any doubt.
And Trump’s legal woes drag on – what an indictment of the US legal system that we are still so far away from delivering justice. An innocent man would want this over and done with. Draw your own conclusions.
For the sake of the world, I hope that sanity prevails in the US and Harris and her Freedom coalition is elected. I have a great respect for many educated Americans and, despite their many flaws, I have faith in the average American man (and more and more, the average woman) to step the USA back from the brink. The Republicans need time to find their soul again. Another Abraham Lincoln wouldn’t be amiss. Until then, the world needs a Democrat victory.
Oh! what a world!
One final note. I am looking for 6 readers to review the Case of the Beth-el Stone and provide comments. If you are interested, please send an email to Finavonam@gmail.com with your address and I’ll send you a free pre-release copy.
I wish you well. Stay safe.