Monday 16 February 2009

5 STAR Review for Lot 62!



Lot 62: An Esther May Morrow Mystery

Author: Arthur Everest


Julie Blalock’s unsatisfying life was about to change. After eight years of pretending to live in a normal world, Julie was about to embark on an exciting, but dangerous adventure. Before the death of her fiancé’, Derek, Julie worked as an MI6 agent, until her reported death drove Derek to suicide. Julie withdrew from her calling, taking a position with an accounting firm, until she was called in for a one time mission. Julie was to assume the identity of Dorothy Buchan and take her seat at Sotherby’s; an auction house that catered the elite. She was to gather all the information she could from Esther May Morrow, an elitist, who apparently had the inside information on everyone, and was also the owner of the lots being put up for auction. The auction was a VIP affair, and Julie would have to play the part of an obnoxious widow of wealth, guarding at all costs, the powerful ‘Archangel,’ from getting into the wrong hands.

Bravo! Arthur Everest, on an excellent story! Though few on pages, this short story is an intriguing voyage into the world of espionage, with a bit of a twist. It’s worth the read.




Genre: Mystery/Paranormal
ISBN: 978-1-926640-58-7
Publisher: Eternal Press

Sunday 8 February 2009

First Review for LOT 62





ESTHER MAY MORROW'S LOT 62
ARTHUR EVEREST

ISBN#9781926640587/9781926647340
January 2009
Eternal Press
E-Book/Print
$3.50
33 pages
Mystery/Paranormal

Rating: 4 Cups

Julie Blalock is an ex-agent with MI6, called up for an assignment by the Ministry of Defense. Widowed because of an error on the part of MI6, Julie never planned to go back in the secret agent business ever again -- until today. She is intrigued enough to impersonate Dorothy Buchan, a rich widowed socialite with an unsavory past.

Ms. Esther May Morrow is putting on an extravagant auction with known ties to the underworld. She is here to find out who killed her fiancé and is putting everything here tonight up for bid at auction, even enlisting the aid of “Dorothy Buchan” to help her.

Lot 62 is one of two existing works by the Mayan King Vichama. This is what everyone wants to get their hands on, or so Julie is being told. Having to go undercover and secure “The Archangel” at all costs is her assignment. Ms. Esther May Morrow believes the person responsible for the death of her fiancé is going to be bidding on Lot 62 and she is ready to unveil the killer by fair means or foul.

This is a very fast and furiously paced bit of whimsy that keeps you on your toes. I had no idea exactly what this was going to be about, and you will not care because you will be as caught up in it as I was. This is the second in the series and is able to stand alone quick nicely. But I must say I now want to read the first and be in line to get the next couple stories in the series hinted at in the book. The end is so surprising and the twists and turns this takes you on makes you wonder how this quick tale packs such a big punch.

Lainey

Reviewer for Coffee Time Romance & More







Tuesday 3 February 2009

Charlie Runs Rings Around the Earth

The highly regarded eBook and paperback publisher Lyrical Press, Inc. has offered me a contract for my brand new science fiction adventure, Charlie Runs Rings Around the Earth. I'm ecstatic about this one, as it's the kind of deep space odyssey I used to love reading as a teenager.

A descendant of British speed legends Malcolm and Donald Campbell, Charlie Thorpe-Campbell is the world's premier orbital runner. Tonight is the biggest race of his life--the Tonne Run, a hundred laps of the earth. In his futuristic racing vehicle Bluebird, he must outrun the spectre of his father's crash on Europa, while maintaining his eight-year unbeaten streak. At thirty-three, his legs might be tiring, but there'll be no retiring for Charlie just yet.

When a mysterious wormhole appears mid-race, whisking him to the far side of the galaxy, Charlie's adventure begins on a barren, isolated planet where nothing is what it seems. Countless other spacecraft have been abducted, but why? Then there's the small matter of a continent-sized tree, and an elusive civilization with mind-boggling technology. Charlie might have run rings around the earth, but what will he find on his personal odyssey a billion light years from home?



I can't wait to release this short novel. Lyrical Press is really going places in the e-publishing world, so Charlie's in good company. Let's see how far he can go!

http://www.lyricalpress.com/

Sunset on Ramree - WW2 Crocodile Attack


UPDATE!! Sunset on Ramree is now available for 99 cents on Amazon Kindle!!

http://amzn.to/NPEtW9


I've had quite a few inquiries about this one, so I'm proud to announce that this summer, Eternal Press will release my action-packed WW2 novelette, Sunset on Ramree, in both eBook and paperback editions.

For more information on the history behind the book, visit:

www.robertappleton.co.uk/sunsetonramree.htm

To learn more about saltwater crocodiles click here!


Here's the blurb:

It is the deadliest crocodile attack ever recorded. On February 19th, 1945, a thousand Japanese soldiers retreated into the fetid mangrove swamps of Ramree Island. Days later, only twenty were found alive. History has come to know it as the massacre of Ramree, when twelve kilometers of marshland delivered the battalion from their British enemy…straight into a nest of giant saltwater crocodiles.

Inspired by true events during WW2, Sunset on Ramree follows young musician-turned-soldier Shigeatsu Nakadai and his best friend, Kodi, as they head ever deeper into danger. Will friendship be enough to keep them alive in the deadliest place on Earth?



And here's the (in)famous testimony from British marine (and naturalist) Bruce Wright, which became the inspiration for my book:

“That night of the 19 February 1945 was the most horrible that any member of the M.L. [marine launch] crews ever experienced. The scattered rifle shots in the pitch black swamp punctured by the screams of wounded men crushed in the jaws of huge reptiles, and the blurred worrying sound of spinning crocodiles made a cacophony of hell that has rarely been duplicated on earth. At dawn the vultures arrived to clean up what the crocodiles had left...Of about 1,000 Japanese soldiers that entered the swamps of Ramree, only about 20 were found alive.”

You can check out the book trailer here!

And finally, here's a brief excerpt from Sunset on Ramree:

I try to conjure a memory of before the war—something, anything to distract me—but draw a blank every time. I purse my lips to whistle a familiar tune, but nothing comes out. I shut my eyes tight and roll them inward until they ache and release a heavy pulse. The screams and shots and calls for surrender are still there. Kodi and Sobiku are still there. I imagine the reed of a clarinet between my lips and the long, sustained breath given to making sweetly aching music. But nothing comes out. No tune, no melody, no woodwind to soothe the mangroves. Just the damp, cold harmonics of the night. I’m lost without music, and there is no music on Ramree.

http://amzn.to/NPEtW9

Hope you enjoy reading Sunset on Ramree this summer. As far as I know, it's one of only two books written on the subject.

COMING JULY 7th from Eternal Press

http://www.eternalpress.biz/