Musket Dreams

Musket Dreams is a hardback book published by the Book Guild, written by John Scurr.

It features a truly romantic figure, the swashbuckling, buccaneering piratical Nathaniel Devarre.

However, Devarre does not want to be known to history as a 'mere' pirate! He would far rather that posterity learn to regard him as one of the foremost portrait painters of his epoch.

But, however, fate, cruel, capricious, fate, has other plans for our hero.

His quiet and relatively unassuming life as a portrait painter in the village of Highgate (not far from London!) is rudely thrown into utter disarray when the wife of a neighbour, Elizabeth Rawlins, reveals that her first one, true love, was one other than Sir Roger Trevanyon.

Devarre and Sir Roger have a history of sorts, as it was Sir Roger who put a bullet in Devarre's eye when they were fighting a duel over the hand of the captivating gorgeous Lady Corinne Malvor.

Unfortunately Elizabeth wants Devarre to assist her in becoming reunited with Sir Roger.

If that isn't enough trouble to beset Devarre, his former commanding officer and old friend Henry Morgan is back in England. He is attempting to gather support and backing from the King. Why? Because the Spanish government are quite cross with him (to put it mildly!) for sacking their prize colonial city, Panama.

And if that wasn't enough, grievances of an ancient nature, secret loves and political stratagems and schemes make for times of the kind of excitement that even a man as brave and a resourceful as Nathaniel Devarre can well do without!

It is a book that combines romance, lost loves, refound loves, swashbuckling excitement and political intrigue into an exceptionally well-told tale.

At £12.99 it is a welcome addition to the bookshelf of anyone with a love of well-written historical romance and adventure.

It is, of course, available from the That's Books and Entertainment, bookshop.

American Magna Carta

There are only four copies of the Magna Carta in  existence.

But what if a fifth, previously unknown, copy of the Magna Carta is found to exist?

American Magna Carta describes what happens when this copy is discovered.

An unholy alliance of crooked academics, investment bankers and elements within the American state intelligence apparatus conspire to take possession of this important document.

In their fiendish plan they ride roughshod over the laws of the land, leaving a trail of destruction as they battle to possess this 800-year-old document.

Standing in their way is a heroic team made up of Ricky Taleb, a Harvard law student, Alison Sinclair, an art history intern from London and Harry James a veteran of the Occupy Movement.

Although it is a compelling and punchy story, I have doubts about the basis of it. After all, the Magna Carta can be viewed by everyone with an Internet connection and the idea of a massive conspiracy between all sorts of disparate "establishment" figures opposed by a bunch of plucky kids and assorted "anti-establishment" types smacks of a sort of conspiracy theorists meet Scooby Doo episode. ("We'd have got that fifth Magna Carta if it hadn't been for those meddling kids!" kind of thing.)

However, that caveat aside, Robert Hamblett tells an exciting and compelling story and at £9.99 it's worth a punt.

It is published by Matador and is available through the That's Books and Entertainment bookshop.

Legacy of Van Diemen's Land

Written by Shelagh Mazey, Legacy of Van Diemen's Land tells the continuing story of the evil and scheming Nathan Meakins.

As he is being transported for his crimes to Australia, it seems that Meakins' past actions have caught up with him. Or have they?

Meakins is determined to return to his native Somerset to wreak his revenge on his adversary Joshua Dryer, a circumstance that fills everyone living in Alvington Manor with dread.

Meakins is so determined to have his revenge that he cares little or nothing for the damage he causes to innocent victims who become entrapped and embroiled in his nefarious and wicked stratagems and plots for revenge.

The tale is a continuation of  the stories of Meakins, Dryer and the contemporaries.

It is well researched -one could almost hear the creaking of the prison ship as it transports Meakins to his life in the prison colony- and it is an exciting and well-told tale steeped in the Somerset and Australia of the 19th century.

It is a tale of rogues, vagabonds, ladies and gentlemen of those exciting and distant times.

Does Meakins exact his revenge on Dryer?

Or does Lady Fate have a different and more fitting outcome for Nathan Meakins?

The book is available in paperback from Matador at £9.99 and is available via the That's Books and Entertainment bookshop which you can find to the right hand side of this website.

The Bunny Run. Your "must buy" summer read

If you buy only one book this year, it should be "The Bunny Run" by Tim Topps.

When I picked up this novel I was captivated from the first paragraph on the first page.

I was hooked so much so that I had to read the 166 page book in one sitting. Which is very rare for me.

The novel tells the story of how the protagonist Tim Topps suddenly realises that his marriage, in fact his whole life as he has lived it so far, is at an abrupt end.

For work purposes for many years, he has driven between his two offices in Oxford and Cambridge.

He makes the journey in his beloved car, a vintage Sunbeam Talbot.

The route he takes is familiar to him and he keeps himself entertained on his route by making observations, often wry and humorous, about the villages and towns that he passes through.

He also has some very strong opinions on placenames and their likely origins.

He draws us into his life by telling us little stories (vignettes)  from his own life which, as he travelled with his government official father and his mother, involved trips to many exciting and exotic locations, Remembrance Day in East Africa, then back to England for boarding school, romantic encounters with young ladies and the like. Sometimes in an aside to the reader he will point out that although there is a basis of truth in the particular story that it is not true.

Tim regales us with digressions as to why The Pooh books are, in reality, extremely witty books aimed at the adults who are reading them to the children, rather than being 'pure' children's books.

He tells us about his wife and her horrible family, including his violent and criminal brother-in-law.

Tim likes to correct people almost to the point of it being an obsession. He also has a faith or a conviction that the number seven has some deep significance for him.

Although the book might appear to be a random collection of highly entertaining and very diverting travelogue style musings on the towns and villages he is travelling through and the roads and bridges he is passing over, the book is far, far more than that.

There are several 'markers' throughout the book, plus several threads of bright material that cunningly disguise the real, true nature of the book which will shock, amaze and enthrall you at the same time, when you realise exactly where the journey was always going to end up.

It is published by paperback by Matador at £8.99. I can promise you that it will be the best £8.99 you will have spent in a long time.

The book is available from the bookshop at That's Books and Entertainment, to the righthand side of this review.

The Unforgiving Shore

The Unforgiving Shore is a novel by Gil Hogg.

It describes the lige of youthful Ellen Colbert who has cared as much as she can for her paralysed husband, so she takes the decision to move on and leaves him behind her.

She seeks work amongst the kitchen staff at Marchmont Mansion and eventually catches the eye of one of the Marchmont family itself, John Marchmont.

He whisks her off to Australia for a new and all together far more exciting life on the other side of the world.

For several idyllic months the two lovers enjoy their lives at the vast cattle station owned  by John's family. The cattle station is called Mirabilly,

But then John receives a letter from London. It describes that through several family deaths and a will that had been destroyed, John has suddenly become a very wealthy man indeed, as he is the inheritant of the vast bulk of the family fortune.

Immediately John leaves for London, leaving a distraught Ellen behind, jilted by the man she had hoped to spend the rest of her life with.

Four years later he returns to Mirabilly, he wants to pick up their relationship where he had abruptly left it, but as a now married woman, Ellen will not hear of it and tells him so in no uncertain terms.

She has her stockman husband, her son and her reputation to consider.

But then tragedy strikes and her husband is drowned in an accident.

Then the niggling doubts begin. Was her husband the father of her son, Paul? Or was John Marchmont his real father?

His mother denies it, but it eats at him. Could he be a Marchmont? The son of his mother's one time lover?

This is a compelling novel which touches on a variety of themes such as fidelity, love, the meaning of parenthood and of love and loss.

It is published by Matador at £10.99 and is available from the mazon-powered bookshop on this site.

The Gift-Knight's Quest

The Gift-Knight's Quest, by Dylan Madeley is a debut fantasy novel that bids you welcome and fair journeying through the magical and mystical lands of the world of Kensrik.

You will learn about the lives of a range of very special characters.

There's Chandra. Chandra is the ruler of Kensrik. She never asked fro the burden of rulership, but it was thrust upon her, nevertheless.

It is felt by many that she should not be the ruler, she is scorned as a sorceress by most people of Kensrik.

Her life is ruined, one could say, by the traumatic events that brought her to the position of ruler, but she must make use of the few remaining loyal friends an allies that she has at her side, because although she never asked to be ruler of Kensrik, this is her fate, and she must rule it to the best of her abilities, in order to keep the restless empire in one piece.

But she is also attempting to identify the conspirators who forced rulership upon her. And then she can deal with them. But is this risking her own life and the lives of her loyal followers?

And what of Derek? He is an aimless, feckless wanderer, the youngest member of a once proud and noble family, long fallen from the position that it once held. Tradition summons him to serve someone who is, also by tradition, his bitterest of enemies. He struggles with personal demons and begins to question his loyalty to the mission that he is sworn to uphold.

Then there is Duke Lenn, he found love, but this all consuming love cost him everything he held dear.

His legacy has shaped the present that Chandra and Derek are struggling to exist within. Now the choices and options that face them will shape the future of Kensrik for ever...

What will they do? How will they cope? Who are their real enemies?

It is hoped that this will be the first of many novels from Dylan Madeley, who is a real find for fans of fantasy novels.

This book should be in the Christmas stockings of all fans of fantasy fiction, for those thinking ahead to Christmas gifts.

This book is published by Matador at £11.99 for the paperback version and £3.99 for the ebook version.

 It is available for purchase from the That's Books and Entertainment bookshop, powered by Amazon. on the righthand side of the site.

A New Vision by Bola Ogunkoya

A New Vision by Bola Ogunkoya, is subtitled 'Observations, experiences and hopes for black people in the diaspora.'

It is based upon the author's own life, his own experiences and on his observations of the world about him.

It explores how the black community is viewed and represented in the society of today.

It asks questions that often seem to be unasked, let alone unanswered.

What of the history of those people who were torn from their homelands in Africa?

What about the abolishment of the evil slave trade?

Why are black teenagers represented as failing in our school system when, states Bola Ogunkoya, this is, actually, far removed from the truth?

Why is "black on black violence" still an occurrence today? (Why was it ever an occurrence?)

He also muses on why a country like the USA has produced a black president, a black attorney general and four star black generals, when the UK, a country less riven by the legacy of recent segregation, has not?

It is the intention of Bola Ogunkoya that his book should help people to once again dream and to take ownership of their destiny and to achieve great things in the way their forefathers did.

The book is published by Matador and costs £8.99 in paperback and £2.99 as an e-book.

 It is available for purchase from the That's Books and Entertainment bookshop, powered by Amazon. on the righthand side of the site.