Ed Protzel, author of The Lies That Bind, article in The Mississippi Link!

See page 18 of the Feb. 4 e-edition of Mississippi Link

http://themississippilink.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/February-4-2016.pdf

Fayetteville, Arkansas Barnes and Noble Book Signing for Caroline Giammanco, author of Bank Notes: The True Story of the Boonie Hat Bandit

http://www.booniehatbandit.com/fayetteville-arkansas-barnes-and-noble-book-signing/

QL 4 is a story set in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam, 1969 – 1970…

PFC Bell, ex-grad student and newly-minted U.S. Army MP, knows there’s more than a war going on along QL 4, the main road from Saigon into the Mekong Delta. It’s old-fashioned crime and vice, and he doesn’t want to get involved, but life for an American MP in 1970 Vietnam doesn’t work that way. Bell is led deep into a quagmire of deception, corruption and death, not only in the towns and military posts along the route, but also in the old French villa where he and his fellow MPs live.

Bell’s head tells him to mind his own business, serve his time and get out. But his heart, conflicted by a strong sense of morality in the midst of an unpopular war and the allure of an exotic place and its people, especially pretty young women, compels him to confront the dark side, no matter the cost.

An intense read, QL 4 is the final test for a disillusioned American GI as he searches for an honorable way out of his predicament.

Much of the material for QL 4 comes from Jim Garrison’s experiences as an MP in the Mekong Delta. He went from a sheltered, small-town life, drafted out of law school, to Vietnam in the blink of an eye. The endemic violence, corruption, and poverty, as well as the daily challenges of being a MP in a war zone, left a lasting impression that reached well beyond his years of practicing law.

Garrison returned to Duke Law School following his tour and wrote reams of legal briefs, memos, and other legal folderol. He began writing QL 4, after being asked by his son, “What did you do in the war, Dad?” Jim Garrison  Photos for QL4

Represented by Loiacono Literary Agency https://loiaconoliteraryagency.com/authors/jim-garrison

Published by TouchPoint Press www.touchpointpress.com

“The Writer’s Block” LA Talk Radio with Jim Christina interviews Jeanie Loiacono, President of Loiacono Literary Agency!11 pm EST, 10 pm CST 8 pm PST tonight! www.latalkradio.com/content/writers-block  On the right side of the site there will be a ‘Listen Live’ button and pod casts at the bottom of the page.www.loiaconoliteraryagency.com

Melissa Embry is a former journalist living in Dallas, Texas, whose short fiction has appeared in numerous print and online venues. She blogs about the North Texas literary scene and classic genre tales at http://nojobforsissies.blogspot.com/. The Tomb of the Khan is her first novel.

Tomb of Kahn

As the Great War ends, forces of the defeated Ottoman Empire withdraw from Jerusalem. Among those adrift in the chaos of the ancient city is American expatriate Jack Solms, who reckons his wartime service left him with three souvenirs: a wounded leg, a case of shell shock, and a wife who increasingly regrets their hasty war wedding.

When a stranger hires him for an expedition to the site of an ancient tomb, Jack hopes the adventure and the money will turn his life around and help win back the love of his wife, Isabelle. Only he soon begins to wonder if the stranger’s interest is in rescuing Allied prisoners of war as he says, or in the secret of Isabelle’s family; that she is the last descendent of the great Mongol khans and heir to the long-lost gold they looted from Baghdad centuries ago.

Worse, he fears that the beautiful and estranged Isabelle has caught the stranger’s eye.

But even Jack isn’t suspicious enough to believe suggestions that the stranger is a rogue Ottoman agent with plans to resurrect the dying empire. That would be crazy…or would it? https://loiaconoliteraryagency.com/authors/melissa-embry

Celebrating Black History Month in February

New historical novel, The Lies That Bind, debunks slave stereotypes

 LOUIS — Feb. 1, 2016 — Aiming to refute historical stereotypes, Ed Protzel’s darkly ironic historical novel, The Lies That Bind – DarkHorse Trilogy, Book 1, just released by TouchPoint Press, weaves a web of deception and survival in the antebellum South.

Portraying black characters in dominant roles, the story is set in 1859-61 Mississippi. Durksen Hurst, aka Dark Horse, a visionary charlatan on the run, encounters a dozen hungry slaves stranded in the wilds. Desperate and in need of one another, they agree to build an egalitarian plantation, with Hurst acting as figurehead “master” and his partners, led by Big Josh, pretending to be slaves.

Nearby live the powerful Frenches: the reclusive Missus French, who manipulates the region’s bankers and cotton brokers, and her frail, rebellious heir-apparent, Devereau. They “legally” adopt a child from New Orleans to carry on their legacy. Now, Antoinette, the mother, has come for her son and gets much more than she expected.

Protzel attributes his research in African-American and Southern culture and history as key in the book’s development.

“I always was bothered by the depiction of enslaved peoples in traditional Southern storytelling. I wanted to give voice to those who were virtually unheard, commonly ignored or, at best, stereotyped,” notes Protzel. “The Lies That Bind succeeds by touching our common aspirations, our mutual need for love, freedom and belonging—not an easy task for anyone in the pre-Civil War South, and certainly not for the denizens of The Lies That Bind, not the powerful nor the powerless.”

Protzel has written five original screenplays for feature film and worked developing film scripts/projects for 20^th Century Fox. He has a Master’s in English Literature/Creative Writing from the University of Missouri-St. Louis and a B.A. in English from the University of Hawaii. The novel, Book 1 in his planned DarkHorse Trilogy, is based on Protzel’s screenplay, which was recognized by the Missouri Playwrights Association. The final two books in the trilogy include Honor Among Outcasts, set in Missouri during the Civil War, and Something in Madness, set in California.

For questions, to arrange an interview, or for a review copy of The Lies That Bind, please contact:

Ed Protzel, ed.protzel@att.net  www.edprotzel.com

Represented by Loiacono Literary Agency www.loiaconoliteraryagency.com

Published by TouchPoint Press www.touchpointpress.com

Rochelle Wisoff-Fields is doing commissioned portraits. Contact her @ Runtshell@aol.com This is what she did for me! So proud to have a Rochelle original! I am in awe of her!  

Fields has written and done the covers for both of her books published by Argus Publishing: Please Say Kaddish For Me and From Silt and Ashes, and she is currently working on As One Must, One Can, the third in the trilogy. Argus is planning on a companion coffee table book, A Stone for the Journey, soon after the trilogy is complete.

https://loiaconoliteraryagency.com/authors/rochelle-wisoff-fields/   Rochelle’s Art    Rochelle Wisoff-Fields Art and Blogs  Rochelle’s website

A pact of honor and responsibility is taken on D-Day by William Dunavant and Alex Powe; both expectant fathers who know they may not survive the invasion. When Powe is captured, tortured and killed, Dunavant vows to keep his promise…

Fourteen years later, Dunavant visits Powe’s son, Nick, for the first time, telling the young man how his father died and of their lifetime agreement. Nick is a natural sniper and considers his ability a gift; one he is fated to use. Dunavant sees it as an opportunity, secretly guiding Nick’s future.

When he brings his daughter, Grace, to Nick’s graduation from the Special Forces Qualification Course, eyes lock and another, much more personal pact is made.

Grace Dunavant is an intelligent, driven young woman cut of the same cloth as her father. Suspicious of her father’s role in past and current events, she confronts him after finding a letter from Simon Wiesenthal regarding the search for a Nazi war criminal—the very one who killed Powe—Werner Krueger.

Fate and fortune are cut from the same cloth as are honor and integrity, but above all, there is loyalty…

Dudgeons and Daggers (release 2016) is the combination of Carnes’ life experiences, history and one heck-of-an imagination. He worked as a roustabout on an offshore gas platform, was a Green Beret in the US Special Forces, and is a teacher of twenty-two years, a public relations manager, a basketball coach, a devoted husband and the father of two rowdy boys— all of which makes this novel ever so real.

His first novel was Rasputin’s Legacy (Black Rose Writing, 2010) which garnered notable endorsements and rave reviews. www.troymatthewcarnes.com

Published by Argus Publishing 

Represented by Loiacono Literary Agency

Two ways to meet and listen to Chuck Walsh, author of Shadows on Iron Mountain, Backwoods Justice, A Month of Tomorrows, A Passage Back and A Splintered Dream!