Quetzalcoatl: Time Stones Book II by Ian Hunter

 

Quetzalcoatl: Time Stones Book II 
By Ian Hunter

Publication Date: 22nd April 2021

Publisher: MVB Marketing- und Verlagsservice des Buchhandels GmbH

Print Length: 277 Pages

Genre: Historical Fantasy

Jessie Mason lives with her nose in the pages of history. But she is discovering that the past is a dangerous place where she doesn't belong, and knowledge alone is not going to save her.

Jessie’s life has become a series of terrible challenges. Now she must lead her friends in the hopeless task Grandfather set them: hunt down and destroy the Time Stones. But her leadership has already failed. Tip has left them and Abe has simply disappeared, while she and Kes are trapped in the heart of an ancient empire in turmoil.

Thrust into a fractured, threatened Mexica nobility, Jessie is immersed in a way of life, fascinating and disturbing in equal measure, yet powerless before the approaching Conquistadors and the impending clash of cultures.

Even as the fabulous city of Tenochtitlan descends into savage violence, Jessie’s determination to succeed is undiminished. But with world history taking a new, bloody direction before her, she is finally forced to decide which is more important: continuing the task or simply surviving.

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Ian Hunter

Books have been an important part of my life as long as I can remember, and at 54 years old, that’s a lot of books. My earliest memories of reading are CS Lewis’, “The Horse and His Boy” – by far the best of the Narnia books, the Adventures series by Willard Price, and “Goalkeepers are Different” by sports journalist Brian Glanville. An eclectic mix. My first English teacher was surprised to hear that I was reading, Le Carré, Ken Follett, Nevil Shute and “All the Presidents’ Men” by Woodward and Bernstein at the age of 12. I was simply picking up the books my father had finished.

School syllabus threw up the usual suspects – Shakespeare, Chaucer, Dickens, Hardy, “To Kill a Mockingbird” – which I have reread often, and others I don’t immediately recall. By “A” level study, my then English teachers were pulling their hair out at my “perverse waste of talent” – I still have the report card! But I did manage a pass.

During a 35 year career, briefly in Banking and then in IT, I managed to find time, with unfailing family support, to study another lifelong passion, graduating with an Open University Bachelors’ degree in History in 2002. This fascination with all things historical inspired me to begin the Time Stones series. There is so much to our human past, and so many differing views on what is the greatest, and often the saddest, most tragic story. I decided I wanted to write about it; to shine a small light on those, sometimes pivotal stories, which are less frequently mentioned.

In 1995, my wife, Michelle, and I moved from England to southern Germany, where we still live, with our two children, one cat, and, when she pays us a visit, one chocolate labrador. I have been fortunate that I could satisfy another wish, to travel as widely as possible and see as much of our world as I can. Destinations usually include places of historic and archaeological interest, mixed with a large helping of sun, sea and sand for my wife’s peace of mind.

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Five Minute History: The Forgotten Cold War Tour That Proved Music Could Crack Dictatorships by Cliff Lovette

 

BLOWN OUT OF POWER BY SAXOPHONES

The Forgotten Cold War Tour That Proved Music Could Crack Dictatorships

By Cliff Lovette

During the Cold War, America discovered an unlikely weapon in its ideological arsenal: music. The State Department dispatched jazz legends like Louis Armstrong, Dave Brubeck, and Dizzy Gillespie behind the Iron Curtain as cultural ambassadors. The New York Times proclaimed that "America's secret weapon is a blue note in a minor key." These "Real Ambassadors" cracked open windows in the Communist world that diplomats couldn't budge.

But jazz was only the opening act. In 1970, the Nixon administration decided to deploy something more dangerous: rock 'n' roll.

Blood, Sweat & Tears was the biggest band in America. Their 1969 album had won the Grammy for Album of the Year, beating out the Beatles' Abbey Road. "Spinning Wheel" and "You've Made Me So Very Happy" dominated the airwaves. They were nine musicians at the absolute peak of their powers.

They were also trapped.

Lead singer David Clayton-Thomas was Canadian with a troubled past—a street kid who'd bounced through jails and reformatories before discovering his voice could set him free. But that criminal record now threatened everything. The State Department

denied his green card renewal. Without it, he'd be deported, and the band would be finished.

Enter Larry Greenblatt, the band's manager—a man so audacious that when they hired him, he was still in jail. Greenblatt brokered an extraordinary deal: permanent residency for Clayton-Thomas in exchange for the band becoming the first American rock group to tour behind the Iron Curtain as official representatives of the U.S. government.

The band members felt coerced. Guitarist Steve Katz was adamantly opposed. But they packed their bags for Yugoslavia, Romania, and Poland.

What happened next proved something that authoritarian regimes have always feared: music is more dangerous than missiles.

In Romania, Clayton-Thomas's electrifying performances drove audiences into ecstasy. The government panicked. At the second Constanța concert, security forces locked the doors—not to keep people out, but to trap them in. Then they released the dogs. German shepherds. Soldiers with billy clubs. They attacked the audience— teenagers, 15 and 18 years old—for the crime of being too joyful.

Clayton-Thomas remembered sitting in the dressing room afterward, weeping with bassist Jim Fielder. "We didn't mean to do this," he said. "Who knew this could happen?"

A Reader's Digest reporter accompanying the tour later explained the Romanian government's terror with chilling precision: "They were afraid they would be blown out of power by saxophones... They didn't want any more people being too joyful."

The State Department had hired a film crew to document their triumph. Sixty-five hours of footage captured everything—including the dogs, the soldiers, the chaos. When the reels arrived in Washington, officials realized the material portrayed Romania too negatively. They canceled the documentary and confiscated the footage. Only an unrealistically cheerful 53-minute "travelogue" version survived, never aired, discovered decades later by an MGM archivist.

When the band returned home, they discovered they'd become the first victims of what we now call "cancel culture"—attacked from both directions simultaneously. Abbie Hoffman's Yippies picketed their Madison Square Garden concert, distributing

leaflets calling them "pig-collaborators" for working with Nixon's government. Meanwhile, the conservative Right couldn't forgive their anti-Vietnam War stance.

Caught in the crossfire of America's culture wars, their career never recovered. Rolling Stone later ranked it among the worst decisions in music history.

But here's what the cultural gatekeepers on both sides missed: the music worked.

In 2023, director John Scheinfeld released What the Hell Happened to Blood, Sweat & Tears?, a documentary that tracked down Romanian audience members from those 1970 concerts. After more than fifty years, their memories remained vivid. One said: "The feeling of freedom it exuded was extraordinary." Another: "It was a sign for all of Romania that outside the borders there is life, and it is a very free one."

Those words echo what my characters argue in Circus Bim Bom: A Cold War Adventure. Around the Seder table in Chapter 21, Alek—one of the circus clowns— shares a story about David Bowie performing in West Berlin with speakers aimed over the Wall so East Germans could listen. When border troops tried to disperse the crowd with fire hoses, the people stood their ground, chanting 'BREAK DOWN THE WALL!' Alek calls it 'the first crack in the wall.' Joshua Horkheimer, a young Jewish intellectual, responds: 'Rock music is the universal language for dissidents.' He talks about Argentine 'Rolingas' using the Rolling Stones' hot lips logo as symbols of defiance against the military junta, and Elsa recalls Cuban rebels holding clandestine rock 'n' roll parties with guitars made from cigar boxes.

Blood, Sweat & Tears proved Joshua's theory in the most dramatic way possible. They showed that authoritarian regimes are right to fear saxophones—because joy is revolutionary, and music carries it across every wall humans build.

The tragedy is that America's tribal wars destroyed the messengers for daring to stand in the impossible middle. They were too hip for the establishment, too establishment for the counterculture. They refused to be ideologically pure—and paid the price.

But in Romania, in Poland, in Yugoslavia, teenagers heard something in that brass- fueled rock 'n' roll that their governments couldn't silence: the sound of freedom itself. 

Circus Bim Bom: A Cold War Adventure 

By Cliff Lovette

Publication Date: 1st March 2026

Publisher: Bim Bom Books

Print Length: 478 Pages

Genre: Historical Fiction / Romantic Adventure /  Political Intrigue

Soviet circus performers arrived in America hoping to build cultural bridges. Instead, they became unwitting pawns in a Cold War game of international intrigue.

When the first privately owned Soviet circus arrived in 1990 in America as the Soviet Union disintegrated, its elite performers expected to build cultural bridges through spectacular shows. Instead, this prestigious troupe faced a perilous journey through Cold War America.

Circus director Yuri had to navigate treacherous waters where American mobsters, Soviet agents, and political forces circled like predators. Young aerialist Anton dreamed of becoming a clown against his family’s wishes, while forbidden romances and unexpected connections bloomed between Soviet performers and Americans who saw past the ideological divide. As high-stakes conspiracies threatened to tear the circus family apart, they had to choose between the authoritarian chains of home and the uncertain promise of freedom.

As the Ringmaster reminds us, “The best Soviet stories are like vodka—they burn with suffering, intoxicate with conflict, keep you stewing in reflection, and yearning for your heart’s desire.” This genre-bending tale explores whether human connection can transcend ideology—and whether storytelling can bridge the divides that separate us.

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What Makes This Novel Different

Circus Bim Bom offers an innovative multimedia reading experience. The novel includes 45+ YouTube links to period music, historical speeches, and cultural moments embedded throughout—readers can listen to the actual songs characters dance to as they waltz, and watch Reagan's Brandenburg Gate speech as it's referenced in the text.

The companion website (www.bimbombookclub.com) extends the story beyond the page:

• Character Avatars: 25+ talking video introductions where characters speak directly to readers

• Re-Imagined Circus Posters

• Book Club Experience: Interactive forums, live chat, and community discussions

• Historians Room (under construction): A space for Cold War history buffs to fact-check the novel, explore primary sources, and debate historical accuracy

Cliff Lovette

Father, storyteller, and dog lover living in Sandy Springs, Georgia, with London curled at his feet. Circus Bim Bom: A Cold War Adventure is the first book in his debut duology, followed by Circus Bim Bom: The Great Escape.

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Both Sides of the Pond My Family’s War: 1933-1946 by Barbara Kent Lawrence

Both Sides of the Pond
My Family’s War: 1933-1946

By Barbara Kent Lawrence

Publication Date: October 15th, 2025

Publisher: Sweet Fern Press

Pages: 393

Genre: Historical Fiction

In January of 1939 when Barbara Greene, a beautiful young British actress, met Joe Kennedy, Jr., son of the American Ambassador, she could not have expected that their relationship would lead to her emigrating to the United States and learning to pilot a plane. Neither could her brother, Kent, have foreseen his bitter retreat from Dunkirk when he left England in January 1940 to fight in France, or his subsequent service on the frontlines in Cornwall, North Africa, Sicily, and Burma.

In this intensively researched war story of the author’s family, we also hear the stories of other ordinary people who survived extraordinary circumstances. Richly illustrated with photographs and documents, “Both Sides of the Pond, My Family’s War: 1933 – 1946” is a captivating book.

Praise for Both Sides of the Pond:

"Author Barbara Kent Lawrence weaves a rich tapestry of the lives of her British mother and uncle from 1933 to 1946, before, during, and just after World War II. ...
War stories are very personal. This is such a story, and it offers insight into how two young people navigated difficult years that altered the trajectories of the lives they thought they would live. It is a worthy read, written beautifully. Don’t miss it."
~ Patricia Walkow, Military Writers Society of America

"I loved this book and couldn’t put it down. History and the complexity of human relationships unfold with uncommon grace."
~ Barbara Lazear Ascher, winner, most recently, of Pushcart’s Editors Book Award for Ghosting: A Widow’s Voyage Out.

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Barbara Kent Lawrence

Dr. Lawrence is the author of many articles and nine books, including an award-winning dissertation about the influence of culture on aspirations in Maine. Her new book, Both Sides of the Pond, My Family’s War: 1933 - 1945, is available in book stores and on Amazon.

A former professor, she has taught courses in anthropology and sociology, research, and writing non-fiction and memoir. Lawrence grew up in New York City and Washington D.C., then earned a BA in anthropology from Bennington College, an MA in sociology from New York University, and an Ed.D. in Administration, Policy and Planning from Boston University.

In addition to teaching, Lawrence has worked for the Department of Social Services and the Housing Development Administration in New York, directed a small museum in Maine, co-run a brokerage and construction company, consulted for the Rural School and Community Trust and KnowledgeWorks, and started four non-profit organizations supporting the environment and students.

When not working she loves to garden, knit, and go for walks, pastimes she learned from her British mother. She lives in Maine and is working on the third novel in her Islands series.

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West Of Santillane by Brook Allen

West Of Santillane

By Brook Allen

Publication Date: March 8th, 2024

Publisher: Dawg House Books

Pages: 376

Genre: Historical Fiction / Women in History

Desperate to escape a mundane future as a Virginia planter’s wife, Julia Hancock seizes her chance for adventure when she wins the heart of American hero William Clark. Though her husband is the famed explorer, Julia embarks on her own thrilling and perilous journey of self-discovery.

With her gaze ever westward, Julia possesses a hunger for knowledge and a passion for helping others. She falls in love with Will’s strength and generous manner, but, like her parents, he is a slave owner, and Julia harbors strong opinions against slavery. Still, her love for Will wins out, though he remains unaware of her beliefs.

Julia finds St. Louis to be a rough town with few of the luxuries to which she is accustomed, harboring scandalous politicians and miscreants of all types. As her husband and his best friend, Meriwether Lewis, work to establish an American government and plan to publish their highly anticipated memoirs, Julia struggles to assume the roles of both wife and mother. She is also drawn into the plight of an Indian family desperate to return to their own lands and becomes an advocate for Will’s enslaved.

When political rivals cause trouble, Julia’s clandestine aid to the Indians and enslaved of St. Louis draws unwanted attention, placing her at odds with her husband. Danger cloaks itself in far too many ways, leading her to embrace the courage to save herself and others through a challenge of forgiveness that will either restore the love she shares with Will or end it forever.

Praise for West of Santillane:

'"West of Santillane" is not just an account of historical events but also a story of love, resilience, and self-discovery. Brook Allen successfully blends romantic, historical, and adventurous elements, offering readers a captivating and memorable reading experience. The book is a warm recommendation for those who appreciate well-documented historical fiction and engaging life narratives.'

~ The Historical Fiction Company

'Brook Allen’s novel West of Santillane is guaranteed to tug at your heartstrings, so have some tissues nearby. This book is so captivating that it begs to be adapted into a movie. Seeing these characters brought to life on the big screen would be amazing. This book will definitely be remembered as one of my favourite reads of the year.'

~ Ellie Yarde, 5* Editorial Review, The Coffee Pot Book Club

Excerpt

Christmas passed with no sign of Will, and for me there was a saturating profusion of whens.

When would he arrive? When would the wedding be? When would we depart for St. Louis?

For nearly all of December, I listened for riders approaching the house. Whenever I heard hoofbeats, I ran to the window. When that happened on a blustery, chilly late afternoon, I set Master Shakespeare aside, scrambling to the window and wiping frost from the pane.

Not him. Not yet.

Instead, it was an armed soldier with a padlocked saddlebag, making me wonder what sort of official business he had at Santillane. By the time I reached the front door, he had dismounted and was busy unlocking the bag, drawing out a small parcel, neatly wrapped. 

While I swung open the front door, Mama was calling for Megg to warm some tea on the stove for the traveler. 

“Greetings, miss,” the young man said. “I’m looking for Miss Julia Hancock.”

My heart thudded. “I’m Miss Hancock.”

“Miss Hancock, I’ve ridden from Washington City to convey warmest regards from President Jefferson,” he announced, climbing the stairs. “This here is a wedding gift from the president himself.” 

He presented the parcel, and I accepted. Utterly astonished, I wandered into the library’s privacy with it.

“Please,” Mama invited, bustling to the entrance toward the soldier. “It’s freezing outside. Do go around the side of the house to the kitchen. We’ve warmed some tea for you, and my woman Megg will see you’re given a hot meal before you continue on.”

“Many thanks, ma’am. That’s greatly appreciated.”

Once she’d shut the door, Mama came up behind me, where I was admiring the packaged gift. “What is it?” she asked, insistently peering over my shoulder.

“I don’t know—”

“Well, open it, child!”

I peeled away the outer layer of wrapping carefully to find a smoothly sanded and polished flat-latched box of walnut with a crisp note of official presidential stationery attached. 

“Oh, Julia, he’s written you a private note.”

Blinking at my own disbelief, I lifted the folded stationery, feeling the raised print under my fingertips. It was engraved with the presidential seal and Jefferson’s name. Beneath was his message—the author of our Declaration of Independence had written me in his own bold script: 

My dearest Miss Hancock,

I’m sure there are hardly words to express the delight and happiness you must feel as you celebrate the advent of your marriage. If William Clark has chosen you as his bride, then I can only assume what an upright and purposeful woman you must be. Therefore, I beg you to accept this small gift, representing the sentiments I hold, not only of your worthy person, but of Clark’s esteemed service and character—all of which I hold dear. May your days together be many and full of joy.

I am indeed in your service and in the service of our beloved country,

Th. Jefferson, President of the United States

“Oh, Julia—open it!” Mama fussed again.

In disbelief, I set the note aside upon one of our library tables. Using my finger, I slid the box’s delicate brass latch up to the right. The lid released, and I opened it the rest of the way, gasping. Beneath a protective flap of emerald satin was a magnificent brooch of carnelian and gold, and on either side were displayed matching earrings. They were exquisite, and not even my parents had ever gifted me with such extravagance. 

I stared at Mama, shaking my head, stunned. “How can I accept this? It’s far too rich for me.”

Ever so gently, she placed her hands upon my face and whispered, “Daughter, you are marrying into greatness, and even our president recognizes that fact. You will accept it with humility, with dignity, and wear these baubles in St. Louis with pride, where people will be amazed that the president sends you such.”

I was humbled. 

What an incredible time this was—a year full of newness, a year of firsts. 

Like receiving gifts from the president.

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Brook Allen

Author Brook Allen has a passion for history. Her newest project, West of Santillane spotlights history from a little closer to home in Botetourt County, Virginia. It’s the story of Julia Hancock, who married famed explorer, William Clark. Each character of this thrilling, adventurous period was researched throughout southwest Virginia and into Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, Idaho, and North Dakota. It launched in March of 2024.

 

Brook belongs to the Historical Novel Society and attends conferences as often as possible to study craft and meet fellow authors. In 2019, her novel Antonius: Son of Rome won a silver medal in the international Reader’s Favorite Book Reviewers Book Awards, then won First Place in the prestigious Chaucer Division in the Chanticleer International Book Awards, 2020. West of Santillane garnered international attention in Summer 2025 by becoming a Silver Medalist in the Independent Publishing Book Awards for best Mid-Atlantic Fiction. Also, it was a finalist for the Virginia Romance Writers Holt Medallion. Most recently, Brook appeared in Season 8 of Blueridge PBS’s WRITE AROUND THE CORNER.

Though she graduated from Asbury University with a B.A. in Music Education, Brook has always loved writing. She completed a Masters program at Hollins University with an emphasis in Ancient Roman studies, which helped prepare her for authoring her award-winning Antonius Trilogy.

Brook recently retired from public education and her personal interests include travel, cycling, hiking in the woods, reading, and spending downtime with her husband and big, black dog, Jak. She lives in the heart of southwest Virginia in the scenic Blue Ridge Mountains.

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