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To the rhythmic background of classic R&B soul music, Harry Carlton and his new love Helen are unexpectedly thrust into a violent encounter with ruthless and malevolent forces and a rogue’s gallery of dastardly villains. These two, near their fifties, are not kindly white-haired grandparents ready to sit sedately in rocking chairs. Instead, they confront danger with bravery, and battle dishonesty and injustice with valor. They discover a priceless, lost artifact treasure of the ancient Indians of South and Central America. In the struggle to return the treasure to its rightful owners, they must outwit the assortment of murderous villains, and stay alive.
September 1597
Impatient shouts from angry Spanish overseers mixed with the sharp crack of their whips. Snake-like lines of filthy, emaciated, near naked Indian slaves, almost unrecognizable as men, staggered across bowed gangways to the six ships moored at the stone quays. Their whip-scarred backs bent as they struggled under heavy barrels and chests. Sweat, tinted red with blood, dripped from the Indians as they labored by the flicker of torchlight into the growing darkness of the humid, tropical evening. Below decks of the Santa Maria de Castile, the galleon flagship of the six-ship flota, two men met in the closed confines of a fetid, airless cabin.
“Vicealmirante Don Francisco, the loading shall be completed by midnight. The ships will be ready to sail with the morning tide.”
“Excellente, Alonso,” Don Francisco replied. “Are those two insufferable priests satisfied with the storage of their cargo?” Seated comfortably behind a cluttered, ornately carved, dark oak table, the aristocratic Don Francisco sipped a glass of red wine while the handsome, broad-shouldered Felipe Alonso, Capitan of the Santa Maria, stood. Not of noble lineage, Felipe suffered the indignities of superiors like the Vicealmirante, in order to command a fighting galleon.
“Si, Vicealmirante. Padre Xavier and Padre Tomas will bless our journey and the ships when we sail.”
“They do not sail with us?”
“Padre Xavier informed me he and his fellow priests will remain. Their sacred work of converting the heathen natives to the one true faith is not completed.”
In a turbulent time of global conflict, he seeks to be an ardent voice of reason speaking against illogic and the darkness of injustice, violence, and hatred pursued by the irrational and fanatic zealot faithful, worldwide.
An Objectivist, his novels reflect his commitment to logical thinking and the right of free people to rationally choose a destiny in their own best self-interests. He enjoys spinning outrageous tales based on his fertile imagination and real life experiences. Married, he lives with his wife in Florida. Currently projects are two novel series: an Epic Fantasy and an Action/Adventure. Also in the works are sci-fi novels and short stories.
Website: http://www.hfparkhurst.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/hfparkhurst
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Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteI liked the excerpt.
ReplyDeleteEngaging blurb and excerpt!
ReplyDeleteTrix, vitajex(at)Aol(Dot)com
Thanks for hosting. Comments are always welcome by an author and are a means to be better at our craft. Some of the portions of the tale actually happened and were a delight to live again. Enjoy the read!
ReplyDeleteInteresting bio
ReplyDeleteHello Librarian Judith...from Librarian Catherine!
ReplyDeleteI liked the book blurb and the meet the author section.
ReplyDeleteGreat excerpt, sounds good. Entering under the name of Virginia
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