DRAGONS AND BOXERS
Northern China in 1900. The nation is in turmoil; the failing Manchu dynasty struggles to survive in the face of poverty. Facing social disintegration coupled with foreign encroachments, the ancient traditions of China seem powerless against the onslaught of the modern world.
From the countryside comes a response: the brutal, quasi-religious movement of Chinese peasants known as Boxers, who seek to rid the country of foreign influence by any means necessary. American missionaries James and Dorothy Cooper have been in China for five years, maintaining their small school and clinic and laboring to spread the gospel, but the Boxers’ violent fury cuts short their mission, and their son Wayland is left barely clinging to life.
Rescued by a kindly Chinese passerby, Wayland begins his recovery, but tensions remain high in the still-simmering city of Tianjin, and Wayland’s new Chinese family has dark secrets of their own. He soon finds himself in the middle of a deadly dispute between two martial arts masters, and his own fate will hinge on the outcome. Wayland must navigate between two worlds, and arms himself with the powerful secrets of Chinese martial arts.
Published by Earnshaw Books, and available from major booksellers in February, 2020.
Even Closer than the Sea and Other Stories
A small band of American soldiers man a lonely outpost on the coast of Massachusetts during WWII, and find themselves facing something far more terrifying than German submarines…Two wayward samurai track a strange beast and look for a payday in feudal Japan…The crew of a space probe to one of Jupiter’s moons have to alter their mission when they realize that life on Europa is no longer hypothetical…A cattleman and his top hand in 1880’s Texas learn that a lack of water might not always be the worst problem to have…A trooper becomes separated from her squad in the hostile desert of a strange planet, and finds herself pursued by merciless enemies…A family gathering at an old coastal estate in turn-of-the-century Maine takes a horrific turn as the family discovers that their grandfather accidentally brought something else back from Egypt along with his artifacts…
These eleven tales of strange creatures and haunted landscapes take the reader from dark seas to arid deserts, from old Japan to distant planets in the far future. In the vein of classic fantasy, horror and science fiction, these stories capture the terror and bravery of average people facing unknown foes and unearthly challenges.
Available in paperback and on Kindle now at Amazon