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WAKO: Japanese Pirates

Betrayal and danger are not new to Wako pirate captain Lady Aika. Her Chinese prostitute mother betrayed her. Her savior pirate sea captain and lover betrayed her. The Wako’s powerful long-time Japanese partners (the Shimazu clan) want to kill her. But these pale in comparison to the sadistic Chinese prince sending the lethal and hereditary assassin Night Stalkers her way.

Lady Aika is used to dealing with men as an equal. She is the best sailor, the best shot, the best navigator, the best sea captain in the Wako fleet, and known as the Wako’s brain. Now Yoshinobu Hideki, a representative of Shogun Iemitsu, is proposing the Wako become the Shogun’s navy. It would be laughable if she were not desperate for a way to save her way of life. The shogun has traditionally abhorred the Wako with a well-established kill on sight order. So, she is not about to trust anyone…yet.

But Hideki’s plans and conviction make enough sense to give her hope. Then she meets the stepmother of the shogun, O’Fuku. and recognizes a thoroughly evil woman with the shogun’s ear. Through this miasma of threats and shady people Lady Aika meets an old lover now working for Hideki, captures a distasteful and spoiled Chinese princess, takes a liking to a frightened young maid with skills that make her valuable to the Wako, and meets a samurai warrior who catches her eye.

Lady Aika knows tomorrow is not promised to any pirate but hopes she can find a way to aid Hideki in his quest to counter a Shimazu rebellion and wrest control of their 70-year-old financial empire that spans the seas, counter the shogun’s eradication order of the estimated 70,000 peaceful Kirishitans (Christians) on Kyushu island, escape the clutches of the Night Stalkers, and find enough trust in her heart to give love one more try.

 

Western Novel:

Gun Hawks

Not yet 18 Travis is rapidly outgrowing the Big K ranch of his youth in Vermillion, Dakota Territory in the year of our Lord 1878. His widowed and now debauched father marries a prostitute known to all the ranch hands and expects Travis to call her mother. She is evil and Travis suspects her of being in league with rustlers striking unattended herds with regularity. When called on this his father explodes at Travis. Travis’s size and prowess with his Colts make beating his father or patricide a possibility. Travis decides not to risk either and strikes out on his own.

Travis heads south down the Missouri River Valley to the heavily populated and raucous city of Council Bluffs, Iowa. On the way he is attacked by the rustlers, saves a store owner and his family from knife and rifle-wielding mountain men, wipes out a nest of sniping road agents, helps thwart a bank robbery and is put in jail for his trouble. 

Pottawattamie County Sheriff Marty Short sees courage in Travis and offers him a job as deputy. For the next three years Travis learns the lawman’s trade but realizes the law may be inadequate. He tries to cobble together a code he can live by while staying one step ahead of scheming women, crooked politicians, stone-cold killers out for his blood, and an evil cabal deeply entrenched in two states.

 

Historical Action Novels:

First Spear Series—2 books

Ancient Middle East 34 and 35 AD. Follow First Spear Marcus Magnus, a hardened 20 year veteran of Rome's legions, as he tries to keep himself and his comrades alive in a very dangerous and treacherous world.

The Kush

35 AD and centurion Marcus Magnus has brought a semblance of peace to the always volatile Roman province of Judea. Elevated to Deputy Prefect, Marcus marries his longtime warrior colleague Adongo, a Nubian princess and sister to the queen of the Kush. Attempts on Adongo’s life by Nubian assassins in daylight in Jerusalem and Joppa quickens the realization that the government in the Kush may be unstable. Marcus decides to help his sister-in-law, protect the interests of the Roman Empire, and make good on his marriage promise to let Adongo visit the land of her birth. It is a journey of some 2000 miles through some of the most inhospitable terrain in the world. Crocodiles, hippos, heat, poisonous snakes, huge spiders, and the ubiquitous scorpions along the Nile make the journey extremely challenging. Add roving bandit gangs, rebel assassins, and slavers to the mix and the trip to the Kush capital of Meroe is downright hazardous. Once there, Marcus is ill prepared for the deep-rooted rebellion he finds in Meroe. The queen has four ministers, a high priest, and two generals of two separate armies, but no one to trust. Worse yet no one has a clue who is really running the rebellion. Marcus has just three more years until retirement from the legions of Rome. Now he wonders if he and his new wife will live to enjoy it.

 

The Fixer

34 AD Judea; Jesus has been crucified but the Jewish Sanhedrin want the followers of the holy man eradicated. The Roman Prefect after Pontius Pilate is weak. Marcus Magnus, a twenty-year veteran of the legions and Praetorian Guard Fixer is dispatched. The Sanhedrin Guards out number the Roman Legionnaires in the country 10:1 and they have Bedu assassins to call upon. The strategic city of Petra is controlled by bandits and slavers abound. What Marcus thought would be an easy last assignment before retirement has him now fighting for his life.

Death Among Brothers Series—4 books

Ancient Japan 1632 through 1634. Follow the exploits of Hideki Yoshinobu as he grows from adolescence to man hood, upholding the precepts of bushido and becoming the deadliest swordsman in the country.

A Samurai Comes of Age (Death Among Brothers Book I)

Japan, 1632. Hideki is one of the young descendants from the line of Tokugawa Ieyasu. He and his older brother are summoned to Edo at the announcement that the current shogun is retiring. Hideki is a likeable seventeen year old and a little of a rapscallion, prone to ducking his samurai responsibilities for more time in the dojo. The sword is his life and Bushido is his mantra, but as a swordsman he has trouble even beating his older brother. On their trek to Edo for an audience and evaluation, Hideki grows from a day dreaming teenager to a responsible man, dealing with his first crush on a female, assassins out to extinguish his life, and deceptive and corrupt police and government officials. He is aided in his journey by a young ninja steeped in the old ways of the shinobi, the master swordsman Musashi, and a princess of a large ninja clan who unknowingly falls in love with her target. Hideki attracts a loyal following because of his childlike belief in Bushido as cure-all for everything, but he becomes internally conflicted when he learns his code may not provide all the answers.

 

The Kirishitan Problem (Death Among Brothers Book II)

Japan 1633. Hideki is on his first musha shugyo to sharpen his sword skills. He is now a left-handed swordsman, an oddity in Japan and therefore a target of ridicule. With his new mentor Yagyu Jubei, Hideki travels to the southern most Japanese island of Kyushu seeking to learn the techniques of Shinkage-ryu from the former instructor to the shogun. If he can win respect as an elite swordsman again, he may regain his confidence as a martial artist and a man.

Once on Kyushu Island, Hideki and Jubei make some disturbing discoveries. Something is killing Kirishitans (Christians) on Mt. Taro at night. Whole Japanese farming villages are disappearing and Chinese Buddhist Temples are being turned into slaughter houses. No one has a clue who is perpetrating these crimes. On top of this Hideki finds Nagasaki riddled with corruption from top to bottom. Profit is king. Honor and bushido mean nothing. It is a world gone mad.

Before Hideki and his friends are through, his faith in bushido will be severely tested as they are attacked by a tengu, tangle with a yellow-eyed demon, fight with pirates, help defend a village of Ryukyuan sailors, and are hired out to protect the hardboiled female owner of a brothel.

 

The New Shogun (Death Among Brothers Book III)

In 1634 Japan, Hideki arrives in Edo after a tumultuous year spent sharpening his martial skills in Nagasaki. The old shogun is dead and the country is divided between two brothers for succession. The rightful heir is Iemitsu, but he is a stutterer with a birthmark on his face and a predilection for bedding boys. Tadanaga, the younger brother, embodies all the traits of an upstanding samurai except he has no conscience and he enjoys killing innocents. Iemitsu is supported by his wet nurse O’Fuku, a treacherous strategist with a huge hatred for Hideki. Tadanaga is endorsed by his mother, the lady Oeyo. Everyone with a sword is picking sides in the coming civil war. A cousin to both, Hideki must guide the Yoshinobu clan through perilous waters to decide loyalties as the competing brothers vie for his clan’s support. When Hideki’s year-old nephew and the Yoshinobu heir is kidnapped in an attempt to sway their allegiance, the clan is thrown into despair and indecision. Hideki must rise above his elder brother and beloved grandfather to lead the Yoshinobu clan and chart a future for his country. He is assisted by Yagyu Jubei, sword instructor to shoguns; Yoshi, a master of the old ways of the shinobi no mono; and Myo, the head of the Five Families.

Wako: japanese pirates (Death Among Brothers Book IV) is shown at the top of this page and is our newest release. purchase on amazon.