Price of Gold

Price of Gold: TWO WOMEN - TWO CHAMPIONS - TWO WORLDS

Price of Gold is a work of fiction. But it is built on historical truth; painful historical truth; truth that illustrates the often gut-wrenching price of gold, and the efforts of the heroic women involved in this tragic chapter of Olympic history. ~ Mark Flagel at http://www.markflagel.com/

Book Blurb:

Ivy Johnson had never been more ready. The Montreal Summer Olympic Games. July, 1976. The United States just celebrated its 200th anniversary and Ivy, just shy of her 19th birthday, would deliver gold to her country and confirm her place among the greatest swimmers of all time.

Hannah Eberhardt had different ideas. The 16-year-old East German, propelled by a secret guilt and a clandestine truth, crushed Ivy’s dreams and took gold back across the Atlantic, to the Fatherland.

Ivy knew at the time, but couldn’t prove, she was cheated. Disturbing secrets emerging twenty years later, after the fall of East Germany, gave her another chance.

Ivy headed to Germany to peel back the onion, confront her nemesis, and re-claim her glory, but as each layer came off, new, horrifying, and surprising truths emerged.

 

Price of Gold: TWO WOMEN - TWO CHAMPIONS - TWO WORLDS

Five Years – The Meeting

Five Years – The Meeting

UK  USA  CDN  AU

“A parapsychologic writer, Leonard Belmont seeks truth through automatic writing, a process where he lets his inner-most thoughts and ideas flow onto the paper without conscious critique. This autopilot exploration unearths the unconscious secrets our spiritual self keeps from our conscious, critical self.” ~ from the Amazon Biography

Note: I am so very interested in automatic writing and consider this my lucky day to be introduced to this book. I am sure many of you will agree.

Guest Article by Leonard Belmont

Do you remember when you knew you were falling in love?

Do you recall the thoughts, feeling and emotions you experienced when falling in love?

We have all read or hear love stories at one point or another, but this love is story is very different.

In this five part star-crossed love story, author Leonard Belmont takes us on an emotional journey with his automatic writings of the life of a young couple from the moment they laid eyes on each other.

Lovely Language and Relatable Emotion Make This an Engaging Read ~ Review by E. Lucas (Top 500 Reviewer)

“Five Years: The Meeting” is the lyrical, stream-of-thought tale of the first meeting and initial courtship of two young lovers.

Interestingly, the story begins at the end—you go into the book knowing that the love will end and that the narrator is in great pain as he longs for the woman who was the love of his life. From there, the narrative flashes into the past and recounts the first days of the relationship—from his spotting her in French class and falling instantly in love to the first date and the emotions surrounding it all. As they flirt and share interests, discovering more about each other, the relationship slowly blossoms—even as he (and you as a reader) worry at first that the girl is not as interested in him as he is in her, and that she has missed seeing the connection they could have.

Once you hit adulthood, you’ve probably experienced this instant chemistry with someone—and so the author’s strong feelings and amazement that he has found someone so perfect are very relatable. The sentences are thoughtful and precise, almost poetry, which also made this an enjoyable read from a more literary perspective. Small details in the text, such as the changing color of the girl’s hair throughout the seasons, are also really lovely: “The beauty of sunlight./Your hair transforming throughout the seasons./In summer, you seemed blonde, and during the winter darker, almost chestnut./By fall/The gold had started to rust.”

The delicacy of the language as well as the emotions of the story itself are what keep you reading—as does the mystery of why their romance ended, though I assume that will be revealed in later sequels to this work.

Recommended to readers who enjoy out-of-the-box prose and stories about the intensity of first love.

Five Years – The Meeting

UK  USA  CDN  AU

The Trucker

Guest post by Dixie Webb – Based on a true story.

Great story! ~ Review by A. Cossett

Had a glass of wine and some dark chocolate and cruised through this book. Loved the characters, painted an awesome story. Great book to curl up with. Definitely worth it!

Cyd Lorillard, a court clerk, is disenchanted with her job and is considering plans to change her life. After years of working, day after day, dealing with the fragile egos of judges, the demands made upon her by the management of Superior Court, the antics of attorneys, the never-ending stream of litigants and defendants, and her core desire to assist the public whenever possible, at the end of the day all Cyd is left with is a pile of papers. This impassioned lady needed more.

Cyd gets invited to lunch by one of the court regulars, an attorney, for the express purpose of being introduced to his friend, Dan, a trucker. Cyd becomes fascinated with Dan, despite his not being forthcoming with personal information. This causes her to embark on an excursion into the murky world of her plans, her feelings, Dan’s business, other women, and his family. Plans for Texas get skirted as Dan turns out to be a heart bandit. He ends up taking Cyd for the ride of her life.


Experience the sweet romance everyone hopes for and Cyd was lucky enough to find.

The Trucker is available on:

Amazon    Barnes & Noble    Junglee

 

An excerpt from the book:

Cyd momentarily forgot all about her work and didn’t notice ten other attorneys, not to mention their clients, had entered the courtroom. She could only remember the picture of the truck inside the album cover. Her fascination with trucks had started as a child. Although she was raised in a small Midwestern town, her mother had had the good sense not to tell her that girls couldn’t like trains, trucks, and airplanes. Cyd loved them all. The Judge buzzing from chambers on the intercom jolted her back to the realities of her work day. The morning went swiftly. Before she knew it, Marv appeared to collect her for lunch.

The sun was bright and her copper penny hair shined with glints of gold highlights. The slight breeze made the ringlets move as if they were browsing about her face for a resting place on her flawless complexion. She had a well-shaped mouth that was full and inviting. The black and white daisy wraparound dress outlined the contours of her slim body perfectly. As she entered the car, Marv studied her long graceful legs. Yes, Marv thought, she’ll do fine for my friend. If I wasn’t married, I’d never let him get near her.

As Marv drove into the parking lot, Cyd looked around the area hoping to spot the stranger who would be approaching. She could feel her heart beating faster and a sense of fear gripped her at the thought of the trucker being some kind of creep. What was she going to do then? She was hoping that a brief glimpse may allow her time to compose herself. She not only didn’t spot a stranger, she didn’t spot anyone. She rolled the window down. The air conditioner had not cooled the car sufficiently and July in Los Angeles was always stifling.

In the next instant a face appeared in the open window. “Hi! Boy, I thought I wasn’t going to make it.” Startled, Cyd turned her head. He was so close that Cyd’s lips almost grazed his. She automatically started moving toward the center of the seat as he opened the door. “So you’re Cyd,” he said very emphatically as he slid into the car and shut the door. He reached over and grabbed her leg just above the knee. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

The Trucker is available on:

Amazon    Barnes & Noble    Junglee