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Book Review: Seas of Time by D. Wallace Peach (@Dwallace peach/X) Book Four in the Harbour Point Series

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The Harbor Pointe Series is a collection of eight novellas by Story Empire authors. Each story takes place at the Harbor Pointe Inn in a fictional California town. See my reviews on this site for The Price of Atonement, The Gift, and The Destination (Books One, Two, and Three). I am an unabashed fan of the author’s work and this novella did not disappoint. I could not stop reading! The story opens in 1859 with a shipwreck off the California coast, where the Harbor Pointe lighthouse will be built in the future. Chained in its hold is a former slave, who beseeches a dark magic god to save him from death. He survives along with his Bible, crawling into an old hut that will become the lighthouse keeper’s home. Forward the story to 1972, when Tali, a young African American woman who drops out of college to pursue her passion for back activism and desire to make a difference in the world, comes to the Harbor Pointe Inn. Her parents send her there to take care of the Inn while her aunt and uncle, the owners of the Inn, take a trip. And to contemplate her future. The Inn is under construction, and she has to meet head on the narrow-minded opinions of the contractor, Greg McBride, who is overseeing the renovation of the Inn. She settles into the lighthouse caretaker’s cottage and discovers an old, hidden Bible. When she deciphers some of the writing in the margins of the Bible, a dark portal opens and an ageless winged gargoyle named Zam emerges. Once she figures out how to communicate with him, Zam becomes a nuisance but an endearing character, and Tali must figure out how to return him to where he came from – the shipwreck. She enlists the reluctant assistance of Greg but faces risking her life and his, ultimately changing her future. This story grabbed me from the first page. The backstory of the slave, Sam, is entirely believable, as is the time in which Tali’s story is told – the 70s, when much of the country was in turmoil because of black activism. The author handles these two sensitive story lines with understanding and grace. The time travel is seamlessly woven into the story, and the details of the Inn, the black magic, and the shipwreck, drew this reader right into the scenes. The characters are emotionally compelling and you can feel the tension and the danger, which rarely slows. I highly recommend this novella along with the previous ones I’ve read in this series. You are in for a treat! About the author: D. Wallace Peach started writing later in life after the kids were grown and a move left her with hours to fill. Years of working in business surrendered to a full-time indulgence in the imaginative world of books, and when she started writing, she was instantly hooked. Diana lives in a log cabin amongst the tall evergreens and emerald moss of Oregon’s rain forest with her husband, two dogs, two owls, a horde of bats, and the occasional family of coyotes. The author can be found On twitter: @Dwallacepeach On her blog: http://mythsofthemirror.com On her website: dwallacepeachbooks.com 0 0

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Today Is Pearl Harbor Day

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Today marks the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. We have long since made peace with the nation responsible, but Pearl Harbor day will be a part of our history as long as there are people to remember. I wonder how many of our children even know about this? Five of eight battleships, three destroyers, and seven other ships were sunk or severely damaged, and more than 200 aircraft were destroyed. A total of 2,400 Americans were killed and 1,200 were wounded. Many people haven’t seen the footage of President Franklin D. Roosevelt walking with his cane (he had had polio as a young adult and was in a wheelchair except for public appearances) to the podium of Congress. You Tube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VqQAf74fsE His speech that day was brief and began with these stark words, “Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 – a date which will live in infamy – the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.” He closed the speech with a declaration of war, but before that he famously said, “Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory and our interests are in grave danger. With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph. So help us God.” Three days later, Germany and Italy declared war against the United States, and the U.S. government responded in kind. The American contribution to the successful Allied war effort spanned four long years and cost more than 400,000 American lives, fought by men and women who have been called our ‘greatest generation’. What also happened that day was the beginning of the transformation of the United States from an isolationist country with the 14th largest military in the world to a global superpower. God bless the men and women who died that day and the generations of military who followed them to keep us free and safe. Memorial for the Pearl Harbor Dead on the USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor. The USS Arizona Memorial is built over the sunken wreckage of the USS Arizona, the final resting place for many of the 1,177 crewmen killed on December 7, 1941. Who could have imagined how this attack would change history? 0 1

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Book Review: The Destination by D.L. Finn ( @dlfinnauthor/X ) (Book Three of the Harbor Pointe Series)

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The Harbor Pointe Series is a collection of eight novellas by Story Empire authors. Each story takes place at the Harbor Pointe Inn in a fictional California town. See my reviews for The Price of Atonement and The Gift (Books One and Two) here: https://saylingaway.com/2023/10/13/book-review-the-price-of-atonement-by-mae-clair-maeclair1-mysterysuspenseghosts/ and https://saylingaway.com/2023/11/04/book-review-the-gift-harbor-pointe-series-2-by-gwen-plano-gmplano-womens-fiction/ Annie is a spirit, the ghost of a little girl who has been monitoring the lives of her parents, now the keepers of the Harbor Pointe Inn. She knows that a serial killer is going to threaten all of them, and someone is going to die at the Inn. She feels helpless to stop it. Lacy and Sandy are two young women, best friends, who travel to the inn for a beach vacation.  Sandy wants to be a marine biologist but is conflicted by her parents’ wish that she join the family business as an accountant and marry Greg. Her feelings about Greg are tepid, at best. When the girls meet two men staying at the inn. Lacey hits it off with Ben, and they go off for the evening but do not return. Sandy worries that something terrible happened to her best friend, Lacey – or is this just a case of two young people going off and spending the night somewhere? Tension builds and this reader kept turning the pages. In the end, this is about how Sandy responds to the loss of her friend and how she chooses her life’s path. The author paints the setting of the inn, the nearby lighthouse, the ocean and surroundings so beautifully, the reader feels part of the story. And she also manages to weave in seamlessly the characters from the previous book in the series, and I loved the fact that ghosts were such a great part of the story. I highly recommend this book as I do all in the series I’ve read so far. About the author: D.L. Finn is an independent Californian who encourages everyone to embrace their inner child. She was born and raised in the foggy Bay Area, but in 1990 relocated with her husband, kids, dogs, and cats to the Sierra foothills in Nevada City, CA. Being surrounded by towering pines, oaks, and cedars, her creativity was nurtured until it bloomed. Her creations vary from children’s books, young adult fantasy, and adult paranormal romance to an autobiography with poetry. She continues on her adventures with an open invitation for her readers to join her. You can find her On twitter: @dlfinnauthor/X On her website: https://dlfinnauthor.com 2 0

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The Real First Thanksgiving

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I’ve published this off and on over the years – a hopefully accurate historical description of the first Thanksgiving. For those of you who haven’t read it, I hope you enjoy it. Much has been written about the first Thanksgiving which took place at Plimoth Colony. Here is some information that is probably closer to the truth.                  The First Thanksgiving 1621, oil on canvas by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris (1899) The voyage from Plymouth, England, had taken 65 days. Once the decision to settle on the shores of the harbor of what is now Plymouth, MA, the Pilgrims faced a daunting future:they had no houses, no stored goods, no knowledge of the country they faced, nor any knowledge of its inhabitants besides wild stories of cannibals. And the season was winter, harsh and cruel. A common house that had been built to house some of the Pilgrims burned on January 14, 1621, and those who had lived there had to return to the Mayflower for shelter.                   Pilgrims going to church (1867) by George Henry Boughton, New York Public Library Sickness swept through both the colonists and the crew of the Mayflower. It is knot know what this sickness was, although it is thought it was pneumonia and scurvy. At one point, only seven of the entire population were well enough to care for the remaining 150, fetching wood for fires, making food, bathing and dressing the sick. When the sickness was over, only 12 of 26 men with families, 4 of the 12 single men and boys, and all but five of the women survived. Despite their reduced numbers, they soon set about laying out First Street (Leyden Street) and setting the foundations for a fort at the top of the street. The colonist noticed Native Americans near their settlement in mid-February, and the two groups final met on Friday, March 16th. This is the famous encounter that involved Samoset, an Abenaki Sagamore from what is now Maine; he entered the developing village and said “Welcome, Englishmen.” Samoset had learned English from the English fishermen who crossed the North Atlantic each year to fish for cod, some of whom remained on small islands off the coast of Maine. He told the Pilgrims of a great plague which had killed the Patuxet people who had previously lived on that spot: indeed, the Pilgrims had found cleared farmland when they disembarked. The local Native Americans, the Wampanoag tribal confederation, were very distrustful of the English because some had been kidnapped and sold into slavery by Thomas Hunt, an English captain who had visited the area a few years before. Samoset returned with another Native American, Squanto, on March 22nd; Squanto was one of the men taken by Hunt, had been sold as a slave in Spain, escaped to London and returned to American as a guide. He became the colony’s interpreter and worked on their behalf in their interactions with the Wampanoags. As a result, the regional sachem of the Wampanoags, Massasoit, visited the Pilgrims. There was an exchange of gifts, and a treaty was signed that lasted for over 50 years. Massasoit’s purpose in aligning with the Pilgrims was to provide protection for his tribe, which had been decimated by disease, from surrounding tribes. It was his suggestion that the fields south of the brook be turned by hand and crops of wheat, barley, Indian corn and peas were planted in early April. Work continued on the houses, and the Mayflower finally left the colony to return to England on April 5th. The first Thanksgiving was not really a thanksgiving but instead a traditional English harvest celebration to which the colonists invited Massasoit and members of the Wampanoag. It is generally thought to have occurred in November of 1621, but might have been at the end of the summer.                                  The First Thanksgiving, Jenny Augusta Brownscombe 1914 I have eaten a traditional Pilgrim meal, and I can vouch for the fact that the food was very tasty and filling. There are no records of exact fare of this harvest meal, but Pilgrim chronicler Edward Winslow noted that the colony’s governor, William Bradford, sent four men on a “fowling” mission in preparation for what was to be a three-day event. Wild turkeys were plentiful in the area and a common food source for both English settlers and Native Americans. But it is just as likely that ducks, geese and swans, which frequently graced Pilgrim tables, were also on the menu. Both the Wampanoag and the Pilgrims occasionally stuffed birds and fish, typically using herbs, onions or nuts to add extra flavor. Deer were also killed and roasted venison would have been on the menu. Strangely, in a land where the shoreline and coastal rivers were teeming with salmon, cod, flounder, shad, haddock, and sea bass, the Pilgrims were not huge fish-eaters. From Edward Winslow, we also know the Pilgrims ate lobster, which were in such abundance they could be collected by the bushels from tidal pools. But familiarity soon bred contempt, and the Pilgrims came to regard them as food for the poor. They also collected and ate eels, mussels and clams but later, with the arrival of livestock, fed the mussels and clams to their pigs.                                   A Re-enactment of the First Thanksgiving at Plimoth=Patuxet The Pilgrims had brought no livestock with them. The first cattle — three cows and a bull — did not arrive in Massachusetts until 1623 so in 1621 they were without butter, cheese, milk, and cream. There is no indication that cranberries were served at the feast, but they did occur in Wampanoag dished, adding tartness. Remember that it is unlikely there was any sugar in the Plimoth Colony, although honey might have been available. However, there were plentiful wild gooseberries, strawberries and raspberries. Forget baked or mashed potatoes. Potatoes, sweet or white, would have been unknown at the time, but the Wamanoag ate a variety of other root vegetables: Jerusalem artichokes, groundnuts,

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In Flanders Fields

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In recognition of Veteran’s Day, I am reposting this from previous years. We are the Dead. Short days agoWe lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,    Loved and were loved, and now we lie,        In Flanders fields. Take up our quarrel with the foe:To you from failing hands we throw    The torch; be yours to hold it high.    If ye break faith with us who dieWe shall not sleep, though poppies grow        In Flanders fields. This poem was written by John McCrae. I learned it in school as a child and remember it every Veteran’s Day. My sincere gratitude to all our veterans, living and dead, for the sacrifices they made so we could enjoy freedom. 3 0

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Book Review: Golden Boxty in the Fry Pan by Pat Spenser (@DrPatSpencer)

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I read a review of this book and was fascinated with the historical time — the Great Depression and the point of view, that of a young girl, based on the author’s mother. Six year old Katie Ryan lives in a small, third-floor, unheated flat in Swampoodle, Philadelphia, along with her parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters. Her Nana, who gives Katie her constant companion – a cloth doll named Molly – has consumption and the doctor says she needs to be in a warm, dry climate to recover. This sets her mother on a path to have them leave Pennsylvania for California. But how to do that? The train tickets are expensive and Mr. McGuire, the grandfather, and her father earn barely enough to keep them alive. Growing problems with her oldest brother, anti-Irish discrimination and the need to support the family finally drives the family to a train trip west in search of a better life. But before they reach California, they are diverted to Colorado with the hope of well-paying jobs for Katie’s father and grandfather. The family’s fortune improves and they move into a house. Which brings me to boxty. Boxty are delicious Irish potato pancakes. I’ve had them and they are a family favorite in the Ryan family home in the 1930s. To Katie, they come to represent the warmth, safety and security of family. After her grandparents die and her father spirals into alcoholism, a further twist of fate leaves Katie to assume the role of mother for her three youngest brothers. In the end, Katie must overcome the toughest of circumstances to escape from a sinister orphanage where she and her youngest brothers have been dumped, in order to secure a safe life for them all. I can’t say enough about this book. I fell in love with Katie – her matter-of-fact view of life, her bravery, and her determination to hold her family together in the face of continuing tragedy. She hardly has a childhood and the events that buffet her are heartbreaking. All of the characters in the book are extremely well drawn – I still harbor a hatred for her father – and desperate choices her mother and father have to make are hopeful as well as destructive. The book speaks sadly to wearying, unending rounds of childbearing in a time without birth control and the treatment of children in orphanages in those days. And yet there are small slices of humor scattered here and there with the antics of the children. The reader is left with a nice dose of hope at the end. I recommend this book highly. It is a gripping read, one the reader is unlikely to put down, and a realistic view of desperate times in this county and their singular effect on a generation of immigrants. About the author: Golden Boxty in the Frypan was inspired by Dr. Pat Spenser’s mother’s coming-of-age experiences during the 1930s. She is a retired professor and community college president, who has lived in three countries and seven states. Pat loves to travel and spent time in Africa, Spain, France, Croatia, New Zealand, Australia, Italy, Greece, Mexico, the Galapagos, and the Bahamas, as well as Alaska and the Hawaiian Islands and has road-tripped across the continental United States several times. She enjoys getting to know people and learning about their culture. Pat’s short story, A Healing Place, won the 2019 Oceanside Literary Festival. Other short stories are published in journals such as the Literary Yard, Scarlet Leaf Review, and Potato Soup Journal, Almost an Author, and in a California Writers Circle anthology. She speaks to service and community organizations on human trafficking, writing processes, and her books. When not writing, Pat golfs, reads, walks the beach, hangs out with family and friends, or frequents book clubs and writing critique groups. She now lives in Southern California with her husband. You can visit Pat Spencer online at: Website: https://patspencer.net Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pat.spencer.9849/ Instagram: DrPatSpencer Twitter: @DrPatSpencer 1 0

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Book Review: The Gift (Harbor Pointe series #2) by Gwen Plano (@gmplano) # women’s fiction

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Rarely have I read a book so filled with love, acceptance, kindness, faith, and hope. The Gift brought me to tears several times, and the experience of reading it was uplifting. This is the second in the Harbor Pointe series, covering two centuries of stories linked by the Harbor Pointe Inn on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean in California. Banished by her parents, Sixteen-year-old Shelly is heavily pregnant as the result of a one-time mistake. Her father gives her the keys to his old truck and some money for gas, and tells her to drive across the country to live with an aunt in Washington until her baby is delivered… and possibly longer. Out of gas and money, Shelley finds herself on a fire road close to the West Coast when her contractions begin. A snow storm rages outside as Shelly delivers the baby on her own, then determines that she and the baby will die in the truck if she can’t find them shelter. Wrapping the newborn in her father’s old coat, she follows a flickering light in the distance. The light is from a lighthouse, and she collapses at the door to the lighthouse keeper’s cottage. She is rescued by Jes, the lighthouse keeper, and his wife, Mary.  Shelly and her baby are a Christmas gift of life and love to Jes and Mary, who lost their only child after a few years after she was born. The love between Jes and Mary as they open their hearts and home to Shelly and the baby is miraculous. The characters in the story are so real and their emotions so beautifully rendered that I felt great joy while reading. This is a happy story – only good surprises as you get to meet Jonathan, Shelly’s boyfriend; his cousin Howard, who happens to live in Harbor Pointe, and Jonathan’s parents. The allusions to the real Christmas story filter in here and there, as well. I highly recommend the book, and I hope everyone will read it to feel the joy of the season.  About the author: Gwen M. Plano grew up in Southern California and spent most of her professional life in higher education. She taught and served as an administrator in colleges in Japan, New York, Connecticut, and California. Gwen’s academic background is in theology and counseling. Recently retired, she now lives in the high desert of Arizona, where she writes, gardens, and travels with her husband. When Gwen is not writing, she’s often in the beautiful Red Rocks of Sedona, where she finds inspiration. She has authored five books. The Contract is a thriller fiction novel she co-authored by John W. Howell, which received multiple awards and is an Amazon Best Seller. You can find Gwen Plano on her blog: https://www.gwenplano.com/ 2 0

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Book review: Goodbye Old Paint by C.S. Boyack (@vigilante) #paranormal #fantasy # science fiction

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Good-by Old Paint is the latest volume of C.S. Boyack Hat series. The main characters are Lizzie St. Laurent is a college dropout working multiple jobs to make ends meet. In the first in this series, she visits her grandmother’s house snitches a box from a moving truck and in that box finds a hat.  But not just any hat. This Hat can talk and can alter its look to any fashion appropriate to Lizzie’s wardrobe. More importantly, the Hat can transport Lizzie to other places, once it’s on her head. Lizzie is taken by the Hat to a cabin owned by her grandmother, a place which no one knows about, and discovers she can play a mean jazz bass, when the Hat plays through her fingers. In Good-by Old Paint, Lizzie is a bass player in a band, trying to sell time shares by telemarketing without much success – even with the help of the Hat, and driving for Uber with little in the way of tips. She is visited by two special agents on special assignment from Section 13 of the FBI, one which deals with supernatural goings on. They request her to get rid of a large population of gremlins infesting a server farm of the National Geo-Spatial Intelligence Agency in return for cancelling her seventy-two thousand dollars in unpaid student loans. She accepts. Let the fun and mayhem begin. Lizzie thinks she can get rid of the gremlins by shooting them with her .357 magnum revolver, but shooting them doesn’t make a dent. Her job is going to involve magic, and Lizzie introduces us to some old friends in a witches’ coven and some new, very odd ones – especially when Lizzie is the recipient of a curse that gradually turns her into a frog and has her eating dried crickets. I choked on my coffee when I was introduced to Dawson Charlie, a glob of sourdough starter that escaped from his crock, feeling frisky. The conversations between Lizzie and the Hat are hilarious, and she is constantly flummoxed as her, a rusted-out Mini Cooper with a torn roof, refuses to start without a booster. This author comes up with the most inventive, imaginative characters and this book is full of humor. Goodbye Old Paint is the latest in a delightfully fun series of whimsical fantasy with overtones of chick lit and Disney magic. As a novella, it is a fast, fast read, and I am definitely looking forward to the next Hat adventure. 5 stars About the author: Craig Boyack was born in Elko, Nevada, which the author claims has always been a little behind the times and gives him a unique perspective. He moved to Idaho in the early 2000s and jumped into his writing career where he found other writers and critique groups. He likes to write about things that are unusual, and his books are science fiction, fantasy, and paranormal designed to entertain his readers. The Hat is a seven book series, and the author has written twenty eight books in all, several of which I’ve reviewed and all of which I’ve liked. You can find the author On X @vigilante On his blog, Entertaining Stories: https://coldhandboyack.wordpress.com/ 0 0

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