Showing results by author "James A. Nelson" in All Categories

In the summer of 1776, a fleet of British transport ships is looming off Staten Island, while the remnants of General George Washington’s army huddle behind hastily constructed fortifications on Brooklyn Height. There, Washington is preparing for the final destruction of the Continental army. Now Captain Isaac Biddlcomb receives a monumental order: to transport to France the most dangerous secret weapon in the country’s arsenal: scientist and philosopher Benjamin Franklin.

Thorgrim Night Wolf and his men, hunkered down behind their ad hoc defenses and facing off against the powerful army of Æthelwulf, king of Wessex, must find some means to continue their voyage home. But Æthelwulf, too, is trapped, unable to set sail on his pilgrimage to Rome while the powerful fleet of Northmen remains at his doorstep. It's only when the enigmatic Felix proposes a solution, acceptable to both sides, that the impasse is broken.

It is 1777, the Year of the Hangman, and Captain Isaac Biddlecomb is bound for Philadelphia with his wife and child in the Continental brig Charlemagne. His orders are to take command of the newly built twenty-gun frigate Falmouth and get her out to sea before she is taken by General Richard Howe’s invading army. Unbeknownst to Biddlecomb, the entire British fleet stands between him and the new nation’s capital.

Shortly after Thomas Marlowe's arrival in Williamsburg, Virginia, all in that newfound capital city are speaking his name. With the bounty from his years as a pirate—a life he intends to renounce and keep forever secret—he purchases a fine plantation from a striking young widow, and soon after kills the favorite son of one of Virginia's most powerful clans while defending her honor. But it is a daring feat of remarkable cunning that truly sets local tongues wagging: a stunning move that wins Marlowe command of Plymouth Prize, the colony's decrepit guardship.

With their ill-fated raid on the monastary at Glendalough torn apart by betrayal and defeat, Thorgrim Night Wolf and his handful of survivors from the crew of Sea Hammer find themselves in desperate and tenuous straits. Stranded far from the safety of Vik-lo, surrounded by enemies, and with barely enough men to work the longship's oars, the Norsemen must make their way back through a dangerous and uncertain country. Thorgrim, however, is not interested in mere survival. His one thought, his one desire, is to take revenge.

In 1706, war still rages in Europe, and the tobacco planters of the Virginia colony's tidewater struggle against shrinking markets and pirates lurking off the coast. But American seafarers have found a new source of wealth: the Indian Ocean and ships carrying fabulous treasure to the great Mogul of India. Faced with ruin, former pirate Thomas Marlowe is determined to find a way to the riches of the East. Carrying his crop of tobacco in his privateer, Elizabeth Galley, he secretly plans to continue on to the Indian Ocean to hunt the Mogul's ships.

In the late summer of 1775, General George Washington discovers that his cache of gunpowder has dwindled to a mere nine shots per man. A desperate plan is hatched—to send a ship under the command of Captain Isaac Biddlecomb to Bermuda to capture the British powder known to be there. But the plan is a trap, set by a traitor among the patriots, and one from which even Biddlecomb cannot escape.

Haunted by an ancestor’s tale of near death on a distant battlefield, James Carl Nelson set out in pursuit of the scraps of memory of his grandfather’s small infantry unit. Years of travel across the world led to the retrieval of unpublished personal papers, obscure memoirs, and communications from numerous Doughboys as well as original interviews of the descendents of his grandfather’s comrades in arms.

1776. A fleet of British transport ships are looming off Staten Island, while the remnants of General George Washington's army huddle behind hastily constructed fortifications on Brooklyn Heights. There, Washington is preparing for the final destruction of the Continental army. Captain Isaac Biddlecomb receives a monumental order – to transport to France the most dangerous secret weapon in the country's arsenal: scientist and philosopher Benjamin Franklin. Biddlecomb's seemingly simple mission to deliver Franklin to the court of Louis XVI is just the first volley in a grand scheme.

Set in the framework of historical events with political overtones, the Battle of the Alamo, Battle of San Jacinto and Mexican-American War come to life for the listener. The story is told through the eyes of Texas Ranger Jesse McAlester.

Delving deep into the motivations, horrific experiences, and ultimate fates of this Harvard-educated quintet - and by extension, of the brilliant young officer class that left its collegiate and postcollegiate pursuits to enlist in the army and lead America’s rough-and-ready doughboys - Five Lieutenants presents a unique, timeless, and fascinating account of citizen soldiers at war and of the price these extraordinary men paid while earnestly giving all they had in an effort to end "the war to end all wars."

A woman scorned. The sanctity of her sanctuary threatened. The betrayal of trust...even loyalty. Don’t ever tell her not to take it personally, because that’s exactly what it is. Personal. Your first blunder was mistaking her kindness for weakness. Your second was betraying her. The third? Underestimating her. Don’t say we didn’t warn you. Take the plunge into these tales of deadly women who will stop at nothing until vengeance is theirs. The Better Off Dead series delves into the farthest corners of your mind, where your deepest, darkest fears lurk.

Having survived the bloody Battle of New Orleans and the loss of their ironclad Yazoo River, captain Samuel Bowater, engineer Hieronymus Taylor, and the survivors of their crew are given new orders—take command of an ironclad warship being built in Memphis, Tennessee. Bowater and his men take passage upriver from “Mississippi” Mike Sullivan, one of the wild, undisciplined captains of the River Defense Squadron, only to find, on their arrival, that their ship is not even half built and the enemy is closing fast.

Speeding south from Indiana after a brutal crime wave, tormented Willard Ferguson and his 16 year old girlfriend, Anna Mae, leave a wake of death and destruction behind them. Anxious to find a safe haven from the authorities, they end up taking refuge in an odd attraction called Doctor Merryweather's Menagerie. Rather than offering the solace they had hoped for, Willard and his girlfriend find themselves thrust into a grotesque world far removed from anything they ever thought existed. Several seemingly separate events slowly merge into one, as the Menagerie of Broken Dreams pulls everyone into a dark web of danger, deceit, and murder.

The suspense picks up when Phillip takes Stephen and Jeanette on a trip to the beautiful Mackinac Island where they stay at The Peacock Inn. The brooding Edward Van Dyke has turned an aging Victorian mansion into the new must stay spot on the island. His nightly seances have become the talk of the town, but recently they have evolved into something much darker.

It’s been four years since young Stephen Moorehouse spent his first summer at his Uncle Phillip Kahle’s mansion overlooking Lake Superior in Michigan’s untamed Upper Peninsula. Stephen’s kidnapper, the murderous Paulie Deluca, has broken out of prison. Will he come for Stephen again? The beautiful scream-queen, Barbara Jenkins, pays an unexpected visit to Cliffside Manor. Why is Phillip being so secretive about her visit, and why did she bring enough luggage to stay six months?

Brad Feldman is desperate to come up with a novel idea for his failing television series, America's Most Haunted Locations. A friend reminds him about Doctor Louise Hilton and her groundbreaking research in parapsychology at Duke University during the 70s. Doctor Hilton invites a select group of people to join her and Brad at an old Victorian mansion in Michigan's remote Upper Peninsula. At first, Brad is delighted when unexpected happenings start to occur, but his joy soon turns to fear as things quickly spiral out of hand.

Arnold Spivey and his mother have opened up their old farmhouse to tourists who enjoy hiking the sprawling 60,000-acre mountain wilderness area several miles down the road. A woman’s skull is discovered by a lost hiker. It puzzles the local authorities because nobody in the area has been reported missing. Where did it come from? When Olivia Thompson disappears on a hiking trip with her new boyfriend, it’s up to her older sister, Rachel, to figure out what happened. Disturbing new facts about Olivia’s companion confirm Rachel’s fears that her sister may be in grave danger.

Beautiful Lauren McAllister has suspicions her husband is fooling around...again. She hires Archie to corroborate her assumptions. A sudden, untimely death plunges Archie into the dark underbelly of the wealthy McAllister family, where things are not what they appear to be. The story heats up when the shady Mrs. Culpepper rents a storefront several doors down from Archie’s office, and her hot-tempered son, Slim, starts paying unwanted attention to Archie’s new office manager. What exactly are the Culpeppers up to?

Stephen Moorehouse is very excited to be traveling to his uncle's mansion, perched high on an isolated Lake Superior shore, deep in the woods of northern Michigan. Stephen is hoping his famous uncle, known for directing spooky horror movies, will have many Hollywood starlets visiting his estate for the summer. Stephen's long train journey from New York City to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan takes a dangerous turn when it appears he is being followed by a mobster in a wrinkled suit.