The Clara Conjecture

The Clara Conjecture is a new interpretation of historical facts. In 1938 Germany occupied Austria. Professor Lise Meitner, no longer shielded by her Austrian passport from measures against Jews, was fired. An equal of Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein, she had led the world’s best theoretical physics institute for nearly 30 years. In Berlin she designed the experiment that would split the uranium atom to produce energy. Before it could be executed she fled to Sweden. Without the ability to continue her research, impoverished, fearing for her relatives in the Nazi Reich, she became depressed.

In the tiny community of women scientists in Stockholm she met a psychoanalyst, the Canadian Dr. Leone McGregor Hellstedt (alter ego “Clara”), who rescued Lise with psychotherapy and money. When her German colleagues performed Lise’s experiment, they asked her to explain the result: she did, in terms of Einstein’s E=mc², and called the new phenomenon “nuclear fission” in her article for Nature. Early in 1939 physicists everywhere grasped the menace of nuclear energy. From her former colleagues and students Lise received information about the Nazi atomic bomb program and relayed it to Clara, who then informed Allied spies including William Stephenson (“Intrepid”) of British Security Coordination and Ian Fleming of British Naval Intelligence.

Informed by this detailed knowledge of Nazi atomic bomb initiatives, the Allies were able to efficiently sabotage facilities, kill key personnel, deny resources, and thus cripple the German program that had begun more than two years before the Manhattan Project.

The Nightingale Sings

On the Greek island of Lesbos, in the seventh century BCE, a young lyric poet hones her craft while navigating the world of love, loss, friendship and sex, after having suffered years of abuse by a member of her father’s household. After a series of attempts at a healthy relationship, all the while struggling with the effects of post-traumatic stress and profound grief, she is forced to leave her home for a faraway land across the sea. There she would make a name for herself as an artist that would spread all across the Mediterranean, continuing her search for love and friendship, and trying to raise her only child in a safe and nurturing environment – until her whole world is suddenly upended.

The Nightingale Sings is an imaginary tale of what might have been in the life of the historical Sappho of Lesbos, whose artistry would lead to her becoming one of the most revered poets of the ancient world, and would still be cherished today – more than two and a half thousand years after her death.

And so, the story begins with a simple celebration.

A birthday party for a nine-year-old girl…

The Memphite Equation

The locations and physical descriptions are factual – the prophetic embellished future is yet to be foretold. During July 15–17, 2007, an epochal event occurred in Manchester, England – the first international biblical conference on the 3000-year-old copper scroll, which later brewed a dangerous controversy. The copper scroll is among a group of scrolls found in 1947 and 1952, but this is the only one carved in metal and is not strictly a religious scroll. Dr. David E. Burton, a recent Harvard graduate, attended the conference. After Q&A, when what he saw didn’t come up, feeling baffled, he shared his idea that there was an equation on the scroll. From that moment, his life, family, an old and enigmatic organization (existing since 1863) he later joins, and the world change forever.

Splintered Waters: Tryst with Destiny

Splintered Waters: Tryst with Destiny is an epic tale of struggle for independence, a soul-touching love story, and taboos of caste and forbidden affairs. It is a captivating saga of unshakable friendship, World War II, and the healing power of love. Destiny takes two friends, Lal Singh and Hakam, on very different paths. Compelled by circumstances, Lal Singh returns to his ancestral village where life-changing events await. Hakam continues the fight for freedom from the British but is captured and tortured. In an ironic twist of fate, Hakam’s son, Baldev, joins the British and fights on the knife-edged mountain peaks of Burma in WWII. Independence from the British results in mass migration, ripping apart long-established communities. Newly married Baldev must keep a promise he made on the battlefield to a dying friend and desperately tries to rejoin his own family. Would he be able to?

Nauvoo: A City Set on a Hill

Brigham Young was the American Moses who led pioneers into the Salt Lake Valley in 1847. Colonizing vast tracks of the arid West, they made the deserts bloom. Few know of the beginnings and the crucibles forced upon early Mormons. And what of the drivings in the east and Missouri? What of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, and new revelations from God, spreading across two continents, energizing thousands to leave their homes to build Zion, gathering to Nauvoo for the end of times? 1842 was an axial year. In England, Queen Victoria oversaw the industrial revolution that enriched some but unemployed millions. In America, people wrestled with slavery, Manifest Destiny, relocation of Native Americans, and religious awakening. Principled men and women rose to proclaim their vision, sacrificing reputations, lives, and wealth on the altar of convenience. Milena Stuart and her brother Diomedes were captured in the net of dreams, choosing to immigrate for opposing reasons, witnessing for themselves the turbulence erupting on the broad frontier. Would God allow this Camp of Israel to be driven from the States or would divine protection be manifest? Would that providence come in a timely fashion or in the form of isolating rag-tag refugees from the growing inferno that would soon consume the nation in the Civil War? Nauvoo is a victorious tale of joy and hope, fear and despair, sinners and saints. And the story goes on.

Guns and Crosses

1881 – Nearly a generation has passed since the War Between the States. The atrocities of war have changed some men for the worse and set John Channing, a war veteran, on the path of being one of the most feared and notorious outlaws the west has ever seen. The Channing Gang makes a name for themselves, cutting a swath of violence westward until Channing meets Rebekah Wallace, the daughter of a preacher, as they seek to start a new church in a burgeoning New Mexico town. Channing is forced to examine his life and chooses a new path, but his former gang and the town's mayor have other ideas. As events escalate, the former outlaw has his faith severely tested and he has to make a decision as to whether he will revert to the way of the gun or the way of the cross.

Finding the Bones

Finding the Bones is a dark romance set against the youth rebellion and revolutionary violence of the 1910s—an era not unlike 1960s’ America—where idealistic young men and women seek to create a more just society but often fall victim to retribution or disillusionment. Charlie Everett, a journalist on the make, and Olivia St. James, an ardent feminist and journalist in her own right, find themselves caught in a deadly embrace from which neither can escape. “A fine, sophisticated historical novel from author Avery Russell in which she draws from her family history, especially the life of her journalist father who is Charlie Everett in the novel; her father’s first wife portrayed as Olivia St. James; and their mutual friend Maurice Hadley, in real life the early abstract painter Marsden Hartley. Russell’s omniscient narrator moves deftly among her substantial cast of characters, showing us the lives of bohemians and expatriates of pre-World War I and beyond. If there is any symbol of the partially thwarted lives that the central characters endure, it is in Hartley’s poem ‘Finding the Bones,’ which provides the title for the book, where the bones of a dead bird are found with its wings still on and its feathers attached, the last vestiges of a life and an ardor Charlie himself experienced among the bones he hid from everyone. ‘Fixed were the wings,’ Hartley wrote; now they are stiffened, and life has moved on to a ‘fresh history of stifled things.’” — Townsend Ludington, author of Marsden Hartley: The Biography of an American Artist (1992) and Seeking the Spiritual: The Paintings of Marsden Hartley (1998); Cary C. Boshamer Distinguished Professor Emeritus of English and American Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Autumnfield

Jacob Brodie came to Texas in 1836. With no family left in Kentucky, he decided to stay and make his home in the new Republic after Texan independence had been won. It’s 1848 and after a decade and more of battling Comanche Indians and bandits along the borders, Jacob now commands his own company of Texas Rangers. But unattached and with no family, life in Texas has been a lonely existence. The arrival in Galveston of a clipper ship from England will ultimately change Jacob’s world. For on that ship is a man, an attorney, bearing important news. From this man, Jonah Kitchen, Jacob Brodie learns he is the sole male heir to a vast estate in Berkshire, England, from where his mother’s family originated. Likewise, with this estate comes an earldom. A new life begins for Jacob in England, complete with distrustful relatives whom he’s never met and servants who live drastically separate lives. There are also greedy, neighboring land owners who nurture a burning resentment towards this family. While becoming immersed in the upper class of Victorian English society, Jacob feels more and more like a fish out of water as he continues to cling to his honest and simple, yet rough American frontier upbringing. This is a story about a man from the New World trying hard to find his way in the old one. Ultimately, Jacob finds in England family, romance, love, and tragedy.

Worlds Clash

Lilith, the Princess of Darkness, gives a tour of some spine-chilling episodes in human experience that gives us the opportunity to consider how rational beings can embark on self-destructive campaigns. The Princess is also a provocateur who uses ingenious recitation of old facts. This work presents challenges with stark insights and bold interpretations. Examining events through multiple prisms reveals hidden connections and intricate designs that produce exquisite models of evil, forming a delicate tapestry of cruelty deserving to be hung in the Louvre of desolation.

The chain of dismal episodes forms a litany of horror that embraces mankind in Lilith’s kiss of death. Each event can be strung on a golden cord, forming a necklace of black pearls. The Sisyphean struggle to create a better world involves events that are heartbreaking because the tragedies they embody could easily be avoided with only a small application of rational thought. Such temptation is seductive, however, because reason seldom prevails unless accompanied by a sprinkling of humor.

Walking a Duck in L.A.

Secrets! Secrets! Secrets!

Jolene Hartman, a young girl walking a duck in L. A., has a secret she’s unable to share as she grows up during the turbulent 1930s and l940s on the fringes of Hollywood. Despite an unusual and troubling relationship with her parents, Jolene finds wonder and delight in constant adventures as she seeks God and love.

Join Jolene as she grows up with unique relatives, fascinating friends from many cultures, and her pet duck, Oscar.

In this inspirational novel based on a true story, at age 55 in 1985, thinking she has it all; a happy marriage, kids, and a glamorous career, Jolene is stunned to find she needs therapy when demons from her childhood surface, and she seeks treatment.

As Jolene’s sessions in treatment bring clarity, the author hopes they may also open doors to some of your secrets.

Twelve Days of Christmas Stories

Each year, Christmas is advertised as a wonderful time for children. I know it was for me as I was growing up, but, at some point, the magic seemed to wear off. I didn't want it to, but there it was. As I grew older, this one thought stayed in my mind and just got stronger the closer it got to each and every Christmas. What kind of stories could I write that would keep young people and adults excited about Christmas? Sure, there were stories for children that demonstrated the magic of Santa, but what about the rest of us? Should we have to give up the joy of Christmas just because we are too "old" for it? Early on, I tried to figure out what kinds of stories would be appropriate for the 18 and above crowd. Through trial and error, the stories included in Twelve Days of Christmas Stories finally met my criteria. These stories could just as easily be real life for those invested in finding and enjoying the Christmas spirit.

To add to the fun, the dialogue in each story is such that it could be read as a play, with characters that come alive as the reader shares each story with his or her own family. Mama's Night Out is one of those stories that has many voices. There is a private eye, a lady in red, some elves, and many more surprises. I hope you enjoy reading all twelve stories to your family and friends this Christmas season and beyond.

Tusk

This story opens with the unfolding tragedy of a young woman coming to Alaska in 1957. Her life is marked with the birth of three children from three separate men - one who is her husband, one who takes her by force, and a third who becomes her common law husband in the wild north. In such a short period of time, Ella G dies a tragic death, but her children become the protagonists of the emerging story. Their characters are developed separately, and through their outrageous Alaskan trials, they ultimately meet at the 25th anniversary of their mother’s death at a graveyard in Anchorage.

This book centers on the gold in the Alaskan hills, its mining and claim jumping, the rivalry between the antagonist (McKenzie) and the protagonist (Cayote) resulting in substantial violence – multiple gunfights, fist fights, arson, car crashes, and so forth. Ultimately, the protagonist loses his life in a plane crash exploring the mystery of the book (which will not be revealed here). The children have, however, gone their own way – RT becoming a politician, Bethra a criminal defense attorney, and Ernie a gold and ivory smuggler. They find a huge cache of gold in the midst of this adventure which is lost, stolen, found, and relocated, and in the middle of this they come upon a cache of woolly mammoth tusks. The remainder of this story concerns itself with smuggling these tusks out of Alaska to exchange them for weapons. While the vulgar culture, the street violence, and the crass relationships are the center of the story, the tusk found in the wild is the thing upon which it all centers.