John Robinson at Portland Library

Brown Bag Lecture
with John B. Robinson
author of A Fistful of Diamonds
Portland Public Library, Portland Maine.
Wed., April 8, 2009 (12pm-1pm)
207-871-1700 ext. 758

"The Brown Bag Lecture Series features best-selling authors from Maine and New England as well as from across the nation and world. Bring your lunch and enjoy...Coffee, tea, and light refreshments will be provided. (During the renovation of the Main Library, Brown Bag Lectures will be held at Community Television Network, just a few blocks from the Main Library)"

John B. Robinson graduated from Harvard and headed straight to Africa to pursue writing. Along the way he worked as a guide on Mount Kilimanjaro; bought, sold and traded rare gems; and taught English in out-of-the-way places. He currently lives in Portland, Maine.

A Fistful of Diamonds - Book 2 of the Gemstone Thrillers: A suite of priceless diamonds surfaces in Central Africa. Fast-talking gem expert Lonny Cushman wants them. As cover, he chaperones a young seminarian to Rwanda in search of her missing father. Once there, Lonny chases the diamonds through the killing fields of the Congo. Survival depends on negotiating the bloody machinery that benefits from the conflict diamond trade--Islamic jihadis, corrupt army officers, Israeli diamantaires, and Ukrainian arms dealers. Can he save himself, the diamonds, and the seminarian from a terrible end?

Purchase the Gemstone Thrillers, by John B. Robinson, at McBooks.com

Author James L. Nelson discusses George Washington’s secret navy

Author James L. Nelson has written a wide range of historical fiction and nonfiction-- from The Only Life that Mattered (a novel based on the true story of two female pirates) to Benedict Arnold’s Navy (a nonfiction exploration of the little-known fleet of American ships cobbled together by Benedict Arnold to fight the British). His recent book George Washington’s Secret Navy takes a look at how the esteemed general took it upon himself to create a secret navy of merchant ships sent out to harass the British. Recently Nelson gave a talk at the Pritzker Military Library in Chicago. There he gave intriguing background and context for Washington’s decision to establish his ragtag Colonial Navy behind the Continental Congress’s back.

Nelson was introduced at the Pritzker Library on March 14, 2009 thus:

Tricky situation here. It's 1775, and you need to prepare for battle against the world's most powerful fighting force. You know quite a bit about combat on land, but you have no naval experience whatsoever – and no navy, either - which is a problem, because your enemy is sitting pretty in Boston Harbor, supplied by merchant ships that you'll need to stop. And whatever you do, Congress can't know about it, because they're not even ready to call this a revolution yet.

What's your move, General Washington? (Hear the rest of the intro and listen to James L. Nelson’s fascinating talk.)

Purchase books by James L. Nelson at McBooks.com

McBooks Expands Historical Fiction Bookstore

Review of the McBooks "Customer Choice Trial"
—We are expanding to serve you better. . .

A Message from Alex Skutt, McBooks Press, Inc., Publisher

McBooks Press is a book publisher plus a catalog and Internet retailer of historical fiction books. We are always exploring new avenues of book retailing and ways to improve customer service. To help us optimize your future book-buying experiences, we recently ran a two-week "Customer Choice Trial." During the trial, we offered our website visitors the option of purchasing from Amazon.com or from our own online bookstore at McBooks.com.

As an additional aspect of the trial, we also invited our Quarterdeck newsletter readers to email comments and suggestions to us.

What Did We Learn?

Although we know that some readers prefer to shop at Amazon.com, we were pleased with the number of customers who voiced a strong preference by asking us to continue providing our unique bookstore services. Here is one comment that says it all: "I love the fact that I don't have to sift through Amazon.com for my relatively narrow band of interest. Please don't change your wonderful web service. . ." —E.M.

To remain a competitive bookstore choice for you, we are now increasing our book selections (U.S. and U.K.) and expanding our valuable services to help readers navigate the array of books published in the Historical Fiction genre. Our 2009 catalog will be the biggest ever, featuring fiction from more historical time periods and sub genres. From 12th-century wise women investigating mysterious deaths, to 19th-century mountainmen fighting for survival and WWII detectives sniffing out espionage, you'll find new stories to peak your interest and keep you reading!

What customers like about McBooks

• Special set prices for Historical Fiction series
• Free shipping for orders over $85.00
• Discount bargain books at low prices
• Free Quarterdeck newsletter
• Free Book with an order of $100 or more
• Knowledgeable and friendly book advice by phone
• U.K. books kept in stock and ready to ship

Comments about Quarterdeck email newsletter, edited by George D. Jepson

"The gift of your time and effort is greatly appreciated by we die-hard nautical fiction enthusiasts!" —D.K.
"Wonderful news. . . And having George's steady hand back on the tiller is a boon to us all." — B.H.
"I would have been willing to pay a subscription rate, and I'm sure I'm not alone. Thank you!" —D.H.

Subscribe Here

Our customers appreciate these multiple ways to order

• Purchasing online via our convenient and secure check out
• Calling Toll-Free: 1-888-266-5711
• Mailing a printed catalog order form
• Faxing a completed order form

Try our Custom Book Search

And remember, if you are searching for a title that is not on our website, call us! Toll-free: 1-888-266-5711. We will do our best to find the book you want and send you a price quote. This unique service is Free! "I often call. . . Always very knowledgeable. . . Great advice on future selections." —R.G.

We are grateful when you purchase your Historical Fiction books from us. Thank you for your support!

Warm regards,

Alex Skutt

Captain Frederick Marryat Books

Here's a recent question from a customer:

Hi, I've read a number of Captain Marryat's books, all published by your company, and I recall that you used to publish more of them then you do now. Am I correct? I'm after more, so if you are no longer publishing them is there another publisher you can refer me to? Thanks. A. H.
...................

Dear Reader,

You are correct that McBooks Press is out-of-stock of several Marryat books that we formerly published, specifically:

Snarleyyow
Privateersman
Phantom Ship

The good news is that we can supply (shipped directly to you from our remote warehouse) virtually any book that Marryat wrote.

These books wouldn't be McBooks Press publications. The Capt. Marryat books are all in the public domain, so anyone can publish them. Several firms are now digitally printing Marryats in small quantities. Therefore, they may not be up to the McBooks Press high standards of pretty covers, strong bindings, and attractive typography.

I would be delighted to send you a PDF file with a list of Marryat's complete works. (The list shows the original publishers and formats--not the editions that are now available.)

If you want to review the list, I'd be happy to quote you prices and editions for any titles in which you are interested.

Please let us know if we can obtain more information for you.

Incidentally, I believe that Marryat is a tremendously entertaining writer. I think of him as a cross between Charles Dickens and Mark Twain.

Best regards,

Alex Skutt
McBooks Press, Inc.

Author Douglas Jacobson takes a look at WWII Belgian Resistance

Douglas Jacobson (second from left) and former members of the Comet Line.

Author Douglas W. Jacobson researched the history of the Comet Line—a WWII Belgian Resistance organization that rescued downed allied aviators—for his book Night of Flames. Now he shares what he learned with War Through the Generations, a blog devoted to war and its impact.

Uncommon Courage
Part 1 of 3

On a dark night during World War Two, American airman, George Watt, a gunner aboard a B-17, was on a mission from England to the Ruhr valley in Germany when his plane was shot down near the Belgian village of Zele. He parachuted to earth and landed in an open field, drawing the immediate attention of local Nazi authorities. Frightened and alone, Watt hid in a ditch while the local townspeople distracted the authorities by pointing off in the wrong direction. Before long, one of the locals approached him and led him to a rural homestead where he was given civilian clothing and warm food. A few days later Watt was taken to Brussels where he was interviewed to make certain he wasn’t a spy and was soon off to Paris and eventually to safety in Spain. Watt didn’t know it at the time but he had been aboard the “Comet Line”.

The Comet Line was Europe’s largest and most successful underground escape line during World War Two. Established in 1941 by a 24 year old Belgian woman, Andrée De Jongh (known to all as Dédée) and her schoolmaster father, the Comet Line transported more than eight hundred Allied aviators to safety during the course of Nazi occupation. Dédée escorted over one hundred of these young soldiers to safety herself . . . (Read the full WWII Belgian Resistance article.)

Purchase Night of Flames: A Novel of WWII, by Douglas W. Jacobson at mcbooks.com

A Fistful of Diamonds called a “many-faceted page turner”

On January 11, the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram ran an in-depth review of A Fistful of Diamonds, by John B. Robinson. The novel takes up where the first book of the series, The Sapphire Sea, left off, only this time Gem Expert Lonny Cushman chases blood diamonds in Rwanda. Reviewer Nancy Grape found the new novel unforgettable.

Several years ago, Portland writer John B. Robinson, armed with a Harvard education, a taste of life as a struggling artist in Paris and a thirst for experience, won a writing fellowship that took him to the sapphire fields of northern Madagascar. There, in the danger and unpredictability of mining and trading gems, the first novel in his Gemstone Thriller series was born.

"The Sapphire Sea" was warmly welcomed. Now the second novel in the taut series has arrived. And "A Fistful of Diamonds" has been worth the wait.

The year is 2000. Robinson's hero, New York gem dealer Lonny Cushman, has moved on to a new mission in Rwanda, a country where death broods, visible and threatening, over a horrific history of genocide and violence. Tensions roil throughout Central Africa. Danger threatens. Violence beckons or repels. And so do the storied diamonds of the area. (Read the full review.)

Purchase the Gemstone Thrillers, by John B. Robinson, at McBooks.com

Boxing Author George Kimball talks to Gelf Magazine about the "Sweetest Science"

Max Lakin recently interviewed George Kimball for Gelf Magazine about Kimball's new book Four Kings: Leonard, Hagler, Hearns, Duran, and the Last Great Era of Boxing, and the state of boxing yesterday and today.

There is a kind of after-hours stigma attached to modern boxing. Far removed from Ali standing—black-and-white-poster-print—over Liston, fights now are usually a rock-em, sock-em Late Nite show piped out on deeply-buried cable stations, or a blue-moon main event accompanied by the letters PPV and sponsorships shinier than the shorts in the ring. Boxing's been given the inorganic HBO treatment—bastardized, some would say—by grotesque caricatures like Tyson and his impossibly-high-pitches theatrics.

Which is perhaps why boxing—the way it used to be—has been canonized, too, enjoying somewhat of a sentimental resurgence in the mainstream with movies like Million Dollar Baby, Cinderella Man, and Resurrecting the Champ portraying a pageant of grit and heart—of earnest men giving themselves to the ring and doing it for pride and class, not promotional contracts.

It is precisely this kind of boxing that veteran sportswriter George Kimball chronicles exhaustively in Four Kings: Leonard, Hagler, Hearns, Durán and the Last Great Era of Boxing, an enthusiastic jaunt through the sport's brief return to artistry in the post-Ali era, painted by Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Thomas "Hit Man" Hearns, and Roberto Durán.

The book reads like a compendium of boxing manna in its own right, with recollections from fighters, promoters, and those for whom simply watching these fighters spar was as much a thrill as a gift. But more so, Four Kings is the product of Kimball's immediately apparent zeal for the processes of the sport. . . (Read Gelf's full interview with George Kimball.)

Purchase Four Kings, by George Kimball, at McBooks.com

Douglas Jacobson Explores WWII Polish Resistance

Recently Night of Flames author Douglas W. Jacobson delved into the real history of the WWII Polish Resistance organization Home Army (Armia Krajowa) for the Polish-American newspaper the Am-Pol Eagle.

Poland's Armia Krajowa and German V-2 Rockets in WW2

Part One of Two

Buried deep in a mountainside in the small town of Peenemunde on the Baltic Sea, German scientists were hard at work on the most secret and insidious weapons known to mankind during the dark years of World War Two – the V-1 and V-2 rockets. While rumors of these developments had been floating around Allied intelligence circles, it was not until the winter of 1942 that they were taken seriously. This occurred following a secret report dispatched to London from the Polish Home Army (Armia Krajowa or AK). The report included information gathered by an AK agent working at the Czech steelworks plant in Witowice who had learned of top secret tests being conducted by the Germans utilizing very special steel alloys and advanced manufacturing techniques to produce large steel cylinders.

Further undercover espionage activities by AK agents revealed the secret testing facility at Peenemunde. In the summer of 1943, one particular agent, posing as a forced laborer, was able to create sketches of the testing facility, which was now close to producing V-1 rockets, or “flying bombs” in large-scale quantities. Through a complex network of secret agents and safe-houses his report and sketches made their way to the AK commanders in Warsaw and then to Allied intelligence authorities in London. (Read the full WWII Polish Resistance article.)

Purchase Night of Flames: A Novel of WWII, by Douglas W. Jacobson at mcbooks.com

Four Kings: 2008 Best Holiday Reading according to SecondsOut.com

Thomas Hauser, writing on SecondsOut.com, named his favorite boxing books for holiday reading and included George Kimball’s Four Kings: Leonard, Hagler, Hearns, Duran and the Last Great Era of Boxing.

Here’s what Hauser had to say:

Each year during the holiday season, I publish a “top forty” list of what I consider to be the best books on boxing. That list, updated to accommodate recently published titles, follows . . .

Four Kings by George Kimball (McBooks Press) – Kimball recounts the epic nine battles contested among Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns, and Roberto Duran between 1980 and 1989. It was a special time for boxing fans and more special for those who, like Kimball, experienced the drama firsthand from the inside. The bigger the fight, the better Kimball tells it. (Read the full boxing column.)

Purchase Four Kings, by George Kimball, at McBooks.com

The Book of Matthew chosen a 2008 Great Debut by Rocky Mountain News

Denver’s Rocky Mountain News came out with its choices for Best Debut Novels of the year and gave an enthusiastic nod to The Book of Matthew, by Thomas White.

In praising the novel, Justin Matott says, “There are many bland — been-there-done-that — kind of serial killer books out there. White’s literary style is fresh, inventive, engrossing and truly macabre.” (Read the full Great Debuts article.)

Purchase The Book of Matthew from McBooks.com