Tuesday 31 July 2012

John Bailey - one of the Devil's Dozen


John Bailey  is 28 years old and 6'1" tall; he shares the same build and colouring as his nephew, Sam. He lives in Bilsington with his wife, Katherine, and four children. He calls himself a farmer and ploughman but, as his earnings from free-trade grow, he works less and less.
Buy your copy of the book HERE
Buy your copy of the ebook (all formats) HERE

About the book
Violence, love, loyalty and betrayal among the smugglers who once terrorised the coasts of southern England. The true tale of the Aldingston Blues Gang retold as a gripping novel.

For ten years the Blues and the Burmarsh Gang fought each other and the Excise Men over the lucrative smuggling trade in Kent. The rivalry was bitter and the stakes were high. When the Excise Men caught the gang landing brandy at Welland more than 300 men were involved in the savage firefight that followed, and 25 men ended spread in a bloody mess on the marsh.

Behind the scenes the feud between the two leading smugglers, George Ransley and James Hogben, is played out in deadly earnest. While their men grow rich, get married or gamble away their loot, the intense struggle between Ransley and Hogben follows a twisted route through bloodshed, treachery and unsurpassed wealth as the men struggle to control the huge wealth to be gained by being the only smuggling gang supplying goods to the London market.

In this novel, Newell tells in gripping language of the passions and excitement of the days when smugglers ruled the night and law abiding folk hid indoors as the carts and wagons rolled by in the moonlight.

Meticulously researched and based on contemporary court papers and other records, “A Devil’s Dozen” recreates the vanished world of the smugglers and the deadly feud between the leading smugglers that would eventually tear the brotherhood apart and send the smugglers to the gallows or to convict settlements in Australia. 

Monday 30 July 2012

Character Sketch from "A Devil's Dozen"


Paul Pierce  is 29 years old and 5'4" tall, with receding brown hair and shrewd grey eyes. He has a long knife scar on his right arm, disguised by a hearts-and-darts tattoo, and a peppering of shot marks on his left arm, disfiguring an older mermaid tattoo. He lives in an ancient cottage in Bilsington with his wife, Sarah, and four children. A gardener on a local estate, Paul takes pride in his work and is skilled at grafting hops. He and James Quested have been close friends since meeting as youths in Canterbury, right through their military service and into the Aldington Blues.

Buy your copy of the book HERE
Buy your copy of the ebook (all formats) HERE

About the book
Violence, love, loyalty and betrayal among the smugglers who once terrorised the coasts of southern England. The true tale of the Aldingston Blues Gang retold as a gripping novel.

For ten years the Blues and the Burmarsh Gang fought each other and the Excise Men over the lucrative smuggling trade in Kent. The rivalry was bitter and the stakes were high. When the Excise Men caught the gang landing brandy at Welland more than 300 men were involved in the savage firefight that followed, and 25 men ended spread in a bloody mess on the marsh.

Behind the scenes the feud between the two leading smugglers, George Ransley and James Hogben, is played out in deadly earnest. While their men grow rich, get married or gamble away their loot, the intense struggle between Ransley and Hogben follows a twisted route through bloodshed, treachery and unsurpassed wealth as the men struggle to control the huge wealth to be gained by being the only smuggling gang supplying goods to the London market.

In this novel, Newell tells in gripping language of the passions and excitement of the days when smugglers ruled the night and law abiding folk hid indoors as the carts and wagons rolled by in the moonlight.

Meticulously researched and based on contemporary court papers and other records, “A Devil’s Dozen” recreates the vanished world of the smugglers and the deadly feud between the leading smugglers that would eventually tear the brotherhood apart and send the smugglers to the gallows or to convict settlements in Australia.

Wednesday 18 July 2012

A Devil's Dozen - Character sketch


James ‘Quacks’ Quested  is 30 years old and 5'7" tall, with luxuriant brown hair and wide grey eyes. He has a curious verbal tic, adding an ‘s’ to his verbs as if everything were happening in the present. He has medical expertise, which he acquired in the British Army during the Peninsular War. He lives in Hawkinge with his wife, Jane, and two children. Proud of his family, he works hard at countless enterprises, from running his own sawmill to working a piece of land near his home.


About the book
Violence, love, loyalty and betrayal among the smugglers who once terrorised the coasts of southern England. The true tale of the Aldingston Blues Gang retold as a gripping novel.

For ten years the Blues and the Burmarsh Gang fought each other and the Excise Men over the lucrative smuggling trade in Kent. The rivalry was bitter and the stakes were high. When the Excise Men caught the gang landing brandy at Welland more than 300 men were involved in the savage firefight that followed, and 25 men ended spread in a bloody mess on the marsh.

Behind the scenes the feud between the two leading smugglers, George Ransley and James Hogben, is played out in deadly earnest. While their men grow rich, get married or gamble away their loot, the intense struggle between Ransley and Hogben follows a twisted route through bloodshed, treachery and unsurpassed wealth as the men struggle to control the huge wealth to be gained by being the only smuggling gang supplying goods to the London market.

In this novel, Newell tells in gripping language of the passions and excitement of the days when smugglers ruled the night and law abiding folk hid indoors as the carts and wagons rolled by in the moonlight.

Meticulously researched and based on contemporary court papers and other records, “A Devil’s Dozen” recreates the vanished world of the smugglers and the deadly feud between the leading smugglers that would eventually tear the brotherhood apart and send the smugglers to the gallows or to convict settlements in Australia.

Tuesday 17 July 2012

NEW BOOK - The Battle of Pulu Aor (1804)

A key naval action that confirmed British control of the Indian Ocean and its rich trade at a crucial point in the Napoleonic Wars.

The battle of Pulo Aor is today rather overshadowed by the contemporary victories of Nelson in European waters, but in its day it was every bit as famous as Trafalgar, Aboukir and The Saints.

In 1803 French Emperor Napoleon sent Admiral Charles-Alexander Linois with a powerful fleet of warships to the Indian Ocean to disrupt the rich Eastern trade on which Britain relied to finance its war effort against France. After preliminary skirmishing and manoeuvres, Linois closed with the main British merchant convoy of the winter off the island of Pulo Aor.

The British commander, Commodore Nathaniel Dance knew he was heavily outnumbered, but he gambled on Linois’s caution and an bold display of aggression to make up for his lack of numbers. In the battle that followed the French ships were driven off as much by clever use of the wind and swift manoeuvring as by gunfire. Dance went home to a hero’s welcome, leaving Linois to lick his wounds and prepare for a final showdown with the British navy some months later.

About the Author
Rupert Matthews has written over 150 books for different publishers, achieving significant sales in a variety of markets both in the UK and abroad. His works have been translated into 19 languages and have been shortlisted for a number of awards. Rupert has been a freelance writer for 20 years, working in-house at a major book publisher before going freelance.

Buy your Kindle version HERE
Buy other ebook formats HERE

Monday 16 July 2012

A Devil's Dozen - The setting of the novel


We are in Kent, an English county that extends south-east from London to the coast.
There is a belief amongst the coastal population of Kent and Sussex that the Cinque Ports of Hastings, New Romney, Hythe, Dover and Sandwich are exempt from taxes and tolls. An ancient charter to this effect is used to justify the smuggling of uncustomed goods such as spirits and tobacco.
The South Kent smugglers work the coast from the Sussex border eastwards to Deal. Many of the men live in the farming villages along the northern fringes of the coastal marshes. Their base, and the place after which the gang will eventually be named, is Aldington.


About the book
Violence, love, loyalty and betrayal among the smugglers who once terrorised the coasts of southern England. The true tale of the Aldingston Blues Gang retold as a gripping novel.

For ten years the Blues and the Burmarsh Gang fought each other and the Excise Men over the lucrative smuggling trade in Kent. The rivalry was bitter and the stakes were high. When the Excise Men caught the gang landing brandy at Welland more than 300 men were involved in the savage firefight that followed, and 25 men ended spread in a bloody mess on the marsh.

Behind the scenes the feud between the two leading smugglers, George Ransley and James Hogben, is played out in deadly earnest. While their men grow rich, get married or gamble away their loot, the intense struggle between Ransley and Hogben follows a twisted route through bloodshed, treachery and unsurpassed wealth as the men struggle to control the huge wealth to be gained by being the only smuggling gang supplying goods to the London market.

In this novel, Newell tells in gripping language of the passions and excitement of the days when smugglers ruled the night and law abiding folk hid indoors as the carts and wagons rolled by in the moonlight.

Meticulously researched and based on contemporary court papers and other records, “A Devil’s Dozen” recreates the vanished world of the smugglers and the deadly feud between the leading smugglers that would eventually tear the brotherhood apart and send the smugglers to the gallows or to convict settlements in Australia. 

Saturday 14 July 2012

Vulture's Lair - some background to events in the novel


The Cod Wars were a series of confrontations in the 1950s and 1970s between the United Kingdom and Iceland regarding fishing rights in the North Atlantic. Icelandic gunboats harassed British trawlers and cut their trawls in the seventies. The Royal Navy deployed warships and tugboats to act as a deterrent against harassment of British trawlers, resulting in direct confrontations, the most famous incident when the Falmouth rammed the tiny Týr. The tiny gunboat was heavily damaged and almost sunk, propelled by only a single screw it was pursued by a British tugboat.
The disputes ended in 1976 after Iceland threatened to close the Keflavik NATO base in retaliation for Britain's deployment of naval vessels. The British government conceded and withdrew its trawlers from Icelandic waters on 1st of December 1976.


About the book
A gripping political thriller set a few years into the future when the EU has become a fully federal superstate. A political elite out of control. A lone man seeking the truth Murder, mayhem and intrigue leading to the Vulture's Lair Brussels. The highest ranking Icelandic official at the United States of Europe, Solman Smithson, hears the voice of his old friend Krummi, who is fighting off armed guards. Krummi and Solman grew up together in the Westman Islands but while Solman became a bureaucrat, Krummi went to sea as one of Iceland's last fishermen. The Vulture is looking down on its prey. The chance encounter takes place as the new president, Erich Devereux, is installed into power. But rumours circulate that corrupt votes put him in power. Murders and violent attacks on journalists and academics proliferate in an apparently unconnected way. And as momentum builds in Iceland for independence from the USE the tempo of violence and intrigue quickens. The Vulture moves toward its prey. Fate decrees that only the big fisherman from the Westman Islands stands in the way of the dark forces of chaos. But can a fisherman from Iceland work out what is really going on. And can he survive long enough to make a difference. The Vulture closes in.

Friday 13 July 2012

A Devil's Dozen - The Date


Our story opens in February 1821.
George IV has been King for a year, after a decade as Prince Regent. He’s an unpopular monarch, ridiculed by caricaturists for his self-indulgence. He has done little to improve life for his subjects.
The Napoleonic Wars ended six years ago, after the Duke of Wellington’s triumph at Waterloo. Britain, which had been at war with France for twenty years, has been left impoverished and deeply divided by class. Many men have found no work after their military service.
Taxes on imports have traditionally been enforced by several agencies, including the Preventive Water Guard, and a new one, the Coast Blockade, was set up by the Admiralty a few years ago.


Buy your copy HERE
Buy your ebook HERE

About the book

Violence, love, loyalty and betrayal among the smugglers who once terrorised the coasts of southern England. The true tale of the Aldingston Blues Gang retold as a gripping novel.

For ten years the Blues and the Burmarsh Gang fought each other and the Excise Men over the lucrative smuggling trade in Kent. The rivalry was bitter and the stakes were high. When the Excise Men caught the gang landing brandy at Welland more than 300 men were involved in the savage firefight that followed, and 25 men ended spread in a bloody mess on the marsh.

Behind the scenes the feud between the two leading smugglers, George Ransley and James Hogben, is played out in deadly earnest. While their men grow rich, get married or gamble away their loot, the intense struggle between Ransley and Hogben follows a twisted route through bloodshed, treachery and unsurpassed wealth as the men struggle to control the huge wealth to be gained by being the only smuggling gang supplying goods to the London market.

In this novel, Newell tells in gripping language of the passions and excitement of the days when smugglers ruled the night and law abiding folk hid indoors as the carts and wagons rolled by in the moonlight.

Meticulously researched and based on contemporary court papers and other records, “A Devil’s Dozen” recreates the vanished world of the smugglers and the deadly feud between the leading smugglers that would eventually tear the brotherhood apart and send the smugglers to the gallows or to convict settlements in Australia.

Thursday 12 July 2012

Remarks for Grandma’s Teddy Bear Club: Television Bear.


Just a brief note to say that Television Bear wanted me to tell you that he has been having a really busy time watching all the television programmes about the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II of England. He loved them all. As well as that of course Television Bear joined in the big Teddy Bear Street Party. It was such fun!
Television Bear says he hopes you enjoyed the Jubilee too.
Grandma is so old she can remember watching the real Coronation sixty years ago on the first television set the family ever had.  All the family sat round the television and so that they did not miss a second of the excitement they ate sandwiches and  pies and fruit salad all day (prepared beforehand of course) and did not cook properly until the next day.
What lovely memories the day made for Grandma.

Buy your copy of the book HERE
Buy your copy of the ebook HERE

About the book

A fun reading and activity book for those who look after young and very young relatives while Mummy and Daddy are out at work. This book includes: * Stories to read to the young and very young age groups. * Simple moving around activities to make a change from sitting reading. * Simple crayon and paper fun aimed at all younger ages.

Tuesday 10 July 2012

Sam Bailey - a major character in the novel "A Devil's Dozen"


SAM BAILEY is 35 years old and 5’11” tall, with near-black hair and eyes. Like all the Bailey men, he is formidable in both build and temperament. He lives in Bilsington with his wife, Sarah, and three children: Sarah (5), Catherine (3) and Samuel (1). His elder sister is Ransley’s wife, Eliza, making them brothers-in-law. He farms a small piece of land but most of his time is given over to his ‘night work’ as a free-trader. He served his country courageously in the Napoleonic Wars but then deserted from the Royal Navy when peace came.


Violence, love, loyalty and betrayal among the smugglers who once terrorised the coasts of southern England. The true tale of the Aldingston Blues Gang retold as a gripping novel.

For ten years the Blues and the Burmarsh Gang fought each other and the Excise Men over the lucrative smuggling trade in Kent. The rivalry was bitter and the stakes were high. When the Excise Men caught the gang landing brandy at Welland more than 300 men were involved in the savage firefight that followed, and 25 men ended spread in a bloody mess on the marsh.

Behind the scenes the feud between the two leading smugglers, George Ransley and James Hogben, is played out in deadly earnest. While their men grow rich, get married or gamble away their loot, the intense struggle between Ransley and Hogben follows a twisted route through bloodshed, treachery and unsurpassed wealth as the men struggle to control the huge wealth to be gained by being the only smuggling gang supplying goods to the London market.

In this novel, Newell tells in gripping language of the passions and excitement of the days when smugglers ruled the night and law abiding folk hid indoors as the carts and wagons rolled by in the moonlight.

Meticulously researched and based on contemporary court papers and other records, “A Devil’s Dozen” recreates the vanished world of the smugglers and the deadly feud between the leading smugglers that would eventually tear the brotherhood apart and send the smugglers to the gallows or to convict settlements in Australia.
 

Monday 9 July 2012

BOOK SALE - How the Steam Railways came to Surrey

For a limited time only this book is available at a reduced price.

You can buy the printed book HERE at just £6.99
You can buy the ebook (all formats) HERE at just £2.01

A fascinating account of how the railways came to Surrey and the impact they had on the people who lived in the county The book the great days of the steam railways in the county. It shows how and why the lines were built, giving an account of the people who laid the lines and built the stations.

When I was a boy I lived overlooking the main railway line from London to Southampton. It had been built in 1838 by the London and Southampton Railway, later to become the famous London and South Western Railway (LSWR). From our front garden you could see the trains thundering back and forth along the embankment that ran like a stripe across the landscape. By then, of course, the glory days of steam in Surrey were long gone. It was electric trains that raced back and forth. But the odd steam train did go by, the plume of smoke drifting up into the air to disperse over the landscape. The railways came to Surrey in the 1840s and they were still being built in the 1930s, making Surrey most unusual among the counties of England. Across most of the country, railway building had ground to a halt long before the line to Chessington was opened in 1939, complete with suitably modernistic station architecture.
Those railways were to have a dramatic impact on the landscapes, people and economy of Surrey. Indeed, the Surrey that we see today has been largely created by the railways. It is no exaggeration to say that more than any other county in England, Surrey has been built on railways.

About the Author

Rupert Matthews has written over 150 books for different publishers, achieving significant sales in a variety of markets both in the UK and abroad. His works have been translated into 19 languages and have been shortlisted for a number of awards. Rupert has been a freelance writer for 20 years, working in-house at a major book publisher before going freelance.

Thursday 5 July 2012

THE HOG - a leading character in "A Devil's Dozen


JAMES HOGBEN is 36 years old and 5’8” tall, with dark brown hair and eyes. He was once a powerful and athletic man but years of heavy drinking have taken their toll on both his physique and his character. A musket ball shattered his thigh nine months before the book opens, leaving him with a painful limp and an escalating opium addiction. He lives near Folkestone with his wife, Ann, and children: Thomas (12), Mary (11), William (4), John (3), James (2) and Susannah (1). Known to his friends as ‘the Hog’, partly for his name and partly for his character, James was press-ganged between the births of his first and second children and forced to serve in the British Navy from 1810 to 1816.
Buy your copy of the book HERE
Buy your ebook version HERE


About the book
 Violence, love, loyalty and betrayal among the smugglers who once terrorised the coasts of southern England. The true tale of the Aldingston Blues Gang retold as a gripping novel.

For ten years the Blues and the Burmarsh Gang fought each other and the Excise Men over the lucrative smuggling trade in Kent. The rivalry was bitter and the stakes were high. When the Excise Men caught the gang landing brandy at Welland more than 300 men were involved in the savage firefight that followed, and 25 men ended spread in a bloody mess on the marsh.

Behind the scenes the feud between the two leading smugglers, George Ransley and James Hogben, is played out in deadly earnest. While their men grow rich, get married or gamble away thier loot, the intense struggle between Ransley and Hogben follows a twisted route through bloodshed, treachery and unsurpassed wealth as the men struggle to control the huge wealth to be gained by being the only smuggling gang supplying goods to the London market.

In this novel, Newel tells in gripping language of the passions and excitement of the days when smugglers ruled the night and law abiding folk hid indoors as the carts and wagons rolled by in the moonlight.

Meticulously researched and based on contemporary court papers and other records, “A Devil’s Dozen” recreates the vanished world of the smugglers and the deadly feud between the leading smugglers that would eventually tear the brotherhood apart and send the smugglers to the gallows or to convict settlements in Australia.

Wednesday 4 July 2012

A leading character in "A Devil's Dozen"


GEORGE RANSLEY is 39 years old and 5’7” tall, with dark brown hair and dark blue eyes. He is stoutly built, with slender knock-kneed legs and crowded overshot upper teeth. He worked as a carter before turning to free-trade eight years before this story begins. He lives in Aldington with his wife, Eliza, and children: Matilda (12), George (10), John (9), William (5), Robert (3) and James (1); another baby, Anne, died in 1815. George is known for his keen intelligence and pensive demeanour. He is often to be seen sitting outside local public houses, sober and contemplative, while his men carouse inside. 

About the book:
Violence, love, loyalty and betrayal among the smugglers who once terrorised the coasts of southern England. The true tale of the Aldingston Blues Gang retold as a gripping novel.

For ten years the Blues and the Burmarsh Gang fought each other and the Excise Men over the lucrative smuggling trade in Kent. The rivalry was bitter and the stakes were high. When the Excise Men caught the gang landing brandy at Welland more than 300 men were involved in the savage firefight that followed, and 25 men ended spread in a bloody mess on the marsh.

Behind the scenes the feud between the two leading smugglers, George Ransley and James Hogben, is played out in deadly earnest. While their men grow rich, get married or gamble away thier loot, the intense struggle between Ransley and Hogben follows a twisted route through bloodshed, treachery and unsurpassed wealth as the men struggle to control the huge wealth to be gained by being the only smuggling gang supplying goods to the London market.

In this novel, Newel tells in gripping language of the passions and excitement of the days when smugglers ruled the night and law abiding folk hid indoors as the carts and wagons rolled by in the moonlight.

Meticulously researched and based on contemporary court papers and other records, “A Devil’s Dozen” recreates the vanished world of the smugglers and the deadly feud between the leading smugglers that would eventually tear the brotherhood apart and send the smugglers to the gallows or to convict settlements in Australia.

Buy your copy HERE
Buy your ebook HERE

Tuesday 3 July 2012

Book of the Month for July - A Devil's Dozen

Violence, love, loyalty and betrayal among the smugglers who once terrorised the coasts of southern England. The true tale of the Aldingston Blues Gang retold as a gripping novel.

For ten years the Blues and the Burmarsh Gang fought each other and the Excise Men over the lucrative smuggling trade in Kent. The rivalry was bitter and the stakes were high. When the Excise Men caught the gang landing brandy at Welland more than 300 men were involved in the savage firefight that followed, and 25 men ended spread in a bloody mess on the marsh.

Behind the scenes the feud between the two leading smugglers, George Ransley and James Hogben, is played out in deadly earnest. While their men grow rich, get married or gamble away thier loot, the intense struggle between Ransley and Hogben follows a twisted route through bloodshed, treachery and unsurpassed wealth as the men struggle to control the huge wealth to be gained by being the only smuggling gang supplying goods to the London market.

In this novel, Newel tells in gripping language of the passions and excitement of the days when smugglers ruled the night and law abiding folk hid indoors as the carts and wagons rolled by in the moonlight.

Meticulously researched and based on contemporary court papers and other records, “A Devil’s Dozen” recreates the vanished world of the smugglers and the deadly feud between the leading smugglers that would eventually tear the brotherhood apart and send the smugglers to the gallows or to convict settlements in Australia.

Buy your copy HERE
Buy your ebook HERE

Sunday 1 July 2012

Boxford Station - First sale of July 2012

Our first ebook sale of July 2012 was a copy of Boxford Station, part of our series "Stations of the Great Western Railway".

A dedicated history of a once busy rural station on a branch line of the Great Western Railway.

Boxford was for many years a bustling little rural station on the branch line from Newbury to Lambourn. It is closed now, but some of the older residents can still remember the trains rattling through the station.

In this book we learn when Newbury West Fields was built and why. The impact the station had on the surrounding area is explained and the type of freight and passengers that used the station are explained.

The book also takes a look at the locomotives that ran on the Lambourn Valley line on whichthis station stood.

In 1905 the LVR was taken over by the GWR and the entire branch line was upgraded and brought to GWR standards. The line remained open until 1964, but is now closed, the tracks lifted and the stations gone. How this station was affected is described.

This book is one of the Lambourn Valley Railway series that looks in detail at the stations along that now closed branch line. The Lambourn Valley Railway series is part of the Stations of the Great Western Railway collection published by Bretwalda Books

About the Author
Charles D’Arvelle is a railway enthusiast who has a particular fascination with closed branch lines. He has spent many happy hours tracing the locations of closed stations, abanoned sidings and lost railway tracks. He declares it is a great way to get out and explore the British countryside.

BUY YOUR KINDLE COPY HERE
BUY OTHER EBOOK FORMATS HERE