Ancient Echoes (49 page)
Authors: Joanne Pence
Tags: #Literature & Fiction, #Genre Fiction, #Horror, #Occult, #Mystery; Thriller & Suspense, #Thrillers & Suspense, #Supernatural, #Religion & Spirituality, #Alchemy
He entered the cathedral with its beautifully gilded altars,
frescoes and inlays, and turned to a small chapel that housed the relics of St.
Francis Xavier, the peripatetic missionary who spent his life in India, the Malay
peninsula, Japan, and died while on the way to China.
Michael stood before the silver casket of the saint whose
body, many believed, remained perfectly preserved even in death.
Head bowed, Michael’s heart filled not only with peace, but
also with a sense of purpose. He was alone, but not lonely. He didn't know
where life would lead him, but he had every confidence in Lady Hsieh's words,
that he still had much to do. She had never failed him.
His thoughts then turned to Francis Masterson, the gentle but
tormented young writer whose journals guided Michael and the others to
understand what they faced and ultimately to safety. He had been a good-hearted
man who boldly went to uncharted lands, much like the saint whose name he bore,
and now, he finally rested in eternal peace. All of them did, including Lady
Hsieh, and even Abbé Gerard.
The unquiet graves were no more; and the secret of alchemy
lost forever.
As it should be.
As it must.
Readers
interested in learning more about alchemy can find vast amounts of material,
including entire libraries, on the subject. If I had to name one scholarly work
that I believe would be most helpful, understandable and interesting, it would
be a relatively small book called
The Forge and the Crucible: The Origins
and Structure of Alchemy
by philosopher and religious historian Mircea
Eliade.
Many writings
exist that present the explanation Nicolas Flamel (also spelled Nicholas
Flammel) gave of finding and eventually deciphering
The Book of Abraham the
Jew
. The material found in this book was taken from the English
translation of the French work as printed in London in 1624 for Thomas Walsley,
called
Hieroglyphical Figures (Which he caused to be
Painted
upon an Arch in St. Innocents Church Yard in Paris): Concerning both the Theory
and Practice of the Philosophers Stone
. Whether
The Book of Abraham the
Jew
ever truly existed, as well as which alchemist named “Abraham” wrote
it,
continues to be hotly debated to this day.
Edward Kelley (also spelled Kelly) is also an historical
figure. He is highly controversial, and many of his biographies are filled with
unsubstantiated stories. One of the most thoroughly researched works is Michael
Wilding’s, “A Biography of Edward Kelly, the English Alchemist and Associate of
Dr. John Dee,” found in
Mystical Metal of Gold, Essays on Alchemy and
Renaissance Culture,
edited by Stanton J. Linden. Details of Kelley’s life
in Romania, the ruin of his patron Vilém Rozmberk, and his death can be found
there. The real Edward Kelley did not marry Rozmberk’s daughter or father her
child.
To learn more about Lewis and Clark, the very readable
The
Lewis and Clark Journals, An American Epic of Discovery,
an abridgment of
the Definitive Nebraska Edition, edited by Gary E. Moulton is recommended. The
history of Fort Lemhi, the first Mormon settlement in Idaho, including Brigham
Young’s visit there and the massacre of the missionaries happened very much as
presented, and details can be found in many Idaho history books. The small group
that left the main settlement to found a splinter mission called New Gideon,
however, is not factual.
The Tukudeka, a small Shoshoni-Bannock tribal group, roamed
the area from Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains near what
is
now Sun Valley, and the Middle Fork and South Forks of the Salmon River. They
settled down only during winter. Their name means “sheep eater.” Very little is
known of them, and generally accepted is the belief that the Tukudeka band is
now extinct or has been absorbed into other groups. The Sheepeater Indian War
of 1879, along the Middle Fork of the Salmon River, is considered to have been
the last Indian war in the Pacific Northwest.
The Middle Fork &
The
Sheepeater War
by Johnny Carrey and Cort Conley is a
beautiful presentation of the area and its history.
Last of all, as far as we know, there was no Secret
Expedition.
Visit
www.JoannePence.com
Joanne Pence was born and raised in northern California. She
has been an award-winning, USA Today best-selling author of mysteries for many
years, and she has also written historical fiction, contemporary romance,
romantic suspense, a fantasy, and most recently, a paranormal thriller. All of
her books are now available as e-books, and most are also in print. Joanne
hopes you'll enjoy her books, which present a variety of times, places, and
reading experiences, from mysterious to thrilling, emotional to lightly
humorous, as well as powerful tales of times long past.
When Lee Reynolds, nationally known television news anchor,
returns to the small town where she was born to sell her now-vacant childhood
home, little does she expect to find that her first love has moved back to
town. Nor does she expect that her feelings for him are still so strong.
Tony Santos had been a major league baseball player, but now
finds his days of glory gone. He's gone back home to raise his young son as a
single dad.
Both Tony and Lee have changed a lot. Yet, being with him,
she finds that in her heart, it seems like old times...
The Price of Vengeance
Gabriella Devere wants vengeance. She grows up quickly when
she witnesses the murder of her family by a gang of outlaws, and vows to make
them pay for their crime. When the law won't help her, she takes matters into
her own hands.
Jess McLowry left his war-torn Southern home to head
West
, where he hired out his gun. When he learns what
happened to Gabriella's family, and what she plans, he knows a young woman like
her will have no chance against the outlaws, and vows to save her the way he couldn't
save his own family.
But the price of vengeance is high and Gabriella's
willingness to sacrifice everything ultimately leads to the book's deadly and
startling conclusion.
This is a harsh and gritty tale of the old West, in the
tradition of Charles Portis'
True Grit
and Nancy Turner's
These
is My Words
.
The Ghost of Squire House
For decades, the home built by reclusive artist, Paul
Squire, has stood empty on a windswept cliff overlooking the ocean. Those who
attempted to live in the home soon fled in terror. Jennifer Barrett knows
nothing of the history of the house she inherited. All she knows is she's glad
for the chance to make a new life for herself.
It's Paul Squire's duty to rid his home of intruders, but
something about this latest newcomer's vulnerable status...and resemblance of
someone from his past...dulls his resolve. Jennifer would like to find a real
flesh-and-blood man to liven her days and nights--someone to share her life
with—but living in the artist's house, studying his paintings, she is surprised
at how close she feels to him.
A compelling, prickly ghost with a tortured, guilt-ridden
past, and a lonely heroine determined to start fresh, find themselves in a
battle of wills and emotion in this ghostly fantasy of love, time, and chance.
Against the background of San Francisco at the time of the
Great Earthquake and Fire of 1906 comes a tale of love and loss. Ruth Greer, wealthy
daughter of a shipping magnate, finds a young boy who has run away from his
home in Chinatown—an area of gambling parlors, opium dens, sing-song girls, as
well as families trying to eke out a living. It is also home to a number of
highbinder tongs, the infamous “hatchet men” of Chinese lore.
There, Ruth meets the boy’s father, Li Han-lin, the
handsome, enigmatic leader of one such tong, and discovers he is neither as
frightening, cruel, or wanton as reputation would have her believe. As Ruth’s
fascination with the area grows, she finds herself pulled deeper into the
intrigue of the lawless area, and Han-lin’s life. But the two are from
completely different worlds, and when both worlds are shattered by the
earthquake and fire that destroys San Francisco, they face their ultimate test.
C.J. Perkins is trying to find her brother who went missing
while on a Peace Corps assignment in Asia. All she knows is that the disappearance
has something to do with a "White Dragon." Darius Kane, adventurer
and bounty hunter, seems to be her only hope, and she practically shanghais him
into helping her.
With a touch of the romantic adventure film
Romancing the
Stone
, C.J. and Darius follow a trail that takes them through the narrow
streets of Hong Kong, the backrooms of San Francisco's Chinatown, and the wild
jungles of Borneo as they pursue both her brother and the White Dragon. The
closer C.J. gets to them, the more danger she finds herself in—and it's not
just danger of losing her life, but also of losing her heart.
[This is a completely revised edition of novel previously
published as
Armed and Dangerous
.]
Gourmet cook, sometime food columnist, sometime restaurant
critic, and generally "underemployed" person Angelina Amalfi burst
upon the mystery scene in SOMETHING'S COOKING, in which she met San Francisco
Homicide Inspector Paavo Smith. Since that time she's wanted two things in
life, a good job...and Paavo.
"Joanne Pence shows her talent as a
mighty good mystery writer."
--
BookBrowser Review
"Pence's tongue-in-cheek humor keeps us grinning."
--
San Francisco Chronicle
"Will have readers rapidly turning the pages...snatches
of humor, real life intrigue and sparks of passion."
--
Rendezvous
Here are the Angie mysteries in the order written, from the
first book to the most recent:
COOKING SPIRITS
Plus a Christmas novella: “
The Thirteenth Santa
”
