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  The Soul of a Regiment - From...

  Talbot Mundy

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  Talbot Mundy was born William Lancaster Gribbon on April 23rd 1879 in London. 
  After a particularly undistinguished record at Rugby School, he ran off to Germany and joined a circus. After his return, from Germany, he left Britain to work as a relief worker in Baroda in India. 
  This was followed by further adventures in Africa, the Near East and the Far East.  His initial inclination was to be a con artist, a confidence trickster and exploit other areas of petty criminality.  
  However with a change of location to the United States and a near fatal mugging he decided that life as an upright citizen was now more to his liking. 
  By the age of 29 he had decided on Talbot Mundy as a name and three years later in 1911 he began his writing career. Obviously late but it was still to be prodigious none the less. 
  Talbot’s first story, "A Transaction in Diamonds," was published in The Scrap Book in February 1911.  Two months later in April he published his first non-fiction article, "Pig-sticking in India" – based on a sport much practised by British forces in the Empire – in the pulp magazine Adventure.  
  Many of his novels including his first ‘Rung Ho!’ and his most famous ‘King - Of the Khyber Rifles are set during the British Raj in India.  His time in India was short though he spent many years in Africa and, as seen in the attached bibliography, Talbot had no fear or qualms about writing about any location.  
  Talbot became an American citizen on 9th December 1916. 
  On 5th February 1920, Talbot Mundy, now President of the Anglo-American Society of America, arrived in Jerusalem. He also met and fell in love with a widow named Sally Ames, who would eventually become Mrs Mundy, number 4. During this period Talbot worked mainly as editor for the Jerusalem News, which entailed doing everything from proof reading to reporting. One of his biggest coups was that he was invited to go to Damascus to interview King Feisal. 
  In early 1922, Mundy moved to San Diego, California. It was here that he met Katherine Tingley, the head of a splinter branch of the Theosophical Society which had a community at Point Loma, near San Diego.  It was there in late 1923 that Talbot began writing perhaps his finest novel, Om, the Secret of Ahbor Valley. 
  By 1928 with relationships between himself and his then current wife and also with his publisher failing he re-located to New York to rebuild his life, career and finances. 
  Whilst much of Talbot’s early life was used in his work it seems he was not particularly proud to return to these places or indeed say to much more about his earlier escapades in these places. 
  Although his writing was to prove very popular over the years and has been revived on many occasions since his death it is fair to say that both his writing and his life were colourful.  He married a number of times and still believed that his business dealings would make him very rich. 
  However much of his life would not go as planned and it took several marriages in the hope of finding true happiness.  His sixth wife, Dawn, gave birth to a girl on 26 February 1933 shortly after their return to England. Unfortunately the child died shortly after birth. 
  Thereafter he wrote little but much of his work was republished and his name kept in print. 
  On 5 August 1940 Talbot Mundy died from complications associated with diabetes.

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  Transcendental Wild Oats - From...

  Louisa May Alcott

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  Louisa May Alcott was born on 29th November 1832 in Germantown, Pennsylvania. 
  She is most definitely a writer of her own experiences.  Her father was a transcendentalist, philosopher and educational experimenter who founded, Fruitlands, a utopian community. Although poor, her liberal and progressive parents provided Louisa with much of her education, which was enhanced by many family friends that included Thoreau, Hawthorne and Emerson, a neighbour whose library she was often found reading in.    
  She started writing stories as a way of providing the family with some financial stability. Times were difficult and the effects of poverty were always close at hand.  During the Civil War she went to Washington to be a nurse and became ill with typhoid fever although she continued to write and build her success.  However, the treatment for typhus gave her mercury poisoning which caused further health issues for the rest of her life and eventually contributed to her death.   
  Alcott visited her father on his deathbed in Boston. Two days later on 6th March 1888 she also died resulting in a joint funeral.

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  A Bit of Luck - Alternate...

  Lisa Mangum

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  “Twenty SFF authors reimagine famous moments from history in this anthology of what might have been.” —Publishers Weekly History may be written by the victors, but it is not always written in stone. Often the difference between a win or a loss comes down to the smallest moment, the smallest shift. A bit of luck. This anthology of twenty alternate history short stories revisits several of those pivotal moments and imagines what might have happened if things had gone just a little bit differently. The authors have drawn upon the whole timeline of history to tell stories of Scottish kings and Russian czars who lived instead of died, of wars whose outcome hinged on one person’s single choice, and of inventions that might have changed the world. The collection is filled with familiar figures—including Billy the Kid, Vlad Dracula, and Jack the Ripper—as well as stories exploring two very different fates of the Roman Empire. The anthology also includes an alternate history from the fictional world of The Great Gatsby. Some stories look at events that have not yet happened, and a few blur the meaning of time itself. History can be surprisingly malleable if we simply look at it in a new light.A Bit of Luck is the ninth anthology edited by Lisa Mangum and published by WordFire Press. Profits support the Don Hodge Memorial Scholarship fund for the Superstars Writing Seminars."This anthology is a must for lovers of fast-paced short stories with a historical and fantastical bent." —Booklist

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  The Unfortunate Bride - From...

  Aphra Behn

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  Aphra Behn was a prolific and well-established poet and playwright but facts about her life remain scant and difficult to confirm. What can safely be said is that Aphra Behn is regarded as a key English playwright and a major figure in Restoration theatre.  Her poetry is now far more appreciated and seen as a breakthrough for women of the 17th Century and beyond.  
  Aphra was baptised on 14th December 1640 and grew up with the gathering tensions leading to the English Civil War, a time of much division and difficulty as the King, Parliament, and their respective forces, came closer and then finally into open conflict. 
  By 1664 her marriage was over, less than a year after it began. She now used Mrs Behn as her professional name and moved towards pursuing a more sustainable and substantial career, working for the King's Company and the Duke's Company players as a scribe. Her first play ‘The Forc’d Marriage’, was staged in 1670, and thereafter many followed, including her later comic works, which were more commercially successful.  She wrote 19 plays in all and contributed to many others as well as several works of prose. 
  Along with her literary career there are claims she was a spy, that she travelled abroad, possibly as far as Surinam.  She also claimed to have met a slave leader in Africa and based her story ‘Oroonoko’ on his life.  Other accounts suggest that during her life she was also known as Ann Behn, Agent One-Sixty and Astrea. Her financial troubles seem to have also incurred her a brief stay in a debtors' prison. Whatever the truth, both her life and work seem rich, textured and full of adventure. 
  From the mid 1680’s Aphra’s health began to decline.  This was exacerbated by her continual state of debt and descent into poverty although she was often fond of saying that she had led a ‘life dedicated to pleasure and poetry.’ 
  Aphra Behn died on 16th April 1689. She  is buried in the East Cloister of Westminster Abbey and the inscription on her tombstone reads: "Here lies a Proof that Wit can never be Defence enough against Mortality."

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  Tales from The Stranger Times -...

  C. K. McDonnell

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  Dive into the wondrous world of The Stranger Times with this carefully curated selection of short stories from C.K. McDonnell. 
  Experience the magical underworld of Manchester with stories featuring lovelorn trolls, blood-thirsty books and a constipated dog who may’ve accidentally consumed a portal to another dimension. Drawn from the award-winning Stranger Times podcast and re-recorded by Brendan McDonald – the superb narrator of The Stranger Times novels – this collection features the new novella The Raven. 
  Featuring McDonnell’s trademark blend of black humour, outlandish ideas and expertly realised characters, this collection is perfect for first-time listeners or existing fans keen to learn more about the world he has created. 
  Praise for The Stranger Times 
  'I loved the dry and embedded humour of this book, it's the stuff of life . . . the whole thing is great fun.' SFCROSWNEST 
  'Wonderfully dark, extremely funny' ADAM KAY, Bestselling Author of This is Going to Hurt 
  'I loved this . . . great premise - great story - great characters . . . hugely enjoyable.' 
  JODI TAYLOR, Queen of Time and author of The Chronicles of St Mary's series 
  'A gag-filled romp . . . in the spirit of Terry Pratchett.' THE TIMES 
  'Great characters, a jet-propelled plot, and a winning premise.' GUARDIAN 
  'Fresh and genuinely funny.' SFX

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  The Riddle of the Sands - A...

  Yvonne Schaefer

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  Bored by the stifling routine of high-society London, a young Foreign Office official accepts a seemingly innocent invitation from an old acquaintance to go yachting in the Baltic Sea. But what begins as an uncomfortable escape from the city soon plunges him into a chilling web of international intrigue. 
  Aboard the cramped, scrubby little yacht Dulcibella, Carruthers discovers that his host, the eccentric and resourceful Davies, is hiding a dark secret from his solo voyage through the treacherous, sand-choked channels of the Frisian Islands. An encounter with a mysterious German and a sinister barge-yacht has left Davies deeply rattled—and convinced that something far more dangerous than foul weather is brewing off the coast. 
  The Riddle of the Sands is a masterful blend of gripping nautical adventure and taut suspense. As the two men navigate treacherous shoals, shifting tides, and violent autumn gales, they must also navigate the deadly secrets of a foreign power. Will they unravel the true purpose of the shifting sands before it's too late?

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