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A MORNING FOR AURA LEE plus 2 NEW NOVELS NOW COMPLETE
LOG LINE: A Civil War novel asking what did the killing of Confederate General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson have to do with the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln -- was it a conspiracy created and carried out at the highest levels of government?
A novel of historical fiction built on edge-of-the-page suspense designed to ensnare the reader with major involvement.
Scoffie Goodis and Hunter Worboys are two young Confederate soldiers assigned as batmen to General Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson and his brother-in-law Lt. Joseph Graham Morrison, and also the perfidious Capt. William Jameson. Their presence forms the prism through which much of the action is filtered.
Before the war, when Jackson was a professor at the Virginia Military Institute and Jameson, a cadet, Jackson had caught the young man cheating on an exam. When confronted with the evidence and brought before the Honor Committee, Jameson denied culpability and challenged Jackson to a duel. As Fate would have it, Jameson is eventually brought by Jackson to serve in the Stonewall Brigade during the Civil War.
How do Jameson, a Confederate officer, John Wilkes Booth, an actor, and a young mountain girl from North Carolina become the catalysts for the unexpected tragedy during the Battle of Chancellorsville, remembered by history as the South's greatest victory -- while accounting for its greatest loss, that of its greatest military officer of all time?
Melissa and Daniel Menefee of North Carolina harbor a keen desire to defect and join Union forces to fight against the South. After a long march into the Shenandoah Valley, with Melissa posing as a fifteen year old private and "brother" to her husband Daniel, they are serendipitously recruited by General Joseph "Fighting Joe" Hooker of the Union Army of the Potomac to ensnare General Jackson in an elaborate plot first concocted by President Lincoln. The Great Emancipator is well aware Jackson is the one man who can orchestrate the South's final victory over the North, and he knows that day is at hand. "Old Blue Light" has to be removed before it is too late - if it isn't already.
How this book ends in not historical fiction. It is the culmination of a scenario known to every 6th grader who was ever confused by its various titles: The Civil War, the War Between the States, the Invasion of the North, the Invasion by the North, the War of Restless Insurgencies, the War of Southern Obstinacy, the Saving of the Union, the Destruction of a Presidency, and so on and so on. When the dust settled and the battlefields became pastoral memorials, only one statistic remains of any consequence: more American died and were ruined in this conflagration than the sum total of all wars in which Americans have participated -- from the Revolution to Iraq.
DANTE'S CIRCLES
LOG LINE: Fidel Castro attempts a bloody, disastrous take-over of the Moncado Barracks in Cuba while the OSS, about to be restructured as the CIA, must construct a clandestine "invasion" of Cuba with a band of mercenaries and assassinate Castro.
Marty Eden in his early twenties is hitchhiking from Norfolk to Lexington, VA, to attend best friend Shadow Cranston's graduation from VMI. Marty could have ridden over with his mentor, Anna Theresa Tortoretti, with whom he has been platonically living since enrolling in Old Dominion after high school. Or he could well afford to have taken a bus or train -- he has done quite well since the publication of his first novel, IMPROBABLE CONNECTIONS. But he opts to hitchhike, a mode he has enjoyed since he was sixteen.
He is picked up by a couple of redneck white trash ,and when they attempt to kidnap and rob him, he manages to brandish a broken German Lugar and escapes. We will later learn the "rednecks" are actually CIA agents sent to test his mettle under strained circumstances (Anna Theresa, unbeknown to Marty and Shadow, has been recruited by the OSS/CIA to undertake a subversive role in Fidel Castro's attempts to overthrow the Batista regime in Cuba.)
At the graduation at VMI, Marty encounters a mysterious man who turns out to also be a government operative. This man -- Leo Worthy -- slips Marty a note on which is written a complicated message in baffling code. That's where it begins. Where it ends is in Washington, the day before September 11, 2001.
On the drive back to Norfolk, Marty, Anna Theresa, and Shadow become aware they are being followed. They sneak into a roadside inn, and during dinner Marty remembers the note and opens it. The threesome is astounded and curious by the cryptic, coded message: it is completely in numbers and symbols.
Marty's first person narrative ends and the scene switches to Cuba, where we meet Javy Rodriquez, Ramon Santomuriel, Rolando Secondo, Raul Castro, Ernesto Che Guevara, and, eventually, Fidel Castro. We also meet Juanita Snowdon, a CIA operative who attends the University of Havana. Juanita becomes instrumental in the activities of Castro and his lieutenants in organizing and attempting the July 26, 1953 capture of the Moncado Barracks at Santiago de Cuba.
At this point, the story will move back and forth between Marty & Co's involvement with the OSS/ CIA in Washington and Langley, and Fidel Castro's plans to overthrow the Batista regime. The American involvement will be orchestrated by General William "Wild Bill" Donavan, Allen Dulles, and a host of actual CIA operatives, as well as certain government officials and politicians. The plan is not just a covert idea by the U.S. to rid the world of Batista, but to see to it that Castro never comes to power. An assassination plot will be unfolded for one of the three protagonists, and this becomes a central issue. Washington, with incredible clairvoyance, sees Castro as a threat worse than that posed by Batista.
The battle for takeover turns out to be a total disaster for the revolutionaries and the Americans. Of the six hundred soldiers recruited by Castro, only a little over a hundred find their way through the crammed streets of Santiago de Cuba. Many get lost and run and roam in circles, while the leadership of Castro's lieutenants collapses in disarray. Many citizen soldiers give up in fright and confusion. Nearly everyone who makes it to the barrack gates is either killed or captured. Castro and Che Guevara are captured and thrown into prison. The American "mercenaries", those who survive, scramble for their lives.
The epilogue has Marty back at Langley in 2001, recalling the events forty-eight years before, wondering how history might have been changed if Castro's attack on July 26 had been successful (or if the assassination had occurred.) The book ends on September 10, 2001, the night before Marty keeps a morning appointment at the Pentagon.
THE DEFIANCE HURLERS
LOG LINE: Not a mélange of heavy drama, zany comedy, and overblown special effects, the "defiance hurlers" appeared at 5 AM over the Atlantic in the cockpit of The Spirit of St. Louis; but not again until fifty years later, when Ronnie Coalman attempted to duplicate the flight to prove his assertion he was, in fact, the Lindbergh baby.
Ronnie Coalman was a product of the Great Depression. His story, however, is timeless; he emanates from an evolution of American technological marvels in show business and entertainment that has made it possible for practically anyone with a modicum of talent to rise from the most humble of beginnings to the top of his profession by displaying little more than what William James called "the recipe for positive results." Success or failure depends more upon attitude than upon capacity; successful men act as though they have accomplished or are enjoying something. Soon it becomes a reality. Act, look, feel successful, conduct yourself accordingly, and you will be amazed at the positive results.
The Great Depression has spawned many unique American stories, but none so gripping and transcendent as the saga of Ronnie Coalman.
From a childhood in a family scraping by with a small restaurant in half their home, to a career as the top TV anchor and personality in network broadcasting, Ronnie rides an emotional whirlwind through marriage to a leading fashion model, father of an incredible debutante, an affair with a vivacious director -- and an unquenchable obsession that he is Charles A. Lindbergh, Jr., the kidnapped and ostensibly murdered son of Anne Morrow Lindbergh and the famous aviator.
Aware he is but one of dozens who have seriously approached this supposition over four decades, Ronnie Coalman goes on a crusade to prove his claim, an enterprise that has repercussions throughout the entertainment world. At the pinnacle of success on national TV as the news anchor and chief correspondent of a leading network, his position will be compromised if his insistence on pursuing the Lindbergh connection continues -- even as it grows more evident there might just be genuine substance to his assertion of kinship.
This remarkable story culminates with a twist that leaves the reader gasping in a state of shock. The impact of the ending is so traumatic, the author has inserted a preface requesting his readers do not divulge the story's climax to the detriment of others.
a.k.a. MR. MARY PATCH (a work in progress)
LOG LINE: A moderately talented TV personality attains prominence in a minor broadcasting market, then wins role in a network series and rises to brief national status; marries eventual mega-star, orchestrates her destiny as a repeat Oscar/Emmy choice.
Estimate completion date: December, 2008
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READER COMMENTS (THE BETTER ANGELS):
"If you like Grisham, Clancy, Kootz, and Irving - you'll love this guy Mills!" Frederick Weaver
"Last time I looked there were eight World War II classics. Now there are nine." Penny Norman
THE BETTER ANGELS, an adventure-to-end-all-adventures for three unlikely American civilians inextricably immersed in World War II . . . An intense, exciting, and suspenseful novel with non-stop action, romance, drama, and comedy, THE BETTER ANGELS reads with the visual impact of a major movie
"Tremendously thrilling; brought back vivid memories of that frightful, exciting time." Martha Rumsey
"I hated to finish it. Like saying goodbye to three good friends." Lee Wedgeworth
This extraordinary novel captures the spirit of America and the South when, in mid-20th century, the better angels of our nature, of an entire nation, dropped their diapers, spread their wings, and came of age
"Every young actor in Hollywood will want to play Shadow. Angie Harmon has to be Anna Theresa." Sarah Donahoe
"This novel will make a doozy of a movie!" Gregory Landry
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