A spiritual journey in a space opera landscape with a literary twist.

The first two books in this series were published by DAW Books by C.F. Bentley.

Now you will find them under Irene Radford writing as C.F. Bentley in e-book and print at Amazon and as e-books at Barnes and Noble, iBooks, and other major retailers.

They met with amazing reviews and critical interest, but lacked sales. The rights came back to me and I reissued them through Book View Cafe, a publishing cooperative that I belong to www.bookviewcafe.com. You’ll find all of my independent books there. Then I added a third book. Still thinking about more…

HARMONY

Harmony, a new Utopia for space-faring humans. Or is it a thinly disguised tyranny locked in a rigid caste system? Slavery by another name? Either way, xenophobic Harmony holds the secret to Badger Metal, a unique ceramic-metal alloy that protects people from the radiation and hard vacuum of space.

Sissy grew up Worker Caste on the planet Harmony, her only hope for survival is to remain unnoticed, hiding her full array of seven caste marks.

A devastating quake appears to be a major temper tantrum by the goddess Harmony. Sissy sings the planet, and her goddess back to benign quiet–matching the vibrations of her voice to the vibrations of the planet. This one act throws her into the role of High Priestess. Then she discovers she is the only one who can prevent her world from falling out of harmony into chaos.

Jake has reinvented himself from wild pilot, to spy, to Sissy’s bodyguard while he hunts for the precious formula of Badger Metal. Can he find it and protect Sissy from outraged priests who fear change more than death, before civil war, and invasion bury them all?

ENIGMA

Aboard the space station First Contact Cafe, station commander General Jake Devlin and Sissy, inexperienced and under-educated High Priestess of Harmony, confront the mystery of an odd eight-limbed stowaway, a mystical refugee who talks in circles rather than revealing the truth, and clues to the origin and genetic breakdown of enemies and friends alike.

P.S. I think this is my favorite cover of all time

MOURNER

William Gladstone once pointed out that a culture reveals itself in how it cares for its dead. Mourner vividly explores how three very different cultures treat their dead when the body of Laud Gregor, Harmony’s High Priest, goes missing between First Contact Café Space Station and the Harmony homeworld.

Laud Gregor cannot be regarded as legally dead until he is officially buried–which means that Laudae Sissy, Harmony’s High Priestess, cannot institute the reforms her culture desperately needs until a new High Priest is named.

Suspects abound, from the repulsive Dragons, who show up to claim the space station as lost property, to the secretive avian Maril, to disaffected power brokers closer to home. It doesn’t help that Jake Devlin, commander of the station, finds himself haunted by the impatient Laud while he navigates all these new threats and trying to solve the mystery–and to figure out how he and Sissy can possibly surmount the cultural differences that obstruct their growing love.

Add in Jake’s former boss, the evasive spymaster Pammy, and tension escalates, especially when the body seems to keep moving.

Can Harmony find peace? Will there ever be a happy ending for Sissy and Jake?


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CONFEDERATED STAR SYSTEMS — No Comments

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Daphne “Daffy” Rose Wallace Deschants has an ideal suburban life–three wonderful and talented children; a coffee shop and bakery, owned and run with her best friend; a nearly perfect husband, Gabriel, or “G” to his friends and family, and the house of her dreams. Life could hardly be better.

But G’s perfection hides dangerous secrets. When Daffy uncovers evidence of his infidelity, her perfect life seems to be in ruins. On their wedding anniversary, Daffy confronts him, only to be stopped her tracks when he foils a mugging attempt using wizard-level magic.

Suddenly Daffy is part of a world she never imagined–where her husband is not a traveling troubleshooter for a software company, but the sheriff of the International Guild of Wizards, and her children are also budding magicians.

Chaos and mayhem of the murderous kind ensue.


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Over the years marketing peeps have deemed it necessary to change my name. I’m losing track of how many but below are the lists. All of them are still in print and available through most retail outlets on line or in stores. You may have to order the print books as they won’t be stocked.

P.R. FROST

PHYLLIS AMES

JULIA VERNE ST. JOHN


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Back in the Jurassic when I was quite small, the magic of television introduced me to Robin Hood and His Merry Men, starring Richard Greene as Robin Hood. This was my first introduction to British folklore and history. I was instantly enchanted by the highly romanticized version of the iconic legend.

I went on to earn my BA in history from Lewis and Clark College with a heavy concentration on British History. Under my Irene Radford pen name, I wrote Guardian of the Trust, Merlin’s Descendants #2, surrounding the Magna Carta with King John and an aging and almost respectable Robin Hood.

Not too long after that, I wrote the non fiction book, MAGNA BLOODY CARTA, A Turning Point in Democracy.

With many bumps in the road between then and now, I finally got to write WALK THE WILD WITH ME.

In 1208 the Church in Rome excommunicated King John and placed all of England under Interdict. John in turn sent all the senior clergy into exile.

With no church in England to remind people that Creatures of the Wood did not exist, they suddenly appear and interact with people, usually for the good, but not always.

Young Nick, 12, is an orphan who knows no other life but in the Abby of Locksly. Until one May Day celebration in the nearby village he discovers that the Green Man (Little John) Robin Goodfellow (Robin Hood), Will Scarlett and Father Tuck are more and less than he thought. Adventures ensue.

Join me in reliving my childhood dreams When WALK THE WILD WITH ME by Rachel Atwood is released from DAW Books on December 3, 2019.


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Even though I have another new Pen Name, Rachel Atwood, I have permission from DAW Books to reveal the cover of my next book, coming in December 2019.

Rachel’s bio: Rachel Atwood grew up enchanted with British History. Now she writes historical fiction with enchantments. Every time she visits the British Isles she basks in the shadows of standing stones and glories in ancient crypts while drinking in the lush accents of the people she meets. She things driving on the left is natural and round-abouts efficient as well as aesthetically pleasing.

This of course describes me perfectly and sets the stage for Walk the Wild With Me. In 1208 AD King John of England and Pope Innocent III divorced each other. The senior clergy was forced out of England and into exile or imprisonment. No sacraments except Baptism and Funeral were allowed throughout the lands claimed by King John. The church bells could not ring to mark the time of day or summon folk to services.

Without the restrictions of the Church, the wild folk of the forests can roam freely again among humanity. Join with me and the adventures of Nick, a 12 year old orphan who was taken in by an Abbey but sneaks out often to learn about life beyond the Abbey walls.

Much of this book was inspired by the book Walking with the Green Man, by Dr. Bob Curran with illustrations by Ian Daniels.

The Green Man by Ian Daniels

This book will be available for pre order at all your favorite retail outlets soon. I hope you enjoy my romp through the forest.


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On inauguration day my writing collaborator got a “brilliant” idea. “Let’s do an anthology called ‘Alternative Truths”

Okay….

“And we’ll have it out by Day 100!”

And what part of insane do you not understand?

We did it. This little gem, featuring 24 stories that range from poignant, to thoughtful, to laugh-out-loud is a Kindle Exlcusive and Create Space print. We loaded it into the system on Thursday afternoon. By Friday morning we’d hit Amazon’s best seller lists, reaching as high as 253 on the paid books in Kindle list and #1 in several sub categories.

I am gob smacked as the Irish say.

I’ve edited anthologies before. Sixteen of them. But I’ve never been intimately involved in the production of one. It’s not easy and we broke a bunch of rules along the way because of that maddening 100 Day deadline. But we did it. This is also my first venture into the realm of political fiction. Not all of the entries are truly political. Some are speculative into the the consequences of this last election.

Left wing or right wing readers will find new perspectives–that is the purpose of speculative fiction. I hope you all enjoy it.

So now I can really claim best seller on my resume both as an editor and an author.


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Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start writing!


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