historical fiction

Sheriff and Priest

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Wimer the Chaplain – Saxon in a Norman world; friend of King Henry ll, excommunicated by Thomas Becket and the Pope – how can he save his soul? The King’s mistress has the key…

Winner of the “Discovered Diamond” and “Book Readers’ Appreciation Group Medallion” awards!

“This is a thoroughly enthralling story… A fascinating look into two friends’ lives during the 12th century. It is a well-written and researched historical tale” – Goodreads review

Wimer could have become a monk. Instead, his decision to become a Chaplain – to make his way in the wider world of men – has put his soul in mortal danger.

In 12th Century East Anglia, poor Saxon boys stay poor. It takes an exceptional one to win Henry II’s friendship, and to rise to the job of High Sheriff of all Norfolk and Suffolk. Falling foul of the stormy relationship between Henry and his Archbishop, he is excommunicated three times, twice by Thomas a’Becket, and once by the Pope.

He also falls in love with the King’s Ward, Ida. Before he plucks up the courage to do anything about it, the King takes her as his mistress, and Ida needs Wimer’s support to survive that dangerous liaison.

Although he is eventually reinstated in the Church, his problems with his religious superiors, and his love for Ida, will guarantee him a place in Hell, unless he can find land and resources to do something spectacular in the way of penance…

When We Were Brave

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In WHEN WE WERE BRAVE, we find a conflicted SS officer, Wilhelm Falk, who risks everything to escape the Wehrmacht and get out the message about the death camps. Izaak is a young Jewish boy whose positive outlook is challenged daily as each new perilous situation comes along. American citizens, Herbert Müller and his family, are sent back to the hellish landscape of Germany because of the DNA coursing through their veins. In the panorama of World War II, these are the high-stakes plots and endearing characters whose braided fates we pray will work out in the end.

Tales of the Late Twentieth Century

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TALES OF THE LATE TWENTIETH CENTURY

An aging, ex-musician working inside the incinerator chamber of an old 19th century hotel discovers a locked room that contains a Book of Souls of tenants of the past century. A soldier returning from the Iraq War meets a beautiful and enigmatic girl waging her own military campaign, as darkly terrifying as the one he left behind. The son of a New Orleans mobster hit-man receives a beyond-the-grave message from his once-abusive, now-dead father that changes everything he thought he knew about their lives. A homeless man, collecting cans to survive, finds himself being followed by a stranger he is sure is the reincarnation of Dick Tracy. A woman who has lost her Texas ranchman husband and any further meaning to her life, is suddenly contacted by a young runaway cousin whose parents are also dead, and is now in hot pursuit of her own aimless existence.

From tragic to comic and in-between, these and other tales journey and explore the zeitgeist, the spirit of our age, which was the late twentieth century. (Short Stories)

James Snyder’s previous works include the young-adult, literary trilogy THE BEAUTIFUL-UGLY; the military thriller AMERICAN WARRIOR; and the award-winning, suspense thriller DESOLATION RUN: “Simultaneously brutal, bloody and beatific, this is crime fiction done right. A relentlessly paced, unpredictable page-turner powered by well-developed characters.” Kirkus Reviews

The Making of Theodore Roosevelt

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This a fictionalized account of a true story – the tale of how two rough Maine woodsmen took a young Theodore Roosevelt under their wing in 1878 and introduced him to the beautiful but unforgiving woodlands of the Northeast. Under their guidance, the frail but strong-willed New Yorker becomes a worthy outdoorsman, an experience which significantly shaped the world view of the man poised to become the 26th President of the United States thirteen years later. Historical Fiction.This a fictionalized account of a true story – the tale of how two rough Maine woodsmen took a young Theodore Roosevelt under their wing in 1878 and introduced him to the beautiful but unforgiving woodlands of the Northeast. Under their guidance, the frail but strong-willed New Yorker becomes a worthy outdoorsman, an experience which significantly shaped the world view of the man poised to become the 26th President of the United States thirteen years later. Historical Fiction.

By the Hands of Men, Book One: The Old World

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A soldier fights for his soul in the trenches of France.  A field hospital nurse battles death every day.  Are duty and honor enough of a reason to go on in the hell of a world at war?

A mere mile from the blood-drenched front lines, Russian refugee and nurse Charlotte Braninov encounters English Lieutenant Robert Fitzgerald, who helps her save the life of another soldier.  Robert’s calm, courtly manner lingers in Charlotte’s mind, a comforting memory amid the deluge of suffering that surrounds her when she returns to the hospital.

Wounded during an unauthorized mission of mercy, Robert Fitzgerald finds himself demoted to a Medical Supply Officer, where he once more meets the brave young Russian nurse.  When Charlotte volunteers to help the Lieutenant learn about his duties in this new life of service, a quiet friendship blooms and love grows in that harshest of soils, even as the war rages on.  But human cruelty and endemic disease claw at their lives.  Can love survive in a world torn by warfare, greed, and deception?

The Old World, a novel that readers are calling “deeply moving,” “stunning,” and “magnificent,” is the first volume of the By the Hands of Men series.  Epic historical fiction by Roy M. Griffis, the saga sweeps across four continents in a gripping tale of fate, loss, redemption, and love.

A truly remarkable historical novel– so finely rendered in period detail – that the reader becomes one with the plot and characters. – RICK FRIEDMAN, FOUNDER, THE JAMES MASON COMMUNITY BOOK CLUB

Rise of Prophecy: The Anuk Chronicles, Vol.1

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Prophecy says ancient visitors from the stars shall return at the end of this age to pass judgment
on the world. Peace will usher in prosperity; war promises annihilation. They rest in-stasis, hidden away with terrible weapons of mass-destruction.
The Empire of Atlantis seeks the power of the ancients to conquer all through vehement war. Humanity’s fate rests with a group of misfits, led by a mysterious figure with an ancient bloodline.
A race begins, with opposing sides locked in a deadly quest to find the mythical land of the ancients. One mantra holds true for those amidst the unfolding of the prophecy, “Fight the future.”

Liberty Hill

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New York City, 1849––After her father is murdered, eighteen-year-old heiress Evelyn Brennan cannot imagine her life getting any worse… until she is forced into an arranged marriage with the man she despises most, the reckless gambler Lucius Flynn. Hungry for wealth and freedom, Lucius will drag his new wife along the quickest but deadliest road to the gold fields of California, and she will make him suffer every step of the way.

A gripping adventure from beginning to end, Liberty Hill is the story of a time and place where all fortunes, dreams, and innocence may be lost; where lust demands blood, and love inspires sacrifice.

From the black cliffs of Ireland to the streets of New York, from the Spanish fortress of Havana to the beaches of Panama, Liberty Hill is a sweeping historical fiction that combines what we love most about the West––guns, saloons, horses, and handsome outlaws––with the tropic heat of Central America.

The first western adventure in her Liberty Hill series, Sonja Heisinger molds a fresh and epic literary experience from an old world setting. Liberty Hill awakens the past with the exciting elements of drama, comedy, and action, with the additional zests of forbidden pleasure and unrequited love.

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Meet The Author
A California native, Sonja Heisinger’s works include Liberty Hill, Poverty Creek, and Devil’s Grotto. She is a professional artist, and currently lives in North Carolina with her husband and son.