Amazon Roulette
Page 32
She will return. Your flesh and blood, my Heir…she will return. You were right to release her, but her work is not yet finished. She knows this.
Mariska will return.
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FROM THE AUTHOR
Thank you for reading Amazon Roulette. This book was more than five years in the making, and I hope you enjoyed the sequel to Siberian Treasure. I sincerely hope (and intend) for it not to be another five years before the third Marina Alexander Adventure is published.
I get many questions from readers about what part of my stories are fact, and which parts are fiction, so I’d like to clear a few things up in case you’re wondering.
The lost library of Ivan the Terrible is real. It hasn’t been seen since shortly after his death, but it did exist. There are many rumors about what happened to it—it may have been destroyed, it may still be in a vault somewhere in Moscow.
The Tunguska Event of 1908 actually happened, and although many scientists believe the cause was related to an asteroid or piece of an asteroid hitting the earth, there is still some question. There is still mystery surrounding this event and its cause, as no one survived to tell about it.
In regards to the so-called missing copper from Northern Michigan: most geologists argue that it’s not really missing, and that if there were pre-historic European traders that came for the copper, it wasn’t in such great amounts. But there is some compelling evidence that suggests otherwise, including the fact that Nez Perce Indian Chief Joseph did, in fact, carry a piece of cuneiform text on a stone fragment in his medicine bag. This text has been dated to 2042 BC. Chief Joseph claimed it was from his ancestors. And then there are the round white stones found in Rock Lake in Wisconsin—I borrowed them for the cave discovered by Matt Granger, but many people believe those white stones, arranged so perfectly in large pyramids, suggest that there were, indeed, Europeans in North America long before is generally acknowledged.
In fact, the White Cloud People of Peru—a now-extinct white-skinned, blonde-haired tribe that died out in the 16th century—is certainly a possible explanation for the early European influence (as I have presented via Marina) in this book.
Additionally, scuba divers recently pulled two large ceramic jars from a 120-foot depth in Castine Bay in Maine. They appear to be ancient olive jars from the Iberian peninsula, potentially connects even further the Iberian Celts, the Phoenicians, and the Europeans of the Bronze Age.
Clearly, it’s possible Marina’s theory is correct.
And finally, regarding Eli Sanchez’s little darlings—the beetles. They, unfortunately, are of my own creation, although I am confident that, given the environment I created for them—in the damp copper temple created millennia ago—they could have evolved as they did in Amazon Roulette.
Thank you again for reading, and I hope you will stick with Marina, Gabe, Helen, and the rest for their next adventure!
— C. M. Gleason, March 2015
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I could never have written this book without the help from a number of people.
Thanks, first and foremost, to Dr. Gary March—who not only asked me “how about those copper bugs?” every time he saw me (and over the last four years, it was countless)—but also helped me with all the medical and Emergency Room details—including Varden’s crazy, blood-pumping injury and the tales from the Emergency Room scene shared between Brenda Hatcher and her colleague.
I owe a depth of gratitude to Drs. Patricia and Jeff Denke, both PhD entomologists, who helped me immensely with not only the laboratory details for Eli’s workspace, but also helped steer me in the right direction when it came to dealing with those deadly coleopterans.
Mike Wiley, the erstwhile and tragic pinball machine restorer, is an old friend of mine who really does rebuild and fix pinball machines for a living—and is one of the best in the country. He gladly allowed me to send him to an ugly, painful death, and also gave me all the information I needed about old, rare pinball machines. And he waited patiently for this book’s release to learn about his own demise.
Dr. Scott Swanson’s vast knowledge about everything assisted Varden when he needed to create the antibiotic at the University of Michigan lab, and he was the one who gave me an idea of how it could possibly be done.
Bob Henderson and David Sullivan were my pilot consultants, and helped me figure out what sorts of planes the Skaladeskas could use—and still stay off the grid, so to speak.
Brian Geise used his mechanical knowhow to help Eli and Marina figure out how to jumpstart the aircraft for their escape, and without him, I think they’d still be stuck in the Amazon jungle.
Also, big thanks to Dennis Galloway and Steve Schulte, as well as MaryAlice Galloway, Erin Wolfe, and Joyce Doele for being constant sounding boards, pre-readers and beta-readers, and generally all around letting me bug them (ha!) with theories about this book for literally years.
I am grateful and appreciative for all the expertise the above people have provided me, and please note that any mistakes are mine alone.
C. M. Gleason is the pen name of the award-winning, New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Colleen Gleason, who has written more than thirty novels in a variety of genres. Her international bestselling series, the Gardella Vampire Hunters, is an historical urban fantasy about a female vampire hunter who lives during the time of Jane Austen.
Most recently, her Stoker & Holmes series for teens and adults has received wide acclaim from The New York Times, Library Journal, and is a YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association) pick.
She has published more than thirty novels with New American Library, MIRA Books, Chronicle Books, and HarperCollins.
Her books have been translated into more than seven languages and are available worldwide.
Visit Colleen at:
colleengleason.com
facebook.com/colleen.gleason.author
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Books by Colleen Gleason
The Stoker & Holmes Series
(for teens and adults)
Evaline Stoker & Mina Holmes never meant to get into the family business.
But when you’re the niece of Sherlock and the sister of Bram,
crime-fighting and mystery solving are in your blood….
The Clockwork Scarab
The Spiritglass Charade
The Chess Queen Enigma (October 2015)
* * *
Mystery
The Shop of Shades & Secrets
The Cards of Life & Death
* * *
The Gardella Vampire Hunters
Victoria Gardella
The Rest Falls Away
Rises the Night
The Bleeding Dusk
When Twilight Burns
As Shadows Fade
Macey Gardella
Roaring Midnight
Roaring Shadows
Roaring Dawn (forthcoming 2016)
Raging Dawn (coming June 2015)
* * *
The Envy Chronicles
Beyond the Night
Embrace the Night
Abandon the Night
Night Betrayed
Night Forbidden
Night Resurrected
Tempted by the Night (stand-alone novella)
* * *
The Draculia Trilogy
Lucifer’s Rogue
Lucifer’s Saint
Lucifer’s Warrior
* * *
The Medieval Herb Garden Series
Lavender Vows
A Whisper of Rosemary
Sanctuary of Roses
A Lily on the Heath
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