Hope and the Knight of the Black Lion

by Mary C. Findley

  Disaster might blot out his last hope for love and a future. Will he survive his confrontation with a Witch Queen in the King’s Hole?

  For wickedness burneth as the fire: it shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, and they shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke.

  Isaiah 9:18

  “Do you mind if I continue on a little way?” Tristan asked casually. “I thought I heard voices up ahead, and there’s that cursed smell of smoke again.”

  “All the more reason you should come back with us,” Alex said firmly. “None of your men are out here at this time of day. I can’t pretend to hear what you’re talking about, or smell it either, but if there is someone out there I don’t want you here alone.”

  Tristan drew the sword he always carried when he left the estate, again, in spite of Mayra’s protests. “Alex, men are coming this way. I have no idea how many, but it sounds like at least twenty. They’re still a mile or two off. As you say, they aren’t ours, but I do hear sounds like armor and swords clashing. I need you to take the Lady Mayra back to the house and bring some of our men as quickly as you can.”

  “I can’t leave you here!” Alex cried.

  “I can’t run,” Tristan said desperately. “I can try to hide, and I will, but I have to know that you’re taking Mayra to safety.”

  Benny and the Bank Robber by Mary C. Findley

  Benny Richardson and his widowed mother have to move to his uncle’s Missouri farm. John Clancy saves them from a sinking barge and when his mother is injured agrees to get Benny to Missouri. But a bag of disguises, a long, sharp knife, and too many secrets to make him anything but a safe traveling companion.

  A fleeing bank robber, a savage black stallion, and a “cougar evangelist” all play a part in Benny’s journey to accept of God’s will when it isn’t at all humanly sensible or safe. Benny faces an implacable bully and finds a long-lost treasure from his dead father.

  from Chapter Three – “He’ll Go Far!”

  “How come you stopped the barge if you already had a good horse? And why were you hiding that black bag under your saddle?” Benny kept talking, so fast that Mr. Clancy couldn’t have answered his questions if he had wanted to. And he certainly didn’t seem to want to.

  “It looked just like the bag Mr. Carlisle put on the train -- and the one that man in the black suit was carrying. What was in all those bags? Or -- was that you pretending to be somebody else again? Were you the one that killed that man at the bank and stole the money?”

  Mr. Clancy had been staring at him all this time without moving. Suddenly he jumped forward and grabbed Benny. He covered Benny’s mouth with one hand and with the other pulled out a big, long knife. Holding Benny so tight it hurt, he laid the knife up against his throat and whispered in his ear.

  “I guess you do get to go along with me, after all, Benny my boy,” he hissed. “But somehow I don’t think we’ll make it to Uncle Tom’s. The chickens’ll be so disappointed.”

  Benny and the Bank Robber 2: Doctor Dad

  A new marriage for Benny’s mother should be a time of rejoicing. But why is Uncle Tom so angry? While substitute teaching for his mother Benny meets twin girls who turn his world upside down.

  A terrifying mystery at a private boys’ school in Detroit includes gambling, extortion and attempted murder. Benny makes the mistake of trying to impress members of a secret society, discovers he may have a double, and hopes to survive a meeting with someone who may already have murdered to enforce his will.

  from Chapter Fifteen -- “An Ultimatum”

  That night Benny took one more look through his footlocker. Suddenly he noticed a slip of paper tucked into his winter boots. He pulled it out and opened it.

  “The box is the key. Use it to unlock the door to the cat.” At the end was a symbol Benny recognized as the Greek letter Omega. Like lightning, Jason leaped across the room and slammed Joseph down on the floor.

  “You’re the one who stole it!” Jason snarled. “I knew it all the time. We want it back right now!”

  “Make him get off of me, or you’ll be sorry!” Joseph squealed to Benny.

  “Let him up, Jason,” Benny ordered. “Joseph, I guess you don’t want to be expelled, do you? I just want my cougar skin back. I don’t want any trouble.”

  “You can’t prove I had anything to do with that note or your -- cougar skin,” Joseph said with an oath. “You can tell me now what’s in the box. Then they’ll let you know what they want next.”

  Benny and the Bank Robber 3: The Oregon Sentinel

  Ben Carlisle’s longtime dream has been to travel west with his family. When he is offered a newspaper job in Detroit, he is forced to question whether moving west is really God’s will for him. Can he leave behind his grandfather, the girl he thought he loved, and an opportunity few writers could even dream about? Can he risk the life of one of his best friends, or face an old enemy head-on? What price will he have to pay just to make his writing live?

  from Chapter Two -- A New Partner and an Old Enemy

  A giant man on a huge buckskin gelding suddenly clambered up out of the gully behind the bush. He pulled up sharply and scooped Sarah up with his long, powerfully-muscled arm. Ben’s mother gratefully took Sarah from the newcomer. Sarah giggled delightedly and reached up as if she wanted to ride up into the air again.

  “Thanks, Mister,” Jeremy said as the man lifted his wide-brimmed tan hat. “I’m Jeremy Carlisle, and this is — “

  He broke off sharply and Ben came up beside him as Caleb Sutter looked slowly around at them.

  “I guess I know who you are.” His blond hair trailed long as an Indian’s down his broad back. His shirt hung open and an intricate beaded choker clung to his corded neck. Caleb turned his head slightly and Ben saw a jagged scar running from where his left earlobe should have been halfway down his massive chest.

  “I saw your names on the roster, so this wasn’t exactly a surprise for me,” Caleb went on as the family remained speechless. “Bet it was for you, though. Let me try to make this trip easier for all of us. I’ll do my job, and you’ll take care of your family, Doc. I don’t want to dig up any stuff that’s been buried. I sure don’t want any trouble. Boss Tibbs relies on me, and what was between Ben an’ me — well — Just do me the favor of keeping out of my way as much as is humanly possible so I can keep out of yours.”

  Hope and the Knight of the Black Lion by Mary C. Findley

  (Also available in the “Illuminated Version,” echoing the style of a medieval manuscript. “Home to My Father: A Knight’s Tale,” is a stand-alone excerpt from this novel.)

  Seventeen-year-old-Hope rebels against arranged marriage in medieval England. The earl’s handsome son Robert tempts her to defiance. A mysterious knight appears to help Hope find her missing family. Does Hugo Brun de March truly travel on a Holy Quest?

  What is the a strange diary the Arab Sadaquah gives Hope? When her protector is captured she discovers a plot to subvert English law and justice.

  from Chapter Eleven

  “Sir Knight. I hear that thou wilt not say thy name nor thy true business to anyone. “

  “It is a vow I have made, that Baron Cloyes must be the first in England to know of these things. “

  “Man, thy story might turn my heart completely to thy cause,” Lord Godwin said.

  “It matters little now, my lord. “ Sir Chris coughed several times. “The earl has said I am to be made to confess to the burning of the manor house. To that I cannot confess, and so ... Lady Hope?”

  “Yes, Sir Chris?”

  “I am sorry I could not help you,” he said in a voice I could scarcely hear. “I am sorry, too, that you were not persuaded to know Christ.”

  Chasing the Texas Wind by Mary C. Findley

  Hamilton Jessup agrees a sham marriage with socialite singer Maeve Collinswood. This beautiful spinster needs a handsome wounded war hero husband to show off at Texas fundraisers. Ham ha
s no choice, but they both have secrets to keep from each other.

  Ham was supposed to ignore her frequent disappearances. Falling in love with her changed all that. His discovery that their secrets are connected plunges both of them into a race to outwit whoever is supplying arms to Mexico as the countdown ticks away toward the Battle of Monterrey.

  from Part One, between June, 1844 and March, 1845

  “Hamilton?” Maeve said suddenly.

  “Yes, Ma’am?” Ham asked.

  “The story you told about Goliad,” Maeve said, looking pained, “Was it some sort of alcoholic raving or did you tell a true tale?”

  Ham looked away. “A true tale, Ma’am,” he said. “I could never be intoxicated enough to show so much disrespect to the memory of that event as to fabricate a tale about it.”

  “Thank you,” Maeve said.

  Send a White Rose by Mary C. Findley

  Leah Masters came to the New Mexico Territory hoping to make a “mail order match” with handsome Judge Bartholomew Durant. She fainted at his feet and when she woke up discovered she had stepped into an assassination plot with her hot-tempered brother as the prime suspect.

  Who does Bart Durant trust when facing revolution theology and a still-unknown assassin? How can he ignore the sudden realization that his heart might already belong to someone else besides the woman he still thinks is a stuck-up weakling?

  from Chapter Two

  Bartholomew caught sight of a half-wild rose climber in the chapel garden. White roses.

  “You -- you know la Señorita Alethia at the Orphanage? I am sure ... she would give you a sweet … if you ... pick the prettiest white rose on that bush over there and take it to her.”

  “It is a good thing I have my burro, or I would not go. It is a long way. I will be back later, but I will not have any more time to waste on you, dead man. I hope you will be quiet, like the other one is. “

  Bartholomew did not answer, and the footsteps shuffled away.

  Carrie’s Hired Hand by Mary C. Findley (Novella)

  Carrie Wilkes is the Northern widow of a Southern soldier in the middle of the Civil War. Robert Salinger may be handsome but his promise to take care of Ben’s family rings hollow as she struggles alone with the farm work. She is grateful to give a deaf and dumb stranger work for food and a place to stay. Southern soldiers come with accusations of spying. Robbie’s “secret code” might spell terror for Carrie and her children.

  “God bless you … for all you’ve done, Rob,” Ben whispered, half-opening his eyes and gripping Robert’s shoulder. The handsome young man continued his work, but he stared at Ben with the same look of intensity he had given Carrie. “You’re …that friend that … sticketh closer than a brother … the Scriptures …talk about.”

  Robert produced a canteen and Carrie gave Ben a drink. He choked and groaned. “Carrie, I don’t … want to leave you … alone like this,” Ben said when he could speak again. “All alone.”

  “I’ll look after them, Ben,” Robert said suddenly, gripping the dying man’s shoulder. “As God is my witness. This was my doing, and I will take care of your family.”

  “The work’s got to get done … “ Ben said faintly.

  “It will,” Robert promised. Carrie couldn’t help wondering how this slight young man, dapper in spite of the filth around them, was going to help get the farm work done.

  “You give me the Lord, Rob,” Ben said. “Try to give Him to my Carrie, an’ my babies too.”

  Carrie strained to hear. What Ben had just said didn’t make any sense. Robert nodded.

  “I will try,” he said softly.

  Biblical Studies Curriculum by Michael J. and Mary C. Findley

  (Student and Teacher Editions) Bible Study aids for children, homeschoolers, and adults. Commentary, Review Questions, Free Videos on YouTube. Bible Doctrines, children’s whole book studies of Jonah and Ruth with 3D puppet commentary, Proverbs, Adult studies in the New Testament and Major Prophets background, featuring more than 30 videos in the Revelation study alone, Old Testament and New Testament Manuscript History

  The Conflict of the Ages Series

  Newly revised and expanded homeschool books. Combined teacher manual for books 1-3 covering Creation to the Flood and Ice Age plus three separate student manuals. I: The Scientific History of Origins, II: The Origin of Evil in the World That Was, and III: They Deliberately Forgot: The Flood and the Ice Age. by Michael J. and Mary C. Findley

  Science, History, Literature reunited. Eyewitness testimony and the real scientific method. Read ancient manuscripts, search the world, and discover truth instead of buying into preconceptions. When did time begin? Who are the Sons of God? Did ancient Establishments of Religion construct cultural controls and make man a god? Rediscover the Worldwide Flood and the truth about the Ice Age.

  It’s tough, but you need this exhaustive worldwide study of evidence, investigation, and exalting the Scriptures as the ultimate authority. There was one eyewitness to the beginning of the universe. It might surprise you to know how much of His truth has been preserved, and how many struggle today to put that truth in the hands of teachers and students.

  A Dodge, a Twist, and a Tobacconist, The Alexander Legacy Book One: by Sophronia Belle Lyon

  The Alexander Legacy Company is on the track of a ruthless enslaver of souls. Prowl the foggy London streets. Encounter a nightmare from the Indian jungles.

  Travel the Thames in Sluefoot Sue’s Giant Catfish. Soar on a stealth glider with a Bohemian prince. When Oliver Twist unwraps the Algerian mummy at Charley Bates’ funeral, will he discover his real enemy? Or is it all just another “dodge”?

  “He’s going to ram Twist’s ship,” Kera breathed. “They’ll both crash into the house and Mrs. Rose just might have her bomb going off.”

  I ran along the edge of the roof as if I were looking for a shot. But I already knew my pistol was empty, useless, and the guard was trying to get around another gable to get a clear shot while staying behind cover. I had come to a conclusion a moment earlier that I dared not say out loud lest I be grabbed and thrown down on the roof by both women, but I knew what I had to do.

  Just as the spy craft hove around the corner of the house, only a few feet away from the airship, I launched myself off the roof. The smaller ship disappeared and my heart leaped in panic at the thought of being sliced into quarters by the tail rotor. But my fingertips caught hold of a solid object. I found the fuselage of the spy ship and wrapped my legs around it. The thing slewed and spun and began to fall tail-first toward the green lawn.

  The Alexander Legacy Book Two: The ‘Pprentices, the Puppets, and the Pirates, by Sophronia Belle Lyon

  Can Oliver Twist trust Spring-heeled Jack when he offers to “bodyguard the little’un”? Do costume balls conceal more than the faces of the wealthy and powerful? Trevor Newsome disappears just days before the election but the Legacy Company can’t search for him from the London Lockup. When the trip to Switzerland finally becomes a reality, it’s for a funeral, not for a wedding.

  Quests for immortality meld with the worship of powerful men, with terrifying and tragic consequences. When Long John Silver arrives, Oliver has to think fast to protect more than just his own life from the pirate who says he only cares about rescuing his daughter.

  “Twist! Look out!” I spun and swung wildly as the crack of a Colt revolver split the air. Sluefoot Sue had both her firearms out and was shooting at something below me. To my astonishment tentacles rose out of the Thames and wrapped themselves around the Catfish.

  Each time one of Sue’s bullets struck them they disappeared under the water again, but when she paused to reload they re-emerged and began to reach for me, climbing the Catfish sub. I hastily winched myself over toward the dock but a tentacle grabbed hold of my leg just as I started to set myself down. It flung me down on the dock and started dragging me to the edge.

  “Hey, boss lady!” Dobbs, Sue’s assistant, hollered out from inside the workshop. I was
just able to see a pump-action shotgun cartwheel through the air and land in Sue’s gloved hands. Just before it began to blast me deaf, I realized that it was in fact no ordinary shotgun, rather had some sort of gattling action, and a bit more. I hoped I would get a better look at it rather than end up 20,000 leagues under in some sea monster’s maw.

  Write for the King of Glory

  Share the fruits of my first five years of publishing. Learn about blogging, writing, cover design, editing, marketing, and find a bunch of great resources to help you in your publishing journey, many of them free. I’m not the be-all and end all of Christian publishing, but I’m here to help, and so are a bunch of other Christian writers and service providers.

  I’m living proof that you can get your book published. It doesn’t have to stay in those pre-publication versions, or be taken out of your hands and changed to the point where you hardly recognize it. God educated me through some amazing preparation and hard times to the point where I realized that it’s up to me to make my books. Nobody’s going to do it for me. At least not so that I can control it from start to finish, or within my mostly nonexistent budget, or on my timetable.

  So, I have learned to be a cover designer, an editor, an ebook formatter, and everything else I need to create my own books. I have also learned some things about online marketing, to the point where we have regular monthly sales that continue to grow.

  Sample our longer works with free excerpts of full-length titles. All our publications are linked on our blogs.

  Elk Jerky for the Soul includes posts on current issues, excerpts from our fiction and nonfiction works, Bible teaching, travel and everyday observations, and more. http://elkjerkyforthesoul.wordpress.com/

  Visit our tiny but mighty website, which features basic information about Findley Family Video Publications and changing special features at http://findleyfamilyvideopublications.com

  Visit our YouTube Channel http://www.youtube.com/user/ffvp5657. Watch Jonah and Ruth as well as “Sojourner,” part of the Space Empire Saga, in full 3D animation, book teasers, and upcoming projects related to biblical study and the Conflict of the Ages.