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THE CHILDREN OF THE TEMPEST TRILOGY
See below for Author's Notes
In one day, Marcus Montaigne’s life is turned upside down. His comfortable existence is forever changed by a visit from his uncle Helios. Within minutes of his arrival, Marcus is pulled through a whirling storm to some other, alien place. The family secret? They use something called the Tempest to travel to other times and realities.
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Their family has been blessed or cursed with this ability. Those who share this blessing or curse call themselves Voyageurs. Unlike the French-Canadian voyageurs of the 18th and 19th centuries, the Montaigne Family does not navigate river-currents, but the currents of Time, Space, and Reality.
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However, before Marcus can expect to control his gift, he must be prepared for a period of random, accidental voyages, which can result in temporarily being lost in Space and Time. Marcus learns the truth of this soon enough, and the resultant voyage dumps him into the middle of Sherwood Forest, England, hundreds of years in the past, at about the same time that a young Robin Fitzooth is declared an outlaw.
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As if being caught in the middle of a medieval feud is not bad enough, he must struggle to deal with problems of his own making and a centuries-old battle between two branches of his own family. The stakes are the domination, or the freedom, of mankind. And even if Marcus and his family are able to thwart the aims of the ancient Aquilan order, there may be consequences for our world that are impossible to calculate.
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(The parts of the story which deal with the historical period of the “real” Robin Hood are meticulously researched historical fiction and are firmly based on real events in the larger world outside Sherwood Forest. This is not a story about Robin Hood.)
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Young adults will enjoy the science-fiction and fantasy elements of the story and will be anxious to follow up on the family mystery which deepens in each book of the complete trilogy. Fans of alternate history will see clues scattered through the time-travel sequences that will pique their interest as well.
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Click on the link to go to Amazon's book page to purchase! https://bit.ly/3VteqLa
The Montaigne Family does not navigate river or ocean currents, but the currents of Time, Space, and Reality. They call this strange place outside of Reality the Tempest.
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In the first book of the series, TEMPEST’S CHILD, Marcus learns how to use his new abilities while stuck in the 13th century. There he found himself in the middle of a centuries-old battle between two branches of his own family—the apparently conscienceless Aquilans on the one side, and his own Old and Western Branches of the Montaigne family on the other. The stakes are the domination, or the freedom, of mankind.
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In TEMPEST’S FOOLS Marcus finds himself right in the crosshairs of the Aquilan juggernaut when his foe from the previous book, Count Fulk, urges the 21st century leadership of the Aquilan organization to hunt him down. Marcus is kidnapped and taken to an alternate Reality, one in which the Roman Empire never fell, but extended the Pax Romana over half the world. The Aquilans relocated to this Reality for its stability, and their ability to guide affairs from the shadows.
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Marcus manages to escape this first kidnapping, but the Lord Senator Manfred Aquilius Prima is obsessed with Marcus and his possible abilities, and the rest of the book is devoted to that struggle, and Marcus’ realization that the Aquilans outmatch his own branch of the family. Is he a fool for continuing the struggle?
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Oh, and to confuse things even more, he falls for the niece of his good friend Jean and instantly earns the ire of her entire family. How Marcus learns to tame his enhanced Tempest-sense is a wild ride through alternate Realties, the past, and the disfunction of his extended family. Fans of alternate history will see clues scattered throughout the scenes of the 21st century Roman empire sequences that will pique their interest as well!
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Click on the link to go to Amazon's book page to purchase! https://bit.ly/3JHfwjZ
The existence of Marcus Montaigne, his widely extended family, his very tribe, are threatened. With the devastation that concluded TEMPEST’S FOOLS, Marcus is looking for a reason to go on. Unanticipated friendships and a surprising, unexpected love give him reasons to continue the fight.
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Meanwhile, the Aquilans of the 21st century Roma Alpha alternate timeline—a world in which the Roman empire rules over more than half the planet— put a plan into place that will threaten not only our world, but the lives of all children of the Tempest. Those children include beings as unlike physical creatures of our Reality as it is possible to imagine.
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Marcus’ grand goals are interrupted by the Aquilans, who kidnap him twice and try to kill him more times than he can count. Even his mother is kidnapped, this time by regular old druggies in the regular old Earth, and he has to put his plans on hold to help his father rescue her.
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Drama is also unfolding on Roma Alpha between various Aquilan sub-groups, and Marcus and some of his new friends do what they can to save the innocent of that alternate timeline as well.
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While all this is going on, Marcus is quietly acclaimed as the first Voyageur magus for half a millennium. He must figure out what that means, because more than his own existence depends on it. The answer to the issues facing his family and all Children of the Tempest, not to mention his very planet, could depend upon his abilities as a magus and what he learns from the pocket dimension that is the Tempest.
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​Click on the link to go to Amazon's book page to purchase! https://bit.ly/4mRXQkf
AUTHOR'S NOTES
The genesis of this trilogy was a kinda cringey idea, followed by years of not leaving it alone, and finally throwing out half of it and starting over again.
Here goes.
For some reason, I thought the world needed another middle grade book about Robin Hood. This was over ten years ago, but I remember it clearly (Shuddering in embarrassment.)
I came up with the idea of the Tempest as no more than a prop to jump start a story about a sixth or seventh grader going back in time to meet and interact with the real Robin Hood—or what he would have been like historically if he had been real. (He wasn’t.) As hard as I kept trying to make it work, it just didn’t. I did a sheisse ton of research though, including reading a dozen or more serious historical works about the period around Henry II, his sons including Prince John, and so on.
But what I found out as I kept trying to make this idea work is that the Robin Hood part was the least interesting part of the story. The Tempest wanted to be the star. So, I finally listened to that part of me and re-wrote the whole bloody thing. There is still a secondary part about visiting the period of and the person of the historical young Robin Hood, but that ended up being a set-up for the more serious parts of the story.
In fact, as I reviewed the original book, I accidentally uncovered several primary and sub-themes that would work quite well when I jettisoned the more childish parts of the story. I finally fixed the first book—previously named “Young Robin” <gag!>, next titled “A Season in Sherwood" <meh>, and finally, as the first book in a trilogy, “Tempest’s Child” <yay!>.