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Miguel Alvarez

New Book Excerpt - Chapter 9 of THE VORTEX: Book III Of The Alban Saga

The Vortex: Book III of the Alban Saga

Below is a short excerpt from Chapter 9. Those of you who have read the other two books in the Alban Saga will recognize the characters mentioned in this section.

Bea and Aran entered the candlelit commons of the Sheep’s Heid Inn and were immediately assailed by the pervasive smells of roasted meats, ale, and crumbly cheese. A haze of smoke from the hearth fire touched the air, along with the scent of bodies, crowded together on old, crudely-made stools and tables. The sound of conversations and wooden tableware permeated the room, as eyes glanced their way, focusing mostly on Aran, then returning to their food and banter.

Aran sensed their gaze and did his best to act normal, even as the overpowering smells and sites of the medieval pub assaulted his senses. Lowering his head and wrinkling his nose, he whispered, “Jesus, I don’t know if I can stay here . . .”

This caused Bea to recall how she, too, had been affected upon her own arrival at the inn. Chuckling to herself, she explained, “Ye get used to it. Come on, follow me.”

She took Aran’s hand and guided him through the commons and up some well-worn stairs to her room. She pushed the door open. They walked inside. To their left was a small wooden table with a candle on it. Below the table was a stool, just like the ones Aran had seen as they entered the inn. On the opposite wall was a bed with a straw-stuffed mattress covered by a disheveled woolen blanket. The bed itself was plenty big for one person, but two . . . it would be a tight fit.

Bea could tell what Aran was thinking by the look on his face. Before he could speak, she walked over, lit the candle, gave him a shy smile, and said, “Aye, Aran, the room’s not much, and I know the bed’s small . . . At least it’s a place to stay, and I don’t think anyone will bother us once I get you some less conspicuous clothes."

“Aye . . .”

Update: MERLIN & ARTHUR: THE AWAKENING!

 

Merlin & Arthur: The Awakening is my best selling novel to date. It's my fifth novel and is a cross-genre work. It is part fantasy, part science fiction, and has elements of magical realism and international intrigue. It was published on Amazon at the very end of March, 2020. I've sold paperback and Kindle eBook copies every month since then, and it's received excellent ratings and reviews.

It was four years in the making, and I believe it is my most complex book, both in plot and character development, and I thoroughly enjoyed writing it!

Recently I've begun working on the third and final book of the Alban Saga, which include Beatrice and Black Grotto. The title of that book will be The Vortex. It seems to be taking a long time to write, but I'm hoping to publish it in 2023. I'll keep you updated as it progresses.

I want to thank all of you who are reading my books and my blog. I really appreciate your feedback and your support! This has been an incredible journey!

To learn more about Merlin & Arthur: The Awakening or any of my other books, just click on the BOB'S BOOKS tab at the top of my blog.

Favorite Mystery/Crime Writer: Ian Rankin

Ian Rankin

Photo and text below from Ian's "About" page at
https://www.ianrankin.net/landing-page/ian-rankin/ian-rankin-about/

Born in the Kingdom of Fife in 1960, Ian Rankin graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1982, and then spent three years writing novels when he was supposed to be working towards a PhD in Scottish Literature.

 

After university and before his success with his Rebus novels, Ian had a number of jobs including working as a grape-picker, a swineherd, a journalist for a hi-fi magazine, and a taxman. Following his marriage in 1986, he lived briefly in London where he worked at the National Folktale Centre, followed by a short time living in France, before returning to Edinburgh.

 

Ian’s first novel Summer Rites remains in his bottom drawer, but his second novel, The Flood, was published in 1986, while his first Rebus novel, Knots & Crosses, was published in 1987. The Rebus series is now translated into twenty-two languages and the books are bestsellers on several continents. In addition to his Rebus and Malcolm Fox novels, he has also written standalone novels including Doors Open, which was televised in 2012, short stories, a graphic novel – Dark Entries – and a play (with Mark Thomson, the Royal Lyceum Theatre’s Artistic Director) Dark Road, which premiered at the Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, in September 2013. A second play, Long Shadows, starring John Rebus, was co-written with Rona Munro and staged in 2018. There are also a number of novels under the pseudonym ‘Jack Harvey’ and in 2005 he collaborated with singer Jackie Leven on a CD. His non-fiction book Rebus’s Scotland was published in 2005.

 

Ian Rankin has been elected a Hawthornden Fellow, and is also a past winner of the Chandler-Fulbright Award. He is the recipient of four Crime Writers’ Association Dagger Awards including the prestigious Diamond Dagger in 2005. In 2004, Ian won America’s celebrated Edgar Award for Resurrection Men. He has also been shortlisted for the Edgar and Anthony Awards in the USA, and won Denmark’s Palle Rosenkrantz prize, the French Grand Prix du Roman Noir and Germany’s Deutscher Krimipreis.

 

Ian Rankin is also the recipient of honorary degrees from the universities of Hull, Abertay, St Andrews and Edinburgh as well as The Open University. In 2019, he donated his archive of over 50 boxes of manuscripts, letters and paperwork to the National Library of Scotland.

 

A regular contributor to BBC2’s Newsnight Review, he also presented his own TV series, Ian Rankin’s Evil Thoughts on Channel 4 in 2002 and Rankin on the Staircase for BBC Four in 2005. In 2007, Rankin appeared in Ian Rankin’s Hidden Edinburgh and Ian Rankin Investigates Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde also for BBC Four. Ian has been the subject of ITV’s South Bank Show and BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs where his choice of music included Joy Division, The Rolling Stones and Van Morrison.

 

Ian has received an OBE for services to literature, opting to receive the prize in his home city of Edinburgh, where he lives with his wife and two sons.

To learn more about Ian Rankin and his books, go to https://www.ianrankin.net/.

MILESTONE - 60,000 Pageviews

 

My blog recently reached a milestone that I'm very excited about! Since starting my Author's Blog in November of 2013, I've had over 60,000 pageviews, and it's been viewed and read in over 80 countries. I want to thank everyone for their interest in my work and for joining in this journey with me!

When we walk together, we learn from each other.

More Carl Sagan Quotes

  

Carl Sagan

Below are two quotes from Carl Sagan; the last of which is incredibly prophetic.

"We've arranged a civilization in which most crucial elements profoundly depend on science and technology."

"We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This is a prescription for disaster. We might get away with it for a while, but sooner or later this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces."

New Book Excerpt: Chapter 8 Of THE VORTEX: Book III of the Alban Saga

The Vortex: Book III of the Alban Saga

Below, I've included the beginning three paragraphs of Chapter 8. Those of you who have read the other two books in the Alban Saga will recognize the characters mentioned in this section.

Chapter 8

Bea’s Quest

15 December 2026

 

 

The sound of birds nearby engaged in their early morning calls was the first thing that touched Bea’s senses. She felt drugged and dizzy and couldn’t open her eyes without the world spinning about her. She felt ill, but the bird songs calmed her. The first rays of the rising sun lit up the undersides of her eyelids, and she stretched to rouse herself and fight off her nauseating sickness. As she did, a slight breeze floated over her skin and caused what sounded like the rustle of leaves overhead. Flexing her fingers, she also noticed damp blades of grass beneath her. She clutched and pulled at them, continuing to fight her way back to consciousness. 

 

With her eyes still shut, she began to recall what had happened. She had just left Erin standing outside the Cave of Dreams and had used her magic, her staff, and the power of her mind to call up a Vortex. She had guided its direction and purpose with a vision of the location and time of her first destination. She was to travel inside the walls of the ancient city of Edinburgh on 1 June, 1566 and arrive near the base of a hill leading up to its great castle. Of course, she had never seen it during that time period, so Erin had helped her place the correct picture in her mind allowing her to arrive at the safest spot during the best time of day in order to avoid being discovered. She also remembered him telling her that on this first attempt at using the Vortex she might lose consciousness as she neared her destination, especially considering she would be traveling over such a long and difficult expanse of time. If she did, he urged her to allow herself to first recover from the journey and then determine if she had made it to the correct place and time – all this before beginning her search for Obsidian.

 

Not only was she nauseated from the journey, her whole body ached, including her head. It pounded terribly, but she had to ignore her symptoms as much as she could and force herself to become fully aware and mobile. She didn’t want to lay there incapacitated very long. So, she stretched and slowly raised the heavy lids of her eyes. Forcing them open and beginning to focus on the area around her, she sat up slowly and noticed that she was hidden within a small copse of trees on a sloping hillside. She was alone, at least for the moment. Glancing up the hill, she could see the walls of what looked like Edinburgh Castle.