Jon Land - Tor/Forge Blog

$2.99 eBook Sale: October 2022

October 1, 2022April 30, 2024a cat

No tricks here—we’re all treat, for all of scary season with delightfully devilish deals on ebooks! Check out the below list of hot titles!

Nightmare at 20,000 Feet – Horror Stories By Richard Matheson

Remember that monster on the wing of the airplane? William Shatner saw it on The Twilight Zone, John Lithgow saw it in the movie-even Bart Simpson saw it. “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” is just one of many classic horror stories by Richard Matheson that have insinuated themselves into our collective imagination. Here are more than twenty of Matheson’s most memorable tales of fear and paranoia, including: “Prey,” in which a terrified woman is stalked by a malevolent Tiki doll, as chillingly captured in yet another legendary TV moment; “Blood Son,” a disturbing portrait of a strange little boy who dreams of being a vampire; “Dress of White Silk,” a seductively sinister tale of evil and innocence.

The Toll by Cherie Priest

Take a road trip into a Southern gothic horror novel. Titus and Melanie Bell are on their honeymoon and have reservations in the Okefenokee Swamp cabins for a canoeing trip. But shortly before they reach their destination, the road narrows into a rickety bridge with old stone pilings, with room for only one car. Much later, Titus wakes up lying in the middle of the road, no bridge in sight. Melanie is missing. When he calls the police, they tell him there is no such bridge on Route 177 . . .

The Bard’s Blade by Brian D. Anderson

Mariyah enjoys a simple life in Vylari, a land magically sealed off from the outside world, where fear and hatred are all but unknown. There she’s a renowned wine maker and her betrothed, Lem, is a musician of rare talent. Their destiny has never been in question. Whatever life brings, they will face it together. Then a stranger crosses the wards into Vylari for the first time in centuries, bringing a dark prophecy that forces Lem and Mariyah down separate paths. How far will they have to go to stop a rising darkness and save their home? And how much of themselves will they have to give up along the way?

Mystic by Jason Denzel

For hundreds of years, high-born nobles have competed for the chance to learn of the Myst. Powerful, revered, and often reclusive, Mystics have the unique ability to summon and manipulate the Myst: the underlying energy that lives at the heart of the universe. Once in a very great while, they take an apprentice, always from the most privileged sects of society. Such has always been the tradition-until a new High Mystic takes her seat and chooses Pomella AnDone, a restless, low-born teenager, as a candidate. Pomella knows that she will have more to contend with than the competition for the apprenticeship.

Mystic Dragon by Jason Denzel

Seven years have passed since lowborn Pomella AnDone became an unlikely Mystic’s apprentice. Though she has achieved much in a short time, as a rare celestial event approaches, Pomella feels the burden of being a Mystic more than ever. The Mystical realm of Fayün is threatening to overtake the mortal world, and as the two worlds slowly blend together, the land is thrown into chaos. People begin to vanish or are killed outright, and Mystics from across the world gather to protect them. Among them is Shevia, a haunted and brilliant prodigy whose mastery of the Myst is unlike anything Pomella has ever seen.

The Rising by Heather Graham & Jon Land

Twenty-four hours. That’s all it takes for the lives of two young people to be changed forever. Alex Chin has the world on a plate. A football hero and homecoming king with plenty of scholarship offers, his future looks bright. His tutor, Samantha Dixon, is preparing to graduate high school at the top of her class. She plans to turn her NASA internship into a career. When a football accident lands Alex in the hospital, his world is turned upside down. His doctor is murdered. Then, his parents. Death seems to follow him wherever he goes, and now it’s after him.

Lists / What's New

Fall Into Tor Books This Autumn!

September 20, 2022May 8, 2024Rachel Taylor1 Comment

Ready to FALL into some new books this autumn? (*wink*) Get your TBR ready for every book from Tor coming out this fall! Which one are you most excited to read?

September 6

The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake (paperback)

Each decade, only the six most uniquely talented magicians are selected to earn a place in the Alexandrian Society, the foremost secret society in the world. The chosen will secure a life of power and prestige beyond their wildest dreams. But at what cost? Each of the six newest recruits has their reasons for accepting the Society’s elusive invitation. Even if it means growing closer than they could have imagined to their most dangerous enemies—or risking unforgivable betrayal from their most trusted allies—they will fight tooth and nail for the right to join the ranks of the Alexandrians. Even if it means they won’t all survive the year. Now available in paperback!

September 20

Mistborn: Secret History by Brandon Sanderson

Kelsier, sentenced to die mining the Pits of Hathsin after attempting to rob the Lord Ruler’s palace, arose as a powerful Mistborn and inspired the revolution that shook the foundations of the Final Empire. His name and deeds passed into legend. But was that truly the end of his tale? Whispered hints to those he called friends suggested there was a lot more going on. If you think you know the story of the Mistborn trilogy, think again—but to say anything more here risks revealing too much. Even knowing of this tale’s existence could be heresy.

September 27

The Genesis of Misery by Neon Yang

It’s an old, familiar story: a young person hears the voice of an angel saying they have been chosen as a warrior to lead their people to victory in a holy war. But Misery Nomaki (she/they) knows they are a fraud. Raised on a remote moon colony, they don’t believe in any kind of god. Their angel is a delusion, brought on by hereditary space exposure. Yet their survival banks on mastering the holy mech they are supposedly destined for, and convincing the Emperor of the Faithful that they are the real deal. The deeper they get into their charade, however, the more they start to doubt their convictions. What if this, all of it, is real?

Growing Up Weightless by John M. Ford; introduction by Francis Spufford

Matthias Ronay has grown up in the low gravity and great glass citadels of independent Luna—and in the considerable shadow of his father, a member of the council that governs Luna’s increasingly complex society. But Matt feels weighed down on the world where he was born, where there is no more need for exploration, for innovation, for radical ideas—and where his every movement can be tracked by his father on the infonets. Matt and five of his friends, equally brilliant and restless, have planned a secret adventure. Their passage into the expanse of perpetual night will change them in ways they never could have predicted…and bring Matt to the destiny for which he has yearned. With a new introduction by Francis Spufford, author of Red Plenty and Golden Hill.

October 4

The Witch in the Well by Camilla Bruce

Centuries ago, beautiful young Ilsbeth Clark was accused of witchcraft after several children disappeared. Her acquittal did nothing to stop her fellow townsfolk from drowning her in the well where the missing children were last seen. When author and social media influencer Elena returns to the summer paradise of her youth to get her family’s manor house ready to sell, the last thing she expected was connecting with—and feeling inspired to write about—Ilsbeth’s infamous spirit. The very historical figure that her ex-childhood friend, Cathy, has been diligently researching and writing about for years. What begins as a fiercely competitive sense of ownership over Ilsbeth and her story soon turns both women’s worlds into something more haunted and dangerous than they could ever imagine.

October 11

The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal

Tesla Crane, a brilliant inventor and an heiress, is on her honeymoon on an interplanetary space liner, cruising between the Moon and Mars. She’s traveling incognito and is reveling in her anonymity. Then someone is murdered and the festering chowderheads who run security have the audacity to arrest her spouse. Armed with banter, martinis and her small service dog, Tesla is determined to solve the crime so that the newlyweds can get back to canoodling—and keep the real killer from striking again.

Mystic Skies by Jason Denzel

Fifty-four years have passed since Crow Tallin, the catastrophic celestial event that merged Fayün and the human world. One devastating result of that cataclysm is that most human babies are born fused with fay spirits. The Mystics of Kelt Apar, once beloved, are blamed for this worldwide phenomenon. On the island of Moth, the Barons have declared the Myst illegal and imprisoned all Mystics under house arrest. Under the watchful eyes of deadly Hunters, a much-older Pomella AnDone now lives as a prisoner at Kelt Apar with her granddaughter and apprentice Mia, as well as the rapidly declining High Mystic of Moth, Yarina Sineese.

October 25

The Atlas Paradox by Olivie Blake

Six magicians were presented with the opportunity of a lifetime. Five are now members of the Society. Two paths lay before them. All must pick a side. Alliances will be tested, hearts will be broken, and The Society of Alexandrians will be revealed for what it is: a secret society with raw, world-changing power, headed by a man whose plans to change life as we know it are already under way.

November 1

Ocean’s Echo by Everina Maxwell

Rich socialite, inveterate flirt, and walking disaster Tennalhin Halkana can read minds. Tennal, like all neuromodified “readers,” is a security threat on his own. But when controlled, readers are a rare asset. Not only can they read minds, but they can navigate chaotic space, the maelstroms surrounding the gateway to the wider universe. Conscripted into the military under dubious circumstances, Tennal is placed into the care of Lieutenant Surit Yeni, a duty-bound soldier, principled leader, and the son of a notorious traitor general. Whereas Tennal can read minds, Surit can influence them. Surit accepted a suspicious promotion-track request out of desperation, but he refuses to go through with his illegal orders to sync and control an unconsenting Tennal. So they lie: They fake a sync bond and plan Tennal’s escape.

November 8

Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree

After a lifetime of bounties and bloodshed, Viv is hanging up her sword for the last time. The battle-weary orc aims to start fresh, opening the first ever coffee shop in the city of Thune. But old and new rivals stand in the way of success — not to mention the fact that no one has the faintest idea what coffee actually is. If Viv wants to put the blade behind her and make her plans a reality, she won’t be able to go it alone. But the true rewards of the uncharted path are the travelers you meet along the way. And whether drawn together by ancient magic, flaky pastry, or a freshly brewed cup, they may become partners, family, and something deeper than she ever could have dreamed.

Origins of the Wheel of Time by Michael Livingston; foreword by Harriet McDougal

Take a deep dive into the real-world history and mythology that inspired the world of The Wheel of Time®. Origins of The Wheel of Time is written by Michael Livingston, Secretary-General of the United States Commission on Military History and professor of medieval literature at The Citadel, with a Foreword by Harriet McDougal, Robert Jordan’s editor, widow, and executor of his estate. Origins of The Wheel of Time will provide knowledge and insights to new and longtime fans looking to expand their understanding of the series or unearth the real-life influences that Jordan utilized in his world building.

Blood Moon by Heather Graham and Jon Land

They may have managed to win a major battle against the powerful enemy determined to destroy civilization as we know it. But the war continues, with Alex and Sam embarking on a desperate journey to save mankind, even as their friendship blossoms into something much more. The roadmap for their journey lies in a mysterious book, the language of which has never been deciphered, until Alex finds himself able to translate the words that may hold the keys to saving the future. But an ageless foe, long the guardian of the secrets his race has left behind on Earth, arises to stop them at all costs. At his disposal is a merciless army that has been awaiting this very war, an army as unstoppable as it is relentless.

The Fifth Head of Cerberus by Gene Wolfe

Far from Earth, two sister planets, Saint Anne and Saint Croix, circle each other in an eternal dance. It is said a race of shapeshifters once lived here, only to perish when men came. But one man believes they can still be found, somewhere in back of the beyond. In The Fifth Head of Cerberus, Gene Wolfe skillfully interweaves three bizarre tales to create a mesmerizing pattern: the harrowing account of the son of a mad genius who discovers his hideous heritage; a young man’s mythic dreamquest for his darker half; and the bizarre chronicle of a scientist’s nightmarish imprisonment. With a new introduction by O. Henry Award winning author Brian Evenson

November 15

The Lost Metal by Brandon Sanderson

For years, frontier lawman turned big-city senator Waxillium Ladrian has hunted the shadowy organization the Set since they started kidnapping people with the power of Allomancy in their bloodlines. When Detective Marasi Colms and her partner Wayne find stockpiled weapons bound for the Outer City of Bilming, this opens a new lead. After Wax discovers a new type of explosive that can unleash unprecedented destruction, an immortal kandra serving Scadrial’s god, Harmony, reveals that Bilming has fallen under the influence of another god: Trell, worshipped by the Set. And Trell isn’t the only factor at play from the larger Cosmere—Marasi is recruited by offworlders with strange abilities who claim their goal is to protect Scadrial…at any cost.

November 29

Alone With You in the Ether by Olivie Blake

Two people meet in the Art Institute by chance. Prior to their encounter, he is a doctoral student who manages his destructive thoughts with compulsive calculations about time travel; she is a bipolar counterfeit artist, undergoing court-ordered psychotherapy. By the end of the story, these things will still be true. But this is not a story about endings. For Regan, people are predictable and tedious, including and perhaps especially herself. To Aldo, the world feels disturbingly chaotic. For Regan and Aldo, life has been a matter of resigning themselves to the blueprints of inevitability—until the two meet. Could six conversations with a stranger be the variable that shakes up the entire simulation?

Excerpts / What's New

Excerpt: Blood Moon by Heather Graham & Jon Land

September 12, 2022March 21, 2024a cat1 Comment

The action-packed follow up to The Rising, from acclaimed thriller-suspense novelists Heather Graham and Jon Land, this is Blood Moon.

The recipient of RWA’s Lifetime Achievement Award and ITW’s ThrillerMaster Award, Heather Graham is at the pinnacle of her career. Now she’s teamed up with USA Today bestselling author Jon Land to continue the story of high school seniors Alex Chin and Samantha Dixon.

The roadmap for their journey lies in a mysterious book, the language of which has never been deciphered, until Alex finds himself able to translate the words that may hold the keys to saving the future. Toward that end, Alex’s and Sam’s quest spirits them away to a myriad of locations around the world, each of which holds another piece of the puzzle that can defeat the alien invaders.

But an ageless foe, long the guardian of the secrets his race has left behind on Earth, arises to stop them at all costs. At his disposal is a deadly and merciless army that has been awaiting this very war, an army as unstoppable as it is relentless.

Over the ruins of the lost Mayan city of El Mirador, a blood moon is about to rise, triggering the end of mankind unless Alex and Sam can prevail in a struggle that will determine the fate of the planet. As forces both ancient and modern converge, as painful choices must be made and sacrifices accepted, two young heroes will rise again to stand as the final line of defense to preserve their world and their love.

Please enjoy this free excerpt of Blood Moon by Heather Graham & Jon Land, on sale 11/8/22

1

WASTELAND

“Stay with us!” Skye, the leader of the fighters, ordered Raiff. “We can’t protect you if you stray!”

The route they needed to cover would take them across an urban landscape dominated by collapsed or crumbling buildings. The machines, massive steel-tentacled monsters as big as buildings themselves, swept through the area, slicing away at anything that moved. The initial flank of Resistance fighters had emerged from their hiding spots to draw the machines’ attention away from the small group using the rubble for camouflage, sacrifices to a higher purpose.

Raiff smelled death in the air. It rose from the bodies strewn amid the wreckage of a landscape once dominated by towers of gleaming glass and steel, now riddled with blight. Only eighteen years old, he had no recollection of anything but death and destruction. His earliest memories from childhood were of hiding from the machines, the tentacled monsters and fighter drones programmed to kill anything that moved.

Raiff drew even with Skye behind the remnant of a building’s foundation.

“They’re looking for us, aren’t they?” he said to the woman he knew to be one of the Resistance’s best fighters, having led missions that had taken down murderous machines comparable to these.

Skye almost managed a smile. “You figure that out all by yourself?”

Raiff looked at her, sharing enough in common with her physically so they appeared as brother and sister. Same dark hair, same soulful eyes somewhere between black and brown, same smile on those rare occasions when one came.

They both watched as a fighter drone descended from the gray, smoky sky toward a phalanx of fighters trying to draw the machines away from them. A silent burst of plasma fire blew the machines apart and spewed pieces of them in all directions.

“You must be awfully important,” Skye said to him, easing herself back from the concealed position.

“I wish I knew why. It’s not like I’ve ever done anything.” “Well, kid, you’re about to.”

Skye led the fighters enclosing Raiff through a gap in the rubble, seizing on a moment when the attention of all the machines looking for them was trained on their decoys. They covered the next hundred yards without incident, starting to believe they were actually going to make it when the fighter bringing up the rear stepped on a land mine.

“Oh, shit,” he managed before he was vaporized into a red mist.

Raiff watched the rolling monsters and the fighter drones swing in their direction.

“Come on!” Skye roared, breaking into an all-out run down a rubble-strewn road that once had been the main artery for this city. She managed to steady and fire her plasma grenade launcher as she ran, knocking out the hardware of one of the tentacled machines, jolting it to a halt in mid-stride. Raiff couldn’t believe his eyes, never

having witnessed one of the monsters stopped by a single shot.

Skye and other fighters trained their fire on two more of the towering things, never seeing the fighter drone hovering just behind them. Raiff screamed a warning just as it opened fire and felt Skye tackle him, using her body as cover amid the refuse.

“Stay down!” she blared into his ear.

Raiff felt a wash of heat and something wet soaking through his clothes. He heard Skye gasp and realized she’d been hit, as he eased himself out from under her and tried to drag her along with him after the drone had passed over them.

“No,” Skye managed, “go!” Adding, when Raiff resisted, “Save yourself, save the mission . . .”

“Mission?”

“Go!”

Raiff jetted off, trying to find speed as he zigzagged through the obstacles in his path. No idea where he was going or what he would find if he got there. If only Elaina were here Elaina would know

what to do.

He heard the hum of another drone and dropped low, freezing too late to avert its motion sensors.

“Hey! Hey!”

He turned to find Skye on her knees, waving one arm while the other hung bloody and useless by her side.

“Hey, asshole, come get me!”

When the drone turned to do just that, Raiff sprinted off again, all caution thrown to the wind. Darting, leaping, and tearing along, all efforts aimed at concealment abandoned. He heard the sizzling hiss of the drone’s fire and didn’t bother looking back at the sound of Skye’s final scream. Just kept running.

Toward where? For what?

Raiff cut between the splintered shapes of twin towers that had been snapped like matchsticks. His feet pounded atop a debris field, crunching over a combination of glass shards and human bones. Nothing before him that looked anything like the rendezvous point Skye and her fighters had been leading him to. Nothing before him at all.

He heard the familiar whine of a fighter drone settling into position and swung to find it frozen in the air, hovering fifty feet before him, a distance that made it look like they were face-to-face. Raiff squeezed his eyes closed, wondered what the next moment would feel like.

Boom!

Raiff opened his eyes to see the fighter drone explode. He dropped low to avoid the blast debris, turning as he rose to find a woman staring at him. She held a plasma grenade rifle in one arm, the other clutching a crying baby to her breast.

“Took you long enough to get here, kid,” Elaina said to him.

2

CONVERGENCE

Thomas Donati caught up with his NASA supervisor inside the elevator just before the door slid closed within the secret facility constructed in San Ramon, California. “You need to take a look at these figures.”

“I have,” Orson Wilder told him.

Wilder inserted a square, flat key into a slot tailored for it and turned it all the way to the right.

As the cab began its descent, Donati reached out and turned the pages Wilder was still holding around. “Right side up this time.”

Wilder sneered, then nodded grudgingly. “What am I looking for?”

“Signs.”

“Signs?”

“Of a potential cosmic celestial convergence of unprecedented proportions. Here, let me show you . . .”

The elevator whirred further downward.

“This earthquake in Tibet,” Donati continued, “a rogue wave wiping out an entire island in the South China Sea, the inexplicable malfunction of our interstellar monitors located in the northeast Pacific Ocean.” When Wilder failed to respond, Donati whipped a marker from his pocket and drew a circle on the elevator wall. “Picture this as the Earth. Here are the locations of the stimuli I just mentioned.” Donati drew X’s to accompany his continued narration. “Tibet, the South China Sea, the northeast Pacific Ocean. A neat line,” he finished, drawing his marker across the elevator wall to connect them, “perfectly following the curvature of the Earth. We’re talking about extreme seismic levels of quantum disruption, accompanied by radical spikes in the discharge of electromagnetic radiation. You see what I’m getting at here?”

“No, not really,” Wilder said impatiently.

“Our lab exists on the same plane as these apparently random events. Our work could be causing disruptions leading to ripples in the time-space continuum. Or . . .”

The cab settled to a halt twenty stories underground between a million tons of steel and reinforced concrete.

“Or what?”

“The pattern could indicate contact from the other side of the doorway we’re trying to open.”

3

THE BRIDGE

She was a mother, and one thing was imperative.

Saving her son.

“Take him, Raiff!” Elaina said, handing the infant over, once they had descended into one of the many underground bases used by the Resistance.

This one was different, though, Raiff realized. It hummed with electricity, far more than that normally provided by the limited power of the portable generators. It wasn’t just the hum either; he felt something, like a constant vibration, at his very core.

“But—”

“No buts! We’ve been betrayed! They knew we were here, which means they know about our plan!”

“What plan?”

“Take him!” Elaina ordered, pushing the infant into Raiff’s arms.

It was the first time he’d ever held a baby and he struggled for the right grasp. “You’re the one who should go.”

“You’re the warrior, Raiff. Far better suited to protect him once you get there. And he’ll need protection—both of us know that. It’s only a matter of time before they come. They always come.”

Raiff held the infant stiffly in his arms. I’m just a boy myself, he wanted to say. But he knew what Elaina would say in return because he’d heard the story so often of the time his own parents had been killed trying to do the same thing they were doing now.

Escape.

The Overlords were determined to seize absolute control and they placed little value on life in general and certainly not when their rule was threatened or questioned in any way.

But this was about more than escape. This was about survival.

“I don’t know enough about the plan,” Raiff said, holding his ground.

“Keep the boy safe—that’s the plan. The others will find you when you get there.”

Back down the tubular-shaped steel hall, the small-arms fire had become more sporadic, the last of their party falling to the enemy’s vastly superior numbers and firepower.

“Go,” Elaina said, her voice soft but emphatic. “There’s no more time.”

Her tone reassured him, made him feel there was still hope. Raiff wanted to ask her why him? Of all the fighters she could have chosen for this mission, why choose one who was no more than a kid? Raiff knew the infant was the key, the reason so many had given their lives to get him this far. Something about the infant was important enough to make a mother relinquish her own child.

“He knows the way,” Elaina said, stroking the baby’s head and watching his eyes widen as he looked at her, smiling at the loving touch.

“The way to what?”

Elaina backed off stiffly, the infant suddenly feeling unsteady in Raiff’s grasp. “Trust me. This is our only chance. We can help them win, help them preserve their world and save ours in the process. The child is the key.”

“You’ve got to come too, please!” Raiff implored. “I can’t do this alone!”

Elaina wiped the tears that had started to spill from her eyes. “Somebody has to operate the controls from this end, and you don’t know how. And someone needs to destroy the bridge once you’re through so they can’t follow. Take this,” Elaina said, pressing a cylindrical object into his free hand.

“What is it?”

“You’ll know when the time comes. It’s the only weapon that can destroy . . .”

“Destroy what?” Raiff managed, pocketing the ball-sized object.

“Let’s hope you never have to find out. Call it a precaution.”

Elaina entered a sequence into an unmarked keypad, fingers dancing up, down, then up again. The heavy door before them spiraled open, disappearing into the walls contoured to its shape.

“Go!” she ordered. “You need to go now!”

Pre-Order Blood Moon Here:

Author Features / New Releases / What's New

Life Imitating Art in Murder at the CDC by Jon Land

February 16, 2022February 14, 2022torforge

Murder and intrigue on the steps of the United States capital building pulls Robert Brixton into his most personal case yet in Margaret Truman’s Murder at the CDC. Check out what author Jon Land has to say in regards to toeing the line between fiction and reality in this gripping and enthralling new tale in the Capital Crimes series!

By Jon Land:

In the wake of 9/11, the newly formed Department of Homeland Security gave some select thriller writers a mission: conceive the next big attack on the country. We’ll never know how prescient the project, called “Red Cell,” actually turned out to be. We do know, though, that while thriller writers may not be able to predict the future, our work is based on anticipating it.

I began writing Murder at the CDC in early August of 2020, motivated in large part by what we all witnessed happening to the country during the Trump years. A divisiveness that hadn’t been seen since the Civil War had pit Americans against each other, separated into two warring camps.

For us thriller writers, the greatest two words in the English language are What if? That question has been the basis of too many great books to list and a number of them, like Tom Clancy’s 1994 “Debt of Honor,” which featured a commercial airliner crashing into the Capitol Building during the State of the Union Address, are incredibly prescient in their subject matter. So, in writing Murder at the CDC, I asked myself what if the notion of a second civil war was more than just a notion? I finished the book right around Election Day, having no idea that the next few months were going to reveal evidence of a bona fide attempted insurrection and coup. Suddenly, what I’d written no longer seemed like fiction.

Because I wrote the book before January 6, there’s no ripping off that day or the principals behind it. As always, I let my characters drive the story, not my politics. When I’m hammering away at the keyboard, I have a story to tell, not an axe to grind. So, the villain of Murder at the CDC, Deacon Frank Wilhyte, isn’t defined by his politics either. He’s defined by having a famous father he couldn’t please and who was physically abusive. Now he’s got his own son and finds himself effectively becoming the same man his father was. That’s powerful stuff and forms a big part of the book, culminating in the fact that the boy is a science savant capable of weaponizing the deadly toxin Deacon Frank has come into possession of when the experts he hired failed. His son proves himself to Deacon Frank in a way Deacon Frank could never prove himself to his father. The same holds true for the book’s hero, Robert Brixton. While I’ve made him the classic ex-special operator, he’s defined more by being a father and a grandfather, than by how many bodies he leaves behind in the course of the book.

When asked what’s the most important thing a writer can do, I used to say Tell a great story. Now I say Have fun telling a great story. And I had a blast writing Murder at the CDC in large part because characters like Brixton and Deacon Frank did the heavy lifting. I followed their lead in taking the book where it needed to go, which just happened to be a place I had never gone before.

I truly, sincerely, hope I turn out to be a lousy prophet. I truly hope the events portrayed in Murder at the CDC remain nothing more than fiction and that we never face anything approaching a second civil war. When I start a book, though, I never know how it’s going to end. And, similarly, I have no idea how this sordid chapter of our history is going to end because, sometimes, life really does imitate art.

Order your copy of Murder at the CDC here!

New Releases / What's New

What’s New from Forge this Winter

January 24, 2022April 30, 2024torforge1 Comment

A new year is upon us, which means a slew of new books are arriving on the scene from Forge! We’re so excited to share the lineup of amazing books we have coming your way this winter. If you’re on the hunt for some books to curl up with during these chillier months of the year, take a look at what Forge has in store for you!

Cutthroat Dogs by Loren D. Estleman

“Someone is dead who shouldn’t be, and the wrong man is in prison.”

Nearly twenty years ago, college freshman April Goss was found dead in her bathtub, an apparent suicide, but suspicion soon fell on her boyfriend. Dan Corbeil was convicted of her murder and sent to prison. Case closed.

Or is it?

Available to read now!

A Thousand Steps by T. Jefferson Parker

Laguna Beach, California, 1968. The Age of Aquarius is in full swing. Timothy Leary is a rock star. LSD is God. Folks from all over are flocking to Laguna, seeking peace, love, and enlightenment.

Matt Anthony is just trying get by.

Matt is sixteen, broke, and never sure where his next meal is coming from. Mom’s a stoner, his deadbeat dad is a no-show, his brother’s fighting in Nam . . . and his big sister Jazz has just gone missing. The cops figure she’s just another runaway hippie chick, enjoying a summer of love, but Matt doesn’t believe it. Not after another missing girl turns up dead on the beach.

All Matt really wants to do is get his driver’s license and ask out the girl he’s been crushing on since fourth grade, yet it’s up to him to find his sister. But in a town where the cops don’t trust the hippies and the hippies don’t trust the cops, uncovering what’s really happened to Jazz is going to force him to grow up fast.

If it’s not already too late.

Available to read now!

Margaret Truman’s Murder at the CDC by Margaret Truman and Jon Land

2017: A military transport on a secret run to dispose of its deadly contents vanishes without a trace.

The present: A mass shooting on the steps of the Capitol nearly claims the life of Robert Brixton’s grandson.

No stranger to high-stakes investigations, Brixton embarks on a trail to uncover the motive behind the shooting. On the way he finds himself probing the attempted murder of the daughter of his best friend, who works at the Washington offices of the CDC.

The connection between the mass shooting and Alexandra’s poisoning lies in that long-lost military transport that has been recovered by forces determined to change America forever. Those forces are led by radical separatist leader Deacon Frank Wilhyte, whose goal is nothing short of bringing on a second Civil War.

Brixton joins forces with Kelly Lofton, a former Baltimore homicide detective. She has her own reasons for wanting to find the truth behind the shooting on the Capitol steps, and is the only person with the direct knowledge Brixton needs. But chasing the truth places them in the cross-hairs of both Wilhyte’s legions and his Washington enablers.

Coming 2.15.22!

The Chase by Candice Fox

“Are you listening, Warden?”

“What do you want?”

“I want you to let them out.”

“Which inmates are we talking about?”

“All of them.”

With that, the largest manhunt in United States history is on. In response to a hostage situation, more than 600 inmates from the Pronghorn Correctional Facility, including everyone on Death Row, are released into the Nevada Desert. Criminals considered the worst of the worst, monsters with dark, violent pasts, are getting farther away by the second.

John Kradle, convicted of murdering his wife and son, is one of the escapees. Now, desperate to discover what really happened that night, Kradle must avoid capture and work quickly to prove his innocence as law enforcement closes in on the fugitives.

Death Row Supervisor, and now fugitive-hunter, Celine Osbourne has focused all of her energy on catching Kradle and bringing him back to Death Row. She has very personal reasons for hating him – and she knows exactly where he’s heading…

Coming 3.8.22!

Assassin’s Edge by Ward Larsen

A U.S. spy plane crashes off the northern coast of Russia at the same time that a Mossad operative is abducted from a street in Kazakhstan. The two events seem unrelated, but as suspicions rise, the CIA calls in its premier operative, David Slaton.

When wreckage from the aircraft is discovered on a remote Arctic island, Slaton and a team are sent on a clandestine mission to investigate. While they comb a frigid Russian island at the top of the world, disaster strikes yet again: a U.S. Navy destroyer sinks in the Black Sea.

Evidence begins mounting that these disparate events are linked, controlled by an unseen hand. A mysterious source, code name Lazarus, provides tantalizing clues about another impending strike. Yet Lazarus has an agenda that is deeply personal, a thirst for revenge against a handful of clandestine operators. Prime among them: David Slaton.

Coming 4.12.22!

Traitor by David Hagberg

When McGarvey’s best friend, Otto, is charged with treason, Mac and his wife, Petey, set out on a desperate odyssey to clear Otto’s name. Crossing oceans and continents, their journey will take them from Japan to the US to Pakistan to Russia. Caught in a Kremlin crossfire between two warring intel agencies, Mac and Petey must fight for their lives every step of the way.

And the stakes could not be higher.

Coming 4.26.22!

And here are some great books coming out in trade paperback!

Waiting for the Night Song by Julie Carrick Dalton

Cadie Kessler has spent decades trying to cover up one truth. One moment. But deep down, didn’t she always know her secret would surface?

An urgent message from her long-estranged best friend Daniela Garcia brings Cadie, now a forestry researcher, back to her childhood home. There, Cadie and Daniela are forced to face a dark secret that ended both their idyllic childhood bond and the magical summer that takes up more space in Cadie’s memory then all her other years combined.

Now grown up, bound by long-held oaths, and faced with truths she does not wish to see, Cadie must decide what she is willing to sacrifice to protect the people and the forest she loves, as drought, foreclosures, and wildfire spark tensions between displaced migrant farm workers and locals.

Waiting for the Night Song is a love song to the natural beauty around us, a call to fight for what we believe in, and a reminder that the truth will always rise.

Available to read now! Reading group guide also available.

My Brilliant Life by Ae-ran Kim; translated by Chi-Young Kim

Areum lives life to its fullest, vicariously through the stories of his parents, conversations with Little Grandpa Jang—his sixty-year-old neighbor and best friend—and through the books he reads to visit the places he would otherwise never see.

For several months, Areum has been working on a manuscript, piecing together his parents’ often embellished stories about his family and childhood. He hopes to present it on his birthday, as a final gift to his mom and dad; their own falling-in-love story.

Through it all, Areum and his family will have you laughing and crying, for all the right reasons.

Coming 2.1.22! Reading group guide also available.

Her Perfect Life by Hank Phillippi Ryan

Everyone knows Lily Atwood—and that may be her biggest problem. The beloved television reporter has it all—fame, fortune, Emmys, an adorable seven-year-old daughter, and the hashtag her loving fans created: #PerfectLily. To keep it, all she has to do is protect one life-changing secret.

Her own.

Lily has an anonymous source who feeds her story tips—but suddenly, the source begins telling Lily inside information about her own life. How does he—or she—know the truth?

Lily understands that no one reveals a secret unless they have a reason. Now she’s terrified someone is determined to destroy her world—and with it, everyone and everything she holds dear.

How much will she risk to keep her perfect life?

Coming 3.8.22! Reading group guide also available.

The Lights of Sugarberry Cove by Heather Webber

Sadie Way Scott has been avoiding her family and hometown of Sugarberry Cove, Alabama, since she nearly drowned in the lake just outside her mother’s B&B. Eight years later, Sadie is the host of a much-loved show about southern cooking and family, but despite her success, she wonders why she was saved. What is she supposed to do?

Sadie’s sister, Leala Clare, is still haunted by the guilt she feels over the night her sister almost died. Now, at a crossroads in her marriage, Leala has everything she ever thought she wanted—so why is she so unhappy?

When their mother suffers a minor heart attack just before Sugarberry Cove’s famous water lantern festival, the two sisters come home to run the inn while she recovers. It’s the last place either of them wants to be, but with a little help from the inn’s quirky guests, the sisters may come to terms with their strained relationships, accept the past, and rediscover a little lake magic.

Coming 3.1.22! Reading group guide also available.

The Widow Queen by Elzbieta Cherezinska

The bold one, they call her—too bold for most.

To her father, the great duke of Poland, Swietoslawa and her two sisters represent three chances for an alliance. Three marriages on which to build his empire.

But Swietoslawa refuses to be simply a pawn in her father’s schemes; she seeks a throne of her own, with no husband by her side.

The gods may grant her wish, but crowns sit heavy, and power is a sword that cuts both ways.

Coming 3.15.22! Reading group guide also available.

Comes the War by Ed Ruggero

April 1944, the fifty-fifth month of the war in Europe. The entire island of Britain fairly buzzes with the coiled energy of a million men poised to leap the Channel to France, the first, riskiest step in the Allies’ long slog to the heart of Germany and the end of the war.

Lieutenant Eddie Harkins is tasked to investigate the murder of Helen Batcheller, an OSS analyst. Harkins is assigned a British driver, Private Pamela Lowell, to aid in his investigation. Lowell is smart, brave and resourceful; like Harkins, she is prone to speak her mind even when it doesn’t help her.

Soon a suspect is arrested and Harkins is ordered to stop digging. Suspicious, he continues his investigation only to find himself trapped in a web of Soviet secrets. As bombs fall, Harkins must solve the murder and reveal the spies before it is too late.

Coming 3.29.22!

A Dog’s Courage by W. Bruce Cameron

Bella was once a lost dog, but now she lives happily with her people, Lucas and Olivia, only occasionally recalling the hardships in her past. Then a weekend camping trip turns into a harrowing struggle for survival when the Rocky Mountains are engulfed by the biggest wildfire in American history. The raging inferno separates Bella from her people and she is lost once more.

Alone in the wilderness, Bella unexpectedly finds herself responsible for the safety of two defenseless mountain lion cubs. Now she’s torn between two equally urgent goals. More than anything, she wants to find her way home to Lucas and Olivia, but not if it means abandoning her new family to danger. And danger abounds, from predators hunting them to the flames threatening at every turn.

Can Bella ever get back to where she truly belongs?

A Dog’s Courage is more than a fast-paced adventure, more than a devoted dog’s struggle to survive, it’s a story asking that we believe in our dogs as much as they believe in us.

Coming 4.5.22!

eBook Deals / What's New

$2.99 eBook Sale: Murder on the Metro by Margaret Truman and Jon Land

January 18, 2022January 14, 2022torforge

The ebook edition of Murder on the Metro by Margaret Truman and Jon Land is on sale for the month of January for only $2.99!

About Murder on the Metro:

Washington: America awakens to the shattering news that Vice President Stephanie Davenport has died of an apparent heart attack.

That same morning, a chance encounter on the Washington Metro results in international private investigator Robert Brixton thwarting an attempted terrorist bombing. Brixton has no reason to suspect that the three incidents have anything in common, until he’s contacted by Kendra Rendine, the Secret Service agent who headed up the vice president’s security detail. Rendine is convinced the vice president was murdered and needs Brixton’s investigative expertise to find out why.

In Israel, meanwhile, legendary anti-terrorist fighter Lia Ganz launches her own crusade against the perpetrators of that attack which nearly claimed the lives of her and granddaughter. Ganz’s trail will ultimately take her to Washington where she joins forces with Brixton to uncover an impossible link between the deadly attack on Caesarea and the attempted Metro bombing, as well as the death of the vice president.

The connection lies in the highest corridors of power in Washington where a deadly plot with unimaginable consequences has been hatched. With the clock ticking toward doomsday, Brixton and Ganz race against time to save millions of American lives who will otherwise become collateral damage to a conspiracy destined to change the United States forever.

Click below to order your copy!

This sale ends on 1/31/2022 at 11:59 pm ET.

Excerpts / New Releases / What's New

Excerpt: Margaret Truman’s Murder at the CDC by Margaret Truman and Jon Land

December 20, 2021December 3, 2021torforge

Murder and intrigue on the steps of the United States capital building pulls Robert Brixton into his most personal case yet, in Margaret Truman’s Murder at the CDC.

2017: A military transport on a secret run to dispose of its deadly contents vanishes without a trace.

The present: A mass shooting on the steps of the Capitol nearly claims the life of Robert Brixton’s grandson.

No stranger to high-stakes investigations, Brixton embarks on a trail to uncover the motive behind the shooting. On the way he finds himself probing the attempted murder of the daughter his best friend, who works at the Washington offices of the CDC.

Margaret Truman’s Murder at the CDC will be available on February 15th, 2o22. Please enjoy the following excerpt!

ONE

WASHINGTON, DC; THE PRESENT

“Are you sure about this, Mac?”

“No, Robert,” Brixton’s best friend, Mackensie Smith, said. “I’m not. That’s why we’re having this conversation.”

Brixton adjusted the notepad in his lap and readied his pen. “Tell me about her.”

He knew the bulk of the associates in Mac’s law firm used iPads these days, but Brixton still favored pen and paper. Mac made it a practice to almost never close his office door, but Brixton watched him do just that now and then retake the leather armchair in the office’s sitting area.

“She’s twenty-five, beautiful, and whip smart.”

“In other words, nothing like the man she claims is her father. And you’re forgetting something.”

“What?”

“Her name, Mac. I will need that, you know.”

Mac returned the smile that Brixton had hoped might put him more at ease. “Alexandra. Alexandra Parks. Parks being her mother’s name.”

“Next question: Have you considered using an investigator with more objectivity?”

Mac looked thrown by that for a moment. “Not even for a second. It has to be you, Robert. You’re the only one who understands what this means to me. Like another chance at something I never thought I’d experience again.” Mac had been one of Washington’s top criminal lawyers for years, a go-to guy when a case seemed hopeless. But after losing a son and his first wife to a drunk driver on the Beltway—and seeing the drunk get off with what Smith considered a slap on the wrist—he closed his office and accepted a professorship at the George Washington University Law School, where he’d taught fledgling attorneys about the real world of being a lawyer.

While his stint in academia had been satisfying, the call of the courtroom became too loud to ignore. After many long, heated discussions with his second wife, Annabel Reed-Smith, herself a former attorney and now owner of a pre-Columbian art gallery in Georgetown, he resigned his post at the university and hung out his shingle again.

Not surprisingly, his modest return to the law ballooned into a booming practice once more. A single office and reception area gave way to a suite of offices for associates, then an entire floor as those associates multiplied, followed by a second floor with connecting stairwell to accommodate partners and junior partners, with additional office space reserved for the likes of the firm’s top investigator—Brixton himself.

Mac had considered downsizing, the year before, only to change his mind. He had started to scale back when word leaked of his involvement, along with Brixton’s, in destroying the most dangerous conspiracy in the nation’s history. Though the actual facts of that conspiracy were known to extraordinarily few, rumors of Mackensie Smith’s involvement in its destruction were known to many. The result was an unprecedented number of calls and inquiries looking to hire his firm. Although Mac had earned the right to be discriminating about which cases he took on, the client load necessitated an expansion, and the firm had relocated to the vacant and newly renovated top two floors of the city’s Warner Building, located on Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest.

Brixton knew Mac loved the work, loved the action, loved the fact that the firm had license to avoid the kind of lobbying efforts and representation of politicos that had so soured Mac on the law in general—and on backroom politics specifically. The latest infusion of cash from hourly billings and retainers was substantial enough for the firm to take on more than its share of pro bono work. And when COVID-19 had forced the closure of Annabel’s art gallery, she had returned to the law to head up that department with the firm in its new space.

“You understand what it’s like to lose a child, what it does to you, as well as I do,” Mac continued, referring to Brixton losing his own daughter, Janet, to a terrorist bombing.

“I was lucky in one respect,” Brixton told him. “I had another kid.”

“And now, maybe, I do too. I worry that’s clouding my judgment, not seeing all this clearly. I want it to be true too much.”

“What’s she like?”

Mac cast his gaze out the window, a tell Brixton knew indicated he was uncomfortable addressing the subject. The Warner Building’s location, detached from the cluster of government offices, iconic and otherwise, left it without much of a view to offer, but the building was a mere five-minute walk from the Federal Triangle Metro stop, which featured access to the Orange Line, the Silver Line, and the Blue Line, assuring easy access for the firm’s lawyers and its clients. Much of the world might have moved online for meetings, but initial client meetings went much better in person and, being old-fashioned, Mac always suggested coming in as opposed to logging on.

“Charming, charismatic, full of personality, and beautiful. In other words, you’re right, Robert. Nothing like me.”

Brixton made some more notes. “Beauty really is in the eye of the beholder, Mac.”

“The way everyone was looking at her in the Capital Grille, there must be a lot of beholders.”

“That’s where you met the first time?”

Mac nodded. “Her choice. Turns out it’s her favorite place to eat in the city, too.”

“Like father, like daughter.”

“I didn’t know restaurant choice was genetic.”

“Tell me more,” Brixton urged.

“Did I mention how bright she is?”

“‘Whip smart’ was the term you used,” Brixton said, without consulting his notes.

“Neuroscience and organic chemistry major at MIT, if you can believe it. That’s the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.”

“I think I heard that someplace.”

Mac smiled and shook his head. “I sound like a doting father, don’t I?”

Brixton nodded. “You do.”

“For a daughter I’ve known for all of a week.”

Brixton weighed his next words carefully. “Tell me about Alexandra’s mother.”

“Beverly Parks. New York socialite and head of the family’s magazine empire.”

“The name sounds familiar.”

“Beverly or Parks, Robert?”

“Parks, for sure.” Brixton hesitated. “And this was twenty-five years ago?”

Mac met his gaze. “The answer’s yes, Robert.”

“I didn’t ask a question.”

“You wanted to. Something like ‘It was an affair, wasn’t it?’”

“I would’ve been more tactful in my phrasing.”

“I was married at the time. My first wife and son were still alive. It was the worst mistake of my life—at least that’s the way I’ve always looked at it.”

“Until a week ago.”

“Do you blame me?”

“Not at all, Mac. We all have a right to be happy and fulfilled. I know that better than anyone.”

Mac nodded, smiling. “Speaking of which . . . Have I told you recently how wonderful it is to see you and Flo back together? Annabel and I feel like we have a social life again.”

Brixton smiled back. “Not that I’m much fun anymore.”

“You mean since you quit drinking.”

“It snuck up on me, Mac. Sometimes you don’t know how far you’ve fallen until you can’t look up and see the light anymore.”

Brixton had blamed his breakup with longtime girlfriend Flo Combes on the malaise that had overtaken him. He’d gotten too accustomed to doing business over dinner and drinks, until the two became virtually indistinguishable. But when the business dried up, the dinner, and especially the drinks, had remained. That had all changed a year ago, when Brixton had climbed back on the horse—almost literally, given that he had proposed to Flo outside her New York clothing boutique after clip-clopping up the street in a horse-drawn carriage. She had dropped down to the pavement, where Brixton knelt on bended knee, and hugged him tight.

“Can I take that as a yes?” he’d asked her.

She’d moved back to Washington. COVID had led Flo to close her New York boutique, leaving her clinging to the DC venue for dear life. Fortunately, Brixton had remained steadily employed through the pandemic, living in Arlington instead of the city proper, a location far friendlier to their finances. The truth was, Brixton had found himself happy to be able to provide for Flo while retail continued to struggle. It felt like redemption to him, a means to make amends after a breakup that had been entirely his fault.

“I know that feeling,” Mac said, shocking Brixton back to the present and the matter at hand. “I fell into a pit for a time after the accident.”

“That wasn’t your fault.”

“But I’ve never stopped replaying that night in my mind. What I could have done differently, what might have happened if I hadn’t been out of town. Maybe they’d still be alive.”

“Have you ever heard the word maybe used in a positive light?”

“Not off the top of my head.”

“What about in terms of whether Alexandra Parks is really your daughter? Have you confirmed all this with a DNA test?”

“I don’t have to. I know she’s my daughter.”

Brixton weighed not just his best friend’s words but also the veil of certainty through which he’d said them. “But you don’t know her, do you?”

“That’s why you’re here, Robert. There’s something I haven’t told you yet.”

Pre-order a copy of Margaret Truman’s Murder at the CDC —available February 15th, 2022!

eBook Deals / What's New

$2.99 January 2021 eBook Deals

January 16, 2021May 2, 2024admin1 Comment

If you need a good book (or two) to get you through the chilly start to the year, look no further! Check out the ebooks we have on sale throughout the month of January!

Crimson Lake by Candice Fox

How do you move on when the world won’t let you?

12:46: Claire Bingley stands alone at a bus stop
12:47: Ted Conkaffey parks his car beside her
12:52: The girl is missing . . .

Six minutes in the wrong place at the wrong time—that’s all it took to ruin Sydney detective Ted Conkaffey’s life. Accused but not convicted of a brutal abduction, Ted is now a free man—and public enemy number one. Maintaining his innocence, he flees north to keep a low profile amidst the steamy, croc-infested wetlands of Crimson Lake.

There, Ted’s lawyer introduces him to eccentric private investigator Amanda Pharrell, herself a convicted murderer. Not entirely convinced Amanda is a cold-blooded killer, Ted agrees to help with her investigation, a case full of deception and obsession, while secretly digging into her troubled past. The residents of Crimson Lake are watching the pair’s every move . . . and the town offers no place to hide.

Gathering Dark, the third book in the Crimson Lake series, is on sale March 16th! Catch up on the series by downloading the ebook of Crimson Lake now!

Strong from the Heart by Jon Land

Caitlin Strong wages her own personal war on drugs against the true power behind the illicit opioid trade in Strong from the Heart, the blistering and relentless 11th installment in Jon Land’s award-winning series.

The drug crisis hits home for fifth generation Texas Ranger Caitlin Strong when the son of her outlaw lover Cort Wesley Masters nearly dies from an opioid overdose. On top of that, she’s dealing with the inexplicable tragedy of a small Texas town where all the residents died in a single night.

When Caitlin realizes that these two pursuits are intrinsically connected, she finds herself following a trail that will take her to the truth behind the crisis that claimed 75,000 lives last year. Just in time, since the same force that has taken over the opiate trade has even more deadly intentions in mind, specifically the murder of tens of millions in pursuit of their even more nefarious goals.

The power base she’s up against—comprised of politicians and Big Pharma, along with corrupt doctors and drug distributors—has successfully beaten back all threats in the past. But they’ve never had to deal with the likes of Caitlin Strong before and have no idea what’s in store when the guns of Texas come calling.

At the root of the conspiracy lies a cabal nestled within the highest corridors of power that’s determined to destroy all threats posed to them. Caitlin and Cort Wesley may have finally met their match, finding themselves isolated and ostracized with nowhere to turn, even as they strive to remain strong from the heart.

Margaret Truman’s Deadly Medicine by Donald Bain

Donald Bain continues the beloved Capital Crimes series with Margaret Truman’s Deadly Medicine, a gripping tale of greed, betrayal—and murder.

If someone in the pharmaceutical industry came upon a cheaper, non-addictive, and more effective painkiller, would he kill for it?

Washington D.C. private detective Robert “Don’t call me Bobby” Brixton, along with his mentors, attorneys Mac and Annabel Smith, discover that the answer is a resounding “Yes,” as they try to help Jayla King, a medical researcher at a small D.C. pharmaceutical firm, carry on the work of her father. His experiments in the jungles of Papua New Guinea in search of such a breakthrough product led to his brutal murder and the theft of his papers.

Did Jayla’s father’s lab assistant kill the doctor and steal his research? Is this shadowy figure prepared to kill again to keep Jayla from profiting from her father’s work? Does her recent paramour’s romantic interest reflect his true feelings–or will he sell her out and reap the rewards for himself? And to what lengths would Big Pharma’s leading lobbyist go to cover up his involvement, and to protect a leading champion of the pharmaceutical industry–a Georgia senator with a shady past?

As Mac, Annabel, and Brixton soon realize, no pill can ease the pain that the answers to these questions inflict on everyone in this tale of greed, betrayal–and murder.

The 31st volume in the Margaret Truman’s Capital Crimes series, Murder on the Metro, is written by Jon Lan and is coming out on February 16th. Catch up on the series by downloading the ebook of Margaret Truman’s Deadly Medicine now!

These sales end 1/31/2021 at 11:59 pm.

Excerpts / What's New

Excerpt: Margaret Truman’s Murder on the Metro by Jon Land

January 8, 2021March 20, 2024admin1 Comment

In Margaret Truman’s Murder on the Metro, Jon Land’s first thrilling addition to the New York Times bestselling Capital Crimes series, Robert Brixton uncovers a sinister plot threatening millions of American lives!

Israel: A drone-based terrorist attack kills dozens on a sun-splashed beach in Caesarea.

Washington: America awakens to the shattering news that Vice President Stephanie Davenport has died of an apparent heart attack.

Margaret Truman’s Murder on the Metro will be available on February 16, 2021. Please enjoy the following excerpt!

PROLOGUE

CAESAREA, ISRAEL

I’m not scared, Nana.”

Lia Ganz held her three-year-old granddaughter, Meirav, in her arms in waist-deep water. “You’re not?”

“I want to go higher! Make me go higher!” “You’re sure?”

“I’m brave, Nana, just like you.” “All right, then.”

Lia tossed Meirav higher into the air and watched her splash down into the warm, crystal-clear waters off Caesarea’s Aqueduct Beach. The Israeli schools were currently on spring break, accounting for crowding more typical of the weekend on this weekday, beneath the midday sun amid a piercing blue Mediterranean sky. Never a fan of crowds, Lia cringed as more beachgoers packed in around them, and she resolved to take her leave as soon as this swim was complete, assuming she could coax her granddaughter from the water.

The beach had been named for the ancient structure that adorned the sand, forming a natural barrier between modern civilization and this ancient site. The seacoast grounds of Caesarea, halfway between Tel Aviv and Haifa had been proclaimed a national park. The site had been reconstructed over a long stretch of years to create one of Israel’s most attractive and fascinating archaeological locales, featuring an easy mix of the old and the new. The restored Caesarea amphitheater hosted modern-day concerts during the summer months, while the Old City featured a range of boutiques and restaurants. The new town of Caesarea itself, meanwhile, comprised luxurious neighborhoods, dominated by seaside villas, that claimed this beach as their own.

Lia watched her granddaughter bob below the surface and pop right back up, thanks to the arm floaties that her parents insisted she wear at all times if she was anywhere near the water. Lia found herself musing how handy those puffy blue things might have been when she was doing water training for the elite special ops Yamam team she’d joined after serving in the Israeli army as one of the most decorated female soldiers in the country’s storied history. For forty years, Yamam commandos had operated under a veil of total secrecy. Only recently had Israel even acknowledged the existence of the country’s most elite antiterrorism force, around the time the government had wanted to recognize her in a public ceremony after she had suffered wounds in a bold attack launched on a Hamas stronghold in Gaza. But she had declined, since it was all about being honored as a woman and not a soldier. And she didn’t believe in heroes anymore, because all of her heroes were dead.

“One more time, Nana,” Meirav pleaded, throwing herself back into Lia’s arms.

Reflexively, Lia’s gaze scanned the beachfront. Force of habit, she supposed, watching for anything in the scene that stood out, something different from the last time she’d checked. She couldn’t say exactly what she was looking for, only that she’d know it when she spotted it.

The Americans had an expression that went “If you see something, say something.” The phrase originated sometime after the infamous 9/11 attack, but seeing and saying had been part of the Israeli way of life for a half century prior to that. You learned to live defensively or, sometimes, you didn’t live at all.

Today, the unseasonably warm spring temperatures and tepid breezes had brought a flood of people to the golden sand, which was all but invisible beneath all manner of chairs, blankets, towels, and shade cast by the sprawl of beach umbrellas. Lia hated those for how they limited range of vision in the area they covered, either obscuring or obliterating her view. Still, she spotted no more of note on this scan than on the last one or the one before that. The lifeguard chairs were still manned by the same young men and women—one of Lia’s prime concerns, given that their height would make them formidable shooting platforms, from which any number of victims could be claimed by a decent marksman before some pistol-toting Israeli zeroed them in their sights.

“Nana?” Meirav said, pulling her grandmother’s hair. “I’m too tired, little one. My arms have nothing left.”

And yet, at forty-nine, she felt too young to be a grandmother and was in as good a shape as she’d been on her last day as a field operative with Yamam. After her wounds suffered in the Gaza raid ruled her out of future missions, they’d wanted to put her behind a desk. But Lia found coordinating missions from the group’s secretive headquarters in the Ayalon Valley between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem far less fulfilling than leading them, and the process left her with a helpless feeling. The Xs and Os, literal marks on a dry erase board or a chalkboard, represented operatives in harm’s way, who could die or be captured if the plan failed in any way. If she missed the slightest sign or signal, or neglected to consider some random factor, some of Israel’s best and brightest would pay with their lives. In the field, she missed nothing. Working behind a desk to dispatch others there in her place, though, left her fearing she’d missed everything. When her request to return to active duty was summarily denied, Lia announced her retirement to become a full-time grandmother.

“But you’re so strong, Nana,” Meirav said, snuggling up against Lia’s breast and letting her arm stray to the fleshy skin over her shoulder. “I found a hole.”

Lia felt her granddaughter’s tiny finger pushing and pressing. “It’s a scar.” “What’s a scar?”

“What’s left when a boo-boo heals.”

The little girl seemed to ponder that. “I have boo-boos, but I don’t have scars.”

“Only bad boo-boos leave them, little one.”

Lia felt Meirav press deeper into the scar. It felt like a tickle. “Was this a bad boo-boo, Nana?”

Lia hugged her granddaughter tighter, thinking of that final mission in Gaza. “From a bullet.”

Meirav cocked her head backward to meet her grandmother’s stare. “You were shot?”

“Yes.”

“Did it hurt?”

“It did.” Lia nodded.

“I found another,” Meirav said, pushing her finger into a depression of ridged, pocked skin above the shoulder blade.

“From the same bullet, little one. Where it came out.” “Eww,” Meirav uttered, making a face. “Did it hurt?” “I don’t remember.”

More poking and pushing. “Who did it?”

“I don’t know. It could have been any number of people.” “Did you hurt them back?”

“Maybe,” Lia said, honestly not knowing the answer. “I’m not sure.” She’d suffered the wound in that nighttime Gaza raid on a Hamas strong-

hold where a meeting of the terrorist group’s cadre had been convened. The mission had been ill-timed and hastily prepared, an overly aggressive move undertaken by a government desperate for a major victory against an indefatigable foe. Lia was second-in-command of the ten-person team. Only six made it out alive, and she’d dragged two of the bodies out herself, shot-up shoulder and all.

The democratic world and the West exulted in Israel’s many successes in such missions but seldom learned of failures like this. Going back to Entebbe, Mossad had been celebrated for its dramatic strikes and never criticized for those that ended the way that night had in Gaza. That raid had been undertaken by Sayeret Matkal. Yamam was founded shortly after, to undertake missions that required the quick-strike capabilities of rapid deployment. Its superbly trained forces were originally umbrellaed under the Israeli National Police, but of late they were left answerable to Mossad. Lia had struggled to return fire with her wounded arm, while with the other she dragged one of the downed men from the firefight. Another man fell when the squad was racing back to the extraction point, and she abandoned further fire to drag him along as well. By the time they reached the American stealth chopper, same type of Black Hawk the Navy SEALs had used in their raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound, both men were dead.

Her granddaughter scrunched her face up into a scowl. “They must have been bad people.”

“They were.”

“Somebody should punish them.”

Lia couldn’t help but smile. Though she was hardly a biblical scholar, she knew her daughter and son-in-law had named their first child after the daughter of King Saul, which seemed quite appropriate for a child who was a bundle of energy forever in motion, given that the word meirav also meant “to maximize.” Yet, in that moment, she also feared that her granddaughter would follow in her footsteps—too much of the Ganz blood pumping through her veins, which would leave her eventually wanting to spill that of Israel’s enemies.

She shelved that thought for the time being and positioned herself to toss her granddaughter into the air yet again. “I’m sure somebody did.”

That’s when she heard the buzzing sound, something like a lawn mower growing louder as it neared an open window, a soft engine sound that Lia first took for a small motorboat or Jet Ski, until a sweep of her gaze showed nothing of the sort anywhere about.

Then what . . .

Insects, Lia thought, when she first spotted the drones. They look like giant insects.

Each was about four feet across, flying in a triangular pattern. The next sound, the staccato burst of gunfire, was accompanied by flashbulb-like spurts of light springing from the barrel of whatever automatic weapons had been rigged to the low-flying murder machines. Lia watched the carnage unfold with her granddaughter clutched tight against her, the sounds of shots and screams reaching her a millisecond after the initial line of bodies fell, drenching the golden sand red. The effect was like watching dominoes fall, the drones closing on the last wave of beachgoers who were trying to flee. A few had the fortune or foresight to rush toward the sea. The rest, who charged off down the open sands toward the ancient aqueduct that had lent this beach its name, did not fare nearly as well.

Lia clutched her granddaughter to her tighter still, ignoring the child’s whimpers. The cries of pain and anguish from the beach pierced her eardrums like a thousand needles. A few armed Israelis bravely chased after the drones, their own pistol fire clacking away. One of the dreaded machines went down, then a second, while the third continued its deadly flight, stopping only when its ammunition was expended and it dropped from the sky with the others.

“You’re hurting me, Nana, you’re hurting me!”

Her granddaughter had felt more like a piece of Lia Ganz than a separate body. She eased her from her breast almost surgically.

“I’m scared, Nana! I’m scared!” Meirav sobbed, fat tears rolling down her cheeks to mix with the salty waters of the sea.

Lia hugged her tight again, both of them shaking, the warm water suddenly feeling like melted ice.

“So am I, little one,” Lia said, as soothingly as she could manage. “So am I.”

Pre-order Margaret Truman’s Murder on the Metro—available on February 16, 2021!

What's New

Mysteries & Thrillers We’re Looking Forward to in 2021

December 18, 2020May 6, 2024admin

When it’s cold outside, is there a better place to be than warm inside and deep in the pages of a thrilling book you can’t put down? From hot debuts to the return of some familiar favorites, Forge has got something for every mystery fan this season.

January 12th

Waiting for the Night Song by Julie Carrick Dalton

Julie Carrick Dalton’s searing debut novel is an exploration of female friendships, a love song to the natural world, and a harrowing portrait of what happens when long-buried secrets are unearthed.

January 26th

The Paradise Affair by Bill Pronzini

Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Bill Pronzini’s next Carpenter & Quincannon mystery is here! The Paradise Affair takes a favorite mystery-solving husband and wife team all the way to Honolulu for an unforgettable adventure.

February 9th

Comes the War by Ed Ruggero

Ed Ruggero’s blistering follow-up to Blame the Dead follows Lieutenant Eddie Harkins on another murder investigation set against the backdrop of World War 2. This time he’s on the case in Britain and finds himself tied up in a web of Soviet secrets.

February 16th

Margaret Truman’s Murder on the Metro by Jon Land

Jon Land’s first entry in Margaret Truman’s New York Times bestselling Capital Crimes series is a thrill-ride from beginning to end. When Robert Brixton uncovers a terrorist plot with unimaginable consequences, it’s a race against time to save the lives of millions.

March 2nd

Blood on the Table by Gerry Spence

New York Times bestselling author and trial attorney Gerry Spence’s newest thriller takes us to backcountry Wyoming where an 11-year-old boy takes the witness stand against a vicious prosecutor, corrupt police, and a prejudiced judge to keep his family safe.

The Eagle & The Viper by Loren D. Estleman

Multiple award-winning novelist Loren Estleman’s newest thriller is set in a world of terrorist training camps, international assassins, civilians in danger… and a threat against Napoleon. It’s Paris in 1800 and Estleman reveals just how close our world came to total war.

March 16th

Gathering Dark by Candice Fox

#1 New York Times bestselling author Candice Fox takes you from the gleaming mansions of Beverly Hills to the gritty streets of Compton in her newest standalone thriller. Four “bad girls” – a convicted killer, a gifted thief, a vicious ganglord and a disillusioned cop are a missing girl’s only hope.