Tragedy Time

Author Jeff Spevak was confronted with a dilemma: How do you tell the story of a man who can’t bring himself to talk about the most epic moment of his life? A clever fellow who’d scrapped to survive in a fashion that seems quaint today, Coleman tested himself as a teenager by swimming across lakes, building homes from foraged lumber, and running a navy carpentry shop as though he were a member of the scamming crew of McHale’s Navy. He was a self-taught sailor who’d become a legend on Lake Ontario. At age 96, Ernie was still sailing.

With his parents deceased and his older brother deserting his family, William Blay is struggling with insolvency. After selling his farm in New Norfolk, Van Diemen’s Land, William packs up his wife and three daughters and absconds to Port Phillip. But life in the new Colony is dogged by the same dramas that hounded William in Van Diemen’s Land. A new start is not easy as it first seemed. Forced to deal with the First World War and the Great Depression, they fight to make ends meet.

In spite of remarkable differences, Eric and Tommy are as close as brothers. Eric, a Nordic Adonis, is graced by a seemingly endless supply of good fortune. Tommy is a lame black boy, cursed with health problems, yet he remains optimistic and strong.After tragedy rips their makeshift family...

Archaeology student Chione has vivid dreams about the discovery of an opulent tomb. After the founder of the Institute of Archaeology learns that Chione’s dreams might be connected to events in Egypt, he accepts an offer to examine a mysterious site in the Valley of the Queens. When they discover a burial chamber, ancient spells transport Chione and her ex-boyfriend, archaeologist Aaron Ashby, 3,500 years into the past. There, they learn of Tutankhamon and Tauret, a priestess in Pharaoh's Court.