Not an “April Fools” post…
The Klimt Connection, Book Eight in the “Esther Brookstone Art Detective” series, is now published. If not already available at all of Draft2Digital’s affiliated quality ebook retailers, it soon will be (I don’t include Amazon in that list, by the way). It will also be available at their affiliated lending services.
This is no “April Fools” post! You will be able to read about more of Esther’s unusual adventures. I had many distractions while writing this novel, though. First, let me offer you a summary:
After a bomb destroys their flat, Esther Brookstone, ex-MI6 spy and ex-Scotland Yard Inspector in the Art and Antiques Division, and Bastiann van Coevorden, her husband, ex-Interpol agent, and current MI5 consultant, are forced to stay in an MI5 safehouse along with others who are threatened by the bomber and his accomplices. The hunt for the domestic terrorists is UK- and EU-wide and leads to the discovery of a nationwide conspiracy, all financed by the far right and designed to purge the UK of perceived invaders, migrants and refugees who are accused of wanting to “replace” the white majority.
While writing this novel, I experienced several distractions:
Covid. Yeah, that pandemic has been going on a while; it looks like it will continue with new variants arising. It hasn’t affected either my reading or writing—I have a lot more free time to do both—but what it does do is continuously tick me off when so many morons refuse to be considerate of others by not masking and not vaccinating. Those morons just don’t understand democracy.
January 6 commission. A clearer picture is being developed to replace the blurry one, and that process is showing how vast and perfidious the attempt to overthrow democracy in America really was, both at the domestic and foreign levels. That process had solidified my hatred of fascists.
Putin’s evil war against Ukraine. If domestic terrorists in America solidified my hatred for fascists, Putin’s atrocities reminded me that the war against fascism is worldwide. We are all Ukrainians in that sense, battling on the various fronts of a world war democracy must wage against autocracy. Slava Ukrayna!
It’s probably obvious that all of these distractions were also motivations. The Klimt Connection is really about democracy’s war against fascism. Anti-vaxxing isn’t freedom of expression, it’s about morons following fascist conspiracy theories, people who are willing to murder their fellow human beings. The Oath Keepers and Proud Boys aren’t freedom fighters, they’re fascists out to destroy American democracy. And clearly the Ukrainian war is all about a fascist monster, Vladimir Putin, committing genocide against a freedom-loving, innocent population.
Is The Klimt Connection my most political novel? Maybe. It’s certainly a complex one because the war of democracy versus fascism is fought on so many fronts. If fascists can read (how well they’re educated is always doubtful!), they probably won’t like this new novel. Tough. I didn’t write it for them. I wrote it for all the rest of us who believe that democratic ideals and institutions are worth fighting for. Maybe it’s my War and Peace, albeit much shorter, but I thought that talking about that existential war in fiction was worth it. ‘Nough said.
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The Klimt Connection. Book Eight in the “Esther Brookstone Art Detective” series finds Esther and husband hustled to an MI5 safehouse after their flat in London is bombed. They cope, along with others who are threatened by the bomber and his accomplices, and the hunt for the domestic terrorists is UK- and EU-wide. It leads to the discovery of a nationwide conspiracy, all financed by the far right and designed to purge the UK of perceived invaders, migrants and refugees who are accused of wanting to “replace” the white majority. This novel is now available at all quality ebook retailers and lending services (but not on Amazon). You will enjoy Esther’s additional adventures.
Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!
