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NEITHER RED NOR BLUE INDEPENDENT COMMENTARY BY JEFFERSON FLANDERSMenu
* About the author: Jefferson Flanders* Terms of Use
AN INTERLUDE IN BERLIN March 21, 2018March 21, 2018 ~ Jefferson Flanders In January 1959, Dillon Randolph, a young Foreign Service officer, arrives at the U.S. Mission in Berlin hoping for a fresh start after a messy scandal at his last embassy posting. A Soviet ultimatum designed to force the Allies from the city and stop the flow of East Germans to the West has put Berliners on edge. When Dillon meets Christa Schiller, an actress from the famed Berliner Ensemble, their romance entangles him in a KGB plot designed to intensify the crisis. Dillon and Christa are plunged into the shadowy struggle between competing spy agencies where the innocent become bargaining chips in a game with life-and-death consequences. ------------------------- A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: I envisioned _An Interlude in Berlin_ as both a love story and athriller.
Over the past three years, I’ve spent some time in Berlin, learning as much as I could about the city and the very tense period in its history just before the Wall went up in 1961. Against this backdrop, I fashioned a novel about a romance between a young American diplomat and an East German actress. They are caught up in events beyond their control. I imagine things in visual terms (perhaps that’s why readers have told me they find my writing cinematic). When researching my books, I often turn to period photographs. What specific images sparked my imagination? The grayness of East Berlin, bombed-out buildings untouched even in 1959. In contrast, the lights of the shops and cafes and cinemas on the Ku’damm, a showcase for the West. The dueling May Day celebrations in East and West Berlin. (Then, many years later, the young people crowding onto the top of Berlin Wall in 1989, the word “Freedom” spray-painted below, reveling in the sudden collapse of a hated regime.) I hope I’ve captured some of the Cold War tensions in Berlin at decade’s end, staying true to historical reality while also telling a story that will keep readers turning the pages. Whether I’ve succeeded or not, is not for me to say… Paperback: http://amzn.to/2t9Ya7F Kindle: http://a.co/eaC81ur ------------------------- Copyright © 2018 Jefferson FlandersAll rights reserved
THE NORTHWEST COUNTRY September 5, 2016September 5, 2016 ~ Jefferson Flanders Northwest Territory, 1798. Merchant-trader Calvin Tarkington leaves behind his comfortable life in New York when he journeys to the frontier to assist an old friend who has fallen ill. Once across the Ohio River, he is drawn into the struggle between abolitionists and slaveholders. As a winter storm descends upon western Kentucky, Calvin and a group of fugitive slaves find themselves on the run, hunted by a band of ruthless slave catchers. The third installment in the Tarkingtons series, _The Northwest Country_ delves into the history of the emerging crisis over slavery in the early American Republic. Critics have praised the Tarkington novels for their mix of historical detail and compelling action, describing them as “brilliantly drawn,” and “riveting and spectacularly researched.” _To purchase:_ Amazon | Kindle Cover by Mick Wieland DesignMOONEY HARBOR
July 1, 2015July 13, 2015~
Jefferson Flanders
ABOUT THE STORY
June, 1957. Veteran New York newsman Dennis Collins is looking forward to a relaxing vacation with his family in Key West at the Highsmith Inn, his father-in-law’s hotel and restaurant. But Collins discovers that his wife Maria’s distant cousin, Rafael Espinosa, is in hiding at the Inn, after joining a failed coup attempt in Havana against Cuba’s dictator Fulgencio Batista. When Cuban secret police arrive in Key West hunting for Espinosa, Collins is caught up in a high-stakes game of hide-and-seek, one that leads to the isolated waters of Mooney Harbor. To purchase “Mooney Harbor: A Dennis Collins short story”: Kindle Cover by Mick Wieland Design. Image by Chris and Tanya Lattner © 2015THE BOSTON TRADER
March 1, 2015July 13, 2015 ~ Jefferson Flanders Neither Red Nor Blue remains on hiatus. Essays and reviews will appear on jeffersonflanders.com.THE BOSTON TRADER
ABOUT THE NOVEL
BestThrillers.com has praised the novel as: “A brilliantly drawn historical thriller set in 18th century China that delivers ample doses of action, danger and even romance.” Kirkus Reviews says: “A sequel that stands firmly on its own, brimming with political intrigue and historical drama.” IMPERIAL CHINA. When Calvin Tarkington arrives in Peking in the winter of 1795, he becomes the first American merchant to experience the sights and sounds of this exotic Imperial capitol: blue-jacketed Chinese, masked against the sweeping Northern winds, crowd outdoor markets filled with the riches of Asia; proud Manchu bannermen patrol the wide boulevards and narrow alleys; and behind the vermillion walls of the Forbidden City, mandarins, nobles, eunuchs, and concubines serve their aging Emperor, Ch’ien-lung, the Son of Heaven. Yet Calvin cannot enjoy this moment: he has been brought to Peking to face trial on trumped-up murder charges after witnessing the assassination of an Imperial investigator in the port of Canton, the sole city open to the foreign devil _taipans_, a killing that is somehow linked to the growing, but illicit, opium trade. Calvin must prove his innocence by unmasking the real killers and their connection to the corruption, misrule, and hidden treachery threatening the very stability of the Dragon Throne. He can rely only on a Manchu general and an elderly French Jesuit astronomer for help as he confronts the powerful dark forces intent on delivering him into the hands of the Imperial executioners. _The Boston Trader_ tells a compelling story of deception and desire, of love and betrayal, and of courage and conviction. It paints a memorable portrait of China at a turning point in its history, as the fate of the Celestial Empire hangs in the balance. Read an interview with the author.
_To purchase:_ Amazon | Kindle NEITHER RED NOR BLUE REMAINS ON HIATUS (2015) January 1, 2015July 13, 2015 ~ Jefferson Flanders NEITHER RED NOR BLUE IN 2015 Neither Red Nor Blue remains on hiatus. Essays and reviews will appear on jeffersonflanders.com. THE REPUBLIC OF VIRTUE December 18, 2014December 18, 2014 ~ Jefferson Flanders Neither Red Nor Blue remains on hiatus. Essays and reviews will appear on jeffersonflanders.com. _THE REPUBLIC OF VIRTUE_ABOUT THE NOVEL
REVOLUTIONARY FRANCE, 1793. When Calvin Tarkington, a young Boston merchant-trader, arrives in Paris on July 4th, he finds a city in turmoil, riven by quarrels between revolutionary factions and threatened by advancing Coalition armies. Calvin’s brother Alexander, the family firm’s representative in France, has disappeared, suspected by a powerful Jacobin official of spying forthe British.
As Calvin seeks to clear his brother’s name, his quest for the truth takes him from elegant townhouses to squalid gambling dens to the secret chambers of the Masonic Lodge of the Seven Sisters. Drawn into a shadowy world of intrigue and betrayal, Calvin becomes the hunted as France lurches toward the Reign of Terror. Rich in historical detail and suspense, _The Republic of Virtue_ tells a compelling story of love, courage, and loyalty set in a dangerous place at a dangerous time—the darkest days of the French Revolution.ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jefferson Flanders has been a sportswriter, columnist, editor, and publishing executive. He is the author of the critically-acclaimed First Trumpet trilogy (_Herald Square_, _The North Building_ and _The Hill of Three Borders_) and of two short story collections. Read an interview with the author . _To purchase:_ Amazon | Kindle|
------------------------- Copyright © 2014 Jefferson FlandersAll rights reserved
THE HILL OF THREE BORDERS July 29, 2014July 29, 2014 ~ Jefferson Flanders Neither Red Nor Blue remains on hiatus. Essays and reviews will appear on jeffersonflanders.com. THE HILL OF THREE BORDERS The Hill of Three Borders, the concluding novel in the First Trumpet trilogy, is now available!ABOUT THE NOVEL
BUDAPEST, OCTOBER 1956. Disillusioned by life behind the Iron Curtain, Morris Rose, a State Department official who defected to the Eastern Bloc in 1949, approaches the CIA and offers vital intelligence about Soviet spy networks in exchange for his return to the United States. Wary of being double-crossed, Rose insists on the involvement of his childhood friend, Dennis Collins, a veteran New York newsman, in his extraction from Hungary. Collins reluctantly agrees to help, but once in Budapest he discovers that the KGB is hunting Rose, and that the mission may have been compromised by a CIA mole. When Hungarians unexpectedly rise in revolt, and Red Army tanks encircle the city, Collins must engineer a breakout before it’s too late. _The Hill of Three Borders_ skillfully recreates the heady atmosphere of the Hungarian uprising, when the world watched in wonder as the rebels of Budapest sought to bend the arc of history against long odds. This concluding novel in the First Trumpet trilogy tells a haunting story of love, courage, and redemption set in the darkest days of the early Cold War.ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jefferson Flanders has been a sportswriter, columnist, editor, and publishing executive. He is the author of _Herald Square_ and _The North Building_, the first two novels in the First Trumpet trilogy, and of _Café Carolina and Other Stories_. _To purchase:_ Amazon | Kindle|
------------------------- Copyright © 2014 Jefferson FlandersAll rights reserved
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