Published: The Secret Empire

A fast-moving gripping tale of romance and adventure in the Steam Punk Empire of Atlantea.

Reviews: "Excellent. A real page-turner and very interesting historical/fantasy perspective. Really enjoyed it and highly recommended." Denise Dalziel on Smashwords.

“Thoroughly enjoyable” Colleen Pearson.

Buy TSE on Smashwords in every format incl Kindle

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The Secret Empire - why is it secret? - Yes the people of Atlantis have good reasons to defend their archipelago from any and all foreigners.
A mysterious and scientifically advanced society lives a sequestered and pampered life in the brutal bronze age on a hidden archipelago of islands in the central Mediterranean Sea. 
Atlantea is a xenophobic Steam Punk empire, where science rules and steam and electricity are in ascendance. Their navy are equipped with steamships and cannon, charged to protect the technology and racial purity of their empire with homicidal ferocity.
Klaus Meinbach is one of their proudest scions, captain of the battleship Hieglund and the most eligible bachelor of the fabled city of Atlantis.
A late summer storm brings the Hieglund to a foundering Greek merchant ship and the surviving crew are taken prisoner. 
Among them is Helena of Delphi, a proud and beautiful young priestess of Apollo. She is horrified to discover they are to be enslaved or murdered by these uniformed men unless she can persuade the handsome stern captain of the ship to spare her and her crew.
When Captain Meinbach discovers that the bewitching captive foreigner may be of Atlantean blood his mind is made up. He will request the Atlantean genetic purity courts grant his petition to grant Helena citizenship.
Klaus and Helena share danger and adventures on land and at sea as they fight to save Helena's life. 

Klaus is forced to make a terrible choice between duty to his country and love for his woman in the courts of Atlantis. Which will he choose?

Reviews:-   “Oh.... I so love your new book. Started reading this afternoon and almost swore when a friend interrupted me. As soon as he was gone, I was back reading and didn't stop till finished. Haven't eaten tea yet. (9.30pm) Enjoyable reading. Loved the descriptiveness of everything. Gave my imagination clear views of the ship, characters, mountains etc, and I'm sure I've met the male judge before. Laughed out loud when the scheming mother was thinking of the hero, while screwing him. Your knowledge of sailing really enhanced the story for me, as well. I really enjoyed reading it. So thanks again.” Review by Jeanette Currie.

Contains mild sexual references, no cursing and little bloodshed.
Available soon as a print book from Createspace.com

Map of Atlantis 1

Now published - The Secret Empire - Atlantea Discovered is now available from this link:- The Secret Empire in all formats.

Below is a draft of Christine's hand-drawn map of the main island of Atlantea, showing the Port of Atlantis and the industrial city of Reinhart.

Please comment on the map - do you like it? Is a map the kind of thing you would like to have with your ebook on your Kobo or Kindle or iPad?

A second map of the whole archipelago of Atlantea is being drawn now. Of course it includes some active volcanos and many islands.

AJ Burton and Christine are also working on book two: Escape from Atlantis -the adventures of Klaus Meinbach and Helena of Delphi as they try to elude their enemies from Atlantis.

Seeking Angel - thriller and murder mystery by AJ

Seeking Angel - buy with a click

• Detective Bull Protettore seeks Angel, missing; believed to be in the company of a secretive bi-sexual Dominatrix.
• Discover how she is the clue which leads Bull and his partner Tommy to the serial killer who is terrorizing NYC.
• Bull and Tommy are in a race against time to unravel the twisted ropes of the truth to exact justice and revenge.

  

'I truly enjoyed reading this book mainly because the characters weren't perfect. They all had their own little quirks and issues that made them seem so real. It actually felt like they could walk off the page and shake your hand. I would definitely recommend this book to my friends.' Amazon 5* Review

'I started to read, figuring that I'd read for about half an hour and found that I couldn't put this book down. The words come alive on the page.' Amazon 5* Review

'This was a great read! It proceeded at a good clip, had a twisty plot and an interesting cast of characters.'Amazon 5* Review

Hello everyone, above the new blurb and Front and Back covers for Seeking Angel, formerly Demon's Coven. 

Thank you so much to everyone who gave feedback on the former cover, we have listened to you and this is the result.

Thanks also to Nils Danemann, our new cover designer - who has made us this awesome new cover - featuring Angel, the Spike and looking most mysterious and interesting.

Read Seeking Angel and you will enjoy a well paced read, a devious plot with lots of characters all woven together in a masterful way. Best of all your heart will be pounding and your mouth laughing at some of the antics that A J's characters get up to. 

Excellent summer reading for your e reader on the beach - and a winter awaken-er for the southern hemisphere. 

Chapter three... next they.... Atlantea Soulmates Secret Empire

See Posts Below for Chapters 1 & 2 of our SteamPunk Adventure Romance Atlantea Soulmates

Chapter Three

It was dawn on the second day of the storm. There was a brief lull in the weather but rain clouds could be seen approaching from the stern. Helena, priestess of Apollo, stood holding on to a rail in the shelter of the high poop deck. Her ship had been driven far off course. She had made prayers to Poseidon promising a sacrifice of a goat from the sacred temple herd. Her prayers and promises seemed all in vain, but somehow the battered ship survived the night.

The exhausted, hungry and thirsty crew were repairing the sail and trying to make the ship seaworthy again. The ship was holding her own but could not take much more punishment. Helena heard the captain bellowing orders, trying to attend to several matters at once.

No one noticed a huge grey and brown Leviathan surface under the ship. With a mighty thrust the creature’s huge head pounded devastatingly into the hull below the waterline. The ship rolled suddenly to the port side; wood splintered. The crew fell and slid across the deck towards the foaming cold sea. Barrels of wine and water broke loose with the blow, rolling across the deck, crushing limbs and creating havoc.

The Leviathan turned away from the stricken vessel and dived. Gradually the ship righted herself. Water was pouring into the hull from some of the boards which had been sprung by the impact. The crewmen dropped to their knees praying to Poseidon to call off his creature of the deep. Helena raised her arms in supplication, promising chariots of gold to the sea God; her prayers desperate to assuage the rage of Poseidon’s minion. Suddenly the monster's mighty tail lifted swiftly high out of the water and smashed down on the deck of the ship. The sounds of smashing timbers and cries of agony rent the air.

The ship began to list as her hold began to take in much water. They were doomed now. Men were throwing themselves into the sea resigned to their fate. Then, as if ordered by some higher power, the huge sea creature turned away from the wreckage it had created; a mighty plume of air blew from the top of it's head then it dived into the deep.

Helena’s thoughts turned to the Lord of the Underworld, Hades and the calm voyage across the river Styx which would soon be their next voyage. An incredible apparition appeared on the horizon. It was a ship like no one had ever seen before. Instead of a mast, the ship seemed to have a tall chimney which, like a kiln, belched a black fume into the wild airs of the storm. Her huge black hull was carving through the waves with disdain, as if the storm waves were nothing.

Was this the vessel that would take them all to the afterlife? Helena wondered. Is this craft Poseidon’s personal water chariot powered by magic? Now all she could do was die with dignity. Helena went into her cabin. Perhaps there was time for her to dress in her priestess robes so she could die as befitted her status as an honored Priestess of Apollo and devotee of dolphins.

***

“Ship off the starboard quarter.” yelled a signalman. Klaus spun the view scope to that portion of the ocean. There lay a brightly coloured Greek merchant ship listing badly, the mast smashed, laying across her deck. Her crew staring incredulously at the big steel ship that bore down on them with her smokestack belching black smoke. Klaus smiled grimly, no doubt these uitlanders are thinking my ship is a work of one of their ridiculous Gods, he thought.

The first mate ordered everyone to action stations on deck. Grappling hooks were thrown and the small ship was hauled alongside the battle cruiser.

***

As the wreck settled further down in the water, wallowing as waves washed over the decks, men were running on the decks of the black ship. The surviving crew watched as the great ship pulled abreast of them; grapples were thrown and the wreck was hauled roughly alongside. Two wide ramps were lowered, black uniformed men carrying long rods with sharp knives attached ran down onto the shattered deck.

"Put your hands on your heads, you Greek scum! Move up the ramp onto the ship!" yelled one of the uniformed men. The bewildered crew were herded roughly up the ramps into the black ship. One man who resisted was picked up bodily and thrown overboard. A loud boom startled them all. A rod held by one of raiders spat fire at a sailor, he screamed and fell bloodied and dying onto the deck.

Helena was on her knees praying for a safe passage into the afterlife, when she was disturbed by a pounding on the cabin door. The wooden door was no match for the force applied to it and it splintered, crashing to the floor. Black uniformed men swarmed into the cabin. When they saw Helena standing before them they halted their headlong rush. Her eyes blazed defiance. She stood tall, daring them to make the next move. Their leader shouted in a guttural form of Helena's own language. "You will come with us now!"

Two men forced her out of the cabin. They waded through the rising sea and flotsam on the shattered deck towards the ramps. Bruised and bedraggled Helena was the last to leave the stricken vessel. As she looked up at the black ship she saw the word Hieglund emblazoned in red upon the hull in unusual violent letters. She walked forward with her head held high refusing to show any signs of the fear and terror that possessed her.

***

To Captain Meinbach’s amazement a blonde woman in white and gold robes appeared from the stern cabin, almost carried across the flooded deck of the wrecked merchantman by his marines. In a splash of sunlight which shone suddenly through the clouds her fresh white and gold robes glowed like another sun. Her long hair was a wild tumble of blonde curls down her back. He stared hard at her, then she was lost to view, herded into the hold.

She truly was a remarkable looking woman, thought Klaus. The kind of woman I have never seen the like of before. Something compassionate stirred in his soul and he stood at the rail wondering if he had seen her before. Was she an Atlantean noble woman captured by the Greeks? There was something about her...

Anything of value was appropriated from the merchant ship and then the stricken craft was cut loose. Captain Meinbach watched expressionlessly as the wreckage promptly sank, saving his gunners the job of sinking it. To stray into Atlantean waters had sealed the merchantman's fate.

Now his crew would follow the prescribed procedure for interrogation and disposal of the captives from the stricken ship. He felt little knowing that the badly injured uitlanders would be disposed of in the ship’s furnace after being interrogated. He knew that all other human-like beings were merely ciphers; sub-human lookalikes to beguile the people of Atlantea. Those young and strong enough would be kept as slaves. Their eventual fate was to serve the Empire working in the coal mines on the island of Erebos.

Atlantean humans were above the mainland scum. They were genetically advanced and pure. Their fair skin, blue eyes and dark hair set them apart from the swarthy skins of other, lesser, humans. Like all the Greeks, Phoenicians and Persians.

The Empire possessed the supreme inventions of steam and industry, including the recently discovered wonder of electricity which lit the great city of Atlantis. Captured slaves would never be permitted to return to their homelands to spread word of the great power and technology they had experienced.

Klaus decided to go and watch the interrogation for a while. It did not amuse him to see the uitlanders tortured but it was his duty. To hear their cries and prayers as the political officers pitilessly extracted information had never sat well with him. But an Atlantean naval captain was required to be present at such things. Everything which occurred on his ship was his responsibility.

Synopsis

Atlantea Soulmates 1: The Secret Empire 

a Steam Punk Adventure Romance  

Synopsis       

Klaus Meinbach is the young captain of the steam powered warship, the Heiglund. He patrols the shores of the secretive empire of Atlantea, an empire in the Mediterranean that flourished during the bronze over 5000 years ago. His mission is to keep his Empires territorial waters free from prying eyes and trading ships blown off course.

               A Greek merchant ship transporting Helena a young priestess of Apollo to a royal wedding is caught in a violent storm and blown into the dangerous waters of the Empire. A strange set of circumstances throws these two unmatched people together. Helena is taken to the wondrous Steam Punk city of Atlantis her - fate in the hands of her handsome captor.

               Together they endure many hardships and tribulations encountering strange beasts, pirates and the legal arm of the Department of Genetic Purity, each adventure leads them both to their inevitable quest to escape from the greatest city in the world ATLANTIS!


For general reading - all ages and interests. PG13 rating!
Think: The Golden Compass; Tarzan of the Apes; Journey to the Centre of the Earth etc

To be published soon! 

By Christine Leov Lealand and A J Burton.
Click follow this blog by email so when publication day arrives you can be the first to buy a copy!