Aquila et Noctua a historical novel - New Release

By P. J. Mann

There is a new release on Mann's house, and that doesn't just mean that I have written a new novel, but I have also experimented something new, a historical fiction.

Aquila et Noctua (The Eagle and the Owl) comes from a story I wrote many years ago and brings me back to one of my loves in life: History, and particularly the history of Ancient Rome. 

The story tells about a young slave, Saul, coming from Jerusalem, and the complicated relationship he will develop with his masters and with the other slaves, who will become a sort of surrogate family; the one he lost once he was enslaved.

Once again, like in my debut novel "A Tale of a Rough Diamond," we have the themes of envy, jealousy, conflictual relationships within the family, and wisdom.

Wisdom is depicted in this case like the Noctua (Owl), and like in nature happens, the owl is going to bring wisdom, with sudden chaos.

The Aquila, (Eagle) represents the Roman Empire and the family who will purchase Saul. 

There is going to be a Release party on my Facebook page: 

https://www.facebook.com/events/2225782511045126/

It is scheduled for Sunday 1.9  at 10:00 AM EDT and there will be other authors to help me celebrate the release. If you have more questions about this new release this is the right time to have them answered.

EXCERPT:

​The sun shone brightly in the sky on that late summer day. The successful campaign in the territories of Palestine brought new glory to the Empire and filled every corner of the city with celebrations.
The massive military action, planned by Emperor Hadrian, had brought about the final defeat of the rebellious Jews in the third Jewish revolt.
Jerusalem was renamed Aelia Capitolina in honor of the victorious emperor and as an ultimate humiliation to the rebels. The prisoners were sent all over the Empire to be sold as slaves while the Roman generals and commanders were decorated in the public square of the Forum.
It was a joyful period throughout all of Rome, and it should have been no exception for Marcus Tiberius Numida. However, something weighed heavily on his mind and alienated his soul from the revelry.
He wandered through the streets of Rome, not paying attention to where he was going until he found himself in the slave market in the Forum.
Several specimens of males and females, crammed into cages, peered from between the bars, waiting to be yanked out and pushed to line up behind the merchant. Their eyes revealed fear and confusion
Each merchant touted the good properties of each slave they were selling, wildly gesticulating to underline their words to attract customers, as crowds of curious people and potential buyers gathered around.
The sobs of the waiting slaves and the clang of their chains against the bars, combined with the din of the curious onlookers and the raucous voices of the merchants. The stench of bodily fluids melded with the scent of food that was sold in the square.

To pre-order the novel, please follow this link:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07VXB2QFR

Author link: https://pjmann2016.wixsite.com/pjmann

Other books: https://pjmann2016.wixsite.com/pjmann/books

I hope I have attracted your attention and see you soon at the release party!

Stay tuned!

A travel that wasn't meant to be.

I  am a traveler, and generally, I am going to plan my trips very carefully.
This is because the places I visit are everything but easy.
They are either in conflict areas in Africa or other not tourist
My thirst for knowledge is the driving force that attracts me to those places, and I want to know all the aspects of different cultures in the first person.
I love to ask people that have been living a particular conflict, a critical political period, or other interesting events.
Nevertheless, this time, the situation seems to slip from our hands.
The journey I am going to undertake together with my husband will bring us on the road between Lagos, Nigeria and Accra, Ghana. We will be driving through Benin and Togo stopping for a few days in each country.

The problem was (and still is) obtaining the Visa for Nigeria.
We made the first application for a multiple-entry visa, but we received only a single entry one (for the unrefunded price of the multiple-entry. Oh well, T.I.A. This Is Africa).
Finland doesn't have a Nigerian embassy, so everything was handled by the one located in Sweden. When we explained on the phone that we also needed a re-entry visa, they told us that we could obtain it better at the Nigerian embassy in Ghana.
"You have nothing to worry about," were their final words.
I wish I didn't listen to them.
We waited, and a couple of weeks ago, we contacted the Nigerian embassy in Ghana, explaining our situation and asking to fix already an appointment to get the visa.
Surprise! their answer: "we do not release visas for people who are not Ghanan residents."
PANIC!

Now, we have sent back our passports to the Nigerian Embassy in Sweden, with the request for another visa. We are keeping our finger crossed to have our passports back before the 2nd of August.
If not, we will have two choices:
1) we give up our journey
2) we go to Sweden and get our passports back even without the re-entry visa, and we travel anyway trying to figure out a way to return to Helsinki.
Of course, you can imagine that for us there is no option. We are leaving at any cost.

Besides, this journey is essential for the next paranormal thriller, I am going to write, so  I will never give up a trip. Moreover, I start really to feel a sort of Africa blues, and I need to come back there.
Keep your finger crossed and let's hope for the best!
Hope to see you again...

Travel and writing: a tight bond in the Trilogy Deadly Deception

By P. J. Mann

The trilogy Deadly Deception that has been finally released as a whole is set mainly in Boston and Tbilisi, with some short stops in Africa described in the first book of the series.

In my life, writing and traveling are very closely connected together. 

Traveling is meant for me as a journey to my inner growth, besides seeing something new, and my destinations are not always those, someone who is thinking about a holiday would consider. Many of them have been in conflict areas where we needed the support of some people we knew who were working at the UN missions.

Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, has been chosen because I really liked the attitude of the country from its detachment from the Soviet Union, which happened in 1990.

I have traveled in Tbilisi during the spring period, and I believe I should have done it in summer to appreciate all the beauty of the place. 

Here are some pictures from the places that inspired me the most in Georgia:

Something I wanted to bring out from this trilogy was the cultural difference, the beauty of the landscape and cityscape, the flavors, the colors, and the language.

The contrast between the two places, Boston and Tbilisi, was something worth highlighting, and here are some pictures from Boston:

The Georgian characters are brought to life by the observations I have made and the people I have met during my stay in Tbilisi. 

In the same way, also the Boston characters come from direct experiences of people I have met during my journey in Boston.

Now I understand that we cannot generalize, and people are different even within the same country. Nevertheless, there are always those cultural heritage backgrounds common to general behavior.

Due to my lack of clue on how to properly market my writing, I have received very few reviews. However, I am glad to see that they are all positive, which compensates from low sales.

I hope you found this peeking behind the scenes interesting.

Here is the general link for the whole series:
Deadly Deception-The trilogy 

Deadly Deception -The Devil's Deal-

By P. J. Mann

With this book, we arrive at the end of the trilogy, where we are going to meet some new friends and as well some old friends. As the investigation in Tbilisi, reached a sudden and unjustified stop, Lieutenant Avaliani and detective Sheen, will start to collect all the pieces of the puzzle scattered in front of their eyes.
The murder of the prostitute in Tbilisi (Book I) finally, finds its connection with the mysterious disappearances, and everything seems to gravitate around the figure of Dr. Wright. For this reason, all the former patients will be brought back to reconstruct the facts to get a clear idea of the dynamics of the events. Yet, they soon will realize that the murder and disappearance are just the tip of the iceberg in a case that becomes more and more complicated.
Blurb:
Julius feels like he’s losing the grip with his life; grappling with low esteem, overwhelming nicotine addiction, and a complicated relationship with an overbearing father.
As he finds himself in the studio of the eminent psychiatrist Dr. Wright, Julius is proposed to leave for a two weeks’ experimental therapy to get rid of his addiction.
At the same time, Detective Bochorishvili of Tbilisi Police Department and his cousin Lieutenant Avaliani of the Bureau of the Investigative Services in Boston start to reconsider an old case involving a patient of Dr. Wright, and the web of shadows spreads from the Georgian capital to Boston and begins to whirl in a vortex around the figure of Dr. Wright.
Suspicions rise and fall, spies lurk in the darkness, and mysteries call out to be solved before more individuals meet their fate at the ambitious hands of evil.
Closing the trilogy The Devil’s Deal will bring to light a question; will justice triumph, or will it be another Deadly Deception?

Excerpt:

It was late evening on Christmas Eve; Gabriel was alone drinking a whiskey in his usual pub. He wasn’t out for fun; he was there for business.

Dirty business, he thought with a smirk on his face as he sipped his whiskey. He looked around the semi-empty pub, which generally at that time of the evening would have been full of people.

But Christmas was different than the other holidays, and many people preferred to spend the evening at home with the whole family gathered together at the dinner table.

Christmas never really meant anything to him, just another day where people who do not have a companion either keep themselves busy with their job, stick with the family or consider suicide, he thought.

He was also going to spend that day alone, but rather than thinking about suicide or spending time with the family, he preferred to keep busy with his business, whatever it meant, and on that particular cold, foggy night, his business was finding a victim for Dr. Wright’s research.

He sipped the last of his whiskey and stood up from the chair, grabbing his leather coat ready to start his job.

With a sigh and not a steady thought in his mind, he started up the engine of his car and, slowly he started to drive towards Lyndhurst Street, at the corner with Washington Street, where at night, would have been populated with drug dealers and prostitutes.

“The Hell Zone,” he grinned as he slowed down his ride looking for the right target when he finally spotted her. “Believe me, baby, maybe it is better this way. Life is only sorrow, and for people like you it might be more humane to die soon,” he whispered as he pulled over and rolled down the window.

Links to the book:
ebook on Amazon.com : https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07SKJQ4LH

paperback on Amazon.com : https://www.amazon.com/Deadly-Deception-P-J-Mann/dp/9526915941

Links to the complete trilogy:

Amazon.com : https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07M6T64MF

Follow the author:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paperpenandinkwell 

Website: https://pjmann2016.wixsite.com/pjmann

amazon author page: www.amazon.com/author/pjmann

Book Bub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/p-j-mann

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16064775.P_J_Mann

Blog: www.paperpenandinkwell.blogspot.com