Stories

This is the third and final part of the Confounded Trilogy, portraying a May - December story with familiar characters.

You would be wise to (re)read the previous parts of this trilogy, to get reacquainted with the characters; some you will know, some are new. Some references will hark back to previous writings, and will make more sense. This story is told from perspectives, so called Points of View (POV).

Book Two of The Last Statue follows on from Heart of Black Ice Bay and traces the lives of five new characters across roughly similar timelines.

• Marica is almost duped by a night caller accelerating her future plan to escape the palace;
• Jasmar's instincts tells him to accompany Marica’s siblings on their escape to Loq;
• Tad, a menial in Aulderly, stumbles upon the missing Lore of Invocation;
• Brokerman has to help deal with an emerald explosion that rips through the grounds of the Aulderly;
• Duke Ervine holds together a fragmented empire while a new ruler is being agreed upon.

Many men enjoyed the life and freedom of being a cowboy, but it wasn't an easy one in The Old West. The aches were many, but it was the loneliness that could wear a man down. Jubal was one of those who dreamed as he moved and protected cattle, and the day finally came he had enough money to buy his own piece of land. Fate, though, dealt him a terrible hand once again, taking everything from him and leaving him lost and alone. Was Lucas his savior, or just more trouble for a man who'd learned to trust no one?

Corbin Crowley didn't intend to fall in love during his junior year at Old Dominion University. But he did... and this is what happened.

Gabriel Redbrick mourns the loss of his companion, Dr Albert Callico, who died in a minibus accident on his way to a medical conference.

Following a meeting with Albert's solicitor, Gabriel discovers he has inherited a derelict property in rural Italy. He also stumbles upon a secret message left to him by Albert.

The message leads Gabriel to the Italian site where he meets a groundsman, Lorenzo Morelli. The unravelling also suggests that Gabriel’s is in danger while offering a clue to unlocking his past.

Denys, a journalist, drifts through his days sad and desperately alone. By a stroke of unexpected chance, a runaway appears in his life. However, teenage Theo carries a lot of anger in him, and his feelings of loss are just as palpable as Denys’.

Yet, perhaps – somehow – man and boy can help fix what's broken in the other. That is, if they're able to survive what the Russians have planned for their city.

An itinerant photographer stops by the one town he’s avoided for the last twenty years. What is it he hopes to encounter there? What is this ‘one last thing’ he feels he has to do?

Fellow students of Brathay Stonearm consider him pleasant and harmless. Nobody guesses at his single-minded determination to become the best buildings expert of his generation.

Until Counsellor Brokerman offers him a challenge he feels compelled to accept.

Lord Leonmarkh, youngest of the DuMankin siblings, has a reputation as something of a spoiled wastrel and has been shipped off to Black Ice Bay to assume the role of Watchman of the North. Brathay is tasked with assessing the ancient keep and advising Leonmarkh on how to survive the long winter months.

If only the man would grant him an audience.

Boone and Coy have built a damn good life in Larkspur, and feel on top of the world at being able to share such blessings with each other. The Old West has its challenges for men made like them, but everything is falling into place on their little piece of the frontier... until an unexpected visitor shows up out of the blue. Suddenly, their world is turned upside down as they struggle to help the troubled man.

Aged 10, Albert and his younger sister Florence went to live in the old house at Coldbrook with their parents. What happened there would change all of their lives.