Grant Me Timely GracePRAISE OF GRANT ME TIMELY GRACE: “It is late June, 1863 and the Army of Northern Virginia is north of the Potomac River with elements well into Pennsylvania. Jeb Stuart’s Confederate cavalry is close to the Western approaches of Washington, D.C. but what is their intent? An attack on the city? Needless to say, The Union leadership and their advisers are shaken and desperately searching for ways to counter the threat, or are they?
Grant Me Timely Grace, by Tim Woods, weaves an intricate story of deep cover spies, disgraced military men, diplomatic intrigue and lovely Southern belles into a riveting fictional account of Washington before the Battle of Gettysburg. The novel revolves around Gerard Chantier, an immensely wealthy expatriate widowed Louisianan who has become the confident of the high Union leadership, his beautiful and brilliant daughter Therese, and Gerard’s longtime friend and assistant, James Bayeaux, whom Gerard had freed from being a family slave upon inheriting his wealth. Add in a disgraced Union officer searching for redemption, a lethal female Southern sympathizer and a suave British intelligence operative and you have quite a story.
Author Woods has a good command of the Civil War era and moves deftly between actual and fictional events. He speaks of the intricate defense system of Washington, which play a role in his narrative. The byzantine politics of both the Northern and Southern governments are also well related. A refreshing addition to Civil War fiction is the plot line involving diplomacy and intrigue with the British Empire, a most fascinating what-if. Grant Me Timely Grace … is highly recommended for those who enjoy historical fiction, especially fiction related to the Gettysburg Campaign.’
—-Ken Williams – TOCWOC – A Civil War Blog
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Beth’s Book
Beth Shepherd is a 49 y/o, twice divorced, mid-list crime writer who’s life is unraveling. She’s over budget, past deadline, and chafing under the knowledge that the son she raised as a single- mother is re-uniting with his dead-beat father.
As Beth’s psychic paralysis tightens its grip, her fictional, NYPD homicide detective, Katie Shields, delves deep into her creator’s psyche and solves her first real-life case: the crimes of her author.
Tim is a life-long lover of literature and history.
Married 27 years to Joyce Michaelson. Father of two children: Benjamin and Lauren.
Current Reading: Elliot’s Four Quartets; Winterson’s Art and Lies; Woolf’s The Waves; Chodron’s When Things Fall Apart; and Maugham’s Of Human Bondage. I’m always reading books related to the Civil War. Currently reading various Civil War blogs.
Early literary influences: Thomas Hardy; The Bronte Sisters; Fyodor Dostoyevsky; Leo Tolstoy; John Fowles; William Faulkner; Raymond Chandler; Kurt Vonnegut; Virginia Woolf; Anton Chekov; Bruce Catton; James McPherson; and Shelby Foote.
In Grant Me Timely Grace –the title is taken from an Edmund Spencer sonnet dealing with the weariness of war–I set a Civil Wr story in Washington, D.C.. This area of interest posed the question: what hasn’t been written about already regarding the American Civil War? Answer: not much.
The Civil War is its own industry. There are 400 titles published annually on the topic. I came up with this: An under-appreciated aspect of the War are the international dimensions that were at play. France and England both wanted to see the U.S. cut in two, making us less of a threat to their imperial aims. I integrate many of the conflicting international interests in my novel, within characters and subplots.
In Beth’s Book, Nora Roberts meets Alfred Hitchcock.
Beth Shepherd is a 49 y/o, twice divorced, mid-list crime writer whose life is unraveling.
She ‘s past deadline, over-budget, her 21 y/o gay son is reuniting with his deadbeat father, and her long-time agent is dying of cancer.
Beth is paralyzed and her fictional NYPD homicide detective, Katie Shields, has turned on her author; and in a progression of dissociative states, solves the biggest case of her career: the crimes of her author.
I’m a psychotherapist of 37 years.
In Never Trust A Hero the reader meets two burned-out CIA agents whose espionage work has left both disgusted with what they’ve done in the name of pariotism. One of them, Thaddeus Polankski, AKA,Tadpole, now is living underground in the belly of Los Angeles. He suffers from priapism from a war injury sustained in Afghanistan and dick jokes run throughout the narrative. Tadpole is being chased by Nick Farrady, an active duty CIA agent who’s come to question all the killing he’s done in the name of his country, is spiritually dead and caught between two opposing forces: doing his duty–to assainate Tadpole–and being mentored back in the human race by the man he’s trying to kill.
Washington, D.C., June 1863. It is the week before Gettysburg, and the nation’s fate hangs in the balance.
A Union officer was not court-martialed after disobeying a direct order during battle. Why?
Major Russell Johns is being played by puppet-master, Gerard Chantier. Transplanted New Orleans businessman and toast of the town. Chantier hosts the city’s most lavish entertainments attended by members of Lincoln’s cabinet and Washington’s elite.
Little do they know Gerard is coordinating an attack with Confederate general JEB Stuart’s cavalry to take over the city, kidnap Lincoln and bring victory to the South.
When Russell’s probing brings him in contact with Chantier’s daughter, Thérèse, he has to face his most difficult moral choice: manipulating her to get to her father or honoring the one thing that has sustained him through years of battle and loss—his own integrity.
In Beth’s Book Nora Roberts meets Alfred Hitchcock.
Beth Shepherd is a mid-list crime writer, past deadline, over budget and her 20 y/o gay son is re-uniting with his dead-beat father .
Her life if unraveling and her ficitonal detective, Katie Shields, turns on her creator and solves the biggest case of her career: the crimes of her author.
Never Trust a HeroPut two CIA agents in conflict, one of whom suffers from Priapism, and the other needs saving–from his government and himself, and you’re ready for a joyride through the underbelly of L.A. This book takes a satirical look through the eyes of two differently burned-out agents, challenges everything you know about what constitutes America’s Foreign Policy interests and is a affirmation of true patriotism and friendship. Not for those of delicate ears.
All couples fight but expect them to end once one spouse has died. Tom, a mathematics professor has one last fight he must have with his wife, Tabita, It takes place in the city morgue when she returns to life to get closure with her husband. Tabitha died of a heart attack she knew was coming on and did nothing to help herself. She chose death as a way to leave a bad marriage. This play, set in a morgue, is this couple’s last chance at a meaningful reconcilation. Will they succeed?
Combats Vets return to uncertain realities they must face that none of their military training has prepared them for. In ‘Always Faithful’
we see how three Ex-Marines are coping with civilian life. No veteran excapes emotonal abuse, nor does it necessarily end with the cessation of tours of duty. All too often, the abuse is worse when they return home.
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