Check out the profile and work of the supremely taleneted historical author, Jim Wills.

Name:          Jim Wills

Book Titles:  A Few Men Faithful: A Kavanagh Story I (A)

Philly MC: A Kavanagh Story II (B)

Shooter in a Plague Year: A Kavanagh Story III (C)

A Hard Gemlike Flame: A Kavanagh Story IV (D)

Tools Are Made, Born Are Hands: Baking True Artisan Breads in a

Wood-Fired Oven (E)

Formats:       (A) Paperback, $14.95; ebook, $2.99

(B) Paperback, $19.95; ebook, $2.99

(C) Paperback, $19.95; ebook, $2.99

(D) Paperback, $19.95, ebook, $2.99

(E) Paperback, $29.95

Publication

Dates:           (A) 2009/revised 2012, (B)2010, (C) 2010, (D) 2012, (E) 2009

Genres:         (A-D) historical fiction, (E) cookbook

Blurbs:

(A) A Few Men Faithful is the first of four Kavanagh stories. It sets the stage, defines the Kavanagh family and tells of a troubled land and an equally troubled romance amid war and treachery. Time span: 1916 to 1924 in Dublin, County Cork and Northern Ireland. Major events: Easter Rising, Secret War, War of Independence, the Civil War. This last is little known and less explored, especially through the eyes of a soldier on the losing side.

The main character, Danny Kavanagh, escapes Dublin in 1916 only to become one of the Twelve Apostles, that squad of executioners Michael Collins used to shut the spying eyes in Dublin Castle. As a soldier he is haunted, nearly driven mad, by what he has done, what he cannot do, yet still hold onto that deathless dream of a united Ireland. He pays the price, finally, as an exile and IRA emissary in North America. Anyone interested in high-speed historical fiction will find A Few Men Faithful to their liking.

(B) Philly MC is the story of Jack Kavanagh, grandson of Danny Kavanagh of A Few Men Faithful, the first of the Kavanagh stories. Jack’s is a twisted, tortured life. He struggles with his Irish Republican heritage; whether to side with the IRA, even join them, or follow in his father’s footsteps and reject violence as a solutiion. This is the dark backdrop for the even darker streets of inner-city Philadelphia during the 1960s and 70s. Jack’s world is a motorcycle underground peopled by the eccentric, the criminal, the crooked cops and agents, the outlaw clubs, mobsters, hookers, junkies and crazies that almost lead to his death by stabbing during the Mummers’ Parade on Broad Street.

He loves twice and loses. Only a high speed flight out of the country saves him. Only a hideout in the far, far north gives him the anonymity he needs. Only killing the one man who has pursued him all his life quiets his deeply buried demons. Only the final love of his life gives him the personal peace he has been seeking all his life.

Written in the first person, Philly MC portrays a dark, high speed world of violence, betrayal and blood. Ultimately, it concerns salvation.

(C) In 2018, peace, possibly fair, possibly lasting, is getting far too close, too real, for the hardliners on both sides in Northern Ireland. Shooter in a Plague Year, the third Irish historical novel in the Kavanagh saga, describes one possible outcome, a nightmare scenario that completes the gory chapters of the past. What happens if the moderates are eliminated? What happens if the New IRA, just formed on one hand, and the shadowy Core Command on the other, finally square off to determine who owns Ulster, all of it? Both claim the Red Hand of Ulster as their symbol; both claim nationalism as their own high ground. Each is as devious and secretive as the other. Who’s marked for death? By whom? Why? Shooter in a Plague Year follows the twists and turns, machinations and prejudices, of these paramilitary groups as they finalize the 800 year old war in the North. High tech weapons are at the forefront; ancient hatreds are the bedrock.

(D) A Hard Gemlike Flame, the fourth title in the Kavanagh Series, tells a tumultuous adult tale of love, passion, jealousy, rage, hate and compassion between Mick Kavanagh and Cathleen Murray. Both characters are strong, both are flawed, both have difficulty expressing emotion. Only together are their flaws repaired, their emotions clear. Only their love for each other keeps them sane—and safe.

(E)  This is a practical, hands-on guide to baking wonderful artisan breads in a wood fired brick oven. By following a typical two-day workshop at Mary G’s Artisan Breads, it guides the reader through all the little known techniques required to manage a wood fired environment to maximum effect, including how to adapt favorite bread and pizza recipes to this environment. With over two hundred photographs that illustrate everything from shaping methods and baking stages to oven types and construction, this is a definitive guide to wood fired oven selection, construction, insulation and use. The appendices alone contain a motherlode of information on baking equipment, gear sources, oven plans, starter maintenance and mixer use.

Biography:

Jim Wills, author of the four historical fiction titles in the Kavnagh saga, has had careers as varied as the novels he writes.  He has been a motorcycle mechanic, academic, hard rock miner, book editor, commercial writer, mason, baker and an author.

His lifelong interest in Irish history and literature, with all their triumphs and failures, forms the bedrock for these novels.  Each one stands on its own, but they are more rewarding read as a continuous history of the Kavanagh family, in Ireland, in North America, from 1916 to 2020.  His fascination with dialect, street vocabulary, and musical lyrics that define a place, a culture, and a time are evident throughout.

He lives in rural Ontario with his partner, Wendy Carlson and, betimes, Wendy’s daughter, Kate Amies.

Other works by the same author include Tools Are Made, Born Are Hands: Baking True Artisan Breads in a Wood-Fired Oven.

Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/jimwills

Facebook Author Page: www.facebook.com/pages/jimwills 13 likes

Facebook Personal Page: www.facebook.com/jim.wills.773   80 friends

Twitter: @Hull Drive, 12 Followers

LinkedIn:   http://www.linkedin.com/pub/jim-wills/21/109/b40 , 116 connections

Website: www.marygbread.com

Amazon link:  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=A+Few+Men+Faithful+Jim+Wills

Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/Kavanagh47

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-few-men-faithful-jim-wills/1112407079?ean=2940011258633