I’m finishing up the final revisions of the fourth book in the Culpepper Saga, Culpepper’s Rebellion.
In the first book of the series, John Culpepper struggles to realize his dreams, never seeing eye-to-eye with his father. His dad sends him to law school, and John hates every moment of it, wishing instead to own a ship and become a merchant between London and the colony of Virginia.
In the second book, the English civil war breaks out, and John’s ship is the only lifeline that saves the family from certain execution.
In the third book, John becomes the patriarch of the family, struggling to hold his family together on two continents.
In this final book, John finds himself in the middle of Bacon’s Rebellion in Jamestown, Virginia. He is so wrapped up in the Jamestown drama, he doesn’t realize his youngest son is beginning his own rebellion in Carolina. When all is finally calming down in Virginia, John’s son is arrested in London on charges of treason. John’s law training, which he so desperately despised in his youth, becomes the only thing standing between his son’s life and death.
Here’s the first chapter of the new book. Culpepper’s Rebellion will be released October 31, 2015.
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CHAPTER 1
1680, The Tower, London
John followed the guard down the winding hallway. It was narrow and dark with only the light of an occasional torch resting in its iron holder, flickering shadows on the stone walls. Where John could see, the walls looked dark and damp, covered with a slimy layer of green mold, but the musty smell didn’t mask the overwhelming stench of urine and feces. He shook his head and wrinkled his nose at the insult.
As he passed intermittent arched doorways, prisoners yelled at him through small, bar-covered windows and pounded their fists on the wooden doors. Some begged for mercy, others pleaded for food and drink. The desperate voices echoing off the walls should have made John uneasy, but he only felt sheer hopelessness for those imprisoned. He didn’t look up when they called to him. He walked behind the guard with his head down, his heart heavy. How could any man endure this dreadful place? He remembered his older brother serving a short sentence within these walls during the civil war more than thirty years earlier, but in all of John’s seventy-four years, he had never seen the inside of the Tower. The unfortunate occasion that had brought him all the way from Virginia to be here on this day was more terrifying than the actual place.
The guard slowed when he rounded the corner, reaching inside his tunic pocket and noisily producing a ring of iron keys. John waited while the man found the appropriate key and placed it in the keyhole. When he turned it, there was a loud metallic snap. The guard pushed open the door, which moaned softly on its rusted hinges, and John entered.
The small room was lit by only a sliver of a window placed so high on the wall that none could see in or out. As the guard closed and locked the door behind him, John’s heart melted at the sight of the figure lying in a ball on a wooden platform, facing the moldy wall. John assumed the platform was a bed, but there was no blanket, no warmth, no comfort. A mouse scampered across John’s boot and disappeared into the tiniest of holes in the wall. At least the prisoners didn’t have to sleep on the floor with the mice.
“Johnny?” John said quietly.
Johnny sat up and spun around. “Father! What are you doing here?”
“I came to see to your welfare.”
“They’ve charged me with treason.” He ran his fingers through his disheveled curls.
“I know. That’s why I’m here.” His son looked so thin and worn. “You need a lawyer and I know of none better than myself.”
“You hate practicing law.”
“I’d hate it more to see your head on the scaffold.”
“I don’t think you can prevent it. They believe I embezzled the king’s funds.”
“Did you?”
“Of course not.”
“Then we’ll find a way out of this. Your mother will be very displeased with me if I allow you to lose your head.”
Johnny rose and wrapped his arms around John. “Thank you for coming, Father. I hate to admit it…” He paused and swallowed hard. “But for the first time in my life, I’m truly frightened.”
“I am too, son.”
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The first three in the series are available at Amazon. After you read them, please stop by the Culpepper Saga Facebook page to see pictures, paintings, and documents from the real history of John Culpepper.
Lori Crane 