Announcing the third book in the Duelist Series
The Crow Creek Expedition is the third book in the duelist series. In The Confederate Cipher, young Henry Hudson begins his journey down the rabbit hole of espionage as an initiate, guided by the fledgling British Secret Service. In Hudson’s Scouts, he expands his tradecraft and gains experience during the War of Southern Independence.
The Crow Creek Expedition begins with a massacre and ends with a prophecy.
There is something intoxicating about a secret. Fraternal societies base their rites on symbolic rituals that take the initiate on a journey from darkness into light. Secret societies tend to do the opposite, accentuating the darkness of combinations and conspiracies designed to do harm. Specific handshakes (grips), words, and signs are used to identify members whose oaths are backed by the promise of retributive bloodshed if they are revealed.
When the book ends, President Abraham Lincoln has 118 days left to live.
The book is available on Amazon.com in both digital and paperback formats. I appreciate it when you buy the book and support my writing (and the blog). The most positive reviews you can write will encourage Amazon.com to advertise my work and lead to more books. There is a fourth book planned in the series, and I think I will write it to round things out, one way or the other (sales and positive reviews notwithstanding), because there needs to be some closure. The end of The Crow Creek Expedition is somewhat of a cliffhanger. The first three came out at light speed (for writers), and the fourth one, Vengeance and Retribution, may come out this summer. It won’t be on pace with the last three.
{begin rant} Notes on stories and backchannel coms: It’s been interesting to hear from many of you who follow the blog and who have read some of the various stories. Some of you want more detail, some want less. Some like one story, and others don’t like the same story. Some want a novel based on the short story HALF LIFE (with The Coil), and some of you don’t like its moralizing. As I write on Hungry Ghosts, the sequel to Broken Toys, I struggle with different characters telling their side of what’s going on (in their own voices) and know that it’s all “my” voice. It was so much easier to co-author with Jules Smith because the voices were clearly different.
Part of what I try to do is write about things in ways that differ from how other authors handle topics. I think that’s the case with the Duelist Series. When you read The Crow Creek Expedition, there are interesting twists, mostly revealed at the end of the story, that carry on to the next book. There is enough material in that series to date to write a dozen books that are, at their core, absolutely historical, with the freedom of exploring that history by inserting characters who interact with historical people and situations. Even so, there will be elements that some of you would have handled differently. I am not particularly sympathetic to the Sioux, who were handled roughly by the US Government from the Dakota War (Minnesota) going forward, and I don’t weep over the institution of slavery, which was enshrined in the US Constitution, and the British are called out for doing what they did. It is not that I am immune to injustice, but I try to portray characters who are true to their place and time while keeping in mind what REALLY happened.
I am not constrained by hard reality with Broken Toys, Hungry Ghosts, or with stories such as Half Life, which are science fiction, and I can write about this or that without as many worries about “hard science.” If I say that a character can fly, for example, he can fly (not necessarily by being dropped from a tall building). {/end rant}
Betting Correctly
(G Captain) A push by South Korea’s Sinokor group — with backing from Mediterranean Shipping Co. — to scoop up very-large crude carriers has given it unprecedented control over a big share of the global fleet for immediate hire. The spree has been called “seismic” by a rival and pushed hiring costs to multiyear highs.
The scale of Sinokor’s position became more apparent this week, as it controlled almost all the VLCCs available for hire to load oil from the US Gulf Coast, a major oil-exporting region. Over the next 30 days, it controls every ship that could arrive in the US Gulf and isn’t currently holding a cargo, according to data from Signal Ocean, a shipping-analytics platform. (more)
VDH on Socialists Doubling Down on Bad Ideas
Tunnels
(h/t Claudio) Belarus and Russia may have engaged Hamas and Hezbollah fighters to dig tunnels on the border with Poland.
Polish border guards have discovered several underground tunnels used to smuggle migrants from Belarus to Europe. According to the Polish side, specialists from the Middle East were involved in their construction, probably militants from the Hamas and Hezbollah groups, who have extensive experience in creating complex underground structures.
In 2025, four such tunnels were found in the Podlaskie Voivodeship alone (more than two-thirds of the border). One of the largest, discovered in mid-December near the village of Narewka, was used to smuggle 180 migrants, mostly from Afghanistan and Pakistan. Most of them were detained immediately after entering Polish territory.
This is a continuation of Lukashenko and Putin’s hybrid strategy: migrants as a weapon of pressure on Europe. Since 2021, Belarus has been systematically directing flows of people to the Polish border, which has forced Poland to build a nearly 200-kilometer-long fence with video surveillance.
When you combine Hamas’s successful tunneling efforts in Gaza with Mexican drug cartels’ tunneling under the US/Mexico border to smuggle tens of thousands of tons of narcotics and high-value illegal aliens, you have a winning combination that Russia has decided to emulate.
Bullet Points:
** How serious is Germany? It’s one thing to anounce and it’s quite another to deliver. After going insane woke and appearing to embrace Islamification, Germany is opening coal plants and buying nuclear power from France. We’ve all read the headlines. The Trump Administration’s words about allowing your culture to be absorbed struck home with many shot callers. We shall see if they execute on their about-face.
** You know you’ve been waiting for it – no, not the remake of Joan of Arc with a black actress. The hilbilly SG-1 theme.
** Recent non-white patriarchal Joan of Arc projects include: Mandipa Kabanda, who played a reimagined Joan of Arc in a 2020s stage production. Condola Rashad: Portrayed a gender non-conforming Joan in a Saint Joan play. Isla Johnston: In talks for a new film, Jehanne d’Arc. I’m waiting for the first Somali Islamic Joan of Arc feature film. Maybe it could be filmed in Minneapolis or Mogadishu (much the same place).
** (CENTCOM) An Iranian Jamaran-class corvette was struck by U.S. forces during the start of Operation Epic Fury. The ship is currently sinking to the bottom of the Gulf of Oman at a Chah Bahar pier. President Trump didn’t start a war with Iran. He’s ending a 47-year war with Iran.
** Update – MotherLL (93 yrs) had abdominal surgery to remove a bowel obstruction, and is resting and while she is in some pain, it’s normal. I expect that she’ll remain in the hospital at least through the middle of the week. BabySisLL is a hospital administrator for a nationwide brand (not where she is hospitalized), but is overseeing the situation. Thank you for your good wishes.
Identify the Anti-Shipping/Cruise & Ballistic Missiles
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Two images to aid your ID
3
Parting Shot
h/t Frank
Game Over?? It certainly is for him.
End
(1) Looks like a shore-based Silkworm, presumably Iranian.
(2) Hovezyeh, maybe?
(3) Perhaps a Fateh – 110?
– Kle.
“Betting Correctly”
1. DJT is trying to bring down the price of gasoline and home heating oil
2. Sinokor will be controlling the transport cost of the aforementioned for the next ? months taking the ultimate cost of these products out of DJT’s hands
3. is there a reasonable way for DJT to accomplish his original goal
Please correct my thinking/logic in this matter
The price of petroleum-based products (a global commodity) has more to do with (1) the overall global supply and (2) refining priorities. #2 is not absolute because you can only make so much of this or that out of a barrel of oil, but those priorities do matter. The US/Canada (+ Venezuela) produces and refines enough petroleum products for domestic use, but it’s traded globally, so outside forces (which could include shipping or disruption like Iranians shooting missiles into the Gulf) have a lot to do with it. The Russian pipeline to China, for example, is less likely to be disrupted than a shipment that arrives by ship. Arizona, where I live, is contemplating building a second pipeline to Texas because of California’s stupidity in taxing and regulating refineries out of business.
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It’s not just oil. Methane (natural gas) can be piped to homes for heating or processed into propane for the same purpose, or used to make fertilizer (ammonium nitrate) or explosives. Refining priorities can change the supply and, therefore, the price.
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I’m not an expert on the subject, but I was going to facilitate the construction of petroleum-based stuff (I don’t want to disclose details – some of you know what I was up to) in Iraq and/or the Kurdish Governorate in Iraq, before all this Iranian business disrupted it. So I know more than the man on the street. Maybe enough to be dangerous.
I greatly appreciate your writing talent, and have enjoyed the first two installments on this series. Mine arrives in the mail today. 🇺🇸.
I write a weekly column for our local newspaper. Mostly about my adventures growing up on a large dairy farm with 5 brothers. Some articles write themselves, and some don’t. Keep up the good work!
Mine should be here Thursday.
Identify the Anti-Shipping/Cruise & Ballistic Missiles:
1. Ra’ad ASM. Look like a development of a Russian Styx or its Chinese counterpart.
2. Talaiyeh cruise missile
3. Raad-500 SRBM
Revisit #3 – well done.
1 – Iranian Raad-500
2 – Iranian Talaiyeh strategic cruise missile & transport/lanch system
3 – Iranian Kheibar Shekan
Outstanding
best wishes for your Mom
She’s a tough old bird, Boron. She was a ballerina in the Golden Age of Ballet and danced with the American Ballet Theater and the Sadler’s Wells/Royal Ballet Company in England. She knew the Barishnikovs who defected from Russia, and everybody else in that small circle of dancers/artists. She used to stay at Margaret Venable’s home in Florida when Margaret was alive. She always kept herself in peak shape, even as she aged. The internal discipline that made her a principal dancer made her difficult to deal with outside the dance studio, especially when it came to her family. Given her age, she is still very “with it” and is in exceptionally good shape. She is bothered when a physical condition, such as the one that landed her in the operating room, interferes with her life. I am the oldest of four children. Two of my siblings died, and my youngest sister (hospital administrator) bought a house across the street from hers so she can keep an eye on Mother.
Wow, quite the history…thanks for sharing that, gives perspective.
Iron discipline.
Now we know where you get it from (as I hear my own mother in my head, backbone of the family, dad admitted as much despite him being an Alpha type).
Your mother is in our thoughts and prayers for a quick and full recovery
Thank you.
IDM-
1-RAAD-500
2-STS-Qassem Soleimani
3-Kheybar Shekan solid-fuel medium-range ballistic missile
Best to your mom LL
-STA Lethal
Avoid the pointy end of those missiles when you’re in the Sandbox, HogsbreathSS.
Sorry to hear about your mom, hopefully she recovers in short order.
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Tunnels: Poland won’t tolerate tunnel digging, be like a rancher doing gopher mitigation.
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Listened to SecWar Hegseth and Gen. Clark’s update, true competent leadership without equivocation. ‘Epic Fury’ for certain. And the reporter-ette pressing for ‘answers’ to inane questions got her head handed to her. As for the three planes shot down by Kuwait, PDJT in an early phone call to the Emir: “When can I expect a check for the $300M for the three F-15’s you dumba$$’s ‘mistakenly’ shot down yesterday? You’re lucky all three pilots survived.”
I love Poland and the Polish people. In another life, I could live there. They learned about Russians the hard way over centuries, and I doubt that they will tolerate the tunnels without mitigating them (with the Russians inside, if possible).
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That’s what happens when you give American tech to unqualified people.
The Pole’s have learned the hard way to not take a bunch of guff once their personal space is invaded. They do give them the opportunity to back away…if not then all bets are off, had your chance.
Apparently the Emir call is true, which brings up the old saying, “You don’t get unless you ask”…this one being with a bit more ‘you owe us now pal’ force. You wreck your Avis rental they may demand damages. No different here, the F-15’s weren’t a gimme.
LL… keep up the writing and ignore the naysayers.
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Just getting started on reading, about 15 pages in, “The Crow Creek Expedition” and liking what I’ve read. Good job LL.
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Does the camo paint job on picture three work better than the more random camo coloring? I note the Chinese like that camo style.
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Missile command was fun. You always eventually lost.
There is a tendency to over-camo hardware (everywhere) like US Navy uniforms. I think that much of it is absurd. If you’re at the kinetic point in ground combat, it’s useful. I was at a Jersey Mike’s last weekend, eating my #9 sandwich, and Army Reservists trooped in from Luke AFB wearing camo. Because I’m an old man, I can recall when work uniforms were only allowed on base. If you were going off-base, you changed into a Class B uniform. And when I looked at the weekend warriors, I noted that they were unlikely to have any sort of combat-type MOS. Sorry for the rant, but when I see a submarine crew wearing camo, for example, I want to barf.
X2 on over camo and Class B uniform off base.
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Forgot to say, hope all ok with Mother LL. At 93 everything is more difficult.
JM’s #9 (Giant of course, two meals) is my go-to if not getting a cheesesteak (either JM’s #17 Classic or the #66).
Older than dirt, we didn’t have camo anything other than helmet covers. What happens to the camo function after repeated washings? Wasn’t that a problem with the Marines in WWII?
The camo uniforms fade with time. I wore camo and it faded but it was generally effective for combat arms people in the field. Why does the Space Command need to wear camo? They sit in an air conditioned office all day, and then go to chow. I realize that some vehicles benefit from camo in a kinetic environment where they’re up against infantry, but aircraft and armor, for example, all have thermal and some have lidar sighting in addition to optical. Camo is kind of a waste of paint.
Tradition!
It’s been sometime, but I don’t remember wearing anything but OD perma-pressed work uniforms, unless flying civilian on my own dime in which it was Class A for the discount. We referred to them as ODs, not class B. And we typically didn’t wear them off base because we looked military enough as it was.
I don’t remember being told we couldn’t.
Navy & USMC regulations held that work uniforms were only acceptable on-base or on deployment in an environment where they were necessary. So camo was restricted to SEALS, Sea Bees and a few other units. Other than that, officers and chiefs wore wash khakis and enlisted wore dungarees. I Hawaii, etc. you could always wear tropical whites or khakis. The default uniform of the day was Service Dress Blues if nothing else had been specified. The East Coast types also wore “Gestapo Black” as an option.
JM’s is that good? I used to like Quizno’s, but I think the may have gone under. I generally go to Cheba Hut, but looking up JM’s, there’s one about 1/2 mile from where I sit. Jimmy John’s is pretty good, too.
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Hmmm….What’s For Dinner Tonight?…….
Forgot to add….Prayers sent for MommaLL!
Prayers for your mom’s speedy recovery.
Been jonesing for Crow Creek. I’ll scratch that itch today.
Thanks, Ed. I think you’ll like Crow Creek – and Hungry Ghosts is moving forward to plan. It’s all about budgeting time and not wasting it while doing everything needful.
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I don’t think readers will see the end of The Crow Creek Expedition coming, which is fun for an author. It’s set up for a sequel. I have not begun to work on the sequel beyond outline. Hungry Ghosts first.
Best wishes for a speedy recovery for your Mom. Staying fit into her later years will def make a big difference.
Finally got to Confederate Cipher in my TBR pile, and has got my full attention whenever I can pick it up, on the train, etc. Historical novels aren’t really my bag, but damn this is good.
Psyched to hear that Hungry Ghosts is coming together.
Thanks, Chris
I’ll likely finish up the first volume of Shelby Foote’s CW series tonight and get onto Confederate Cypher tomorrow. Everything past that is already on hand except Crow Creek and I’ll get that ordered tomorrow. I’ve enjoyed everything you’ve done so far and wouldn’t presume to criticize. Perhaps those who whine should try publishing their own work their own selves.
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My mother was a tough old gal herself and made it to 96. I pray yours does as well, or better.
Woo hoo! Another read!!!