Historical Fiction

by James A. Brandt

London, 1940, War has changed everything. For four-year-old Charlotte, it means sirens in the night, a father far away, and a world that is no longer safe.  When the bombs fall too close to home, Charlotte is sent to the countryside to live with strangers. Armed with only a worn rag doll, a small suitcase, and a brave heart, she must leave behind the only life she's ever known.  In a world filled with uncertainty, Charlotte discovers the meaning of courage, the comfort of unexpected kindness, and the strength that comes from love.  Charlotte's Journey Home is a touching tale of love, resilience, and the unbreakable bond between a child and the home she never stops believing in.

by Steven Shepard

March 1864. The American Civil War is reaching its agonizing twilight, but for the citizens of Shreveport, Louisiana, the horror is just beginning. Captain Douglas Ivey, CSA, starts his morning with a quiet cup of coffee on his mother's front porch, unaware that an unstoppable Union juggernaut—30,000 soldiers of the Army of the Gulf—is marching straight toward his home with devastating intent. Tasked with a high-stakes, borderline-suicidal reconnaissance mission, Douglas is ordered down the Red River Road to locate and count the invading enemy. What begins as a strategic military assignment quickly spirals into an intimate nightmare. The mission thrusts Douglas, his closest friends, and members of his own family directly into the path of an oncoming war machine, fracturing loyalties and putting everything he loves in mortal danger. Spanning the massive, 565-page canvas of a nation tearing itself apart, the narrative follows the explosive fallout of Douglas's discovery. As the Union army advances, the Ivey family is split across ideological and physical battle lines. From the gritty, tactical tension of deep-reconnaissance scouting to the grand, visceral chaos of major military campaigns, the story explores the brutal realities of 19th-century combat through the eyes of those forced to fight it. As General George S. Patton famously observed, "Compared to war, all other forms of human endeavor shrink to insignificance." For Douglas and his kin, this insignificance becomes a tragic reality. They are stripped of their peace, their security, and their innocence, forced to endure the absolute limits of human endurance. Ultimately, the story builds to a gripping climax where survival is just the first step. As the smoke finally clears over the blood-stained soil of Louisiana, the surviving members of the Ivey family face an even greater challenge: how to heal, how to forgive, and how to reconstruct their shattered lives from the ashes of a war that changed them forever.

by Jesse penman

### [**Obey, or Fade Away** **You were always meant for more**](https://open.substack.com/pub/obeyfadeaway/p/3-for-the-ones-who-stayed-and-the?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=73fanv) \ The Arc So Far\ #1 — You Were Never Meant to Disappear opens the series with a confrontation: the reader has spent years learning to shrink, stay quiet, and erase their own edges in the name of safety. It names that erasure for what it is — not peace, but a slow kind of dying — and insists the reader was built with weight and voice, not built to fade into the background of their own life. \ #2 — The Four Possibilities Beyond the Light pushes past the initial awakening into the terrain that opens once someone stops hiding. It maps out the different paths available once the light (the signal, the recognition) has been seen — suggesting that awareness alone isn't the end point, but a fork with several possible directions, each with its own cost and its own truth. \ #3 — For the Ones That Stayed and the Witness Never Blinks shifts focus to endurance. It's written for the people who didn't leave, didn't disappear, didn't fade — the ones who stayed present through the discomfort. It introduces "the witness," an inner presence that tracks everything without judgment, watching to see whether the person will keep showing up for their own life even when nothing dramatic is happening. \ #4 — When the Silence Answers deals with the strange phase where nothing external responds, yet something still communicates. Silence itself becomes the message. This piece explores the discipline of sitting with unanswered questions long enough that the absence of an answer becomes its own kind of confirmation — training the reader to stop needing loud signs and start trusting the quiet ones. \ #5 — The Assignment names the responsibility that follows all that listening. Once someone has stayed, once they've heard the witness, once the silence has answered — they're handed something specific to do. This piece frames spiritual growth not as a feeling to chase but a task to complete: an assignment that requires real-world action, not just internal shifts. \ #6 — The Shape of a Real Response (Time and Time Again) ties the whole arc together. It explicitly revisits the earlier stages — staying present, hearing the silence answer, acting on what's known — and argues that all of those were prelude. The real test is whether the change can survive ordinary life: everyday , errands, people who don't know your mythology. It introduces the phrase "obey or fade away" as the central law of the series — not obedience as submission, but obedience as full listening that produces movement. Coherence, this piece argues, isn't a comfortable alignment; it has teeth. It costs relationships, unmasks false loyalties, and forces the inside and outside of a person to finally tell the same story. The piece closes on the idea that the witness from piece #3 becomes an internal architect, and that the ultimate demand isn't belief — it's response. \ Together, pieces #1–6 trace a single throughline: recognition, endurance, silence, duty, and finally, the demand for coherent action. Each piece raises the stakes on the one before it, moving the reader from "you matter" to "prove it with your life." \ #7 #8 & #9 coming soon !!!!  Obey Your Reasons to Refuse !!!!

by Jesse penman

#1 — You Were Never Meant to Disappear opens the series with a confrontation: the reader has spent years learning to shrink, stay quiet, and erase their own edges in the name of safety. It names that erasure for what it is — not peace, but a slow kind of dying — and insists the reader was built with weight and voice, not built to fade into the background of their own life.

by H. de Vere Stacpoole

In the late Victorian era, a ship sailing to San Francisco catches fire, forcing two young cousins, Richard and Emmeline, to flee in a lifeboat alongside the ship's cook, Paddy Button. The trio drifts out to sea and washes ashore on a lush, uninhabited tropical island in the South Pacific.

by Bryan R Barton

They are not ordinary soldiers. They are the shadows before the storm.\ Forged in secrecy, bound by discipline, and driven by an unbreakable code, The Black Watch stands apart from every regiment that came before it. Under the command of Michael Reeves, these handpicked warriors are stripped of old limits and remade through fire, loyalty, and relentless training into something far greater than men in uniform.\ Their creed is simple but absolute: the mission comes first, surrender is not an option, and no fallen comrade is ever abandoned. In a nation torn by war, The Black Watch becomes a silent weapon in the fight for liberty, moving where others cannot, striking when hope seems lost, and carrying the weight of freedom on their shoulders.\ But the Warrior Ethos is more than an oath recited before presidents and generals. It is the heartbeat of a brotherhood, the compass that guides them through fear, sacrifice, and the darkness of battle. For Reeves and his men, courage is not the absence of fear. It is the decision to rise anyway.\ To wear the Black Watch uniform is to become the storm.

by Leslee Kahler

Tristan has inherited a title and many debts left by his debauched father and brothers. To save his family from poverty he has to marry his late uncle's ward. Can he convince the independent young lady to marry him? And can they not only find love but discover who is trying to destroy his family?

by Jane Austen

*Sense and Sensibility* by Jane Austen follows the Dashwood sisters—practical Elinor ("sense") and romantic Marianne ("sensibility")—who are left destitute after their father's death. Forced to move to a modest cottage, they navigate love, heartbreak, and societal pressures before ultimately finding contentment in balanced, mature marriages.

by Eric Halstead

by Eric Halstead

by Sarah Bantu

Forget the green beer. Forget the plastic shamrocks. Forget the myths of little green creatures and fairy tales. Long before he became a legend, he was just Patricius an arrogant, wealthy sixteen year old Roman British boy who cared about nothing but his own comfort. But when brutal Irish raiders tear through his home, his world is violently shattered. Dragged across the sea in chains, Patricius is sold into slavery, stripped of his name, and left to survive the freezing winters of a wild, pagan land.\ Forced to herd sheep on a desolate mountain, the terrified boy must either break under the cruelty of his captors or forge himself into something unbreakable.\ *The Confessio* is the raw, cinematic, untold true story of Saint Patrick. From a daring, near-impossible two-hundred-mile escape to a powerful, miraculous return to the very land that enslaved him, this is an epic tale of survival, grit, and a faith that would forever transform a nation.

by Fred Koehler

To whoever finds this notebook… This is what really happened to Jim Hobbins, the boy lost out of Cedar Key. I’m drifting somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico. Out of food. Only a couple sips left of water. And, well… I don't write a lot of stories so I might get my order mixed up.  Still, don’t let nobody tell it different. I just hope that whoever finds this notebook also finds the *Montauk* and figures out how to get it back to my family.  It's a good boat.

by Revdoug

Humanity begins not as destiny, but as design. When the Sheb Tu — an ancient, dying extraterrestrial civilization — arrive on the world they call Kai, they seek only one thing: gold, the element required to keep their failing oxygen engines alive. They enslave the conquered Aiji giants and deploy the engineered Dropa to build mines, cities, and a jump‑node network across the planet. But the Aiji revolt, forcing the Sheb Tu to create a new labor force. Enki, the most visionary of the overseers, splices primate DNA with Sheb Tu genetics, producing Adamu and Heeva — the first humans. As the population grows, the Sheb Tu introduce colossal engineered megafauna, the Nephilim, to shape the land and enforce order. Instead, the system destabilizes. Everything changes when Enki breaks the oldest law of his kind and fathers a child with a human woman. Their son, Adapa, is born with unfiltered Sheb Tu intelligence — a being capable of standing beside the “gods,” not beneath them. His existence fractures the hierarchy and triggers a chain of consequences that ripple through the Sheb Tu’s ancient machine. When a Nephilim kills Adapa’s mother, the fragile balance collapses. Fire rains from the sky. Oceans rise. Cities fall. The First Humanity is wiped away in a cataclysm that ends the Age of the Nephilim and empties the world. But Enki refuses to let the idea of humanity die. As the Sheb Tu abandon Kai, he sends a hidden vessel into the mud and ash — a cradle containing the blueprint for a second creation. From the ruins of the first world, a new humanity will one day rise, unaware of the cosmic machinery that shaped them or the civilizations buried beneath their feet.

by Joshua (J. E.) Dyer

Being sixteen can be Hell. For Sarah, every day is the same. Keep up with the grades. Stay on top of the cleaning and laundry around their cramped apartment. Friends? Boys? If her mom found out, her rage would follow. For as long as Sarah could remember, it’s always been her and her mom. Stories of her dad’s untimely death hold their own questions.\ \ So long as her chores get done and she stays close to home, everything’s sunny. Otherwise, she might feel the wrath of her mom’s love.\ \ That all changes when Sarah’s great aunt leaves her a mysterious journal in her will. Its pages tell tales of a missing brother’s adventures, riding the rails in the 1930s. The further Sarah delves into the events surrounding him, the closer she gets to uncovering her own past. As the truths of her great uncle’s disappearance come to light, she unearths the skeletons hidden in her mom’s closet.\ \ Then, there’s Collin. The boy she’s had a crush on for years picks now of all times to ask her out. Juggling a boyfriend and a relationship on top of everything else could push her and her mother to their breaking point.\ \ Sparks will fly on Sarah’s journey to independence and healing. One boy’s journey across Great Depression America could hold the key to setting her free. Sarah needs to find him in time to get to the truth before time takes another relative and his secrets to the grave.

by Sarah Bantu

**About the Story** What if the key to your survival was locked inside a secret, ancient bloodline?\ Spun from a fascinating true piece of Russian history and set against the brutal, breathtaking backdrop of the frozen north, *Daughter of the Falcon* blends gripping suspense with an unforgettable romance.\ For centuries, deep within the endless, snow covered forests, an elite and hidden clan of warriors lived by their own laws. They did not just survive the winter they ruled it, training lethal military falcons to hunt, fight, and protect secrets hidden from the world. Today, that fierce bloodline legacy is alive, but the isolation of the frozen north is cracking. A dangerous, unpredictable threat is closing in, forcing old secrets into the light and testing the loyalty of a clan that has never bowed to anyone.\ Filled with high stakes twists, deep betrayal, and a slow burn love story that burns hot against the bitter ice, this fiction novel proves that some family histories can never stay buried. Step into a harsh, beautiful world where danger hides in every shadow, trust is a luxury, and you never know what's going to happen next. Discover what happens when the frost bites deep, and the falcon finally takes flight.

by Sarah Bantu

Forget the green beer. Forget the plastic shamrocks. Forget the myths of little green creatures and fairy tales.\ Long before he became a legend, he was just Patricius an arrogant, wealthy sixteen year old Roman British boy who cared about nothing but his own comfort. But when brutal Irish raiders tear through his home, his world is violently shattered. Dragged across the sea in chains, Patricius is sold into slavery, stripped of his name, and left to survive the freezing winters of a wild, pagan land.\ Forced to herd sheep on a desolate mountain, the terrified boy must either break under the cruelty of his captors or forge himself into something unbreakable.\ *The Confessio* is the raw, cinematic, untold true story of Saint Patrick. From a daring, near-impossible two hundred mile escape to a powerful, miraculous return to the very land that enslaved him, this is an epic tale of survival, grit, and a faith that would forever transform a nation.

by Mikaela Love

Marian Michaels spends her nights singing in New Orleans jazz clubs and her days chasing the career she has always wanted. After witnessing a violent attack that appears to target Black residents, she finds herself frustrated by a lack of evidence and official inaction. Unwilling to let the incident go, Marian begins investigating on her own. As more attacks occur across the city, Marian adopts the masked identity of The Butterfly and follows a trail of intimidation, recruitment, and organized violence. What begins as a single assault soon points to a coordinated movement gaining influence in New Orleans. Balancing her growing music career, complicated relationships, and increasingly dangerous investigations, Marian must decide how far she is willing to go to stop it. Set in New Orleans, The Butterfly is a grounded crime drama that blends vigilante fiction, mystery, and noir with the city’s music scene and culture.

by D. K. Dowdy

The Awkward Formula follows Chris through the messy, tender years between childhood and adulthood. He stumbles through first crushes, shifting friendships, family tensions, and the quiet moments that end up mattering more than he ever expected. Set in early‑1990s Florida, the series captures adolescence in all its contradictions. This is growing up the way it really happens: slowly, awkwardly, and in pieces.

by M.G. Stults

by Arthur Conan Doyle

This anthology chronicles twelve distinct cases investigated by the master detective Sherlock Holmes and narrated by his loyal friend Dr. John Watson. Together, they outwit a king's blackmailer alongside the brilliant Irene Adler, solve the riddle of a bizarre corporate scam in "The Red-Headed League," and rescue an innocent young man falsely accused of murder. Holmes repeatedly demonstrates his ability to solve seemingly impossible mysteries by focusing on minute details missed by traditional police forces. The stories highlight a wide range of social issues in Victorian London, from domestic abuse to greed and blackmail. Each case reinforces Holmes's status as a champion of cold, unwavering logic.

by Louisa May Alcott

Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March navigate the transition from childhood to womanhood in New England while their father serves in the Civil War. Led by their loving mother, the sisters struggle with poverty, personal ambitions, and their distinct individual flaws. Jo pursues a career as a writer while rejecting a marriage proposal from their wealthy neighbor, Laurie, who eventually marries Amy. Tragedy strikes the tightly-knit family when the gentle, sickly Beth passes away after a long illness. Through grief and joy, the surviving sisters establish their own households, remaining deeply bound by love.

by L. M. Montgomery

Valancy Stirling is an unappreciated 29-year-old living a miserable life with her overbearing, hyper-critical family. When she receives a secret medical diagnosis giving her only one year to live, she decides to stop being afraid and finally speak her mind. She moves out to care for a dying friend and eventually proposes to Barney Snaith, a mysterious local outcast living in the woods. Together, they discover absolute bliss in their remote cabin, which Valancy considers her "Blue Castle." Her heart condition is later revealed to be a medical error, but by then, she has secured her freedom, a massive fortune, and a deep, mutual love.

by William Shakespeare

In Verona, the ancient feud between the Montague and Capulet families frequently erupts into violent street brawls. Romeo Montague sneaks into a Capulet party, where he instantly falls in love with Juliet Capulet, and they secretly marry the next day. The romance turns tragic when Romeo kills Juliet’s cousin in a duel and is banished from the city. To avoid an arranged marriage, Juliet fakes her death with a sleeping potion, but the messenger fails to notify Romeo of the ruse. Believing his bride is truly dead, Romeo drinks poison at her tomb, and Juliet awakens only to stab herself upon finding his corpse.

by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Nick Carraway moves to Long Island and is drawn into the orbit of his enigmatic neighbor, the fabulously wealthy Jay Gatsby. Gatsby confesses that his immense fortune and extravagant weekend parties are all part of a grand scheme to attract Daisy Buchanan, a past love who is now married to the brutal Tom Buchanan. Nick helps arrange a reunion, and Gatsby and Daisy quickly reignite their passionate, ill-fated love affair. The romance shatters when Daisy accidentally hits and kills Tom's mistress while driving Gatsby's car. Tom manipulates the grieving husband into murdering Gatsby, leaving Nick disillusioned with the corrupt and careless nature of the elite class.

by Jose M Peralta

In the unseen war between Heaven and Hell, some of the most dangerous warriors are neither angel nor demon—but something in between. **Jovias and the Exiled Seven** is a dark supernatural thriller series that explores the fate of a group of fallen angels exiled to Earth after the ancient rebellion in Heaven. Stripped of their wings and their place in the celestial order, these beings walk among humanity for centuries, hidden in plain sight. Each exile carries the burden of their fall, struggling with pride, guilt, and the lingering pull of darkness. Among them is **Jovias**, once a formidable warrior in Heaven’s ranks. Unlike the others, Jovias believes exile is not merely punishment—it is a test. A chance for redemption. But Hell has not forgotten them. As demonic forces begin manipulating human history from the shadows, the Exiled Seven discover they are pawns in a much larger plan. A hidden hierarchy within Hell is working to weaken the spiritual boundaries protecting Earth. Cults rise, false doctrines spread through influential churches, and ancient demonic entities move closer to breaking through the veil separating realms. To stop it, the exiles must confront both **their enemies and their pasts**. Each member of the Seven faces a personal crossroads: - remain trapped in bitterness and condemnation - or fight for humanity and reclaim their purpose. Along the way they form fragile alliances with humans—detectives, scholars, believers, and skeptics—who slowly uncover the terrifying truth about the spiritual war unfolding around them. The conflict builds toward an apocalyptic confrontation in **Jerusalem**, where the forces of Heaven, Hell, and the exiled must collide. There, the final choice will be made: redemption… or permanent damnation. Some will fall. Some will be restored. And the fate of humanity will hinge on whether the exiles can prove that even those who once rebelled against Heaven can still choose the light.

by Jose M Peralta

Jovias and the Exiled Seven were formed for a singular purpose: to protect humanity rather than to dominate it. Their commitment to mercy, even in the face of disaster, led them to choose compassion over destruction. As a consequence of this choice, they were stripped of their wings and cast into exile, condemned to walk the earth as guardians who must conceal their true identities from those they protect. Throughout the centuries, the Seven are confronted by judgment and loss, and challenged by evil that works not through direct confrontation, but in more subtle ways that erode faith from within. Each trial they face tests not only their strength, but also their obedience and their capacity for hope. Despite the hardships of exile, the Seven remain driven by a singular promise: to ensure that light endures, even when separated from their former glory. Their journey is marked by perseverance, where faith is hard-won, victory is never guaranteed, and redemption demands unwavering endurance.

by Cary Kimble

Julian Pappas, the son of Greek immigrants, knows loss.  His twin brother enlists in the U.S. Army and dies in the final months of World War II under ambiguous circumstances.  The politics of the Sixties leave him estranged from his oldest daughter.  His beloved wife Thea dies just as they are planning their retirement.  In his final years of life, in a Milwaukee nursing home, Julian is paired with a Polish widower who has experienced loss and suffering even more devastating than his own. Somehow, a friendship evolves – cruelly disrupted by the Covid pandemic.  In the end, approaching his 99th birthday, Julian comes to appreciate that, even now, life is still capable of delivering happy surprises.

by Marco Velos

Sportswriter Bish Weatherly writes the story of Harry "Cotton" Purcell, the most talented ball player who never made the majors, and Grace, the wife who followed him across Prohibition-era America. Spring 1922, Indianapolis. Bish has been in love with Grace since he before he introduced her to Harry years earlier. Now, with Harry at spring training and Grace pregnant and alone in a new city, Bish positions himself as the reliable friend—helping her find housing, buying gifts, being there when Harry isn't. Harry, son of ruined Alabama aristocracy, hits like Babe Ruth but can't control his "surly disposition." Each success fuels his conviction he deserves the major leagues; each setback confirms he's been cheated. As his career spirals through brilliant performances and self-destructive collapses, Bish documents it all on the pages of the newspaper while growing dangerously close to Grace. The crisis comes in Nashville, 1925. Harry is hitting .357 alongside Lou Gehrig. Gehrig goes to the Yankees. Harry doesn't. When Grace—exhausted and desperate—finally offers Bish the love he's claimed to want for years, he discovers things about himself that he didn't want to know. Decades later, Bish lives on, telling himself he did the right thing—until writing the story reveals he was never the man he pretended to be. *The Great Gatsby* meets *Remains of the Day*, set in 1920s minor league baseball.

by Sir Arthur Conon Doyle

Seeking a roommate to share expenses, Dr. Watson is introduced to the brilliant but enigmatic Sherlock Holmes at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital. The pair is soon summoned to a derelict house where a man is found dead with no visible wounds, save for the word **"RACHE"** scrawled in blood on the wall. As Holmes utilizes his unique powers of deduction to track the killer, the narrative reveals a tragic backstory of love, loss, and Mormon pioneers in the American West that fueled the murderer's quest for justice.

by Anie G. Ross

In a world of gaslit opulence and rigid etiquette, Blythe is a haunting anomaly—a brilliant spiritualist whose soul is trapped between life and death within an automaton body. Her only link to the living is Tarn “Madcap” Carrigan, a sorcerer-alchemist extraordinaire whose penchant for scandal is always one bad day away from another fatal mystery. With otherworldly secrets and new magic to discover, Blythe and Tarn are bound by an inseparable partnership.

by Jonathan Swift

Lemuel Gulliver encounters the tiny inhabitants of Lilliput, the giants of Brobdingnag, and the intellectual but detached residents of Laputa. Through these fantastical journeys, Swift delivers a biting satire on European politics and the flaws of the Enlightenment.

by Herman Melville

Narrated by the sailor Ishmael, the story follows the Pequod and its captain, Ahab, on a perilous voyage. It is a profound meditation on obsession, fate, and the indomitable power of the natural world.

by Anie G. Ross

In a world of gaslit opulence and rigid etiquette, Blythe is a haunting anomaly—a brilliant spiritualist whose soul is trapped between life and death within an automaton body. Her only link to the living is Tarn “Madcap” Carrigan, a sorcerer-alchemist extraordinaire whose penchant for scandal turns deadly when he is framed for the attempted assassination of the Empress using his own repurposed formula. While Blythe struggles to reconcile her lost humanity with her new, doll-like form, the purposefully improper Tarn must rely on her spectral talents to navigate a web of political treachery and corrupted sorcery. Together, their perilous adventure across borders leads them to unmask the true culprit and confront the secrets of the dark magic that brought them together. *Author Note: Any feedback/reviews are genuinely appreciated! This story is truly open to "kill your darlings" edits.*

by Judah Ray

In 1955, a secret experiment at the Large Hadron Collider tore open a doorway to another realm.\ \ Extradimensional beings came through, possessed the top scientists and military officials in the room, and kept the portal open.\ \ One of the first crossed over and took a human infant as its host. That infant was Christina.\ \ The only issue is that Christina forgot what she was,  and the others could not enter or control her, but she could see them. So they declared her unstable and institutionalized her.\ \ Years later, world leaders, billionaires, media figures, and political dynasties are all possessed. The New World Order is not a conspiracy theory. It is literal possession.\ \ A decade later, Christina escapes and resurfaces in Berlin. The forces that have tracked her since childhood want her reclaimed or eliminated.\ \ With the help of Jory, who has been able to see the entities inside people since surviving a near-death experience as a child, Christina uncovers a power structure that has ruled humanity from within for generations.\ \ When she learns she is one of them, she must choose between her own kind or the man she loves and the humanity she chose to protect.\ \ They have ruled the world from inside us.\ Now one of their own stands against them.

by Robert Louis Stevenson

TO THE HESITATING PURCHASER\ \ If sailor tales to sailor tunes,\ Storm and adventure, heat and cold,\ If schooners, islands, and maroons,\ And buccaneers, and buried gold,\ And all the old romance, retold\ Exactly in the ancient way,\ Can please, as me they pleased of old,\ The wiser youngsters of today:\ \ --So be it, and fall on! If not,\ If studious youth no longer crave,\ His ancient appetites forgot,\ Kingston, or Ballantyne the brave,\ Or Cooper of the wood and wave:\ So be it, also! And may I\ And all my pirates share the grave\ Where these and their creations lie!