Robert T. Hunting – författare

Merriam Press Historical Fiction. Escaping an English noose, Ainslie Souter, a Scottish highwayman, signs up to fight for a Protestant king in Europe’s last religious war. Hippolito Costello, a Dominican Inquisitor, joins forces with the Catholic side. One guided by pragmatism, the other by religiosity, both men find themselves pulled into and changed by a barbarity practiced by both sides in 17th century war-torn Germany. Towns and principalities suffer the worst as competing forces attempt to change the religious and political map of Europe. This historical novel brings readers into the great battlefields and mindsets of 17th century leaders, churchmen, militarists, and foot soldiers. In particular, the war will drastically change both Ainslie and Hippolito, and call into question their own humanity.

For Sabrina Hamdi, a modern, young, and attractive member of Algeria's classe moyenne supérieure, life is good, until the uprising knocks on her door. Literally. French security forces whisk her away and toss her into a notorious prison. With a now white-hot hatred of all things French, she devotes herself to ridding Algeria of colonial power. Luc Jaundreau, a battle-hardened French Foreign Legion veteran of the brutal Indochina war, hopes for a new posting to Polynesia. Instead, he finds himself shipped to the "e;sandbox,"e; Algeria, to help quell yet another uprising. Their first run-in happens when Luc's night patrol innocently rescues a stranded Sabrina (with fake identification) after she's shot three French detectives. A second encounter happens during a nighttime firefight in Algiers' casbah. Sabrina gets the better of Luc. Recognition comes a moment before she almost pulls the trigger of her rifle. Instead, she curses at him and flees down a laneway. A third encounter brings them together at a New Year's Eve soiree in the city's entertainment district. Shocked at seeing each other in this context, they manage an awkward, guarded exchange before separating. Yet a different, non-lethal spark ignites itself in both. They will meet again under more favorable conditions. Transitions offers a sweeping canvas of mid-50s Algeria in turmoil. You will be transported from a sophisticated capital to an ambush in the Atlas Mountains, from the "e;café wars"e; in Paris to dangerous night patrols on the edge of the Sahara Desert. Transitions is in part a war story but more a triumph of the human spirit. Fate will have its say as two armed and dangerous enemies move from being wary to being worthy of each other.

Well, it isn't theft, Stellan Nieves tells himself, not when you're stealing from a crook. Stellan, a married mid-twenties Chicago accountant, dreams of a new life free from a spiteful wife and two unruly young daughters. His salvation comes by way of mobster Dusan "e;Squeezebox"e; Kovačević. Stellan stumbles onto a cache of $2.1 million hidden beneath loose floorboards at Squeezebox's warehouse. He at first resists the temptation, but it proves too tempting. He plots out his theft, and, under the cover of darkness, bolts with the money in his trunk. Ditching his sensible Brooks Brothers suits and wingtip Oxfords, Stellan resurfaces in a small college town in Vermont. Certain no one would ever look for him there, he reinvents himself as Pete Harris, with a beard, wire frame eyeglasses, jeans, plaid shirts, hiking boots, and a pickup truck. A vengeful Squeezebox becomes apoplectic at the theft. He hunts manically for Stellan. Federal indictments put an end to his search. Charged under the RICO Act, he receives a 60-year sentence. His forever home will be a 6' x 8' prison cell in a small idyllic college town. The only way Squeezebox will ever leave prison is in a pine box. Time passes, and serendipity plays her hand. Pete (formerly Stellan) takes college courses. One day he sees a bulletin board notice. The nearby prison is seeking volunteers to teach English and math classes. He mulls it over. Why not? He can spare the few hours. Two men, both decidedly flawed, face each other across a small table in the prison waiting room. A deep caginess hangs over both, yet the chance meeting transforms both in ways neither could have imagined.

Addie Lang, secretary to the infamous East German spymaster, Markus Wolf, does the unthinkable: she copies a classified document. Her impulsive act incurs the wrath of the regime and pulls in the KGB and an underground evangelical group. An unprecedented manhunt for Addie and her boyfriend generates electronic state chatter that catches the attention of the CIA, which subsequently sneaks an agent into the country and offers Addie a deal: her freedom in exchange for the document. Executing this plan, however, proves to be much more difficult and dangerous than anticipated.