Robert M. Johnson

1361 is the year that follows the treaty of Bretigny. The treaty gave some concessions to the king of England, Edward the Warrior, granting him lands around Calais in the northeast of France and Aquitaine, a large portion of southern France, to the west near Spain. Edward placed his son, The Black Prince in charge of Aquitaine and a brief period of peace followed. The Young archer Duke, William Burton is now settling into his role as Duke of Devonshire and setting in place the people and structures he will need in the region. He and his brother, Thomas, England's Master Archer, are heavily involved in the development of a mercenary force made up of archers for hire. Men who can wield the powerful Longbow are in great demand on the continent and the local French nobles will pay dearly. Will Burton's ascendency to the position of Duke of Devonshire was rare for the times, but was also symptomatic of what was coming: the upheaval of medieval structures. Hundreds of years before commoners toppled kings, there is the story of "The Archer Duke." In this sixth volume of the English Archer Series, the Hawking Duke comes to hunt.

1850. It was the beginning of something that would define America for 100 years. Gold had been discovered in California and word spread like wildfire across the United Colonies of America. The treaty that had acquired California into the American Union was signed two years earlier when no one yet knew the importance of the gold discovered at Sutter's Mill in January 1849. From Sacramento all the way down to Mariposa and Monterey, the territory of California seemed to be one long Gold field. California in 1850 was a boiling, seething, frontier mass of humanity. People had come by the tens of thousands from all over the world, mostly from the Eastern American Colonies, to seek their fortune in the Goldfields. Three Rivers held the secrets of the gold rush, the American, the Sacramento, and the Merced Rivers. They were the RIVERS OF GOLD. John Charles Fremont had taken advantage of the fragile land situation in California during the transition from Mexican rule to American management. The Mexican government had wanted desperately to entice nobles from Mexico City to take over large land grants in the California territory and begin to establish the feudal model they hoped would bring stability to the area. When the transition occurred between the Mexican rule and the American, it was the most natural thing in the world to respect these subdivisions, especially in more remote territories. Along the Merced River in Mariposa County in Southern California, it seemed right therefore to put these large land grants up for sale to the first American bidders. One such parcel was bought by John Charles Fremont and his partner Thomas Larkin for a small amount of money. They gained a large land-grant, a tract of land that was seventy miles square, along the Merced River and at the foothills of the Yosemite Mountains. Time would prove this to be one of the great real estate acquisitions the new state of California would ever see. Historically, it would make John Fremont a millionaire many times over. John Charles Fremont and his partners had purchased an enormous land-grant along the southern end on the East of the Merced River. Bordered by the Sierra Mountains to the east, the vast property of what had come to be known as Fremont Enterprises, posed a problem of significant legality. In 1850, California territory became the state of California, the thirty-first state in the Union and John Charles Fremont, owner of this considerable land-grant along the Merced, became the first senator representing California in Washington. Fremont was a man who had become a thorn in the side of Washington politicians because of the issue of slavery, which he opposed vehemently. While he was preoccupied in this way, setting the course for California in American history, his land-grant was being managed by men he had come to trust. Two men in particular helped to manage the rich gold deposits of his property: Jeremiah Warner, his field manager, and Alex Godey, who managed the actual mining itself. The story you are about to read is a snapshot of what happened on the rough-and-tumble frontier of the Goldfields. It is the Seventeenth volume of the Mountain Man Series, the excitement of the frontier continues in "Gold River Gunman."

Homeland Security Agent Joe Maki was completing the aftermath mop up of the Boston Marathon Bombing investigation when something came up. It was an encounter with a former Russian operative, one of the famous embedded spies, known to the agency as Milton Ericson. His chilling account of the latest Russian espionage would set in motion a vast gathering of Homeland and FBI agents in a desperate effort to head off what was being called World War Zero Sum DAY New advances in computer technology coupled with far-sighted Russian Bureaucrats made the impossible into ominous reality right here on American soil Since it no longer was needed for information purposes continuous news coverage and cell/Satellite phones took care of that, the Russian spy network could actually become the front line for a war waged against American financial supremacy. The Cold War had just become Cyber War The reader will be joining the Homeland Team as they investigate this dangerous plot. For those who willed the Cold War to be over, things are heating up again

The saga of the English Archer continues in this fifth volume, now back on English soil. The son of the village blacksmith, Will Burton, has now become Duke of Devonshire, part of the English aristocracy, favorite of the Warrior King, Edward III. The year is 1360, the Hundred Years War is ongoing, and the excitement never ends. As part of his grandiose plan, King Edward made William Duke of Devonshire in southern England, to be a perfect imitation of his own son's role as Prince of Wales and Duke of Acquitaine in France. The story of the young Duke of Devonshire unfolds in this larger political scheme of uniting England and France under the King of England. 1360 Was to be the year when young Will Burton, the former English Archer, would see his life expand to immense horizons. In this exciting fifth volume of the English Archer Series, Will Burton gains the favor of the English King, Edward III, who sees in him the realization of his grand scheme to unite England and France. To achieve this grandiose goal, Edward names William to the Title and Lands of Devonshire, a duchy in southern England. "The Archer Duke" tells the story of this transformation of the onetime outlaw into a peer of the realm. It is the saga of the first glimmers of class warfare and the rise of the middle class in medieval Europe. Long before the French Revolution there was the Magna Carta in Britain and the "Jacquerie" in France. Will Burton has a foot in France and a foot in England. He is a commoner who has risen to the ranks of the nobility. He personifies the powerful changes that are taking place in the Europe of his times. Will's ascendency to the position of Duke of Devonshire was rare for the times, but was also symptomatic of what was coming: the upheaval of medieval structures. Hundreds of years before commoners toppled kings, there is the story of "The Archer Duke."