Test of Freedom - Introduction and TOC

(Jump straight to the first episode - to be posted Monday, October 15, 2012)

The blog story running from October 15, 2012 to March 2013 is:

Title: Test of Freedom

A Test of Freedom is a novella: the second book in a series which began with The Wife of Freedom. (More about that here.)  It is possible to read this second story without reading the first, however, you may miss subtleties of characters and minor jokes and things.

The book is available for sale at : Amazon Kindle Store, and Amazon international stores: UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain. , as well as at Barnes and Noble, Sony, Deisel, and Kobo, And in every format (with large free samples) at Smashwords.

Genre: Melodrama, Alternate World (non-magical) 

Blurb:  When Jackie Alwyn, firebrand of the Acton Revolution, is arrested for treason and transported to the hellish island of Sabatine, nothing will stop his notorious wife from getting him back.  The only question is whether Jackie can stay out of trouble long enough for Mary to find him.

Setting/Series:

The Adventures of Mary Alwyn takes place in an alternate world, based on the fuzzy, mythic view of history you get from melodrama and early film and children's stories.

When I originally wrote the story, I wanted it to feel a little unreal and theatrical -- with a broad, stylized backdrop, like on stage.  Any resemblance to real history or real places is purely philosophical.  Imagine that the costumes are from the American Revolution stockroom, and the accents of the Actonians are vaguely Scottish (hey, I was influenced by Robert Louis Stevenson, okay?) and you've probably covered the entire world-building effort right there.


Table of Contents
(links will appear as episodes are posted)

Episodes: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10
Episodes: 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20
Episodes: 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30
Episodes: 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40

* * *

For those who don't want to read the previous books, here is a quick cheat sheet of the main characters who appeared in the previous book:

Jackie Alwyn, a blacksmith turned journalist/revolutionary: friendly, effusive and contrary as a goose.  A formerly neglectful husband who still forgets to come home sometimes. Jackie is irrepressible, but also absent minded, not a good combination for a prisoner.

Mary Alwyn, Jackie's slightly feral wife: failed puritan housewife, former spy, formerly (and notoriously) unfaithful, with a tendency to flow through barriers like water.

Lady Penelope Ashton, widowed aristocrat: artist, liberal, and Mary's only friend.  Hides a dark secret, and is determined to redeem herself with good deeds.

Secondary Characters:

Cap'n Trent, cavalier, bandit, hero of the revolution, rumored to have once been a pirate. Admirer of Mary Alwyn.

Hingle, young scamp. Former spy and co-conspirator of Mary's.

Other characters are new and will be introduced as you get to them.