#john a. heldt

[thereadingcafe]

[timetravelauthor]

You say you want a Revolution

I have long had a fascination with the American Revolution. When I was eight, I latched onto The Young Rebels, a one-hit-wonder television series that blended The Mod Squad with the War of Independence.

Later, in high school, I dove into the Kent Family Chronicles, an eight-book series by John Jakes that covers the nation's founding and formative years. I got another whiff of history as entertainment.

As an adult, I considered more serious works, like 1776 and John Adams by David McCullough, The Glorious Cause by Jeff Shaara, and Benjamin Franklin: An American Life by Walter Isaacson. More recently, I have binge-watched series like Turn: Washington's Spies, Franklin, The Revolution, and Outlander, set in part in the 1770s and 1780s.

So I did not need much prodding to dive into the era. The Patriots, the first book in the Stone Shed trilogy, is my first foray into the American Revolution. Set in Philadelphia in both the present and the past, the novel examines America's first year from the viewpoint of two time travelers.

When their grandfather dies in 2024, Noah (22) and Jake (15) Maclean inherit a house, a mysterious stone shed, and a family secret that dates to the 1740s. The brothers learn they are the keepers of a portal that can send human beings through time. From that point on, life for the orphans is more than a series of questions. It is an opportunity.

With a nervous uncle's blessing, Noah and Jake take a three-month "vacation" to 1776 and the world of Ben Franklin, John Adams, Peggy Shippen, the Continental Congress, and the Declaration of Independence. They see the United States as a fledgling infant.

Then the trip takes a turn. The brothers meet Abigail (20) and Rachel (14) Ward, the lovely, spirited daughters of a Philadelphia furniture maker, and a thrilling adventure becomes a transformative journey.

The Patriots evokes earlier novels. As in The Fire, a stone shed serves as a time portal. As in Class of '59, brothers from one era mingle with sisters from another. As in Hannah's Moon, an aunt and uncle in the present track relatives in the past. War, a theme in ten other works, serves as a backdrop that influences almost every decision.

Even so, this book blazes its own trail. It delves more into the human aspects of time travel than the scientific aspects. It explores the what ifs, the whys, and the how comes. It tests the heart, mind, and soul.

At 155,000 words, The Patriots, my twenty-fourth novel, is my largest and most ambitious work to date. Available in Kindle format, it goes on sale today at Amazon.com and its international marketplaces.

[sandythereadingcafe]

REVIEW:

THE PATRIOT (Stone Shed Trilogy 1) by John A Heldt at The Reading Cafe:

'The premise is intriguing and entertaining;the characters are charismatic and charming'

[donadeescorner]

John Heldt - The Refuge

John Heldt – The Refuge

Available May 26th, 2021 “The Refuge” by John Heldt The Lane’s, Barely escaping,, now to end this,, arrive in , Hawaii, just before the, Japanese, BOMB the island! Summary 1927 2022 1927 1941 1927 As we all know from the previous book “Sea Spray”; Silas Bain caught up to Laura, Jessie, Jordan, and Ted, Laura’s fiance, in East Hampton, New York 1927. After a gun battle that resulted in Ted…

[leighholland15-blog]

September Sky by John A. Heldt

September Sky by John A. Heldt

September Sky (American Journey Book One) by John A. Heldt, 585 pages, January 1st, 2015, Genre: Time Travel/Historical Romance/Victorian. Warning: May Contain Spoilers. by Leigh Holland September Sky is a novel combining elements of mystery, adventure, romance, time travel, and the historical American Victorian era all in one book. It’s hard to pin a genre down for this book and John A. Heldt…

[ronovanwrites]

Mercer Street #bookreview @johnheldt

Mercer Street #bookreview @johnheldt

Title: Mercer Street Author: John A. Heldt Print Length: 431 Publication Date: October 21, 2015 Sold by Amazon Digital Services LLC Language: English Formats:  Kindle, audiobook Goodreads Genres: Historical Fiction, Romance Mercer Street is the second book of John A, Heldt’s American Journey five-part series. Like the rest of the books, it’s not required to be read in order. I started off with…

[booksboxesandbaubles]

Review Time... Indiana Belle

Review Time: #IndianaBelle #JohnAHeldt Take another journey with Neko through time!

Another Review Request! Another Time Travel Romance! Another another another! I just finished Indiana Belle, another great story by Heldt in his American Journey Series. Keeping reading to find out more! And as always this was provided to me in exchange for an honest review. (more…)

[beautifulilies]

Bee Reviews: September Sky by John A Heldt

Kindle edition, 412 pages

Published January 1st 2015 by John A Heldt

Genre(s): Sci-Fi

Rating:  ★ ★

Synopsis

When unemployed San Francisco reporter Chuck Townsend and his college-dropout son, Justin, take a cruise to Mexico in 2016, each hopes to rebuild a relationship after years of estrangement. But they find more than common ground aboard the ship. They meet a mysterious lecturer who touts the possibilities of time travel. Within days, Chuck and Justin find themselves in 1900, riding a train to Texas, intent on preventing a distant uncle from being hanged for a crime he did not commit. Their quick trip to Galveston, however, becomes long and complicated when they wrangle with business rivals and fall for two beautiful librarians on the eve of a hurricane that will destroy the city. Filled with humor, history, romance, and heartbreak, September Sky follows two directionless souls on the adventure of a lifetime as they try to make peace with the past, find new purpose, and grapple with the knowledge of things to come.

Review

A copy of this book was given in exchange for an honest review.

I would like to preface this by saying that perhaps I wasn't the best candidate for reading this novel. My review could potentially be biased as I don't often read books of this genre, so maybe I'm not as appreciative of Heldt's writing as much as someone else would be.

Let's start with the positives. This novel is certainly the work of creativity unparalleled in a field where there is an abundance of recycled plots and ideas. It's very refreshing being presented with Chuck and Justin's antics, and this novel certainly challenged my perception of the world, both in terms of historical contexts and modern day too. Heldt has a lot of potential as an author to expand on his ideas and take them to the next level. But there were also some points to consider for the next novel Heldt writes.

This novel doesn't really start until a quarter of the way through. I wouldn't recommend this novel to someone with pea-sized patience like myself. The other thing that really bugged me was the characters. I didn't really have much of a problem with Justin, but Chuck somehow felt too wooden to me. In spite of the novel practically surrounding him, with his perspectives, his history (both recent and ancestral), Chuck never came to life for me. For me, this was the most off-putting thing. Whether this is down to the writing or how the story turned out, it's difficult to ascertain. But this novel remains a strong indication of Heldt's superb writing abilities!

[thecomposerthatwaspromised]

Recursive References and In-Universe Instances of the Imperial March

Presentation by: Frank Lehman and Samantha Tripp  Music and the Moving Image Conference  April 28, 2022 

Abstract: 

Allowing a non-diegetic theme to slip into the realm of source music is nothing new: ever since Siegfried tooted his own horn(motif), composers of narrative multimedia have found ways for underscore to peek into the diegetic world. But while such moments of diegeticization provide yet another example of the eminently-permeable “fantastical gap,” their ramifications often run deeper than a blurring of narrational levels (Stilwell 2004, Heldt 2013). Because when fictional characters hear their own music, it can provoke a rehearing for the audience. Indeed, the recontextualized “source” of such underscore-as-source-music may turn out to reside as much in nonfictional reality as some fictional diegesis. 

This presentation explores the implications of rehearing an iconic theme—John Williams’ “Imperial March”—through two in-universe instances: David Glen Russell’s “Empire Day” from Rebels (2014), and John Powell’s “Empire Recruitment” from Solo (2018). These cues both reimagine the minor-mode leitmotif as major-mode musical propaganda. Through close analysis, we demonstrate two contrasting approaches to diegeticization: parodic hyper-chromaticization of the theme’s non-functional tonality in Rebels’ ceremonial parade; and nostalgic diatonic hyper-correction for Solo’s military-recruitment ad. By cannily channeling the nobilmente style of Elgar/Walton, these cues resurface a subtextual “source” of Williams’s theme—Edwardian Pax-Britannica style nationalism—and with it the complex relation of imperial-versus-revolutionary politics in Star Wars generally (Buhler 2002, Lerner 2004). We conclude by situating the “Imperial March” at one further level of remove: out of the meticulously controlled diegetic canon of Disney-era Star Wars and into the real world of contemporary protest music. 

Frank Lehman:  Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLwc...  Website: https://franklehman.com/

[thereadingcafe]

[solivar]

Nonfiction Book Rec List

@faiahae -- this is a not entirely complete list of my research for Ghost Stories On Route 66. ^_^

The Kojiki: An Account of Ancient Matters by O no Yasumaru and translated by Gustav Heldt

There are less expensive versions of The Kojiki available on Amazon, but I adore this one for its preservation of the poetry of the original language, translated with a literary eye.

A Year In the Life of A Shinto Shrine by John K Nelson

A scholarly but still accessible to the layperson book that follows the year-long cycle of festivals, rites, and observances at Suwa, in Nagasaki. Thorough and comprehensive discussion of Shinto and its ongoing place in modern Japanese culture and life.

Shinto: The Kami Way by Sokyo Ono

A scholarly treatise on Shinto that focuses more on its socially unifying aspects and place in Japanese culture.

Shinto: A Celebration of Life by Aidan Rankin

A scholarly treatise on Shinto that focuses more on its spiritual and philosophical aspects. Not available in e-book form.

Japanese Shamanism: Trance and Possession by Daniele Ricci

A scholarly treatise examining the role of altered states of mind and spirit possession/control in Japanese shamanism.

The Catalpa Bow: A Study of Shamanistic Practices In Japan by Carmen Blacker

Extremely comprehensive scholarly treatise on Shinto and shamanism in Japan. Only rentable in e-book form and hellaciously expensive otherwise, but also one of the few completely thorough ethnographic examinations of this topic available in English period.

Native American Tribes: The History and Culture of the Navajo by Charles River Editors

A fairly comprehensive overview of Navajo history and culture, highly accessible.

Dine Bahane: The Navajo Creation Story by Paul G. Zolbrod

A translation of the Navajo creation epic, with a particular eye to maintaining the poetic forms found in orally transmitted history. Extremely detailed and comprehensive forward and end notes.

Dineji Na Nitin by Robert S. McPherson

An extremely thorough and accessible introduction of Navajo culture, values, and religious concepts, how they persist and how they have changed over the centuries.

Monsters Among Us: An Exploration of Otherworldly Bigfoots, Wolfmen, Portals, Phantoms and Odd Phenomena and American Monsters: A History of Monster Lore, Legends, and Sightings In America by Linda S. Godfrey

A pair of interesting and informative beginner’s guides to cryptozoology and weird phenomena, focused primarily on the United States.

On Monsters: An Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears by Stephen T. Asma

Comprehensive and entertaining, on monsters and fear and their place in human culture and psychology.

Phenomena: The Secret History of the US Government Investigation Into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis by Annie Jacobsen

An intriguing but controversial look at the equally interesting and controversial official US governmental investigation into applied psychic phenomena and associated research.

[sandythereadingcafe]

FREE books 1-3

#TimeTravel

CARSON CHRONICLES by @johnheldt

US: https://amzn.to/4dMlr0y

CA: https://bit.ly/4h9d81q

UK: https://bit.ly/3YncYwd

[donadeescorner]

Book Review for "The Fountain" by John A. Heldt.

Be sure to pick up your copies and prepare for history to come alive but include a box of tissues when you sit down. I must a cried a mountain of tears for the difficulties of his characters but loved every minute of them. “The Fountain,” book one in the new Second Chance series by John Heldt, is available now!

[leighholland15-blog]

September Sky by John A. Heldt

September Sky (American Journey Book One) by John A. Heldt, 585 pages, January 1st, 2015, Genre: Time Travel/Historical Romance/Victorian. Warning: May Contain Spoilers. by Leigh Holland September Sky is a novel combining elements of mystery, adventure, romance, time travel, and the historical American Victorian era all in one book. It’s hard to pin a genre down for this book and John A. Heldt…

[ronovanwrites]

September Sky #BookReview

Title: September Sky Author: John Heldt File Size: 1032KB Print Length: 363 Publication Date: January 1, 2016 Sold by Amazon Digital Services LLC Language: English Formats:  Kindle Goodreads Genres: Historical Fiction, Romance September Sky begins the American Journey series with Chuck Townsend, an unemployed San Francisco reporter, and his college-dropout son, Justin. During a cruise, they…

[booksboxesandbaubles]

Review Time... The Mine!

Review Time: The Mine by #JohnAHeldt Care to delve into the past with Neko?

Seriously so many Pinky and the Brain jokes to be had with Review Time… So very many… Today Neko brings you another Review Request! And it is based in one of her all time least favorite genres: Time Travel. If I have to make a spreed sheet for this book my Kindle is going out the window… As usual this book was provided to me by the author in exchange for an honest review. And SPOILERS! (more…)