Look who is in the SPOTLIGHT!!! An Echo of Ashes by Ron Allen Ames

An Echo of Ashes

By Ron Allen Ames

Publication Date: March 25th, 2025

Publisher: Historium Press

Pages: 247

Genre: Historical Fiction

An Echo of Ashes is a story lost to time, then found again in century-old letters that lay in a tattered box.

Based on actual events taken from the pages, this story tells of when the Great War and the Spanish Influenza forever altered the lives of millions, including a family of subsistence farmers who also worked the oil fields of Pennsylvania.

Ella and Almon make their home in the backcountry. Almon and his sons work in the oil fields, just as their forefathers before them. As war and influenza break out, the parents seek to shield their family from the impending perils. Earl, the eldest son, is a gifted trombone and piano player. He is captivated by Lucile Lake, a girl from a higher social status. All he has to win her heart are his music and his words as the military draft looms in the foreground. Jack, a friend as close as a brother, faces the horrors of war at the Western Front. Albert's free spirit creates chaos as he searches for direction. Arthur's patriotism leads him to the Mexican border. Young Russell must suppress his fear to save a life, while Little Clara remains protected from the distress.

World War One and the Spanish Influenza Pandemic are most often documented separately, yet they intersected in 1918. For those who endured sacrifice and loss during this time, looking forward seemed their only choice. The sharp echo of tragedy, carried through the ashes of what once was, likely dulled but never vanished from their minds. This is just one of countless family stories from such a perilous chapter in American history.

Excerpt

It was the old recluse, Mr. Regent. The Civil War had taken his leg and much of his soul.

“Looks like the war,” the old man muttered as he lowered his head, turned, and made his way back through the crowd.

 

The silence broke as a model T ambulance pulled onto the scene, but all the drivers could do was hand burlap sacks to a few volunteers. The grim task of rummaging through the debris, trying to find what little was left of Ralph, was about to begin.

 

Arthur knelt to rub his still-stinging knee. That is when he noticed a red horse blanket on the ground at the edge of the crater. The cloth looked to be unblemished, an abnormality among the carnage. He picked it up as his mind pondered, If this is what war looks like, then what leaves something escape unscathed? Does destiny choose what is to be spared? Or does fate foretell what is to be destroyed? Do the angels safeguard what is chosen?

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Ron Allen Ames

Ron Allen Ames is a history enthusiast who attributes his forty-six years of life experience as a hands-on business co-owner, for giving him insight into human nature, a benefit when portraying the lives of others. The information he received, dating from 1914 to 1919, is what prompted Ames to bring this history to light in An Echo of Ashes.

Ames lives with his wife Cathy in Pennsylvania. They have two grown sons.

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Look who is in the SPOTLIGHT!!! Shattered Peace: A Century of Silence by Julie McDonald Zander

Shattered Peace: A Century of Silence

By Julie McDonald Zander

Publication Date: March 7th, 2025
Publisher: St. Helen's Press
Pages: 290
Genre: Historical Fiction / World War I / Timeslip

A forgotten diary. A century-old secret. A town still haunted by its past.

When former Navy Seabee Colleen Holmes inherits an old house in Centralia, Washington, she sees it as a chance to escape her own ghosts and start anew. But as she peels back layers of history within the home’s walls, she unearths long-buried secrets tied to a dark chapter in the town’s history.

Hidden behind crumbling plaster, a faded diary and a bundle of love letters unveil the struggles of a soldier trapped in the trenches of France and the heartbreak of those left waiting at home. Yet the diary’s brittle pages hold more than just longing—they bear witness to the explosive events of November 11, 1919, when a parade meant to celebrate peace erupted into violence and bloodshed.

As Colleen pieces together the tragic choices that shattered lives and fractured a town, she realizes history is never truly buried. The wounds of yesterday still shape today, and the past is not done with her yet.

Inspired by true events, Shattered Peace is a gripping time-slip novel of love, loss, and the echoes of history that refuse to fade. Perfect for fans of The Alice Network and The Girl You Left Behind, this haunting tale of resilience, redemption, and the pursuit of truth will linger long after the final page.

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Julie McDonald Zander

Julie McDonald Zander, an award-winning journalist, earned a bachelor’s degree in communications and political science from the University of Washington before working two decades as a newspaper reporter and editor.

Through her personal history company, Chapters of Life, she has published more than 75 individual, family, and community histories. Her debut novel, The Reluctant Pioneer, won a Will Rogers Medallion and was a finalist for the Western Writers of America’s Spur Award for Best Historical Novel.

She and her husband live in the Pacific Northwest, where they raised their two children.

Author Links:

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