Chapter 1 (partial)

Now that I had conquered Pirthtowan and Wadebridge, I had to integrate them into my Barony. I hadn't wanted to go to war with them, but they tried to assassinate me, so I had no choice.

Their failed attempt resulted in the death of the Dowager Countess Wendon and her son, the only male heir to the Barony. I had grown fond of them and had a good relationship with her father, John Chandler.

John, a ship's Chandler in Saltash, was also a friend and business partner. I couldn't leave their deaths unanswered. There was also the fact that once they had tried and failed, they had no choice but to continue.

But they only had to get lucky once. I had to win successfully against every attempt. So I set out with my war party the next morning.

I would like to report that we won a series of hard-fought battles. The fact of the matter was we rolled them up easily. My introduction of a stronger crossbow was the deciding factor.

Thad, my assistant scribe, attended to me as usual. He had accompanied me enough to know what was needed.

It would take weeks to give the locals an understanding of the changes that would be made. Followed by months of work to implement the changes.

The first step was to send the headmen of Pirthtowan and Wadebridge to Own-nap to see for themselves what we had accomplished. They would be our best salesmen.

Food was already on its way. It may have been hubris, but I was so certain of victory that I had a food train formed and set out before the battles occurred. Once there were full bellies, people would be prone to listen.

Then our head medical person Agnes would arrive with her contingent of nurses. They would start educating the local midwives. They would be our staunchest supporters once they saw how infant death rates could be reduced.

As these events were transpiring, I spent some time thinking about how all this got started. I was born over a thousand years in the future as James Fletcher. I lived a good life.

Most of it was spent in the military, where I fought in World War II, Korea, and Viet Nam. I was a combat engineer who forgot to duck occasionally and made things happen under fire.

Cast in Time Book 6 Available in June 2024!

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More details coming soon.

Earl E. (Ed) Nelson

I have always wanted to be an author. I had my first rejection slip in about 1965. Wish I had saved it. For many years the only writing I did was technical as pesky things like three children, nine grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren came along.

My technical writing was in the field of quality in several different journals. I worked in the field of quality for over fifty years, starting as a line inspector and ending up as a Vice-President of Quality and elected a Fellow of the American Society for Quality.

Then a wonderful thing happened. I lost my job and was out of work for almost eight months. To keep from going crazy I wrote. I posted my stories on an online site, and lo and behold people read them and said nice things. Fast forward about eight years and I am retired and writing for the fun of it.

A lot of what is in my stories is based on my life experiences, gasp! Give or take a lie or two that is. The one fortunate thing in my career is that I got to travel worldwide and have been to most of the locations I write about.

In my younger days, I tried hot air ballooning, sky diving, white water rafting, spelunking, and target shooting. I have collected stamps, drove in road rallies, lowly rated by the US Chess federation. I built a Kentucky long rifle and a dueling pistol. I am a licensed HAM radio operator. My hobby is having hobbies.

My true passion is reading. Trapped in a hotel room I would read the telephone book. The TV would not be turned on. I have averaged 200 books a year for the last sixty years. I knew those long flights were good for something.

BTW I was born in the middle of an air raid in England during World War II, the house next door was destroyed and our windows were blown out. That is probably the most interesting thing I have been involved with. Mum never forgave me. Happily married for 56 years I hope my wife doesn’t catch on to what a goof I am.