Historic
Romance
“Verna MacLean's uncanny gift
for narrative detail completely envelops the reader in the
heroine's world. As a result, we keenly feel the pain of her
cruel journey. The characters are fictional, but the history
is real, and this is a story we should all know.
—Mary Israel, Assistant Professor Retired, Drama
and Theatre, Queens College, City University of New York.
“Verna MacLean has transformed a single
line in our history books into the tragic story of the MacFarlanes'
removal from their Rhilochan home as part of the Highland
Clearances. The details made me see the hovel that the MacFarlanes
and their neighbors lived in, the limited diet, and the beautiful
countryside. This would make a highly entertaining movie!”
—Shirley Shimada, Research Coordinator, College
of Education, University of Washington
“Farewell Rhilochan
is the retelling of a tale that has been lived and relived
over the centuries. It's about a proprietor exercising a legal
right to rationalize the employment of a productive asset.
The result was to maximize its return to the estate but at
great cost to those who had, until removed, eked out a spare
living on the holding.
“After rationalization there was no need nor room for
the crofters who had managed a meager subsistence living in
the Scottish Highlands for a millennium before the introduction
of the ‘Great Sheep.’ By being ordered by the
Duchess of Sutherland to burn their Highland homes, remove
themselves to the coast where they were expected to adopt
a wholly alien way of life, the villagers of Rhilochan were
forced to provide the emotional and sweat equity needed to
‘finance’ the investment required by agricultural
improvement.
“Verna MacLean has used a microcosm of Highland life,
the folk of Rhilochan, to skillfully tell us of the vast adjustments
and great pain associated with the forced mobility that was
the rural side of the Industrial Revolution. And who are ‘us?’
A generation born in the 1930's or later and so wedded to,
or at least, inured to mobility that we expect to have to
move at least once and consider the prospect without emotion.
“Those of us who read Farewell Rhilochan
will witness with profound empathy the immense losses and
the contrasting small victories of the victims of the Highland
Clearances of 1806. Readers will also witness with admiration
the hardy persistence of some of those underclass victim—especially
Catherine, the novel's protagonist—who managed to prevail
despite the harshness of the circumstances forced upon them
by one of the era's rational, economic decision-makers.”
—Ralph Gray, Professor Emeritus, Economics,
DePauw University.
“Verna MacLean's new novel, Farewell Rhilochan, creates
a warmly emotional
tale around the distress and upheavals experienced by the
ordinary people of Rhilochan. Engrossing....”
—Lillian Britain, Retired Docent, Seattle Art
Museum.
”I was completely drawn to the feisty Catherine MacFarlane,
willingly following her so I could learn more about her. It
was hard to stop reading and return to my own life. I wanted
so much to know what would happen to her as she was pulled
into life-changing events, either thrilling or horrifyingly
sad. Well written, the story brought home that the Clearances
were imposed on real people who were wrenched from their homes
and the lives they'd known for generations in the Scottish
Highlands.”
—Gloria L. Young, Avid Reader
“This book is a wonderful change from the usual racing
plot stories with no real character analysis. Like the Highlands
of Scotland where it’s set, the plot rolls gently into
the story, gaining momentum. Rather than being a blood and
thunder type of book, as one might expect of the early 19th
century, it delves into the real thoughts and experiences
of the people involved.
“MacLean's writing style is full of similes and metaphors
that flow easily one after another, moving the story ahead
by painting complete pictures of the landscapes, village living,
poverty and hardship. Full of beauty, her writing style, reminiscent
of Willa Cather’s, describes a very difficult time.
I truly enjoyed this book.”
—Sharon Krachunis, Docent, Albuquerque Museum
of Art, Albuquerque, N.M.
“Verna MacLean’s Farewell Rhilochan is a fascinating
story of a young Scots girl caught up in the bitter clash
of two civilizations, and of her successful struggle to survive
without giving up her culture. The details of the Highlanders’
everyday lives are contrasted with the ‘official’
English interpretation in brief historical quotations at the
start of every chapter. It is instructive that the Highland
Clearances ‘solution’ was followed a few decades
later by the Irish potato famine crisis and the English exportation
of ‘problem populations’ to the new colonies in
the Americas. So many were lost in both cases, but the survivors
created a new culture. Verna MacLean has wonderfully captured
the world-view of the Highland Scots and how everything changed
day by day. You won't be able to put it down.”
—Jane M. Perry, History Buff.
“The Scottish highlands of 1807 come alive in Farewell
Rhilochan. We can almost smell the peat, feel the warmth of
cottage fires, and hear the fiddles as we're drawn into a
tale of loyalty and love, of greed and betrayal, as real today
as the latest headlines.”
—Patty Whisler, Community Organizer, Seattle.
An enthralling
love story amid the horror and chaos of the Highland Clearances
of 1807. A must read!”
—Janet Roberts Retired teacher, Decatur, Georgia
“I enjoy history very much and I found Farewell Rhilochan
to be thoroughly informative and enjoyable. The characters
were vivid and descriptive, as well as the setting in Scotland.
All in all it was most pleasurable to read.”
—Barbara Lentz, Amateur Historian.
“Farewell Rhilochan is a fascinating, well-researched,
novel that takes place in a dark time in the history of Scotland.
Verna MacLean paints vivid pictures in your mind with her
writing, then supplies a happy ending to give us all hope
in this world.”
—Robin Wood, Author
“I have two criteria for books I recommend highly: one
is to loan them to friends who are also voracious readers;
two is to wish the book had more pages and a continuing character
story line. Both of these apply to Farewell Rhilochan by Verna
MacLean.”
—Donna D. Hegstrom, Medical Education Administrator
(ret.).
“The cover of Farewell Rhilochan pictures the experience
of the story's characters whose world is turned upside down
when they are driven from their generational homes so that
the big sheep of empire can graze where they have lived. Like
the small sheep they have grazed, the Highlanders are abandoned.
Verna MacLean tells a straightforward story in clear, simple
prose, the hardest kind of writing of all. Against the elegant
simplicity of this story of power abused and human life disregarded,
the courage and compassion of the Highlanders stand out with
strength and clarity. Rich in sensual detail, touched with
the lilting magic of the old ways, this novel opens the reader's
heart in a journey to another time and place, leaving the
truths the story reveals and its memorable characters lingering
in the reader's mind long after the final page is turned.”
—Lesley Kellas Payne, Freelance Fiction Editor.
Catherine MacFarlane is a strong and inspiring
female character in Farewell to Rhilochan. She goes through
hardships with her family and friends during the Highland
Clearances. Even if you don’t know about the Highland
Clearances, the characters in this novel make you feel what
the people of this time period endured. You will root for
her, her family and friends through their perilous flight.
It will keep you on the edge of your seat because you will
want to know what happens to the MacFarlane family and friends.
Verna MacLean has written a very enjoyable read.
—Barbara J. Deal MS., Book Review Editor, The
Digest—e-Zine of Copywriters Council of America.
Kenneth
MacLean's "The
Mind Keepers" Draws Praise
""Ken MacLean is a talented weaver
of suspense in this unique and spellbinding story. Each turn
of the page leaves you with the thought that this author may
be a Jules Verne for the new millennium. The threads of eminent
technology are masterfully spun with the insightful drama
of vivid characters. The reader has a sense of visiting a
small town that has become central in the shadow of a menace
that could change the future of civilization. Entertaining,
exciting and ponderous, enjoy!”
—Eryn Adams, Editor, Michael S. Andrews Publishing,
LLC
"Kenneth MacLean's new novel, The Mind Keepers, a distinctly
well-crafted thriller by a gifted American poet, delivers
a realistic and compelling, cautionary tale with serious political
implications.
The work is carefully paced with a collection of richly drawn
characters, which cleverly reveal colorful themes of a suspenseful
plot as they uncover where the hero's investigation into the
secret machinations of the powerful will take them.
The hero, Michael Neilly, is a convincing ‘Everyman’
with acute intelligence, as are his devious adversaries. ‘What
will happen?’ we wonder, as the pages turn swiftly,
and we become deeply involved in mysteries we recognize as
being not unlike our own so-called reality.
But readers will think beyond the margins of this evocative,
entertaining story toward making an ethical—dare one
say moral—judgment about the dubious behavior of dark
power, even as it claims to have only our safety and significant
interests at heart.”
—Robert Bonazzi, Book Columnist, San Antonio
Express-News;
Author of Man in the Mirror: John Howard Griffen and
Black Like Me
"Ken MacLean has done a credible job of raising vital
questions that bedevil contemporary society, while, at the
same time, wrapping all this in an engaging tale of mystery
and intrigue. Although the issues are momentous, he sets the
action in a rural hamlet in the Pacific Northwest, peopled
by ordinary folk concerned with ordinary matters of school,
church, work and their personal lives. This is a genuine ’whodunit’
with thought and substance.”
—Dr. Warren Johnson, Emeritus Professor of History,
Seattle University
”The Mind Keepers is a contemporary book easily appreciated
by a society which has been through 9/11, exposed to the work
of conniving and clever business executives, and further,
become somewhat knowledgeable with extraordinary, new technology.
The recent study reported by neuroscientists at the University
of Washington, in which a computer was programmed to respond
to the thoughts of a human subject, is the sort of thing hinted
at in MacLean’s fine book. The story is well written
with intrigue and excitement; it pulls you through chapter
after chapter, rooting for the good guys over the bad. You
can’t be sure how it is going to end until the last
few pages. I liked the book and recommend it.”
—Robert Hegstrom, M.D., retired staff physician,
Virginia Mason Hospital, Seattle
"Kenneth MacLean's extensive research into the subject
of microwave electronics creates this narrative of an engrossing
and disquieting tale about the possibility and results of
public ’mind control.’ The information and the
story are certainly worth the read.”
—Lillian Britain, retired docent, The Seattle
Art Museum
"The Mind Keepers, an action-packed novel that evolves
around a mysterious, electronic weapon, becomes more frightening
page by page. This mind-bending weapon can induce seizures
or heart attacks; torment a human target with ominous ’ghost
voices,’ or rack victims with pain: ’like being
shaved with a flamethrower during a tsunami.’ Who has
developed this weapon and for what purpose?
Author Kenneth MacLean, so passionately committed to a democratic
and free society, understands the dangers of a federal government
that is secretly developing pulse wave energy technology for
mind control. His hero, former FBI Agent Mike Neilly, is extracted
from an early retirement because someone murders his best
friend. As he investigates the inner workings of an apparently
harmless corporation that is installing a national defense
system outside the imaginative village of Morton City, he
unleashes the sinister power of this corporation and its weapon.
I was spellbound at the implications as I wondered if this
book is a novel or science fiction? Or, are dark forces, even
now, harnessing electronic pulse energy?
Kenneth MacLean's thought-provoking novel makes a good read.
You'll never look at a microwave tower the same way again!”
—Dr. John Bean, Professor of English, Seattle
University
“I’ve seen a lot of reviews saying how this book
is perfect for the conspiracy theorists among us. Well, I’m
certainly not a conspiracy theorist, but the book is still
an excellent read. If you read it like a mystery, it impresses
with its characterization and mounting tension. If you think
about the mysterious possibilities it raises, it delivers
in a whole different way.”
—Skyler Roth, High School Senior, Olympia, Washington
"Kenneth MacLean, in his novel The Mind Keepers, has
skillfully crafted an intriguing and spell-binding tapestry,
comprising some of the ever-present elements of our society;
subjects (not necessarily disparate) such as race, environmental
activism, and paranoid distrust of government. The book's
primary theme revolves around the Federal Government's proposed
development and implementation of electronic, radio-controlled
technology for national security and intelligence gathering
purposes. On the surface, not an alarming proposition, but
intimations of general population mind control by power hungry
criminals spurs some exciting detective work and action. The
background and connective theme of this engrossing story is
the investigation into the murder of a close friend of the
novel's chief character, former FBI Agent, Mike Neilly.
MacLean has created a cast of well-drawn characters in a rich
and exciting narrative, making this novel an eminently satisfying
read.”
—Joseph Israel, Retired Vice President, Chase
Manhattan Bank
"Kenneth MacLean's The Mind Keepers is an engrossing
novel of intrigue and suspense that involves a timely notion:
The abuse of microwave technology by a cadre of the power
and money-hungry, with the resulting potential for great harm.
MacLean demonstrates that he understands the technology involved
in this believable book. His characters are well developed,
especially Michael Neilly, an ex-Army intelligence and FBI
Agent, who takes on the bad guys.
Especially effective is the dialogue; I've never read any
more crisp or natural.
The Mind Keepers is a good read."
—Sally H. Gray, retired judge and teacher
"For a interesting, challenging and very worthwhile reading
experience, I enthusiastically recommend Kenneth MacLean's
The Mind Keepers. The reader will find the period and setting
most plausible, the description crisp. The progression of
plot is so compelling that it is hard to put the book down,
although the hour is late.
Most importantly, the reader will confront, in many cases
for the first time, the inherent danger to our safety and
our constitutional rights, and responsibilities of permitting
the unquestioned and unrestricted advance of technology exemplified
in the intrusion of microwave electronics on a thoroughly
American small town."
—Winfield S. Fountain, retired Professor of
Education, Seattle University
“Kenneth MacLean’s Michael Neilly is the quintessential
American hero, willing to stand against the abuse of authority
and power, even when the majority of his peers, friends and
neighbors are unable or refuse to see the looming danger.
The Mind Keepers is a well conceived and well written thriller,
not an easy thing to find on bookstore shelves as readers
hope. The science that is central to the story is as solid
as the author’s craft. Artful development makes the
relationships and interactions among characters credible and
compelling, including those of Michael Neilly’s marriage.
It is not too hard to write a strong hero or a strong heroine;
it is delightful, however, to encounter in fiction a man and
a woman together of matched conviction and courage. The Mind
Keepers is a story of our time: one that reveals the dangers
of political and corporate greed and secrecy. It is a story
that keeps the reader turning the pages long into the night,
proof of the seamless road.”
—Lesley Kellas Payne, Freelance Fiction Editor
“From the first page, The Mind Keepers caught and held
my attention. The principal characters are well drawn and
developed against a backdrop of mysterious forces at work
that unfold with subtlety. The protagonist comes to grips
with consummate evil. The reader experiences a pleasant excitement
as to the outcome. I could not put this book down.”
—Charles R. Lonergan Jr., Siderius and Lonergan,
Attorneys, Seattle
"The Mind Keepers is an intriguing tale of scientific
mind control that takes place in the quiet outback of Washington
State with an unlikely, but intriguing cast of characters,
which includes a former FBI Agent and Army Intelligence Officer.
Concern with ’how ruthless the demands on democracy
had become,’ suggests contemporary issues with which
we are all too familiar. Mixed in with an electronic thought-control
scheme by a large power monopoly, Eramond Co., are many of
the environmental concerns of the Pacific Northwest."
—Dr. James E. Parry, Professor Emeritus, History,
Seattle University
“The Mind Keepers is a chilling tale of a private/public
defense project gone wrong—in fact, it’s murderous!
Kenneth MacLean’s first novel is set in an obscure Washington
town, fraught with animosity. This thriller is a well-crafted
mix of characters, led by Michael Neilly, former intelligence
officer and FBI agent, who tries to sort out the truth. This
isn’t a whodunit: it’s a how-they-almost-got-away-with-it.”
—Trina O. McKinstry, volunteer teacher, ESL,
North Seattle Community College
“‘The Mind Keepers’ takes the reader into
the dark world of new weaponry with frequency technology that
can destroy human life. This manner of destruction leaves
little evidence to be uncovered without the expertise of a
well-trained investigator, such as the main character of Kenneth
MacLean’s book, Michael Neilly.
Neilly left the FBI when he saw it turning
into ‘a paramilitary force with the power of a secret
police agency.’ Fate has another plan that interrupts
his new life in a small Washington town. He finds himself
surrounded by undercover government agents, corruption, mysterious
deaths and a frequency device that can disrupt a brain pattern,
heart pattern or bio-stability.
Fiction so ably rides the rail between reality
and possible reality. Anyone who has kept up with the direction
the Tesla technology or psychotronic instrumentation development
will be quick to ‘connect the dots’ of possibilities
and undeclared, secret use and abuse of these instruments.
‘The Mind Keepers’ is a well-written, easy read
that captures your attention and reminds you that if you can
imagine it, it is possible!”
—Beverly Coleman, U.S. Psychotronics Association
"A brilliant and
extraordinary piece of fiction with memorable characters.
This book is compulsively readable. Professor MacLean is an
excellent writer and storyteller."
—Edwin L. Winter, Career Pentagon Employee
"A solid, satisfying read. MacLean is a true novelist,
a first rate genre writer."
—Irene Jasperson, Former Congressional
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"Dr. Linick has distinguished himself in the field of
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1974 Black Belt Hall of Fame
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Dr. Linick has provided inspiration and mentoring to dozens
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M.A.
Nolte’s “Shared
Moments” Keepsake Coloring Album Volume One
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Eryn
Adams’s "King
of the Shore” Riveting Sci-Fi Adventure!
King of the Shore is one of the most intriguing
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Although I’m not a science fiction
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A ‘Fantasy’ worth believing.
Truly, this is an extraordinary story.
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King of the Shore is beautifully done, very
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A saga set in a distant future...a story
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When King of the Shore was first recommended
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No matter what your normal genre, you’ll
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Editor, Typographer, Uniquely Type-ical
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Many of our friends have already discovered this treasure
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Eryn Adams has done what very few first time
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—Jess Rueb, Author
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