Inkwater Authors Night – Henry Alley, Peter Swan, Erik L. Welchoff

Join us for another night of readings from Inkwater Press authors! This month we have Henry Alley, Peter Swan, and Erik L. Welchoff.

Set against the background of the Measure Nine (anti-gay rights) crisis in Oregon in the early 1990s, Henry Alley’s Precincts of Light explore the combined quests of a brother and sister, both newly out, try to recover the lost affections of their children, from five points of view in a novel of continuously rich and poetic language. The voices of Joanne (poet and mother), Harold (minister and father), Appleton (retired law professor and grandfather), Eleanor (collectibles broker and grandmother), and Samuel (politician, father and secret member of the homophobic Oregon Protection Alliance) comprise a book that explores diversity, the possibilities of a potentially peaceable kingdom-the precincts of light. The characters move, each in his or her own faltering way, toward fighting not only intolerance toward gay and lesbian people but toward anyone who might be considered different. Thus the novel becomes the story of the American Family coming to new terms with itself after many shocks and surprises and affirming, ultimately, its own immense flexibility.

In Peter Swan’s Countdown to Contagion, a jihadi microbiologist with the lethal virus he has created is smuggled into Portland, Oregon, on a cargo ship. A river pilot sees more than he should and is murdered by a cell of “sleepers” based in Portland. The murdered man was the best friend of retired FBI counter-terrorism agent Tad Madison whose discoveries convince the FBI to mobilize. They have four days to stop the terrorists’ attack from infecting hundreds attending a national conference at the Portland Convention Center. Tad’s life is on the line, and his fiancé is kidnapped as the terrorists show they will stop at nothing to complete their mission. When he learns that the sleepers are controlled by a brilliant and devious Egyptian, Tad—now an FBI consultant—goes to Nashville, where he joins forces with the FBI and Mossad agents to track down the mastermind. They must stop the terrorist network before it can carry out an East Coast attack against passengers on a huge cruise ship.

Erik L. Welchoff’s Transformations is the story of super-human Warrior Anton Seven as he struggles to prove himself to his new friends in a new world filled with magic—a Wizard, a village of small people called Primords, a Djinni, and a small Faerie—in an effort to justify his existence. After meeting another Warrior of his own origin, he is whisked off to another dimension only to encounter even more strange creatures. Confused and enamored with his new friend’s trust, Anton begins to take charge as his own magical abilities begin to emerge. Yet he remains unsure of himself as he moves ever closer to confronting both his past and the ominous Necromancer. Never has any Warrior had to defy odds that would conceivably destroy even the best genetically engineered super-human. Never before has any Warrior met demi-gods and immortals and survived. The exciting next installment of Anton Seven awaits you in Book Two, Transformations!

Henry Alley is a Professor Emeritus of Literature in the Honors College at the University of Oregon. He has five novels, Through Glass (Iris Press, 1979), The Lattice (Ariadne Press, 1986), Umbrella of Glass (Breitenbush Books, 1988), Precincts of Light (Inkwater Press, 2010), Men Touching (Chelsea Station Ediitions, 2019) and a collection of stories, The Dahlia Field (Chelsea Station Editions, 2017). For nearly half a century, such journals as Seattle Review and Virginia Quarterly Review have published his fiction.

Peter Swan has practiced marine casualty and product liability law in a large San Francisco firm, worked as a tenured law professor, and served as General Counsel of the University of Oregon. His interests have included mountaineering, traveling abroad, investing, playing saxophone in a swing band, skiiing, and golfing. Upon retirement, he has turned his hand to writing mysteries and thrillers. His published novels are Past Due, Unnatural Causes, and Forest Park all in the Rick Conwright, PI series and Fealder’s Choice in the Parkinson Fealder, homicide detective series. He and his wife of 51 years live in Portland, Oregon.

Born in 1960 near Hayward, California, Erik L. Welchoff began his story after college. Over many years, it evolved in his thoughts, until finally it could be contained no longer. The second novel in a series, Transformations is the result of thousands of hours of character development and hundreds of snippets of Welchoff’s personal interests and life experiences, all wrapped together to produce a science fiction/ fantasy epic beyond your imagination. It is filled with new, fresh ideas and is gripping from cover to cover.