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Shawn McCarthy

Dark Spark Press

MA

 

Member profile details

Membership level
Publisher Member
Organization
Dark Spark Press
First name
Shawn
Middle Name
P.
Last name
McCarthy
Profile Photo
Genre(s)
Historic Fiction
State
MA
 

Personal information

Job title
Publisher and Author
Member Directory Listing - About Us:
Owner of Dark Spark Press.
Author of 8 books, and working on #9

Interested in historical fiction and historical mysteries

Series: The Puzzle Box Chronicles
Primary website
Http:shawnmccarthy.com
Other website
darksparkpress.com
Blog
disinformationweek.com
 

TITLE #1

Book #1 Title
Wreck of the Gossamer
Book #1 Subtitle
The Puzzle Box Chronicles Book 1
Book #1 Publication Year
2016
Book #1 Author
Shawn P. McCarthy
Book #1 Publisher
Dark Spark Press
Book #1 ISBN
978-0996896702
Book #1 cover price
9.95
Book #1 Description
Book one of the sprawling Puzzle Box Chronicles.
Victor Marius, an inspired scientist and budding entrepreneur, is lost in a shipwreck off the coast of Cape Cod in the summer of 1891. But before he disappears beneath the waves he manages to release a strange box that he hopes will protect his legacy.

Amanda Malcom, a young woman enduring a troubled marriage, is about to make a discovery that will lead her on a dangerous odyssey – one that takes her across the country, and into the heart of a rapidly changing America. Along the way, she meets Plains Indians, ex-slaves, riverboat charlatans, and secretive workers who champion the U.S. labor movement.

At a time when electric lighting is spreading across the country like a wave, she also meets inspired engineers and Montana miners who dig deep to feed the country's insatiable demand for copper. Amanda has survived many things in her short life, but it’s not clear if she will be able to survive the first year of the last decade of the 19th century.
Book #1 Distributors
Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Independent bookstores
 

TITLE #2

Book #2 Title
The Lost, The Found and the Hidden
Book #2 Subtitle
The Puzzle Box Chronicles Book 2
Book #2 Author
Shawn P. McCarthy
Book #2 Publication Year
2016
Book #2 Publisher
Dark Spark Press
Book #2 ISBN-13
978-0996896719
Book 2 Cover Price
7.49
Book #2 Description
Amanda Malcom (or is she really Amanda Grant?) retreats to Boston after escaping from a failed marriage. She brings along a strange and delightful puzzle box, found washed up on the shore of Cape Cod.
But opening that box has proven to be as challenging as untangling the multiple layers of her own life.

Amanda finds sanctuary with a kindly older couple as she tries to reestablish herself, remaining blissfully unaware that the man she left behind is trying to find her.

At a raucous July 4th celebration, Amanda meets Jeb Thomas, a powerful but secretive labor organizer who travels where he wants and remains beholden to no city. For all his charm, Jeb does not seem to be her type. But as the ghosts of her past close in, he may be her only escape.

America in the 1890s isn't a welcoming place for a separated woman, especially one who grew up in the poorest part of town. Some see her as a victim. Some as a predator. What she wants them to see is a woman who longs for a quiet normal life, even as past failures conspire to bring her down.
Book #2 Distributors
Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Independent bookstores
 

TITLE #3

Book #3 Title
Those Who Wander
Book #3 Subtitle
The Puzzle Box Chronicles Book 3
Book #3 Publication Year
2017
Book #3 Author
Shawn P. McCarthy
Book #3 Publisher
Dark Spark Press
Book #3 ISBN-13
978-0996896740
Book #3 Cover Price
7.28
Book #3 Description
It's the summer of 1891. After a tragedy at sea, a once-bold scientist lingers on - only a shell of his former self. Rather than return to his work, he's happy just stringing wires and bringing electricity to the masses of Boston. What he doesn't know is that his life and words have provided great inspiration to a woman he's never met.

Amanda Grant, on the run from an unfair attempted murder charge, finds herself strangely drawn to union organizer Jeb Thomas, but his presence only turns her life upside down. First, a strange box that she salvaged from the sea is stolen from her, then she is kicked out of the house where she found temporary sanctuary. With few other options she boards a train heading for Chicago and beyond.

Amanda has never left New England before, but she knows this escape will either bring her closer to Jeb, or she will escape yet again, maybe to find a distant home in the West.

Those Who Wander takes a tour through private luxury train cars and seedy back alleys. Even the sparks created by a "War of the Currents" can't fully illuminate their path.
Book #3 Distributors
Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Independent bookstores
 

TITLE #4

Book #4 Title
Wires and Wings
Book #4 Subtitle
The Puzzle Box Chronicles Book 4
Book #4 Publication Year
2018
Book #4 Author
Shawn P. McCarthy
Book #4 Publisher
Dark Spark Press
Book #4 ISBN-13
978-0996896764
Book #4 Cover Price
7.53
Book #4 Description
Amanda Malcom has stood by her friend and lover Jeb Thomas through some harrowing times. But their arrangement grows strained as they head west. When they reach the rugged copper mines of Montana, she comes face to face with violence and decadence. It quickly sinks in that she may have made a terrible choice.

In Boston, aging Confederate soldier Devlin Richards has fallen into a pattern of petty crime and subtle revenge against the people he blames for the downfall of his once great family. But when he takes on a beautiful new partner, the success of his operation starts to grow.

Meanwhile, a reclusive scientist who survived deadly shipwreck is growing strong again and starting to rejoin the world. But his new life of drugs, obsessive work and occasional brawling threatens to undue his progress.

This fourth book of the sprawling Puzzle Box Chronicles is a cross-country journey of fear and hope set in the early 1890s. Electrical and telephone wires are bringing young America closer together. But other forces seem determined to pull things apart, leaving the world empty and desolate.
Book #4 Distributors
Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Independent bookstores
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