AUTHOR E. CHRIS AMBROSE LOOKS TO HISTORY FOR HER ARCHAEOLOGICAL ADVENTURE SERIES

E. Chris Ambrose writes knowledge inspired adventure fiction including the Bone Guard archaeological thrillers, and interactive superhero novel, Skystrike: Wings of Justice for Choice of Games. In the process of researching her books, Chris learned how to hunt with a falcon, clear a building of possible assailants, and pull traction on a broken limb. Chris's adventures have included rock climbing in Colorado, diving on the Great Barrier Reef, horseback riding in Mongolia, searching for tigers in India, and going behind the scenes at the Papal Palace in Avignon. Who know what could happen next? Learn more about Chris and her books at her website.

Hidden Defenses

While I'm researching for a novel, looking into the historical times and places that will provide the backbone for the modern-day adventure, I keep an eye out for cool coincidences as well as exciting locations that would make great settings for scenes in the novel. For The Fascist Frame, the latest book in my Bone Guard Archaeological Adventure Series, I found both—in the Volkspark Friedrichschain, Berlin, Germany.

 

This lovely public park, complete with duck pond, features two hills, the larger of which is named Grosserbunkerberg. (photo from Wikimedia, by Lukas Beck, used under Creative Commons) Those readers who know a bit of German, or how the German language constructs names, will already be suspicious. "Grosserbunkerberg" roughly translates to "big bunker mountain," because, in spite of its pleasant, winding trails and grassy slopes, this isn't a natural hill at all, but the remains of a World War II fortification and shelter known as a Flak Tower.

 

Around 1940, the Third Reich wanted to defend both the capital city, and its residents from allied attack. A circuit of giant, concrete towers were constructed in key locations. Each location featured a smaller, round command tower where spotters and radar arrays would watch for aircraft and relay orders, and a larger rectangular tower, with walls up to 11 feet thick, supporting anti-aircraft weapons on top, with facilities to shelter ten thousand civilians, including a hospital and living quarters. 

 

There is some excellent archival footage of a flyover from just after the war. The Flak Tower comes onscreen around 3:07, and you get a sense for how enormous these facilities really were, especially after seeing the palaces, churches and apartments around it.

 

 The Flak towers of Friedrichschain sheltered a completely different sort of refugees: the contents of the nearby Kaiser Friedrich Museum, over 300 sculptures and 400 paintings, including works by Caravaggio and Botticelli. When fire broke out in the Flak Tower in May, 1945, these art treasures were destroyed.

 

Or were they? Looting likely accounts for some of the losses, and the only items from the museum ever recovered consist of sculptural elements turned up in construction trenches dug nearby in the 2000s.

 

Toward the end, the towers were staffed not by members of the Luftwaffe, the German Air Force, but by the boys of the Hitler Youth. After the war, most of the Flak Towers were destroyed by the allies, often requiring multiple bombing runs and eventual demolition from the inside. The British grew notoriously frustrated with their attempts to destroy the tower at the Berlin Zoo and finally brought it down with dynamite. Another tower in Austria remains and has been turned into a climbing wall.

 

The rectangular tower at Friedrichschain, which housed the museum's collection, was partially destroyed, filled and became the hill at the heart of the Volkspark; however, some of the remains can still be seen above ground. (image from Wikimedia, from the Bundesarchiv) 

 

When I learned about the concealment of the art works at the Flak Tower, I was fascinated by this collision of art history with the reality of war. I knew that location would somehow feature in my book.

 

The Fascist Frame

 A Bone Guard Archaeological Thriller, Book 5

 

A stolen library, 

an old adversary, 

a league of warriors lying in wait…

 

When they receive a package from the Warden—the old-school Nazi whose hirelings nearly killed Grant in Arizona—Bone Guard founder Grant Casey is surprised it's not a bomb but a job offer. The Warden holds the clue to a stash of Italian artworks stolen by the Nazis, which includes a thousand-year-old library stolen from the Jews of Rome. Trouble is, the stash has been tapped to raise money for the Gladio, a secret anti-Communist army established after WWII.

 

D.A. talks the Bone Guard into taking the job, but how do you know whom to trust when the Nazis write your paycheck? The Gladio leader wants his treasure, the Bone Guard wants to save the library—and the Warden's not saying what she's really after. A young historian helps them sort out the clues, from a ruined town to a buried Flak Tower, but they're completely unprepared for what they find…

 

When betrayal comes, even Grant can't brace for impact. The Bone Guard returns in their most dangerous adventure yet!

 

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AN INTERVIEW WITH GRANT CASEY FROM AUTHOR E. CHRIS AMBROSE'S BONE GUARD SERIES

Today we sit down for a chat with Grant Casey from author E. Chris Ambrose’s Bone Guard series.

What was your life like before your author started pulling your strings?

I was trying to get my business started, security services for archaeological sites, like that, but it was pretty slow until this guy showed up with a gun, trying to kill someone who wasn't even a client. Kinda jumpstarted things, so I'm grateful for that. Not so much for the scars that followed.

 

What’s the one trait you like most about yourself?

I am supremely adaptable. I take no time to pivot to a new plan, new solution, new approach to whatever I'm facing. Doesn't matter what that is or how dangerous.

 

What do you like least about yourself?

Ooh. Getting personal. Okay. It's hard for me to connect with people. They latch onto me pretty quick, because of who I am and what I can do. I’m slower to open up to them.

 

What is the strangest thing your author has had you do or had happen to you?

There's the makeup scene. Not like, apologizing and making amends, more like, applying cosmetics. It makes sense, it's a good idea in context, but yeah, never thought I'd be applying eyeshadow to my old commander, hoping to maybe save his life.

 

Do you argue with your author? If so, what do you argue about?

I spent fourteen years in the army. I don't argue. I do, sometimes, go my own way. Let's just say that's why I'm not in the army anymore.

 

What is your greatest fear?

Nobody's gonna miss me when I'm gone. Given my lifestyle, nobody's gonna notice for way too long.

 

What makes you happy?

Seeing something that hasn't been seen for a thousand years, seeing it with my own eyes. I guess there's something reassuring in the idea that if a pyramid or a tomb could be lost for centuries, and finally re-discovered, then maybe I don't need to be afraid on my own account. Somebody's gonna look back and see what I've done, or what I tried to.

 

If you could rewrite a part of your story, what would it be? Why?

Here's the trouble. I would love to have the Phantom come home to me at night. Love it. But even in my own mind, I can't picture it happening. She'd what, marry me, get a regular job, welcome me home with a peck on the cheek and say, "How's your day, Honey? Did you kick some a** today?" Just as likely to be the other way around. Neither of us is that person, the one who can settle down and lead an ordinary life. I'd have to go way back in my history if I wanted to rewrite my story so I could become that guy. And you know what would happen if I did? I never would have met her.

 

Of the other characters in your book, which one bugs you the most? Why?

Oh, God. Gooney. Gooney, Gooney, Gooney. The guy never quits. He was a jerk of a sergeant, now he's a jerk of a cop. And what drives me nuts about him, is I know him well enough to like him anyway. It's like I can see through the armor, through the anger. I can see what's going on in there, but I still want to punch him in the mouth on a daily basis. Is that how people become friends? Crazy way of showing it.

 

Of the other characters in your book, which one would you love to trade places with? Why?

Ha! Okay, crazy impulse is, I want to be Raxha. She's got this whole jungle empire thing she's working on, and she's got a loyal team around her, just like mine, but at any moment, she could stumble on the next great Maya city. I don't think she'd care; that's not what she wants. She's got no idea where the real treasure lies. Is there somebody else I'd trade places with? Y'know what? As much as I hate the guy's guts half the time, I wouldn't mind having someone look up to me the way Lexi looks up to her dad. Gooney. Is that even more nuts, that he drives me up the wall, and I still envy him? 

 

Tell us a little something about your author. Where can readers find her website/blog?

If you want all the books, then you go to http://rocinantebooks.com/, but she writes fantasy, too, historical stuff and traditional stuff with magic and all of that. I feel a little kinship with that Elisha, the leading man in one of her series. He's like my mirror self, but I can't work out which one of us is dark, and which one's light.

 

What's next for you?

It's looking like I get to spend some time in Europe. Team up with an old friend—and an old adversary, take a deep dive into medieval Jewish culture. That's gonna be fun. 

 

The Maya Bust

A Bone Guard Adventure

 

A secret stash, a hidden tomb, a father's love—sworn in blood

 

When his former commander's estranged daughter vanishes in Guatemala, Grant Casey treks a deadly jungle and dives a sacred cenote to free her from a drug smuggler looking for a stash in an ancient pyramid.

 

Before his death in a rain of gunfire at her Quinceañeria, Raxha Castillo's druglord father encoded a map on a cacao cup, a map that might lead her to millions in drugs in the tomb of Maya royalty. A decade later, his mistress gave the cup to some Americans to prevent Raxha from completing the delivery and re-establishing the influence of the deadly Zetas cartel. Determined to claim her father's legacy, kidnapping is only the beginning of a quest that may end with Raxha tearing out the heart of her enemy.

 

Awakened by a call from his commander's ex-wife, and sworn to secrecy about his rescue mission, Grant's integrity is torn. Does he betray his client's trust, or the man who hated him for so long, the man who risked his life to save Grant's own? He sets up for his former CO to follow the clues while he tracks down Lexi's friends to find the cup—and only then finds out Lexi's boyfriend is missing, too. How complicated could this get? Oh, yeah, Lexi is deaf, the police are complicit, and their adversary keeps a pet jaguar. When the ransom exchange goes south, Grant embeds with the bad guys in a desperate attempt to rescue the victims before they become the latest blood sacrifice.

 

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AUTHOR E. CHRIS AMBROSE ON RESEARCH--INCLUDING CHOCOLATE, GUATEMALA, CENOTES, MAYA PYRAMIDS, AND HUMAN SACRIFICE(!)

Maya Pyramid (photo by Chris Dionne)

E. Chris Ambrose is the author of the Bone Guard archaeological thrillers, as well as a dark historical fantasy series about medieval surgery, among other things. In the process of researching her books, E.C. learned how to hunt with a falcon, clear a building of possible assailants, and pull traction on a broken limb. To find out more about her and her books, visit her website.  

One of the most fun parts of writing archaeological thrillers is the chance to delve deeply into a particular place and time. For my forthcoming novel, The Maya Bust, that meant Guatemala. I wanted a region with a rich archaeological history, cenotes, and chocolate! (Yes, I got to split open a cacao pod and eat Guatemalan chocolate as part of my research for this one. I love my work!)

 

I started with a geological map showing where cenotes are present, since I knew I'd be using one in the book. Cenotes are underground caverns, accessible from the outside, that form as sinkholes in the limestone of the Yucatan and surrounding areas. They were sacred to the Maya people, who depended on them as a reliable source of water, and regarded them as the openings to Xibalba, the underworld, populated by dangerous gods, and often depicted as an open mouth gaping with teeth. Offerings and sacrifices were made within the caves, including human sacrifice. They held human life to be extremely important, and thus worthy of being offered to the gods to ensure the ongoing survival of the community at large. Blood forged a liquid connection to the rain and agricultural fertility they needed. Often, those sacrificed were warriors or nobles from competing regions—the worthiest of all. Nowadays, cenotes are popular as swimming and diving destinations, as well as rich archaeological sites.

 

As I dug deeper into the history of the area, including the more contemporary drug smuggling that forms the plot of the book, I zeroed in on the Alta Verapaz region in the Guatemalan highlands. This area was renamed by the Spanish explorers in their quest to subdue and convert the indigenous peoples. "Verapaz" means "truth peace," appellations that weren't applicable when the Spanish first arrived, and not for very long afterward. The region includes not only sacred cenotes and Maya architectural sites, but also Spanish colonial architecture, including beautiful Baroque-style churches and monasteries. Because of the jungle cover and difficulty of travel, much of the archaeology of the region remains unknown, concealed by centuries of growth. 

 

Since mountains were also considered sacred as closer to the sky gods, Maya step-pyramids are designed to be artificial mountains. They usually had a temple on top, often with an altar for sacrifice, and sometimes an interior staircase leading down to a concealed entrance to Xibalba. Pyramids frequently contain royal burials, with painted murals, sculptures and offering plates to honor the dead. However, the Maya also had a sophisticated understanding of astronomy, and used some structures as viewing platforms and observational markers for events like the rise and set of Venus, which suggested the best times for planting and harvest. Pyramids often have astronomical alinements, usually with the summer solstice. Here's a time-lapse video of the shadows cast on the Spring Equinox to look like the sacred serpent Kukulkan creeping down the stairs at Chichen Itza. 

 

The link between mountains and pyramids makes the pyramids even harder to distinguish. New technology such as LIDAR allows archaeologists to perform non-invasive scans of the jungle that reveal artificial structures and patterns beneath the trees and accumulated debris, stripping back the new to find the extensive human intervention that allowed this region to sustain a population of hundreds of thousands at the height of the Maya empire around 900-1000 CE. 

 

Even setting aside the chocolate, I really enjoyed researching this destination, and I hope I've managed to do it some justice in the book!

 

The Maya Bust

A Bone Guard Archaeological Thriller, Book 4

 

A secret stash, a hidden tomb, a father's love—sworn in blood

 

When his commander's estranged daughter vanishes in Guatemala, Grant Casey treks a deadly jungle and dives a sacred cenote to free her from a drug smuggler looking for a stash in an ancient pyramid.

 

Before his death in a rain of gunfire at her Quinceañeria, Raxha's druglord father encoded a map on a cacao cup, a map that might lead her to millions in drugs in the tomb of Maya royalty. A decade later, his old mistress gave the cup to some Americans to prevent Raxha from completing the delivery and re-establishing the influence of the deadly Zetas cartel. Determined to claim her father's legacy, kidnapping is only the beginning of a quest that may end with Raxha tearing out the heart of her enemy.

 

Awakened by a call from his old commander's ex, and sworn to secrecy about his rescue mission, Grant's integrity is torn. Does he betray his client's trust, or the man who hated him for so long, the man who risked his life to save Grant's own? He sets up for his CO to follow the clues while he tracks down Lexi's friends to find the cup—and only then finds out Lexi's boyfriend is missing, too. How complicated could this get? Oh, yeah, Lexi is deaf, the police are complicit, and their adversary keeps a pet jaguar. When the ransom exchange goes south, Grant embeds with the bad guys in a desperate attempt to rescue the victims before they become the latest blood sacrifice.

 

Releasing September 7^th. Pre-order now.