Three years ago, Harris Wimberly lost the one who was to have been his love for life. His partner, his companion, his best friend, his lover. His wife. Now he wonders, through the loneliness, is it possible to love again? Is it possible, or even right to think about letting another woman into his life?
Across town, a widow is wondering the same thing. Now four years for her, Anna Forth considers not only her own loneliness, but that her thirteen-year-old son needs a father figure in his life.
Harris and Anna are proof that love can bloom again after devastating loss. Widowhood, as heartbreaking as the experience is, does not have to mean the end of happiness for those who choose to, even through grief, pick themselves up and continue walking the paths they themselves choose to follow. And when two people walk together, the journey is so much the sweeter.
A Ship Called Abigail is not your typical, "formula" romance novel. It is based on the real life experience of the author and his wife. Both having been widowed, now new love came along bringing them together. If you love stories which are about love, and inspiration fiction which appeals to the heart as well as the mind, here is where you will find it. And, if you believe that Steampunk can be more than just gears, goggles and gadgets, that the genre can be faith based as well, this story will reward you with it's emotional impact.
A Ship Called Abigail was written for those who have experienced loss, and who wish to find hope to live on and love again. Readers of Inspirational romance, Christian romance, stories of second chances, grief and healing fiction, and more will find the emotional depth of this novel emotionally comforting and offering the promise of hope for themselves.
“A Ship Called Abigail” delivers a rich, faith-filled romance that will appeal to fans of inspirational fiction. It’s a journey of discovery, resilience, and the enduring power of love, set against a beautifully crafted backdrop.
The author’s writing style is articulate and evocative, painting vivid pictures with his words. He has a knack for descriptive prose that transports the reader directly into the settings and emotional landscapes of the story. Whether depicting a moment of quiet contemplation or a turning point in the plot, the language is consistently engaging and polished.
Josias Lancaster had a dream. A wonderful woman who he loved and who loved him. Together they shared a dream of visiting far away places in the fantastic flying machine he built. The dream ended when she died suddenly and unexpectedly
Now he has a second chance. New love can be found after loss. But will this new woman in his life be willing to pick up the old dream with him? Especially if the flying machine has been named after his lost love.
Josias and Ann embark on what was to be a simple flight to Paris. They never reach Paris. Instead, a terrific and unusual storm over the Atlantic carries them far off their course. There they find a strange world among people unlike themselves. But from among that people, Ann gains a son. And a crew member gains a wife.
The story contains important subplots – the story of an orphan named Matthew and the love between Harold and Hannah. The author weaves biblical themes such as adoption, love, second changes, and answered prayer throughout the book. The values and expressions are from another era that are desperately needed in today's dark world. Still, the Christian themes enhance the story.
A Gaslight fantasy novel. Elijah Weatherspoon's world is turned topsy turvy when he unknowingly releases a genie from an old clock he had just bought. Just a plain old windup clock in a brass housing which is formed in the shape of a castle. Who would have known what was inside the old clock?
But now here he was sitting on a park bench, and on a bench across from him, the strangest of characters. A genie, so it turns out. But now that the genie is free from the clock which had been his prison for more years than he would tell, he owes Elijah the customary three wishes. But will he pay up?
Genies are not all the legends and old stories tell them to be. One can not always expect them to fulfil their promises. Three wishes? Elijah Weatherspoon was soon to find out the true nature of those promises. A comic tale of facing mizerhood head on, and learning what really matters in life.
When one is fortunate enough to find a mysterious lamp, rubbing the lamp will free the genie who has been imprisoned within that lamp for a thousand years. Out of gratitude, the genie is empowered to grant you your desires in the form of wishes. Usually three wishes.
But what happen if the genie has a whole different idea about gratitude for his release and your wishes are turned upside down? Instead of good fortune, you receive the opposite. And the genie seems more interested in playing tricks on you than on granting your wishes.
That's what Elijah Weatherspoon found, to his dismay. Seeming all misfortune contrary to the wishes he asks for. He asks for riches. He asked for good health and a long life. He asked for prestige and influence within the circle of important men.
What comes his way seems to be the very opposite. Now his world is turned topsy turvy. And he wishes he had never bought that cursed clock. A gaslight fantasy novel.
It was just a plain package wrapped in plain brown paper and tied together with twine. There was no forwarding address, nor was there a return address. There was only, printed on one side, a name. “Miss Penny.”
Almost a century before, a woman named Penny was murdered on the eve of her wedding, by the man who had promised to take her as his wife. The story was revealed in an old, yellowed newspaper. Was that Penny the one who’s name was on the package containing the wedding dress?
Now, two friends, both co-workers in the dead letter department of the Post Office, find a mysterious package left on the front step of the Post Office building. Opening the package, they find an aged and faded wedding dress. But something came along with the dress. Something sinister, and frightening. Something to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.
Was it just in his head? Or was it a real haunting? Was the wailing, and the sound of a woman's voice in his room at night really linked in any way to the faded old wedding dress? Was she searching for the dress, and what did it really mean to her? Assuming the voice was actually that of a woman. Dead or otherwise. Or was he simply going crazy and imagining it all? Is it a ghost story, or rather a psychological thriller? Read it and come to your own conclusion. A gaslight fantasy novel.
For the soon to be married couple, or the newly married couple. Biblical advice for your marriage.
The author offers the experience coming from close to one hundred combined years of marriage. His and his now wife Patsy, with both of their previous marriages and now their own.
Both widowed, and now having found each other, they have learned much over their two lives both together and with their late spouses.
Married life comes with great pleasure, but also the potential for great strife. Those areas of the not so pleasant are addressed in practical terms. The author cannot answer every single situation with a ready answer. But, the guidelines provided, if the couple will allow God to lead in their marriage, they will find the going much smoother.
The author offers practical advice for the new to be married for the first time, as well as for those about to be married, not for the first time. Blending families, addressing financial plans, trust, marital intimacy, and a host of other topics the soon to be married should consider before they join hands at the altar.
Pastors and others who will officiate weddings will find a wealth of material for advising soon to be married couples in pre-marital counseling.
And it’s all from a biblical perspective. Putting God first in the marriage goes a long way toward assuring a successful and happy marriage.
Hannah was pretty. Most would probably say that she was more than pretty. She was beautiful. But Hannah never saw herself that way. Just the opposite. After all, not one man among her people has ever tried to court her. Her mother never told her she was pretty. Nor did her sister.
But her sister had all the men she wanted. Surely her sister was prettier, and thus the men liked her better. No man would ever find Hannah beautiful enough to love. After all, her sister who is much prettier than she is was rejected and left at the alter by a man who left for another. Another whom he said was much more beautiful. If that happened to her sister, what hope is there for Hannah?
Hanah was just a nurse by occupation. But she was not the type of nurse that holds the respect and prestige we usually associate with those in that field. She was a junior nurse and her job was doing the tasks regular nurses held to be below their station. Her work was boring, low paying, and without praise or recognition. She held no status within the nursing occupation. How was she to ever to attract the attention of a good man who would love her and make her the wife she longed to be?
She knew what her future would amount to. She would do what she now did, and always would do, even into her old age. And it would be a lonely life and an even lonelier old age.
But, she did not count on the stranger who’s care she was assigned to. A man who came out of the unknown west. He was a crew member on a flying ship which came to her isolated island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, and he and his fellow crew members on that airship do not look like her people.
She tended to him as his nurse while he is convulsing from an injury. Now she found something stirring within her which was new and strange. But surely, he could not learn to love her. She's not pretty enough, she tells herself. After he recovers from his injuries, he will leave and return to his people and his home.
But he has different thoughts on the matter.
Love was right before Sarah Vandergriff's eyes all the while, but she refused to see it. Bryan Wimberly had loved her from the time of their early teen years. She liked him in return, but not in the way he wanted her to like him, He was her best chum. Even her confidant. He was the one she enjoyed being with. Why couldn't he just be content to be that close friend to her? Why did he have to want so much more?
There was nothing amis about Bryan in her judgement. He simply was not what she thought she desired in a man. That ideal man would be a very masculine and sophisticated man, He would be a man of the world. Rugged, mysterious, and the image of the knight in shining armour who would come to her, capture her hand and heart and carry her away to his mysterious and romantic castle far away.
Then she met a man like that. Two such men, actually. But they both turned out to be not what her dreams had always told her a man like that would be like. In life, not dreams and fairy tales.
Then everything changed for Sarah. In a moment's time, her world changed, and nothing would ever be the same again. The accident left her without the use of her legs. She would never walk again. And, to make it worse, if it could possibly be worse, the man of her dreams, the one she had dreamed of since her youth, and the one who had promised to make her his wife, abandoned her. Now she knew. No man would want her. Of that she was convinced.
But Bryan wanted her. He had neve wavered in his love for her. What would it take to get her to see what was there all along?
For everyone who has desperately prayed for a loved one, even when that loved one has given up on themself, and loses all hope. But you have not given up on them. And you will keep praying for them.
And for everyone who now wonders if now is the time to give up on your dream. Yes, even when you know that the dream is the right thing. But even with the doubts, you cannot bring yourself to give up on that dream. An Empty Quiet Place is the novel for those who refuse to give up hope in spite of the seeming lack of answers. For readers who love stories about prayer and trust in God, and stories about faith in crisis, it is a story of faith, hope, and love in the darkest moments.
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The Best of romantic love novels set in a Steampunk world, and Victorian Style Romantasy Fiction.
Feel-good stories by author Dan Dooley
Read the review: An Empty Quiet Place
This page offers more information on the stories in the books, and the author's ideas on story telling.
The author does not believe that a book should leave the reader feeling stressed, angry, resentful, or holding ill feelings. Nor should they feel that the book, instead of entertaining and enlightening them, has left them feeling like they are being pressured to support or engage in some "cause." Not that standing up for beliefs is the wrong thing to do. Righteous beliefs and convictions are important to hold and support. But for most of us, when we read a novel, we want to not only be entertained, but finish the final page with good feelings.
This is the philosophy the author follows in his stories. Even if the novel is a ghost story, or phycological thriller. Learning and having fun is what reading is all about. The reader will root for the characters, and share with them, the emotions of joy, fulfilment, even the sadness, grief, fear, anxiety, and the thrill of finding that one true love.
The Legacy of Abigail consists of a four book series
It's affordable. And, unlike others, it's a one time purchase. Lifetime license. Not a monthly subscription.
I needed an image for the cover of one of my books. Not being good at art, myself and not wanting to pay the big bucks most illustrators demand, I decided to give AI art a try. Actually, this is two images, each created as a result of entering the description in text form. Then I used my photo editing tool to merge the two images. This is just an example of what can be done.
Read the review: Mister Weatherspoon's Unfortunate Clock
Currently available in printed form only. Paperback. A digital version may come later.
A Tip: To really get a feel for the spirit of each book, the story within the book, read the professional review for each book. Highlighted in yellow, above each description here on this page.
A Ship Called Abigail A romantic Steampunk novel. A dream is born, and a dream dies. But new love comes after loss, and a lighter than airship finishes construction and takes on the name of a lost love.
Legacy of Abigail Book #1
Voyage of Abigail A dream finally realized, almost ends in disaster and loss of life. But out of near tragedy comes new life and new hope. A Steampunk adventure over stormy seas.
Legacy of Abigail Book #2
When Love Finds Hannah Two people from worlds apart find each other and find love. And a people and their civilization is saved. The romantic Steampunk adventure continues.
Legacy of Abigail Book #3
An Empty Quiet Pkace She could deny the love that was right before her eyes, but it was not to be denied. An accident with tragic results was not going to stop the love that was meant to be. The concluding story in the series.
Legacy of Abigail Book #4
Mister Weatherspoon's Unfortunate Clock Genies are not all the legends and old stories tell them to be. One can not always expect them to fulfil their promises. A comic tale of facing mizerhood head on, and learning what really matters in life. A Literary Fiction novel
Miss Penny's Wedding Dress It was simply an old and faded wedding dress. Wwhat seemed to come along, as though attached to the dress was a hair-raising nightmare for one young man. A Literary Fiction novel
Please Note: No part of any of the author's novels was written with AI, or even with any assistance of AI. Every word in every story came from the author's own thoughts and imaginations. Some front cover art work did rely on AI tools, but that is the extent of AI used in the producing of any of the author's books.