Books published by publisher Old Salt Press

This is the first volume of The Dawlish Chronicles naval fiction series – action and adventure set in the age of transition from sail to steam in the last decades of the 19th Century.It’s late 1877 and the Russian and Ottoman-Turkish Empires are locked in a deadly as the war between them is reaching its climax. A Russian victory will pose a threat to Britain’s strategic interests. To protect them an ambitious British naval officer, Nicholas Dawlish, is assigned to the Ottoman Navy to ravage Russian supply-lines in the Black Sea. In the depths of a savage winter, as Turkish forces face defeat on all fronts, Dawlish confronts enemy ironclads in naval combat and Cossack lances and merciless Kurdish irregulars in battles ashore. But more than warfare is involved, for Dawlish finds himself a pawn in the rivalry of the Sultan’s half-brothers for control of the collapsing empire. And in the midst of this chaos, unwillingly and unexpectedly, Dawlish finds himself drawn to a woman whom he believes he should not love. Neither for his own sake, nor for hers… Britannia’s Wolf is more than a work of historical naval fiction, or a tale of war and military conflict, for it introduces a hero who is more familiar with steam, breech-loaders and torpedoes than with sails, carronades and broadsides. Later volumes in this naval fiction series - Britannia's Reach, Britannia's Shark and Britannia's Spartan, Britannia's Amazon, Britannia's Mission, Britannia's Gamble and Britannia's Innocent - chart Dawlish's further rise in the Royal Navy. As a boy in the late 1850s he has joined a navy still commanded by veterans of the Napoleonic Wars. But now, in the early 1880s sail is yielding to steam, new technologies are creating new weapons and established international power-balances are shifting. Against the background of real historical events Dawlish has to confront challenges inconceivable to earlier generations of officers. From a review in Quarterdeck Magazine, Spring 2014:“… Action dripping from every page, Britannia’s Wolf captures the reader’s interest, with international tension, as well as the internal friction between various Ottoman political factions. Equally intriguing are the military details – ship’s armaments, weapon types and their sources. All told, the novel captures a period not often noticed, but worthy of being so.”Why The Dawlish Chronicles series?“I’ve enjoyed sea stories and naval fiction since I was introduced to C.S. Forester’s Hornblower books when I was a boy,” says author Antoine Vanner , “and I’ve never tired since of stories of action and adventure by land and by sea. The Napoleonic era has however come to dominate the war and military genre but the century that followed it was one no less exciting, an added attraction being the arrival and adoption of so much new technology. I’ve reflected this in the Dawlish Chronicles and for this reason I’m pleased that nautical author Joan Druett has described me as ‘The Tom Clancy of historical naval fiction.’ My novels have as their settings actual events of the international power-games of the period and real-life personalities usually play significant roles. Britannia’s Wolf is no exception to this and key roles are played by the ottoman Sultan Abdul-Hamid II and by Hobart Pasha, the amazing head of the Turkish Navy, an ex-Royal Navy officer who had also seen service as a Confederate blockade-runner in the American Civil War.”

AMAZON #1 BESTSELLER"I see things other people don't see; I hear things other people don't hear." Fifteen-year-old James McCafferty is an unwilling sailor aboard a traditional Chinese Junk operated as adventure-therapy for troubled teens. Once at sea, James believes the ship is being taken over by the spirits of courtiers who fled the Imperial palace during the Ming Dynasty, more than 600 years earlier, and sailing to its doom. A psychological nautical adventure with strong historical and paranormal elements.

A timeless free verse poem that encourages us to view our lives like the zoo with the patterns found in nature and valuable life lessons are made inspiring. Illustrated by Daniel J. Middleton to bring smiles to faces. Author Douglas S. Haynes is a practicing attorney in Louisville, Kentucky, who began writing poetry in 2011. He publishes regularly in Louisville Bar Briefs. Zookeeper was the product of his desire to impart advice at the onset of his daughter's freshman college year. She hung the poem in her dorm room.

"I see things other people don’t see; I hear things other people don’t hear." Fifteen-year-old James McCafferty is an unwilling sailor aboard a traditional Chinese Junk operated as adventure-therapy for troubled teens. Once at sea, James believes the ship is being taken over by the spirits of courtiers who fled the Imperial palace during the Ming Dynasty, more than 600 years earlier, and sailing to its doom.

Continuing the critically acclaimed story of TUNNEL VISION...Jake thinks he has only one more step and he’ll be free: he has to get the serum to stop his power, tunneling--the ability to find people and what they're seeing through objects. But he discovers his contact has been killed, and there's no sign of the serum. Then Jake’s mom and little sister Myka are kidnapped, right under his nose. With the government, his power-mad father, and the terrifying Mr. Smith all after him while he still has his power, he doesn’t have anywhere to turn.What will Jake do to get his mom and little sister back? ANYTHING.

A timeless free verse poem that encourages us to view our lives like the zoo with the patterns found in nature and valuable life lessons are made inspiring. Illustrated by Daniel J. Middleton to bring smiles to faces. Author Douglas S. Haynes is a practicing attorney in Louisville, Kentucky, who began writing poetry in 2011. He publishes regularly in Louisville Bar Briefs. Zookeeper was the product of his desire to impart advice at the onset of his daughter’s freshman college year. She hung the poem in her dorm room.

Continuing the critically acclaimed story of TUNNEL VISION: Jake thinks he has only one more step and he’ll be free: he has to get the serum to stop his ability to tunnel—to find and control people through objects. But Jake’s contact has been killed, and there's no sign of the serum. Then Jake’s mom and little sister Myka are kidnapped, right under his nose. With the government, his power-mad father, and the terrifying Mr. Smith all after him while he still has his power, he doesn’t have anywhere to turn. What will Jake do to get his mom and little sister back? Anything.

Author Allen Northcutt's fun-filled holiday tale weaves a whimsical "ugly duckling" story of animal friends that love an amiable but tattered moose whose name is "Ugly." This picture book introduces eleven animal characters in rhyme as they join Ugly on a snowy trip through the woods to Momma and Poppa Bears' house. There, a Christmas eve party is made very special when Ugly gives unselfishly of himself to overcome a forgotten Christmas tree. The story addresses everyday issues of how "Ugly" names are hurtful and it is not nice to exclude someone from a group because they are different. In the end the animals embrace Ugly as part of their group and change his name to Chris Moose, because it sounds so much like Christmas and is what his spirit is all about. Christie Morris' captivating and humorous illustrations add magic to this soon-to-be-classic Christmas story.

On her thirteenth birthday, Scarlett Wrigley awakens to find the ordinary world isn’t what it seems. Up until then, she never even knew what Juma was. Now she can see the fairies and the leprechaun that have protected her all her life as well as auras and any and all fantastical creatures that live beneath the veil. Her Juma, or life-force, has grown too strong and they can no longer keep it from her. Now, dark creatures are after her, attracted to her light, and no-one will tell her why. For her protection, the fairies arrange to have Scarlett and her family move to a quiet town outside Washington DC, a town filled with lightworkers. Guided by her teacher and hidden by her protectors, Scarlett must learn how to control her new abilities before it’s too late.