Long Hard Ride, Gay Fiction

Untitled

Long Hard Ride

(Western Gay Romance)

by

Keta Diablo

Copyright © 2014 by Keta Diablo

Cover Artist © The Book Khaleesi

Names, characters and incidents depicted in this book are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author or the publisher.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher, Keta Diablo

About Long Hard Ride

A prison break…a past they can't forget…a passion they can't deny.

The Civil War has devastated a Nation.

Grayson Drake, Special Agent for a spy agency, must assume the identity of a physician in order to break Corporal Marx Wellbourne out of Elmira prison─better known as Hellmira to prisoners housed there.

Corporal Wellbourne is a Confederate military strategist with an Eidetic memory. He has memorized every strategic battle plan the Confederacy hopes to implement in upcoming battles.

Drake’s orders state he is to return Wellbourne to Richmond, VA, where the generals of the Confederate Army can extract the battle plans entombed in his brain.

After Grayson is allowed entry into Wellbourne’s prison cell, he discovers not only is Wellbourne courting death from malaria and pneumonia, he recognizes him as a man he fell in love with from afar several years ago.

Grayson must come up with a plan to rescue Wellbourne and then keep him alive while a brigade of soldiers, led by the villainous warden, Britton Darkmore is in hot pursuit.

Will they live through the long hard ride back to Richmond?

Raves for Long Hard Ride

“I love a good spy thriller. The passion is off the charts & the depth of the story is one you will remember for a long time.

“This is one of those stories that twists your gut into knots. The angst, the passion, the betrayal. A must read for lovers of gay historical romance with substance, high risk tension, suspense and heart pounding sex.

“This was such a great book! The character dynamics between Gray and Marx kept me on my toes and the chemistry was steamy hot. Definitely on my re-read shelf.

“The story grabs U right away from the beginning & with a good pace throughout I was kept engaged 2 the very end.

* * * * * 

Author’s Note : Elmira Prison Conditions

Elmira’s Civil War prison camp operated from July 6, 1864, until July 11, 1865, incarcerating a total of 12,121 Confederates. The prison became a very dark period in the city’s history:

When rats became a problem at the prison camp, a medium-sized black dog was used to catch them. Rat meat was sold to prisoners for 5 cents, but few could afford it. Eventually, two Rebel soldiers from North Carolina were sent to the guardhouse for 30 days after they captured and cooked the dog.

Insufficient food, extreme bouts of dysentery, typhoid, pneumonia, smallpox, inadequate medical care and flooding of the Chemung River resulted in the deaths of 2,963 prisoners at the Elmira prison camp, a mortality rate of about 25 percent. Prisoners dubbed the camp “Hellmira.

Though more than 12,000 Confederate POWs were assigned to the Elmira prison camp, there was only enough barrack space for 5,000 prisoners. Many Rebels were forced to live in tents along the Chemung River, even during freezing winter weather.

Those who died at the prison camp were placed in prisoner-made coffins with their name, rank, regiment and date of death inscribed on the lid. That information was also written on a slip of paper, put into in a sealed jar and placed inside the coffin with the body. The coffins were transported nine at a time from the prison camp to Woodlawn Cemetery for burial.

After the Civil War, a House committee that investigated the condition of prisoners in Confederate camps declared that evidence proved Confederates were determined to kill Union prisoners. However, the Union’s mistreatment of its prisoners of war was dismissed as rumor for more than a century.

Sources: Star-Gazette research; the Chemung County Historical Society; Chemung County History.

Next chapter