Mud City Press

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Mud City Press currently has thirteen books for sale. We recommend buying a book as the best way to support this website. The books below are availale at Amazon.com, but they can also be purchased directly from Mud City Press at a discount and signed by the author through the Paypal online payment system. Buy a book by clicking on the "Add to Cart" button. Note (R) rating for adult material. Retail sellers can obtain books in quantity under industry standard wholesale terms and return policies. Please contact website at editor@mudcitypress.com for details.

All books are available in Kindle format. See Dan's book page on Amazon.com.

Green Knight

SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT

by Dan Armstrong

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a novel based on the fourteenth century romantic poem by the same title. The poem is considered one of the gems of medieval English literature and tells one of the many stories that make up the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Sir Gawain, King Arthur's nephew, gets ensnared in a murderous game of life and death trying to defend the honor of his royal uncle. When it becomes clear that Gawain is the likely loser of this game, Gawain must weigh the meaning of death against the meaning of honor with his own life in the balance. (Published in 2021, 162 pages.)

Purchase from Amazon.com for $12.00 or buy as Kindle for $5.99.

The Jewel Case

THE JEWEL CASE

by Dan Armstrong

The Jewel Case is a historical novel based on the life of Ida Bauer (1882-1945), the young Austrian woman at the center of one of Sigmund Freud's most controversial works,Dora: An Analysis of a Case of Hysteria. Ida is Dora. Sigmund Freud's analysis of Ida Bauer is a landmark case in this era of misunderstood women feeling the allure of a burgeoning women's movement. Oppressed by her philandering father and a neurotic mother, then placed under the microscope of Freud's consulting room, Ida provides a dark reflection of her times and an important commentary on the early days of psychoanalysis. (Published in 2020, 156 pages.)

Purchase from Amazon.com for $12.00 or buy as Kindle for $5.99.

Eyes of Archimedes

THE EYES OF ARCHIMEDES BOOK ONE: The Siege of Syracuse

by Dan Armstrong

It's the third century before Christ. Rome is deep into its second twenty-year war with Carthage. The Roman General Marcus Claudius Marcellus lays siege to the Carthaginian controlled city of Syracuse on the island of Sicily, home of the famous engineer and inventor Archimedes. The Roman forces are like toy soldiers against Archimedes' sophisticated war machines. They are repelled three times. Unwilling to concede, Marcellus blockades the city by land and sea, determined to starve the city into submission and secure Archimedes for Roman war interests. THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE is the first book in THE EYES OF ARCHIMEDES TRILOGY. (Published in 2013, 395 pages.)

Purchase from Amazon.com for $15.99 or buy as Kindle for $5.99.

Death of Marcellus

THE EYES OF ARCHIMEDES BOOK TWO: The Death of Marcellus

by Dan Armstrong

Rome's second war with Carthage is in its eighth year. Hannibal's army roams the Italian peninsula ravaging the farmland and pressuring Latin cities to abandon their loyalty to Rome. Marcus Claudius Marcellus, just back from his siege Syracuse, demands that the Roman Senate give him an army to confront Hannibal and force him out of Italy. Over the next two years, Marcellus and his two legions chase after Hannibal's army in a subtle game of cat and mouse. Three times the two armies clash with no decisive outcome. Facing recall in Rome for his inability to defeat Hannibal, Marcellus vows to the People's Assembly to destroy Hannibal's army in the coming spring. Despite criticism in the Senate, Marcellus is given one last chance to achieve what he believes is his destiny. (Published in 2015, 433 pages.)

Purchase from Amazon.com for $17.99 or buy as Kindle for $5.99.

Zama

THE EYES OF ARCHIMEDES BOOK THREE: Zama

by Dan Armstrong

Thirteen years have passed since Hannibal's invasion of Italy, and he's still there, plundering the farmland and terrorizing the inhabitants. Publius Cornelius Scipio, recently back from casting the Carthaginians out of Spain, now wants a chance at Hannibal. Fighting strong resistance in the Roman Senate, Scipio demands an opportunity to invade Africa and besiege Carthage, promising this will force Hannibal to leave Italy. Meanwhile, Timon Leonidas, once Archimedes' slave, and more recently a scribe for the deceased Claudius Marcellus, has gained attention as a mapmaker. Scipio, desperately needing accurate maps of North Africa, tracks down Timon and asks him to travel to Africa with him. (Published in 2016, 437 pages.)

Purchase from Amazon.com for $17.99 or buy as Kindle for $5.99.

Cornelia

CORNELIA: The First Woman of Rome

by Dan Armstrong

Among the few women who are mentioned in the history of the Roman Republic, Cornelia Sciponis stands out. Born to one of Rome's most prestigious families, Cornelia is remembered as the first Roman woman intellectual of note and as the ideal Roman mother. Her sons, Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus, promoted populist views in a governmental system dominated by the aristocracy. Each brother had an all but revolutionary impact on Roman politics, but Cornelia, as well as her daughter Sempronia, were also important players during the turbulent years of the late Republic. (Published in 2017, 354 pages.)

Purchase from Amazon.com for $15:00 or buy as Kindle format for $5.99.

Princeton Charlie

PRINCETON CHARLIE'S GOT THE BLUES:

by Dan Armstrong

Princeton Charlie's Got the Blues is a historical novel set at Princeton University between the spring of 1968 and the summer of 1972. The novel follows the lives of five students, three men and two women, through the ups and downs of political protests, the transition to coeducation, experimentation with drugs, and individual romances. Princeton, a conservative, largely white university in 1968, transforms into something entirely different by 1972. The inclusive Princeton of today is a direct result of the changes that occurred during these four years. (Published in 2023, 324 pages.)

Purchase from Amazon.com for $17.00 or buy as Kindle for $6.99.

Chain of Souls

CHAIN OF SOULS:

by Dan Armstrong

It's the first year of India's independence from England. The creation of two nations, India for the Hindus, Pakistan for the Muslims, has become a nightmare of ethnic clashes and terrorism. Just as the violence is showing signs of easing, Gandhi is assassinated. With the entire subcontinent teetering on the edge of chaos, Roger Taylor, an American working for the British intelligence service, is called on to defuse a series of death fasts protesting the partition of India. When Taylor arrives in the sacred city of Haridwar to confront the protesters, he encounters a woman who completely disarms him with her goodwill and depth of spirit. What begins as a political mission for Taylor unexpectedly becomes a life-changing glimpse into the workings of the wheel of life and death. (Published in 2010, 176 pages.)

Purchase from Amazon.com for $12.00 or buy as Kindle for $2.99.

Prairie Fire

PRAIRIE FIRE

by Dan Armstrong

It's a few years from now, and the human and environmental costs of industrial farming have finally caught up with America's family farmers. Instead of throwing in the hoe, farmers across the Heartland rise up against the combine, threatening to burn their crops rather than continue the petrochemical assault on the land. (R) Read synopsis and/or sample chapters. (Published in 2007, 540 pages.)

Purchase from Amazon.com for $22.00or buy as Kindle for $3.99.

Taming the Dragon

TAMING THE DRAGON:

by Dan Armstrong

The giant hydroelectric dam in the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River has been controversial since construction began in the early 1990s; but now, as it nears completion some two decades later, a warm winter and a diminished Himalayan snowpack have cut the Great River's volume by half, bringing all the critics' worst fears to reality.Read synopsis and/or sample chapters. (Published in 2007, 148 pages.)

Purchase from Amazon.com for $10.95 or buy as Kindle for $2.99.

Blake College

BLAKE COLLEGE

by Dan Armstrong

It's Eugene, Oregon 1970. Anti-war demonstrations at the University of Oregon share the headlines with the Oregon track team, led by their coach Bill Bowerman and star runner Steve Prefontaine. At the same time, Eugene is becoming a magnet for a generation of young people headed west, seeking a new American dream in the blossoming counterculture of long hair, free love, and psycho-activating drugs. A small group of young visionaries decide to start an experimental college in an old Victorian house in north Eugene. William Blake College is dedicated to giving its students tools for living in the new world–meditation, yoga, organic gardening, and communal living. Two women provide the inspiration to get the school up and running, but before the completion of its first year, one of the students is accused of bombing two buildings at the U of O. (Published in 2019, 453 pages.)

Purchase from Amazon.com for $20.00 or buy as Kindle for $6.99.

The Open Secret

QUICKSAND

by Dan Armstrong

When three young women at the same high school in Eugene, Oregon commit suicide in little over a year, many in the community connect the suicides with the stress of getting good grades for admission to elite colleges. While the local police department treats the suicides as individual cases of emotional breakdown, Travis Hardy and his friend Steve Kelly, both sophomores at the high school, discover evidence that the suicides are more than what they seem and are intimately connected. Instead of going directly to the police, Travis and Steve decide to investigate the three suicides themselves, hoping to find proof for what they believe is a triple murder. (R); (Published in 2022, 342 pages.)

Purchase from Amazon.com for $15.00 or buy as Kindle for $5.99.

Puddle of Love

PUDDLE OF LOVE:

by Dan Armstrong

Jesse Wallace knows all the darkest secrets of the little town of Briley, Oregon. He knows the daughter of the town's most successful rancher is addicted to drugs. He knows Briley's highly respected parson is having an affair with a local prostitute. He knows the details of a young girl's kidnapping, and he's seen two horrible murders. But he can't tell the town sheriff or the state police, because one of those murders was his own. Jesse's dead, and he's stuck on the other side. Ever hear the story about the ghost in the whorehouse? This is it!(R) (Published in 2009, 368 pages.)

Purchase from Amazon.com for $19.95 or buy as Kindle for $3.99.

The Open Secret

THE OPEN SECRET and Twelve Other Tales of the Unknown

by Dan Armstrong

Almost everyone at some time in his or her life has entertained the idea of an encounter with the supernatural. Since my childhood I have always wanted to witness something from beyond the pale–to observe a demonstration of telekinesis or see a UFO–anything that would allow me a peek behind the veil of ordinary reality. And yet, despite my willingness to believe in something more, until I actually had hard evidence of the other side, I could be no more than a hopeful skeptic. And that is what this collection of stories is about, exploring the unexplained, knowing the unknowable. (R); (Published in 2014, 149 pages.)

Purchase from Amazon.com for $10.00 or buy as Kindle for $2.99.

Botanical Treasures

BOTANICAL TREASURES: Multi-use Plants for Renewable Resources and a Nature-based Economy

by Joshua Smith

Our task today is to reinvent society so that it is co-evolutionary with the rest of nature. Management of our natural resources in an efficient and sustainable manner is vital to this vision. Botanical Treasures lays the foundation for such a transformation by detailing a form of nature-based renewable economics that has been all but lost in this age of technology. The forty-five species of plants profiled in this book have the potential to produce a wide range of raw materials for a variety of products and uses. Some can be grown on marginal land where little else can grow. Some contribute valuable functions to agroecology, have medicinal properties, or act as important sources for food. Think of Botanical Treasures as a users' guide for planet Earth. (Published in 2016, 288 pages.)

Purchase from Amazon.com for $20.00 or buy as Kindlefor $7.99.