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Trapped at Birth

With Only One Way Out

Max Bryce is a fake name, but no one in rural Twin Mills, Saskatchewan knows that. Fyodor is his real name, as the youngest son of a powerful Russian mob family. Max's veterinarian practice is a front for his family's illegal drug trade across the American border.
Max resents being part of his family. He tried to leave it once before but was severely punished. His punishment was to teach him that no family member gets out alive. Yet, Max's desperation to escape runs deep and explodes suddenly. In a rash move, Max becomes a David fighting two Goliaths.
Max is on the run from his family and an outlaw biker gang. His freedom becomes a supreme contest to stay alive. He must outwit and outlast those who want him dead.

Other Books

by the AUTHOR

It’s 1858 with “Gold For the Taking!”

Thousands came to get it in the Fraser River Gold Rush

The Deadly Five and the Second Five are Historical Fiction novels

Depicting Five Men’s Ongoing Search for Gold

The Deadly Five

The Epic Search for Gold Begins With Five Untried Partners...
Sometimes a true friend is as hard to find as gold.
Who can you trust to have your back when things become dangerous and deadly? Four other untried partners?
Life doesn't always give us a choice in who we must trust!

Five unlikely partners undertake an epic adventure searching for gold. With danger at every turn, the men rely on one another for survival. Together they find more than gold, the greater treasurer of true friendship and brotherhood…

The story begins with Mean Mike, Nothing Brown, and Jacque forming a loose partnership while traveling on the same steamer heading for Victoria and the Fraser River Gold Rush in 1859. 

Their adventure in gold hunting is by canoe from Victoria across the Straits of Georgia to the British Columbia mainland and the Fraser River at New Westminster. There, Seph, a former bartender, becomes a partner with the men.  

As they travel up the Fraser searching for gold, Old Man Magee joins them at Fort Langley. It is between Fort Hope and Fort Yale that the men are in the thick of gold panning and using a rocker to find gold. Even as they find gold, it is with the willingness to split what is found equally between the five. Their gold search is a good success, but not without an unwanted charge of being, ‘The Deadly Five.’ 

The Second Five

The Epic Search for Gold continues with three original and two new partners to a compelling and convincing conclusion.
These Five find that their gold search leads each of them to different life endeavors.
Dreams and goals keep changing in everyone's lives. Not even gold keeps us content.

In The Deadly Five, the search for gold along British Columbia’s treacherous Fraser River ended with the arrival of winter 1859.

It is now spring 1860, and Nothing Brown, Mean Mike, and Jacque continue their quest for gold in The Second Five, this time joined by English nobleman Henry Arden and Jacque’s seventeen-year-old son, Claude (CF), both eager to prove they can hold their own on this second search.

The partners meet old enemies plus more than their share of new ones along the way. The lovely Maggie Kelly and a highly prized bluetick coonhound are also able to captivate hearts in this non-stop adventure.

Set in the lawlessness of the Fraser River Gold Rush, The Second Five is a story about the value of trust, respect, and friendship as more important than gold.

What Readers About
'The Second Five'
(The Sequel)

5/5
Fans of historical fiction will be delighted to return to the Fraser River gold rush era in this second book by accomplished storyteller Ray Maher.

Following the exploits of The Deadly Five in Maher's first book, this new band of colorful characters includes both familiar faces and some new personalities who will escort readers on a wild ride through this fascinating chapter of British Columbia history.

Maher masterfully weaves an exciting tale, fraught with danger yet balanced with good humor, as this unlikely band of brothers learns about “the dark side of gold and the cost of chasing dreams.”
Barbara Schmidt
Editor emeritus, Domac Publications
Deadly Five Book Cover

What Readers About
'The Deadly Five'

5/5
This was a very entertaining read. I enjoyed how you deftly mixed fiction with historical fact. I'd never heard of the Fraser River Gold Rush. You brought that era to life beautifully.

With a mixture of great characters, exciting action and terrific weaving in of fact and fiction, you've created a fun read that will appeal to anyone who likes adventure stories.

[The plot] moves along swiftly like the Fraser River, carrying the reader along in the action. Very well executed.

I found the plot to be exciting. The mixture of fact and fiction made the story of the Fraser River Gold Rush hard to put down. I felt I was there along with the characters, experiencing the hardships, not only from nature, but from other men fighting to achieve the same aims. They all want to strike it rich and will do whatever it takes to make that happen.

I loved your characters…[Y]ou infused each of the five with a colorful backstory... I grew to care about them and wanted them to succeed. I enjoyed…the fact that none are either all saint or all sinner. They were each complex in their own way.

What I especially liked was that none are the same person by the end of the story. Their experiences have changed them, which made them that much more believable and satisfying to get to know.

I read it in one sitting, enjoying each chapter and getting to know the characters and the time period.
Judge
29th Annual Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Awards
5/5
"Raymond Maher is a masterful storyteller who takes fans of historical fiction on a wild ride through the early years of the Fraser River Gold Rush in British Columbia, Canada. Banding together an unlikely group of fortune hunters, The Deadly Five, traces their adventure through treacherous mountain passes, unforgiving rivers, fantastic wild animal encounters and their own personal trials … and perhaps even a murder! Along the way they encounter some colorful historical characters including BC’s famous Hanging Judge, Matthew Begbie.

Maher’s extensive research gives his readers a compelling look at this fascinating time period and the rugged individuals who made the isolated BC wilderness come alive with dreams of untold riches. His colorful characters are both deeply flawed and delightfully amusing at times. Each one struggles with past failures, and perhaps unrealistic dreams, and each one rises to the occasion when the going gets tough – and it gets plenty tough at times! Readers will easily find a character they can relate to as they journey along with them into the 19th century BC wilderness. Watch out for the moose!"
Barbara Schmidt
Editor emeritus, Domac Publications

What Readers Say:

5/5
"Raymond Maher is a masterful storyteller who takes fans of historical fiction on a wild ride through the early years of the Fraser River Gold Rush in British Columbia, Canada. Banding together an unlikely group of fortune hunters, The Deadly Five, traces their adventure through treacherous mountain passes, unforgiving rivers, fantastic wild animal encounters and their own personal trials … and perhaps even a murder! Along the way they encounter some colorful historical characters including BC’s famous Hanging Judge, Matthew Begbie.

Maher’s extensive research gives his readers a compelling look at this fascinating time period and the rugged individuals who made the isolated BC wilderness come alive with dreams of untold riches. His colorful characters are both deeply flawed and delightfully amusing at times. Each one struggles with past failures, and perhaps unrealistic dreams, and each one rises to the occasion when the going gets tough – and it gets plenty tough at times! Readers will easily find a character they can relate to as they journey along with them into the 19th century BC wilderness. Watch out for the moose!"
Barbara Schmidt
Editor emeritus, Domac Publications

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

“Authentic historical events through absorbing
fiction.”

Raymond Maher is an author with a lifelong passion for the history of Canada. His ongoing study of the Fraser River Gold Rush is the catalyst for the setting of his two historical fiction novels.

Maher’s writing reflects his own search for recognition, acceptance, friendship, trust, and humor while living and working across Canada in four different provinces. These human needs for every period of time are also reflected in his weekly newspaper columns.
Raymond’s most recent literary award was Honorable Mention in the Inspirational or Spiritual category for “A Cuckoo on the Street,” 2021 Writer’s Digest Magazine 90th Annual Competition.
He lives in Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada, near the historic Five Corners, with his spouse of over fifty-five years.
You can find out more about the author at Raymond Maher-Author-Facebook (link to facebook), and According to Ed website newspaper columns.

Writer’s Digest magazine’s 90th Annual Writing Competition Honorable Mention in the Inspirational or Spiritual category for “A Cuckoo on the Street.”

 
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