Incident at Blood River: A Novel from the deMelilla Chronicles - Paperback

by Stephen V. Estopinal (Author)

Incident at Blood River Sergeant Pedro deMelilla is an Isle o born in the Canary Islands, raised in New Orleans, and serves in the Spanish army in the New World. Grieving over the death of his young wife, he is sent to Mexico City, where he is pulled into an international conspiracy. False charges of heresy and witchcraft are leveled against deMelilla. Threatened by the Inquisition, he flees to Louisiana, where he meets Aim e, another grieving soul seeking a new life. Together they must fight to survive and discover love. This powerful story was forged in history and in Blood.

Author Biography

Stephen Estopinal grew up in the bayous and swamps of Southeast Louisiana. A descendent of Canary Islanders brought to Louisiana by Spain in 1778 Estopinal was exposed to an oral history of the Isleños, a Spanish word meaning "Islander," and their unique culture. It is this background and point-of-view is reflected in Estopinal's historical fictions giving them a texture not often found in Early American stories. Mr. Estopinal has written a very successful text book, A Guide to Understanding Land Surveys. Published by John Wiley and sons, the work is in its third edition and is recommended by Professional registration boards and organizations to by those aspiring licensure in the Land Surveying. He has co-authored another text, Professional Land Surveyors and Real Property Descriptions, with Wendy Lathrop also published by John Wiley and sons. A contributing writer for Professional Surveyor Magazine, Estopinal's articles are generally non-technical and center on the human aspect of the practicing Professional Surveyor he encountered as a practicing professional, essentially short stories. These articles were favorably accepted across the country and soon became a subscriber's favorite. Prompted by the success of these articles, Estopinal decided to call upon his other experiences growing up in Louisiana. When other teens were building hotrods and hanging out at the soda shop, Estopinal was hunting, fishing, exploring the wilderness and spending many nights in remote swamp camps listening to his father and grandfather tell stories of earlier times before the roads came south. Having served in the United States Army and as a living history volunteer at the Jean Lafitte National Park, Estopinal was trained in modern military practices and those of the American Revolution. This knowledge of the details of 18th Century military and every-day life is woven into a series of novels known collectively as the deMelilla Chronicles. El Tigre de Nueva Orleáns, Incident at Blood River, Anna and soon-to-be-released Escape to New Orleans are novels about people living, growing and surviving in Louisiana during the Spanish and early American periods. The underlying history is factual, well researched and woven into stories involving fictional characters. Major events in the deMelilla Chronicles are real or are a compilation of real events in American History often ignored by Anglo-centric historians.