Russell F. Moran's Page

Cold Coffee Press Endorses The Keepers of Time:
Book Five In The Time Magnet Series by Russell F. Moran

Admiral Ashley Patterson and her husband Jack have done it again. They’ve traveled through time, 200 years into the future—aboard a nuclear aircraft carrier, Ashley’s flagship.

They discover a new world, a strange new world—a post-nuclear war world—one that is both a beacon of hope, and a cry of despair.

They meet a group of people who call themselves The Keepers of Time, an organization dedicated to preserving history and culture.

But the world around them has harkened back to a primitive and savage past, one that includes human sacrifice.

Ashley knows they have to have to get back to the present to warn the government of the unspeakable horrors that await.

But finding the way back to the present is their greatest challenge, an almost insurmountable one.

“A wild time travel yarn that starts fast and doesn’t slow down until the end.”

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Cold Coffee Press Book Review for Keepers of Time
by Russell F. Moran

Book five in the Time Magnet series is finally here with another great saga. The adventure begins on June 1, 2017, the day after Memorial Day. Carrier Strike Group 2311 departs the New York Harbor at 8:45 a.m. to begin a long deployment. Things are as they should be until “everything turned dark”.

Whether you have read book one through four in this series first or you are considering this book as your introduction to the series, let me say that each book has its own plot with a conclusion. I suggest you read The Gray Ship, The Thanksgiving Gang, A Time of Fear, and The Skies of Time at some point very soon. However, please feel free to jump in and read The Keepers of Time because you won’t be disappointed.

The author’s superb writing skills will quickly draw you into the story. Forty two fast paced chapters will keep turning the pages of this novel until the end. Well-developed cast of realistic characters that you will relate to one will keep you engaged. One of my favorite things about Moran’s books is his entire cast of characters detailed in the back of the book. I admit to reading about the cast first in order to firmly get everyone in my mind. As a follower of his, I know each character is important to the plot and I don’t want to miss anything or overlook anyone.

Throughout history authors have taken us back in time and forward into the future. Those that take us into the future like Author Russell F. Moran are rare individuals who meticulously look at world history and real time world events to weave a story of unimaginable happenings. History shows that many of these fictional authors are correct in their assessments of the future. So we must pay due vigilance to these authors so that their fiction does not become the world’s reality in the future.

I invite you to read The Keepers of Time: Book Five In The Time Magnet Series by Russell F. Moran and spend 15 days in an alternate universe. Meet the Keepers of Time and don’t forget to mark your calendar on April 12, 2018 as the day the world ended. One of my favorite quotes from the book is “Time flies when you’re scared out of your mind.”

Cold Coffee Press/Cafe endorses The Keepers of Time: Book Five In The Time Magnet Series by Russell F. Moran as a science fiction, time travel story that will cause the thoughtful reader to look at the importance of current world events in a different perspective. We were given a Kindle/PDF version of this book for review which was completed on March 30, 2016. For more information please visit Cold Coffee Press at http://www.coldcoffeepress.com

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Cold Coffee Press Endorses Futuristic Thriller Novelist Russell F. Moran

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Time Magnet Series

The Gray Ship: Book One In The Time Magnet Series
by Russell F. Moran

Description – From Kirkus Reviews

In this stellar time-travel novel, a modern-American nuclear-powered cruiser sails through a time portal and goes back 152 years to the days just before the beginning of the Civil War.

The USS California, under the command of Capt. Ashley Patterson, an African-American woman, is headed toward Charleston, S.C., to participate in a ceremony commemorating the first battle of the Civil War: the bombardment of Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861. But before her ship reaches its destination, the massive cruiser—and its 630 crew members—travel through some sort of temporal wormhole and end up near the Charleston Harbor in 1861, just hours before the Confederate assault is about to begin.

After eventually wrapping her head around the fact that her entire crew has traveled back in time, Patterson realizes that she has some difficult decisions to make: Does she let history repeat itself and focus on trying to find a way back home, or does she use the military superiority of the California—“outfitted with enough fire power to unleash Biblical hell on an enemy”—to help end the war quickly and thus save the approximately 620,000 soldiers who would otherwise die in the next four years?

Powered by a cast of well-developed characters—Lincoln and Lee are among the prominently featured historical figures—consistently brisk pacing and a pulse-pounding (albeit slightly predictable) conclusion, the humanist themes of this novel are momentous and just as timely today as they were back in the 1860s.

This provocative, intensely powerful novel is a must-read for sci-fi fans and Civil War aficionados, though mainstream fiction readers will find it heart-rending and inspiring as well. A rare read that’s not only wildly entertaining, but also profoundly moving.

From Kirkus Reviews

A Kirkus Best Indie Book of 2013

Genre – Science fiction/time travel/alternative history

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Cold Coffee Press Book Review For The Gray Ship
by Russell F. Moran

On the morning of April 10, 2013 the nuclear guided missile cruiser USS California left Norfork, Virginia heading toward Charleston, South Carolina. Once there the ship would anchor at Fort Sumter for a ceremony commemorating where the first battle of the Civil War took place on April 12, 1861. After the ceremony Captain Ashley Patterson would deploy her ship to the Persian Gulf, but as it turns out, time can be unpredictable.

Author Russell F. Moran like so many authors before him wrestles with science fiction and time travel to the extent of what would happen if we could go back into history and change just one event. He thanks his friends Bill Holland, Nick Wartella and his wife for their fresh perspective, input and editorial analyses. He also gives appreciation for invaluable technical input from his friend Lloyd (Hoss) Miller, Rear Admiral, Retired, United States Navy. Admiral Miller was the first commanding officer of the USS California, the ship that plays the pivotal role in the story. Admiral Miller makes a cameo appearance in the book as the strong leader, likeable person and gentleman that he is in real life.

The author is quick to point out that this is a work of fiction and with all fiction imagination plays a pivoting role. At the very start the reader is introduced by name to 55 major characters who bring the story of ‘The Gray Ship’ from the blue-green swells of the Atlantic Ocean through a port-h*** (worm h***) that will not only change history, but tens of thousands of lives. His characters are realistic as with Captain Ashley Patterson while in her astute position wrestles with her own inner demons.

Who right now or in our future might want to go back in time to abolish war or the worse acts of humankind? When faced with the dilemma of being forced back through time into a dark period of American history, Captain Ashley Patterson and her crew had to risk mutiny or at the very least commit treason. If and when they could make it back to their own time, how would they be judged by friends, family, the military and the world? Who would believe their story?

One of my favorite quotes from the book reads, “Dr. Weinberg,” said Admiral Miller, “Do you believe these stories?” “It isn’t my job to believe stories or not to believe them, Admiral,” said Weinberg. “It’s my job to assess whether the witness believes his own story. But I will say this. I don’t know much about this time travel stuff, but ever since I worked on that book with Jack Thurber, I’ve noticed that I’ve developed an obsessive compulsive disorder. I never step on a crack…it may be a wormhole.”

Reading ‘The Gray Ship’ has left me wanting to read this authors other three books; A Time Of Fear, The Skies Of Time, and The Thanksgiving Gang.

Cold Coffee Press endorses The Gray Ship by Russell F. Moran as a science fiction, time travel story that will cause the thoughtful reader to ask what he or she might change if the opportunity presented itself? We were given a PDF version of this book for review which was completed on February 21, 2015. For more information please visit Cold Coffee Press. http://www.coldcoffeepress.com

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The Thanksgiving Gang:
Book Two In The Time Magnet Series
by Russell F. Moran

Jack Thurber has traveled through time – again. This was his fourth journey through time, earning him a nickname The Time Magnet. But this time he's traveled into the future.

He discovers that he and his wife Ashley were killed in a terrorist nuclear attack on Ashley's ship on Thanksgiving Day, 2015, in what became known as the Thanksgiving Attacks.

Jack's got to find a way back to the past, the past when he and Ashley were still alive. To do that he forms a group of people to help him. They call themselves The Thanksgiving Gang.

Dare he change history?

Dare he not?

Rip-roaring, gut-wrenching suspense wrapped in a story of friendship and courage.

Book Genre – Science fiction/time travel

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A Time of Fear: Book Three In The Time Magnet Series
by Russell F. Moran

In a month, five American cities will be devastated by suitcase nuclear bombs. The time travelers take on their old name, The Thanksgiving Gang.

• They know what will happen, because they travelled to the future.
• They know what the result will be. They’ve seen the devastation.
• They know the details. Five American Cities targeted by nuclear suitcase bombs.
• BUT they don't know where the bombs are – and they don't know how to find them.

The clock is ticking and millions will soon lose their lives – unless they find the bombs. “A riveting, pulse-pounding nail-biter in the spirit of The Gray Ship and The Thanksgiving Gang. A Time of Fear will grip you and not let go, even after you finish the book.” Book Genre – Science fiction/time travel

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The Skies of Time:
Book Four In The Time Magnet Series
by Russell F. Moran

The Skies of Time is a book about time travel, love, and commitment.

Newly promoted Admiral Ashley Patterson is on a public relations flight with her husband, author and Naval Reserve Lieutenant. The idea was dreamed up by the Pentagon to celebrate Ashley’s promotion as the youngest Navy admiral in American History. As happened before, they encounter a wormhole or time portal. Ashley calls Jack her “time magnet,” because he seems to have a talent for finding wormholes.

They’ve time travelled before, but this time it’s different – they encountered a time portal, or wormhole – in the sky.

They have a duty – to warn the authorities of the coming war.

They also have a duty to themselves. They want to return to their home, their home in 2016. But Franklin Roosevelt has different plans for them.

Their plane, an F-18, had a cockpit data recorder, a Black Box, which would give them the coordinates to find the wormhole and return home.

But, to their horror, they realize that 1940 technology cannot read the data on the Black Box. They’re stranded – 76 years in the past.

Will they have to restart their lives from 1940 and never return home?

Or will they find a way to read the secrets of the box?

All they know is that they have an unfailing love for each other.

A nail biter of a tale in the spirit of the other books in The Time Magnet Series, The Gray Ship, The Thanksgiving Gang, and A Time of Fear.

Book Genre – Science fiction/time travel/ alternative history

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The Time Magnet Series (4 Book Box Set) Kindle Edition by Russell F. Moran

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Patterns Series

The Shadows of Terror:
Patterns Series Book One
by Russell F. Moran

The Shadows of Terror – A novel that explodes off the front page of your newspaper. Terrorism now has a new face, a face that’s obscured in the shadows. The radical forces of destruction have learned to make themselves invisible to the West, and preventing a terrorist attack has become almost impossible.

A new war has begun, World War III. Rick Bellamy, an FBI agent who specializes in counter-terrorism, is engaged in his own war, a war with no end. Bellamy’s wife, Ellen, a prominent architect, discovers that she’s in the middle of the greatest terror plot to date. To defeat the enemy, Bellamy first has to uncover the clues, to shine a light on the shadows. He has to find patterns – before it’s too late.

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The Scent of Revenge:
Patterns Series Book Two
by Russell F. Moran

The world is at war – World War III. FBI Agent Rick Bellamy and his wife, Ellen, find themselves in the middle of a sinister terror plot. Someone is attacking young prominent women, inflicting a horrible disease. Nobody knows its origin, nobody knows how to stop it, nobody knows how to cure it.

Rick Bellamy and a team of scientists want to go on offense. But how?

Will the lives of the women be changed forever?

When will the attacks stop?

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Cold Coffee Press Book Review for The Scent of Revenge:
Patterns Series Book Two by Russell F. Moran

Although Science Fiction, The Scent of Revenge might be at America’s doorstep!

The main character Rick Bellamy is a FBI agent, head of counter-terrorism unit. The love of his life is 38 year old Ellen Bellamy, Architect by day, lover and writer by night. Ellen’s beauty is more than skin deep as she radiates warmth and cares deeply about everyone who crosses her path.

With an impressive cast of characters that include William Reynolds who is President of the United States with his First Lady Amanda Reynolds standing by his side, he has just addresses the American People announcing that that World War III has begun.

A serious disease with symptoms of severe dementia, mimicking Alzheimer’s disease is attacking America’s Women. With research still seeking a cure for Alzheimer’s, the race is on and the questions commence. Why these particular women, why and how, and is the male population at risk?

Will President Reynolds be forced to suspend the right of habeas corpus? Do you know what this even means?

Heart pounding, can’t put down thriller that will force you to look at terrorism in different light. Life in America will never be the same.

Author Russell F. Moran is an exceptional story teller. As with all science fiction we hope it is not possible at least not within our lifetime. Moran’s futuristic thrillers (each book part of a series, but stands alone) must be examined by each reader intelligently as they will lurk in the shadows of your mind well after the book is closed.

The Scent of Revenge “is dedicated to those who suffer from Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia, and especially to their families who suffer along with them.”

Cold Coffee Press endorses The Scent of Revenge (book two in The Patterns Series) by Russell F. Moran The Shadows of Terror is book one. Also available The Gray Ship, The Thanksgiving Gang, A Time of Fear, and The Skies of Time (all four books in the Time Magnet Series). Another great read is Sideswiped which book one in Matt Blake Legal Thrillers with The Reformers coming soon. We reviewed this book from a Kindle/PDF format. The reviewed was completed on October 3, 2015. For more information please visit Cold Coffee Press. http://www.coldcoffeepress.com

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Matt Blake Legal Thrillers

Sideswiped:
A Matt Blake Legal Thriller Series Book One
by Russell F. Moran

Matt Blake is a Chicago trial lawyer and highly decorated Marine combat veteran. After losing his beloved fiancée in a tragic car accident, he finds that he has more battles to fight: alcohol and drugs. He gradually realizes that his life is spiraling downward, and that he needs help with the battle. He seeks the help of Dr. Benjamin Weinberg. a psychiatrist who’s also a family friend and consultant to his law firm.

Matt, with Dr. Weinberg’s help, tames the monsters that sought to devour him. After rehab, he turns his attention to one of the most serious personal injury cases his firm has handled. It involved a sideswipe car accident in which his client’s husband, a famous political journalist, was killed. The case looked almost routine from a liability point of view. Numerous eyewitnesses gave sworn statements that they saw the defendant motorist talking on his cellphone just before his car slammed into the plaintiff’s husband. The eyewitness evidence pointed toward negligence. At first it looked like an open-and-shut personal injury case.

But evidence began to mount quickly that the ‘accident” may have been intentional—that it may have been murder. But Matt and his team struggle with a big question: Why would James Spellman have been murdered?

Matt finally meets the firm’s client, Diana Spellman, James Spellman’s widow. She’s a strikingly beautiful university professor and well-known writer. Matt, having licked his alcohol and drug problem, as well as the loss of his fiancée, finds himself swept off his feet by the lovely Diana Spellman. He shares his past difficulties with her, and she shares hers with him. Besides having lost lovers in similar type car accidents, Diana and Matt discover that their lives have a lot in common.

But Diana has a problem—she’s a murder target. As James Spellman’s informal editor, she knew every story that her husband was working on before his death, stories that contained secrets—secrets that threaten the highest levels of government, secrets that someone or some group does not want out in the open, secrets for which they’re willing to murder in order to keep quiet.

Matt’s attraction to Diana is mirrored by her attraction to him. They fall in love. But their love is soon complicated by attempted assassination attempts on both Diana and Matt.

What began as a routine personal injury case suddenly evolved into a vast terrorist conspiracy—and Diana was at the center of it all.

Sideswiped is a crime drama, a legal thriller, a tale of terrorism, and finally a compelling love story of two people who dedicated their lives to each other. It’s a story of enduring love, kept alive in the face of crippling fear. The book will grab you by the gut, as well as by the heart.

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Cold Coffee Press Book Review for Sideswiped:
Matt Blake Legal Thriller Series Book One
by Russell F. Moran

Sideswiped will send a chill up your spine the next time you drive on the freeway!

Russell F. Moran’s well developed characters and distinct voice brings reality to the situation from sentence one and draws the reader into the story line with immediate empathy.

Main Character Matt Blake (x-Marine) is an Attorney, Blake & Randolph. Matt’s life changed (quote) “I’d never thought of the Chicago River as a romantic spot, especially during the day. It’s a beautiful waterway that meanders through some of the greatest architectural treasures in the country. It’s just not romantic. Until my lunch with Maggie Pierce.”

Get to know the professional and personal side of Matt Blake (quote) “It was Jimmy Escobedo, an old friend from college. Jimmy was nuts, in a good way. He was the funniest person I ever knew, and just seeing him made me laugh. He walked over to me, more like ran, and gave me a bear hug as I downed my next Scotch, almost spilling it. Jimmy was a character, the kind of guy who was a typical class clown. He was also bright as hell, and had his choice of job offers after Northwestern. He looked good, except he was a lot skinnier than I remembered.”

With flawless writing skills the author creates the stage that brings the reader into the life of Matt Blake and into the ins and outs of personal injury litigation. Do you think that all personal injury lawyers are ambulance chasers?

I invite you to come see for yourself how personal injury law plays out in the courtroom. Follow multiple cases and the drama that will take your mind to places where it has never gone. Sideswiped is a face paced, realistic, suspenseful thriller and romantically touching. Your mind will envision every aspect like you are watching it unfold in a dark movie theater and your impressions of somethings will change forever.

Cold Coffee Press endorses Sideswiped: A Matt Blake Novel by Russell F. Moran. The author dedicates this book to the State and Government law enforcement community who dedicate their lives to keep us safe.

Sideswiped is book one in Matt Blake Legal Thrillers (The Reformers-book two is coming soon). Also available The Gray Ship, The Thanksgiving Gang, A Time of Fear, and The Skies of Time (all four books in the Time Magnet series). The Shadows of Terror, The Scent of Revenge (books one and two in the Patterns Series).

We reviewed this book from a Kindle/PDF format. The reviewed was completed on October 2, 2015. For more information please visit Cold Coffee Press. http://www.coldcoffeepress.com

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The Reformers:
Matt Blake Legal Thriller Series Book Two
by Russell F. Moran

The Matt Blake Legal Thriller Series Book 2

The forces of radical Islam are on the run.

Their leadership has been decimated, their ranks thinned, their power disappearing by the week.

Their recruiting efforts have been cut off, the radical websites shut down, and the attraction of jihad is losing its appeal among the young.

With targeted assassinations, military strikes, as well as the loss of oil fields and gold mines, radical Islam is fast losing power.

But who is responsible?

It isn’t the United States Government. It’s a new force the world has never seen before.

Lawyer Matt Blake and his wife Diana find themselves in the middle of the most gigantic plot the world has ever seen, a conspiracy that’s only begun to grow.

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Cold Coffee Press Book Review for The Reformers:
Matt Blake Legal Thriller Series Book Two
by Russell F. Moran

The Reformers might make you stand up and applaud or on second thought it might cause you to rethink history and even take our political climate serious.

The Reformers follows Sideswiped in The Matt Blake Legal Thriller series, but stands on its own with story-line and conclusions.

Matt Blake (ex-Marine) and Attorney at Blake & Randolph who is no stranger to pro bono clients first impression of his new client is “just met a lying scumbag. Not only is he a lying scumbag, but he’s a mass murderer, a lowlife piece of garbage.”

After an interview “He didn’t deny that the evidence exists. He didn’t try to shuck and jive away from it. He simply insists that he did not detonate the bomb, nor did he know anything about it. But here’s the weird part. Weird? Hell, it’s almost spooky. When I asked him why someone or some group would try to frame him, he clammed up. He actually told me that he wouldn’t talk about it. He simply told me not to go there. It’s obvious that he doesn’t want to address the question of why somebody would want to frame him.”

“But what about the 12-foot gorilla in the room in the room?” Diana (Matt's wife) said, “The gorilla that wears a big bandanna that says ‘evidence’? So the guy is a straight-shooting truth teller. Great. What about his prints, his DNA, and not to mention the video showing him next to the bomb?”

From here things go uphill, downhill and sideways and it seems the whole world goes to “H” in a hand basket. Never a dull moment in this thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat and questioning who is in charge, how does radical Islam, the moderates and the United States Government play into the pro bono case.

Another quote from the book. “What I’m about to tell you hasn’t been made public yet. I got this information from my inside people. Bartholomew and his NFL group have set up political organizations in all 50 states, including large paid operations in the big electoral states like California and Florida. For some reason, the press hasn’t caught on to this yet, or maybe they don’t think it’s important. These political organizations are not Democrat or Republican. It’s a third-party operation, called The Freedom from Terror Party.”

I dare you to read this thriller and not question what might be on the horizon. Author Russell F. Moran writes with a style and concepts a few steps ahead of our time.

Cold Coffee Press/Cafe endorses The Reformers (The Matt Blake Legal Thriller Series Book 2) by Russell F. Moran because the fictional drama might not be fiction at all. Purchase and read all Russell’s books from Amazon. We received this book in a Kindle/PDF format for review. The review was completed on January 16, 2016. For more information please visit Cold Coffee Press http://www.coldcoffeepress.com and Cold Coffee Café http://coldcoffeecafe.com/

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Cold Coffee Press Spotlight Interview
With Author Russell F. Moran

Russell F. Moran is the author of The Gray Ship, The Thanksgiving Gang, A Time of Fear, and The Skies of Time and The Keepers of Time (five books in the Time Magnet series). The Shadows of Terror and The Scent of Revenge are books one and two in the Patterns Series. Sideswiped is book one and The Reformers book two in Matt Blake Legal Thrillers.

Russ Moran has also published five nonfiction books: Justice in America: How it Works—How it Fails (Coddington Press, 2011); The APT Principle: The Business Plan That You Carry in Your Head (Coddington Press, 2012); Boating Basics: The Boattalk Book of Boating Tips (Coddington Press, 2013); If You’re Injured: A Consumer Guide to Personal Injury Law (Coddington Press, 2013); How to Create More Time (Coddington Press, 2014).

He’s a lawyer and a veteran of the United States Navy. He lives on Long Island, New York, with his wife, Lynda.

Interview:

What makes you proud to be a writer from Long Island, New York? A lot of published authors live on Long Island, and I’ve gotten the chance to meet a few of them.

What or who inspired you to become a writer? A teacher in High School and my wife.

When did you begin writing with the intention of becoming published? 2010

Did your environment or upbringing play a major role in your writing and did you use it to your advantage? Yes. I have a background in law and the military. I’ve used these backgrounds in my writing.

Do you come up with your title before or after you write the manuscript? After the manuscript or sometimes part of the way through.

Please introduce your genre and why you prefer to write in that genre? Science fiction/time travel and detective thrillers

What was your inspiration, spark or light bulb moment that inspired you to write the book that you are seeking promotion for? I first get an idea and then jot down story “beats,” or a rough outline of what the story is about. Then start writing. After that, the full story starts to show up.

What has been your most rewarding experience with your writing process? Praise from friends.

What has been your most rewarding experience in your publishing journey? The Gray Ship a Kirkus Indie Best books of 2013

What one positive piece of advice would you give to other authors? Read On Writing by Stephen King, and The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. Then, dispel the notion that there is any such thing as writers block. It doesn’t exist unless you convince yourself that it does.

Who is your favorite author and why? Nelson De Mille. Great story teller with a conversational voice.

Is there anything else that you would like to share with us? Don’t give up!

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