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An excerpt from A Dodge, a Twist, and a Tobacconist, by
Sophronia Belle Lyon, available in plain http://amzn.to/W3iCNI (2.99)
and illustrated http://amzn.to/UwrXKs (4.99) ebook versions.

“My little vessel, sit down and let me eat this wonderful food and
I will tell you a story.” I pushed Kera down into a chair and settled
myself before the tray. “There was a man called Naaman, a mighty
warrior for a powerful king, who had leprosy. A little girl captured in
war served his wife, and told her about a prophet who could heal the
master if he would only go to her homeland.
“He went, and with him camel-loads of gold and garments to
reward the mighty prophet. He had gone first to the king of the land,
you see, thinking the possessor of such a mighty power must reside
in a palace. But the king tore his clothes and whined and could do
nothing. The prophet Elisha sent for Naaman to come to his home.
The mighty warrior came to a stop in front of what must have been a
disappointingly small house.
“Do you know that the prophet did not even come outside? He
sent a servant to tell him to wash seven times in the Jordan River and
be clean. What do you think was that great warrior’s response?”
“I would have been furious,” Kera exclaimed. “The man came
for healing, and the prophet did not even come to speak any words
of comfort to him? He sent a servant? Did the warrior go cut of his
head?”
“He certainly did get angry.” I suppressed a smile with
difficulty. “He told his servants he expected the prophet to come and
strike the spot of leprosy, and call on the name of his God. He said that
there were better rivers to wash in back home. What do you suppose
the servants said to him?”
“They reminded him that he could cut off the prophet’s head, I
hope.”
“They called him father, Kera, just as you have done before to
me, and asked him why, if he would be willing to do some great thing
if the prophet had asked, he was not willing to do a simple thing?
So he went, and washed. Imagine him, Kera, dipping once, twice,
thrice — and seeing no change. Four times, five times, six times — still
nothing. Do you not think his servants had to urge him to keep doing
it, saying, ‘Just once more, my father, please, just once more!’ ”
“So he did this simple thing, and the leprosy was healed?”

“It was. The Scriptures say his skin became like that of a little
child.”
“These are the words of our God? Well, then, that explains it. So
what you did was tell little Twist words of God, and they healed him.
It was not anything you did at all.”
I finally allowed myself to laugh. “Yes, little vessel, that’s exactly
how it was.”

Sophronia Belle Lyon grew up in the Catskill Mountains of
upstate New York, reading HG Welles, Jules Verne and other classics.
She dressed up and acted out scenes with friends much like Louisa
May Alcott’s beloved “Little Women,” and got to be a cauldron spirit
in Macbeth in fourth grade. She traveled to Italy by way of Iceland
and Luxembourg. She’s taken apart her share of clocks to study the
gearworks and feels well-prepared to enter the Steampunk genre.
Hundreds of cat friends informed her about Bagheera’s attitudes and
manners. Oliver Twist’s oblivious, eccentric habits came from the
Science-absorbed men in her life, and her love for weapons translated
into the well-armed members of the Alexander Legacy Company. She
travels widely, shoots when she can, collects swords and knives, but is
so far too shy to be photographed.

The Alexander Legacy series melds some better and lesser-
known characters of classic literary fiction: A literary dream team of
crime fighters including nods to Dickens, Stevenson, Alcott, Austen,
Kipling, Doyle, and other writers across the pond, with plenty of

homages to great books sprinkled throughout. Prowl the foggy London
streets on the track of a ruthless enslaver of souls. Travel the Thames
in a Giant Catfish. Soar over London in a stealth glider, and witness
true redemptions and restorations no one ever imagined.

Book Two, The ‘Pprentices, the Puppets, and the Pirate, should
be out in January or February of 2013. Oliver Twist faces down a
tentacled monster at Nancy House. Pinocchio and his Blue Fairy
mama search for the secret to true immortality and rebirth. Will Long
John Silver risk his stealth airship, the Petite Papillion, to go in search
of the energy source known as The Black Spot?

Please visit Findley Family Video’s blog at http://
elkjerkyforthesoul.wordpress.com to see this title and many more.