Ricks Place - UK Author John A Rickard

Welcome to Rickpress.com!

The www.Rickpress.com site is mainly dedicated to promoting the work of John A. Rickard – novels, short stories, plays and poetry.

Visitors can read excerpts from my two novels and other work.

‘The Golgotha Gate’ is described by some readers as beginning where Mel Gibson’s ‘Passion of the Christ’ ends. The book can be ordered from the publishers www.Xlibris.com of Philadelphia or from booksellers everywhere and on Amazon's Kindle.

For a free read, two chapters can be downloaded here (Prologue), here (Chapter Two) and here (Chapter Twenty One).

‘Beyond Pride and Prejudice/Lydia’s Lives’ – is a tale of the ups and downs, so to speak, in the turbulent life of Lydia Bennet, Jane Austen’s wild but not so wicked anti-heroine. Men are her passion and her partners in the pursuit of pleasure range from the young and unworldly, to mature gentlemen with bank balances; from political radicals to royalty. Lydia loves them all.

For a free read there will be regular snippets (see below) and two chapters can be downloaded here (Chapter One) and here (Chapter Seven).

For more information click onto BOOKS.

LYDIA'S SNIPPETS

For a woman of her age Lady Delaney had retained a remarkably fine figure – and much of its essential features were on display for everyone to see (and most particularly the gentlemen). She wore an off the shoulder skin tight silver ball gown reflecting the lights and giving prominence to every voluptuous feminine feature – in particular a vast bosom emerging like two white volcanic peaks from the tight laced confines of her bodice.
Lizzie whispered, ‘That lady seems like a very elegant man-eating fish seeking to find its prey.’ Papa disagreed. ‘More like a famished buzzard circling a flock of dozing pigeons.’

***

Lydia said, ‘Surely there should be no problem about the Delaney inheritance. I hear there are four sons and your oldest brother must have already succeeded to the title and the estates.’
‘Ah, but none of us are married, nor have we shown any inclination to do so.’ He tittered. ‘And that, my dear, is why my Mamma has ordered me to dance with you – for like my brothers I am being driven relentlessly around the Kingdom by my Mamma to find a wife. She thinks you have the look of the finest breeder in the room!’
‘How disgusting!’ I said. ‘I am not long turned 13 – and have no interest in breeding on behalf of you, your mother or anyone else. I’ll not start thinking and talking about such things as marriage and husbands – and certainly not breeding as you put it – until I’m 15 or 16. Just as my sisters do – and Mamma, of course.’ But I felt compelled to add, ‘Although my thoughts might turn in that direction somewhat earlier if a handsome young gentlemen of fortune should take my fancy. Or me his.’
James bowed. ‘I do apologise if I have been too forward. I can still hardly believe you to be so young – you are such an extremely tall, mature and well formed lady.’
I returned his bow. ‘I thank you for the compliment, if such it is. But I still think it extraordinary that you and your Mamma seem to regard young English ladies as some kind of cow.’
‘I had not thought in such crude terms,’ he replied. ‘But even if it is so we are no different from every royal family in Europe, as well as the nobility.’

(For more Snippets click here)

The site has a number of other features – including an occasional news feature column ‘The Foreteller’—‘TNT: Tomorrow’s News Today’. What our descendants (if we have any) may be reading about us in the years and centuries ahead. Another occasional feature will be ‘Postcards to Planet Edo-Andromeda’ – an alien sent to Earth on a fact-finding mission writes home to his wife. There is a regular bits and bobs column As I Was Saying to Joe and Saigo. Much of the content on the site is free to read.

I hope you will drop in regularly and browse as we add more new content.

Kind regards,

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