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Author of novels, essays, children's stories, and poetry
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In the Land of Whispers on Audiobook
Now Minkoff’s exciting trilogy bursts into dazzling new life as an audiobook read by acclaimed Shakespearean actor, Nigel Gore.
“George Minkoff is one of the bravest men alive. He has gambled that a three-part epic novel about 17th century Colonial America — written in a language that mimics the speech of the time — can hold the interest of 21st century readers and bring satisfactions and delights as a work of contemporary fiction. Remarkably enough, he has won his bet."
~ Paul Aster
The Weight of Smoke
Four hundred years after the founding of Jamestown, the lives of Captain John Smith, Powhatan, and Pocahontas assume their true dimensions in this far-ranging saga of the beginnings of the British Empire. The English came to the New World to found a utopia. Instead they founded a slave state. The only English voice of reason and the first true American hero became an outcast - and then forgotten.
George Robert Minkoff presents a rich, authentic tale about the disastrous first 18 months of the Jamestown Colony, 1607-1609. Entwined with the colony’s fractious beginnings are the adventures of Sir Francis Drake, retold around the campfires by an old alchemist, Jonas Profit, who sailed the Spanish Main with Queen Elizabeth’s favorite pirate.
Appropriately, these tales are told in a language rich with metaphorical power, flavored with Elizabethan authenticity, and read with power and authenticity by Nigel Gore.
"Blurring the lines between historical fiction and historical fact through linguistic acrobatics alone, it is impossible not to be drawn into this gripping slice of history."
~ Self-Publishers Review
“An excellent evocation of the beginnings of the Jamestown Colony. And, in a broader sense, it is a story of the Europeans encountering full-face the might of the American wilderness and the peoples who inhabited it.”
~ Larry McMurtry, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Lonesome Dove
“A vivid retelling of crucial events, enlivened with aphorisms and, best of all, a new incarnation of a legendary romance.”
~ William T. Vollmann, National Book Award-winning author
“A truly unforgettable experience. The style makes me feel language is an utterly new instrument again, vital and pliable. Minkoff has given us back so much of what we have erased in order to survive by forgetting.”
~ Jorie Graham, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet
Dragons of the Storm
Superbly narrated by British actor Nigel Gore, The Dragons of the Storm follows directly on from where The Weight of Smoke left off. Captain John Smith has been stabbed by a stingray and falls deathly ill. The old alchemist and mariner, Jonas Profit, doctors his wound, and to ease Smith’s suffering tells of the daring circumnavigation of the world by Francis Drake, 1577-1580.
A masterful interweaving of all the elements that contributed to the birth of the British Empire.
“Shakespearean actor Nigel Gore is the ideal choice to intertwine these two spectacular narratives: the story of Sir Francis Drake's circumnavigation of the earth and the diaries of Captain John Smith, which include entries on the founding of Jamestown. Listeners will be flabbergasted to learn that there was an orchestra on Drake's GOLDEN HIND galleon as he sailed 10,000 miles without a chart. Equally compelling is Gore's masterful delivery of Minkoff's poetic writing on the courageous founding of Jamestown. Smith's relationship with Pocahontas adds a fascinating interlude. Gore deftly captures the fears, joys, diverse personalities, accents, and quotes from many famous historical figures, making make this production more accessible than the written epic."
S.G.B. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine [Published: JANUARY 2020]
..".this is pure literature, delivered to us as a form of sublime art!"
~ Victor Dima, Audiobook Review
The Leaves of Fate
The Leaves of Fate is the third and final volume of the epic fictional chronicle In the Land of Whispers.
Here, we find the hero of Jamestown, Captain John Smith, forced to return to England, never to set foot again in the colony. Beyond his compelling memories of life in Jamestown, with its famine, disease, and discord, lies the sordid history of the rapacious greed of desperate colonists and wealthy London financiers who develop tobacco as a cash crop in lieu of food.
Even a reunion with Pocahontas is brief and bittersweet, but despite continuing hardship and neglect, Smith becomes the best-selling author of his time.
“The concluding volume of Minkoff’s heavyweight Jamestown trilogy (The Weight of Smoke; The Dragons of the Storm) covers 1610 to 1630 and offers a detailed history of the English colonies told in flowery Elizabethan English ('I am all that I know, a motion sensed, a current from forgetfulness'). A fitting wrap-up to an impressive trilogy, this expansive epic will surely please series fans with its authenticity, intrigue, and stylistic verve." (Publishers Weekly)
“No author that I know of has brought home [Jamestown’s] trials and tribulations more vividly than Minkoff.... It is obvious that Mr. Minkoff has done an enormous amount of research on the periods he covers. Any reader who enjoys having history come alive will benefit from acquiring and reading all three volumes of In the Land of Whispers.” ~ Virginia Gazette