Read  about the author and his books

Rayford E.  Hammond

During his 23-year career in the  Navy, the author served on a variety of ships, but his  most unique tour was in an icebreaker deployed  to the  Antarctica. Although his latest book, THE ICE  BREAKER INCIDENT (June 1999), is fictional, his  first-hand knowledge of life aboard a Navy icebreaker  serves to add credibility to this account.

 The author's next book, I  AM THE WIND, is scheduled for release by  Briarwood Publications in October 1999, and THE  SWALLOWS KNOW will be released in January 2000.  The author continues to write, edit and teach writing  from his retreat in the mountains of northwest Georgia,  near where he grew up.

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THE ICE BREAKER INCIDENT -- (available June 1999)

As the U.S. Navy icebreaker,  Polarwind, rams through the frozen Antarctica, relations  between some of the ship's junior officers and  the  domineering captain soon become as chilly as the air  around them. The tension finally comes to a head when in  a few blurred, flashing seconds the commanding officer  disappears into the icy waters and the  icebreaker's First  Lieutenant, Bob Stevens, is accused of pushing him  overboard.

Navy  JAG lawyer Andrew Jackson Burke must use all of his  technical skills and southern wiles in an attempt to  attain  acquittal, as even the confused and frightened  lieutenant is uncertain whether he pushed the captain or  tried to save him.

The author  retired from the U.S. Navy after a twenty-three-year  career during  which he served in a variety of ships,  although none were as unique as his duty aboard an  icebreaker while deployed near the South Pole.

READ CHAPTER 1

ISBN: 1-892614-20-0

I AM THE WIND -- (Available Oct 1999)

Lara Alicia Masterson is killed in  an automobile accident at age seventeen. But is she  really gone or does she continue to exist  somewhere in another dimension or different state of  being? Her father is nearly devastated by his daughter's  tragic death, his agony exacerbated by the fact that his  and Lara's relationship had not been on the best of terms  recently. He grieves more now because he thinks there  will never be a chance for reconciliation. Lara disagrees  and seeks to find some way to communicate with her father  to help him deal with his sorrow.

This beautifully inspiring story  will provide solace to anyone having lost a loved one,  and particularly to a parent who has suffered the tragic  loss of a child. It presents a thought-provoking account  of  how things might be and provides a means of  dealing with death from a perspective of joy rather than  sadness. Since the feelings expressed herein are based on  the actual loss of the author's daughter in an automobile  accident, the revealed emotions are genuine, as could  only be related by one who has experienced them.  Regardless of one's beliefs regarding an afterlife,  readers will share this father's agony and then his  feelings of joy and peace as he eventually finds a way to  reconcile with his departed daughter.

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ISBN: 1-892614-22-7

THE SWALLOWS KNOW -- (Scheduled release Date -  January 2000)

Nothing is as it appears. Do  not assume that anything you see or hear about me is how  I really am. Everything is an illusion. The beautiful  and mysterious Sylvia Reynolds discloses this startling  revelation to Earl Harris during their first clandestine  rendezvous at the quaint and romantic Capistrano Inn,  located near the famous mission at San Juan Capistrano.

As soon as Lieutenant  Commander Earl Harris meets the stunning Sylvia Reynolds,  wife (or is she?) of a junior officer attached to his  ship, he realizes he should walk away. But just as the  swallows are  drawn back to Capistrano, he finds himself  inexorably drawn toward this extraordinary woman who  seems to seek his friendship -- or something more.

Earl's superior  officers warn him to avoid this relationship,  but by then  it is already too late. Fraternizing with another man's  wife is contrary to his every principle, yet he finds it  impossible to stop the development of this passionate,  yet cataclysmic liaison.

 Paradoxical  clues soon begin to appear leading Earl to question the  unusual relationship between Sylvia and her handsome,  popular husband, Lieutenant Jerry Reynolds. Earl must  keep reminding himself that nothing is as it appears, while trying to determine the horrible secrets that  control this strange union. Unfortunately, by the time he  discovers the true nature of the relationships, Earl has  become caught up in a complex web from which he can see  no means of escape. Faced with a choice of destroying the  careers and lives of two men or risking his own career  and loss of the woman he loves, he must take drastic  steps. 

READ CHAPTER 1