Barb Caffrey's Blog

Folks, I’m very happy to let you all know that Tales of the E4 Mafia 2 is out, via writer/editor Keith Hedger’s new Defiant House publishing company. He’ll also have Tales of the E4 Mafia (the original) available through Defiant House soon, if you haven’t already read it.

Of course, Tales of the E4 Mafia 2 is available via Kindle Unlimited (how not?), but what’s probably the most important part to anyone who reads my blog is the story I and my friend and co-writer Gail Sanders wrote called “A Decent Cup of Coffee.” It is yet another story set in my late husband Michael B. Caffrey’s Atlantean Union universe, and features Peter Welmsley, of course, along with Marc MacGruder (a Lance Corporal). It tells the story of what happened when Welmsley and MacGruder took Tech Sergeant Lana Mathews home to Lemuria for convalescent leave (she was the person who needed the restricted tree bark for medicinal purposes in the last story).

You want a cover photo, you say? Well, here’s a cover…

And I’m sure you want a snippet as well, so here we go:

***

“Did you hear me, Lance Corporal?” the Master Sergeant growled. “What is wrong with this coffee?”

When Welmsley called me “Lance Corporal,” it was time to give him an answer. Either that, or wait for some unusual punishment…and as I was hoping for a few days of leave with Lana Mathews as we would be moored in Lemuria orbit for a few days, and I was too low-ranking to have any sort of transitory duties, I definitely didn’t want to get punished now.

“I don’t know, Master Sergeant,” I told him. “I know it’s not that great. It never is. But the traditional roast seemed a bit better than the rest of it. I take it that it’s not working for you?”

Welmsley looked at me, rolled his eyes, and went back to studying his piloting board.

“It is the Marine blend, you know,” I told him.

“It tastes foul,” Welmsley spat out. “Like the very end of a bunch of ashes. I wish I had some Lemurian light-roast coffee. That’s really good stuff. Especially if they’ve aged it in spiced rum for a year before roasting.”

I’d heard that but had never tasted it myself. But rather than discuss that, I went to get myself a cup of the Marine blend. After one sip, I could tell that Welmsley was right. We’d gotten a particularly bad batch, and it did indeed taste like ashes. Maybe after they’d been rolled in manure, even. “That truly is terrible coffee,” I told him, hoping I sounded as compassionate as I felt. Coffee was sacred to Royal Marines.

***

So, how do they find a decent cup of coffee after all that? You’ll have to read the rest of the story to find out, but I hope you will want to read it. (It’s a fast, funny story, and I hope it’s one that you’ll truly enjoy.)

At any rate, I’m thrilled that the story is finally out and available to read, along with the other great stories in the anthology.