Fiction
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The Republic Series
NEW!
Released December 2022
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Carmina Esquivel won’t allow a work accident to draw her deeper into the shadows of Austin. A remarkable new Texas law has kindled her hopes of belonging and inspired her to visit a place seen only in dreams. Across the state, a dark world closes in on cowboy Del Woodward. Two kings on the Texas chessboard are avowed enemies of each other, and somehow Woody’s managed to owe both of them his life. Though he’d surrender it in a heartbeat for longtime friend Governor Ben Block, he knows cartel kingpin Marcos Cepeda would take it without batting an eye. Cepeda was at the top of the list of VIPs trying to score from the high-stakes legislation until yesterday, when the President of the United States weighed in. Now, a showdown looms. The bill is still a legal long-shot, but if it’s voted into law, it will pull off a feat that no American state has attempted in nearly two centuries—
—and what Texas alone has ever truly achieved.
Released November 2020
ABOUT BOOK ONE
On the eve of passing landmark immigration legislation, the entire Texas Senate and its native Tejano leader, Diego Reyes, vanish suddenly from Austin. When news of the disappearance hits West Texas, cowboy Del Woodward isn’t shocked. He knows exactly where the lawmakers are, but he’s not telling. Woody’s been down on his luck, and a shady bargain he’s made puts him tight in the squeeze of Marcos Cepeda, north Mexico’s ruthless drug lord. And Cepeda’s furious with this new stall in the bill. It’s got a loophole he can exploit to add another quarter million square miles of exclusive turf to his cartel—but that territory goes back up for grabs if leader Reyes can’t pass the bill before the Senate session expires in mere days. The brutal kingpin wants what he’s bought and compels Woody to step up. How the cowboy swings the vote isn’t important to Cepeda, but this sure is: if Woody breathes so much as a word of reluctance, it’ll be his last. The prize is Texas, nothing less.
It’s real, and it’s on.
ABOUT THE SERIES
The Republic Series launches from true pages of the Lone Star frontera story into a hauntingly modern arena of trade, trafficking, and tradition on the Rio Grande.
An action series in a literary wrapper, To the Republic blends today’s headlines with history at America’s vibrant border with Mexico. Untangling the lines that segregate the sector into travel hotspots, cartel plazas, and disparate life zones, the fictional saga traces a spark that flies into the tinder of everyday living in the region and ignites cultural strife.
To the Republic rolls on wheels of character interaction. A national economic downturn has strained resources of Texas that flounder under a staggering influx of migrants. Governor Ben Block takes charge with longhorn confidence, unaware of the threat to economic recovery that lurks in an illicit scheme of his renegade advisor, cowboy Del Woodward. Mulling the rise in anxieties in the region, Block assigns troops to aid federal operations at the Mexican line, but an unexpected crack forms as soldiers with cultural loyalties—Cuco Fonseca, a Dreamer, being one—grapple with assigned duties. To confront a growing statewide meltdown, the Senate convenes in Austin, only to disappear to hash out their high-stakes bill at a secret location. Veteran cable news pundit Warren Kavanagh sees both peril and prospect in the crisis and hits the road to bring the legislators and their leader, Tejano-blooded Lieutenant Governor Diego Reyes, to public account. The law being drafted by the Senate already bears the scent of Tamaulipas drug lord Marcos Cepeda, whose cartel corrupts all it touches at the international border.
As the web of the story’s characters tightens, the worst case scenario becomes clear: if the mysterious bill succeeds, it will deal a blow of unimagined impact. No Lone Star resident, from the highest elected official to the least visible citizen—like Carmina Esquivel, whose path from the Jalisco highlands has led her to the shadows of Central Texas—would escape its impact.
To the Republic speaks to why relations function as they do among the modern kin of North America’s earliest immigrants, holding a mirror to the centuries-old truth: what comes to pass in Texas heralds the destiny of a continent. The release of BOOK ONE in November 2020 immediately garnered Amazon’s “#1 New Release in History of U.S. Immigration.”
It is a novel series for our times, a saga for the ages.
Testimonials
A compelling story weaving Texas history into a fictional setting relevant to today’s issues.
“The book … provides factual historical context giving the story line a meaty context you don’t often find today. From Tejanos to TV news reporters and from cartels to cowboys, this book brings a compelling way to look at the issues we now face and need to better understand.”
Kevin Black
5-star review, To the Republic
Immersive, intense, intelligent.
“From the very beginning, Clavey grabs your attention, and he doesn’t let go. Details make you feel like you’re right there, experiencing it all. Incredibly written – I can’t wait for the second book!”
Kate Scott
5-star review, To the Republic
You don’t want to miss this book!
“To The Republic turned out to be a real page-turner. Clavey’s writing is on par with many of the best-known published authors! … a story that starts with an economic crisis, visits crises on the international border, and seems headed for cultural crisis … these chapters sounded like newspaper headlines of recent years!”
Kathleen M Bryan
5-star review, To the Republic