James L. (Jim) McWilliams was born in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, on May 31st, 1938. He came to Cloverdale, B.C. in 1993. His experiences as a history student, a soldier, a teacher and a Pipe Major have influenced his writing. Along with co-author R. James Steel, McWilliams has written three First World War histories: The Suicide Battalion, Gas! The Battle For Ypres 1915, and Amiens: Dawn of Victory.
James L. (Jim) McWilliams has created a series of historical novels known as The MacHugh Memoirs. The hero, Rory MacHugh, is a young Canadian of Scottish/French/Blackfoot background. The series begins in 1792 on the Canadian prairies then continues with Rory MacHugh's adventures involving the Sphinx and Napoleon in Egypt, continuing with his Secret Service activities, service in the 79th Cameron Highlanders in Spain, Portugal, and at Waterloo, eventually ending in 1836 at the Alamo with The Yellow Rose of Texas. Titles include Black War-bonnet, The Fugitives, A Secret of the Sphinx and The Assassins.
In Black War-Bonnet, the first volume of The MacHugh Memoirs, the traumatized thirteen-year-old Rory MacHugh is taken captive by a band of Blackfoot. His tragic and strange life becomes even stranger as he matures into a Blackfoot Warrior - until the day he solves the tragic mystery that forces him to return to the whiteman's world to seek vengeance.
The Secret of the Sphinx follows Rory MacHugh as he leaves his Blackfoot world for an ancient one. There determination, versatility, and several unique friends enable him to survive many new lives -- a British sailor, an Egyptian Mameluke, a convict, a Secret Agent, a French Grenadier, a Highland soldier, and a forbidden lover in an Egyptian court. But MacHugh's adventures take a devastating turn when he first encounters his greatest enemy, a young Napoleon Bonaparte.
McWilliams' novel, The MacHugh Memoirs: The Assassins ($19.95 Birch & Norgate Press), is set in 1803. Rory MacHugh returns to Paris as the bodyguard for the mysterious Count Méhée de la Touche. There his affair with the glamorous Duchess of Abrantès lands him in the notorious mountaintop prison, the Fortress of Bitche. After a unique escape he becomes embroiled in several assassination attempts aimed at his very personal enemy, the Emperor Napoleon. The latter's murder of the Duc d'Enghien results in MacHugh's imprisonment and escape by balloon with the world's first lady-parachutist.
BOOKS:
The MacHugh Memoirs 1803-1804: The Assassins (2016 Birch & Norgate Press) 978-0-9917949-3-5.
The MacHugh Memoirs 1798-1801: The Secret of the Sphinx (2016 Friesen Press) 978-1-4602-8387-5.
Black War-Bonnet
Amiens: 1918 (Tempus, 2004)
Amiens: Dawn of Victory (Dundurn, 2001)
Gas! The Battle for Ypres, 1915 (Vanwell, 1985)
The Suicide Battalion (Hurtig, 1978 & Vanwell, 1990)
[BCBW 2016]
James L. (Jim) McWilliams has created a series of historical novels known as The MacHugh Memoirs. The hero, Rory MacHugh, is a young Canadian of Scottish/French/Blackfoot background. The series begins in 1792 on the Canadian prairies then continues with Rory MacHugh's adventures involving the Sphinx and Napoleon in Egypt, continuing with his Secret Service activities, service in the 79th Cameron Highlanders in Spain, Portugal, and at Waterloo, eventually ending in 1836 at the Alamo with The Yellow Rose of Texas. Titles include Black War-bonnet, The Fugitives, A Secret of the Sphinx and The Assassins.
In Black War-Bonnet, the first volume of The MacHugh Memoirs, the traumatized thirteen-year-old Rory MacHugh is taken captive by a band of Blackfoot. His tragic and strange life becomes even stranger as he matures into a Blackfoot Warrior - until the day he solves the tragic mystery that forces him to return to the whiteman's world to seek vengeance.
The Secret of the Sphinx follows Rory MacHugh as he leaves his Blackfoot world for an ancient one. There determination, versatility, and several unique friends enable him to survive many new lives -- a British sailor, an Egyptian Mameluke, a convict, a Secret Agent, a French Grenadier, a Highland soldier, and a forbidden lover in an Egyptian court. But MacHugh's adventures take a devastating turn when he first encounters his greatest enemy, a young Napoleon Bonaparte.
McWilliams' novel, The MacHugh Memoirs: The Assassins ($19.95 Birch & Norgate Press), is set in 1803. Rory MacHugh returns to Paris as the bodyguard for the mysterious Count Méhée de la Touche. There his affair with the glamorous Duchess of Abrantès lands him in the notorious mountaintop prison, the Fortress of Bitche. After a unique escape he becomes embroiled in several assassination attempts aimed at his very personal enemy, the Emperor Napoleon. The latter's murder of the Duc d'Enghien results in MacHugh's imprisonment and escape by balloon with the world's first lady-parachutist.
BOOKS:
The MacHugh Memoirs 1803-1804: The Assassins (2016 Birch & Norgate Press) 978-0-9917949-3-5.
The MacHugh Memoirs 1798-1801: The Secret of the Sphinx (2016 Friesen Press) 978-1-4602-8387-5.
Black War-Bonnet
Amiens: 1918 (Tempus, 2004)
Amiens: Dawn of Victory (Dundurn, 2001)
Gas! The Battle for Ypres, 1915 (Vanwell, 1985)
The Suicide Battalion (Hurtig, 1978 & Vanwell, 1990)
[BCBW 2016]
Articles: 1 Article for this author
Full list of titles (as of 2016)
THE MacHUGH MEMOIRS
BLACK WAR-BONNET $20.00
[The MacHugh Memoirs 1795 - 1798]
ISBN 9780991794904
Self-Published in 2012
A SECRET OF THE SPHINX $21.00
[The MacHugh Memoirs 1798 - 1801]
ISBN 9781460283875
Self-Published in 2016 (Friesen Press)
HONOURABLE MENTION, Whistler Independent Book Awards
THE FUGITIVES $20.00
[The MacHugh Memoirs 1810]
ISBN 9780991794911
Self-Published in 2012 (Birch & Norgate Press)
THE ASSASSINS $20.00
[The MacHugh Memoirs 1803 -1804]
ISBN 978-0-9917949-3-5
Self-Published in 2016
Note: Due to printing and editing problems this book is not
available at this time. Will let you know when it is.
MUSIC COLLECTION
A PIPER'S WORLD (99 Tunes from around the World!) $25.00
A collection of music written and arranged for the
Great Highland Bagpipe
Self-Published c 2005
FIRST WORLD WAR HISTORIES
THE SUICIDE BATTALION $20.00
co-author R. James Steel
ISBN 978-0-9920185-0-4 [third edition]
Self-Published in 1990
first published in 1978 by Hurtig Publishers
second by Vanwell Publishing & Spa Books (Europe)
GAS! THE BATTLE FOR YPRES,1915 $20.00
co-author R. James Steel
ISBN 0-920277-01-2 [second edition]
Self-Published
first published in 1985 by Vanwell Publishing
The following may be for sale by the publishers but are not
available to the authors
AMIENS DAWN OF VICTORY
co-author R. James Steel
ISBN 1-55002-342-X
2001 Dundurn Press
republished in Great Britain as
AMIENS 1918 THE LAST GREAT BATTLE
co-author R. James Steel
ISBN 978-0-7524-4426-0
2007 Tempus Publishing