Robert W. Lamont

The author’s previous writing experience include numerous articles for professional journals including: Armor Magazine, the Marine Corps Gazette, Strategy & Tactics, and the Phalanx Magazine. The author spent twenty-two years in the Marine Corps including tours with the Marine Detachment aboard USS Constellation (CV-64) and the USS Cleveland (LPD-7) as a Combat Cargo Officer. He has traveled extensively across the Pacific rim and seen firsthand the interactions between sailors and Marines that are universal to service afloat. An avid recreational sailor, the author has plied the waters off the Southern California Coast and chartered sailboats in the British Virgin Islands in the Caribbean and French Polynesia in the South Pacific. The HMS COMET series captures many of these experiences: "Pirates and Passion" introduces the crew and takes the across the Atlantic to engage pirates in Caribbean Waters. Book 2, "Rumors of War" returns the crew to England just prior to the start of the War of the Quadruple Alliance. Book 3, "Defeat & Victory" shepherds the ship through this conflict. Book 4, "Exploration" carries HMS COMET on a circumnavigation of the globe. Book 5, Crown Colonies covers the period HMS COMET spent supporting operations against Indian uprisings in New England and their final voyage home. The capstone work for this series is Admiral Calder. This work closes the page for many of the characters previously introduced. The Calder Chronicles document Delmar Calder’s rise from a midshipman to command of HMS COMET. This four-book series sets the stage for the preceding books. Spinoff tales follow the path of individual characters and weave new background into the text of the HMS COMET series or Calder’s Chronicles. The highlights here provide a deeper understand to character motives, history, and actions. Where did Pang learn her carnal skills? What happened to Hazel on Annette’s departure from North America? Who was this child Captain Darroch fathered out of wedlock? All these topics are detailed in these individual stories. In the Darroch Diaries we follow the growth of the youngest of the Darroch clan, Robert, as he struggles to make his way in the world. Duty, love, and combat combine to splash across the pages of these timeless tales. The two armor trilogies follow tank crews from three different countries as the struggle to survive the fast-paced conflicts of World War II. Both the European and Pacific theaters of operation are highlighted. Natural Born follows the struggles of a bastard born Highlander in Clan Lamont. Unable to inherit position, power, or wealth; he seeks the Caribbean to chart his own path. Securing a sugar plantation, he must confront an active abolitionist movement that threatens to collapse the labor on which his efforts are based. The C. W. Lawrence story follows the first Revenue Cutter to the West Coast as the explosion of the Gold Rush bursts in San Francisco. The crew is challenged to assert order over an untamed land. Each sailor finds their character tested as to their duty to the Republic, the lure of quick riches, and the fulfillment of lust denied. Not all will rise to meet these tests.