Cedar Key, FL Author Publishes Gripping Current Events Novel

January 25, 2017 - Massacre at Sirte, a new book by Pierce Kelley, has been released by iUniverse.

In February, 2015 at a construction site in Sirte, Libya, twenty two laborers, all thought to be Coptic Christians, are captured by Muslim extremists. They are taken to a remote location and imprisoned, awaiting imminent execution. The next day, twenty one of the men are killed. A sixteen year old, Mekhaeil Zacharias, is spared and told to tell the world what he has seen and heard.

Mekhaeil travels to Alexandria, Egypt and tells a grieving Coptic community what took place during that long and torturous night. He learns that martyrdom is a sad part of the history of the region and his people and that this event is another example of history repeating itself. He vows to do what he can to prevent such actions from occurring again. This book is based upon a true story. Since the death of Mohammad, Muslims, Christians and Jews have experienced many such atrocities in the Middle East because of their differing religious beliefs.

This is a story of extreme brutality, forgiveness, abiding faith and hope for the future.

Massacre at Sirte won third place in the categories Current Events/Political and Theology in The Christian Author Awards presented by Xulon Press.

Foreward Reviews calls Massacre at Sirte a "searing tale", and Kelley's writing "effective and vivid."

Kirkus Reviews says the novel "powerfully assumes the role of moral witness to evil."

About the Author:
Pierce Kelley is a lawyer and educator turned author who received his undergraduate degree from Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana in 1969. He received his Doctorate of Jurisprudence (JD) from the George Washington University, Washington, D.C. in 1973. Following his admission to the Florida Bar, Pierce began his legal career as an Assistant Public Defender in Clearwater, Florida. In 1979 he moved to West Virginia and became the managing attorney of a legal services office in a rural five county area in the northeast corner of the state called the Potomac Highlands. In 1985, Pierce returned to Miami, where he was raised, and served as an Assistant Federal Public Defender for the Southern District of Florida.

Since 1986 Pierce has worked exclusively in the area of civil law, concentrating on personal injury, consumer and family law matters. He has served as lead counsel in over 100 jury trials and has successfully argued before the Supreme Court of Florida and the Supreme Court of Appeals for the State of West Virginia. He is currently an active member of the Florida Bar and an inactive member of the West Virginia Bar Association. He is admitted to practice in the United States District Courts for the Southern, Middle and Northern Districts of Florida and the United States Supreme Court, though he has yet to have an opportunity to do so. He is now a sole practitioner in Fort White, Florida.

Pierce began writing in 1989 when a freak accident in a softball game caused him a broken ankle. While convalescing, he wrote A Parent's Guide to Coaching Tennis, which was recognized by the United States Tennis Association as being the perfect introduction and primer for parents of beginning players. Over a span of 50 years, Mr. Kelley was a nationally-ranked player as a junior, in the open Men's Division, and as a senior. He was also the president of the Youth Tennis Foundation of Florida from 1987 until 2007.

In 2000, Pierce authored his second book, Civil Litigation: A Case Study, while teaching paralegal students as an Adjunct Professor at St. Petersburg College in St. Petersburg, Florida. He taught at various colleges and universities as an Adjunct for over 25 years.

Pierce began writing his first novel, A Very Fine Line, in 2001. Since then a dozen more books have followed, which are Fistfight at the L and M Saloon, A Plenary Indulgence, Bocas del Toro, Asleep at the Wheel, A Tinker's Damn!, A Foreseeable Risk, Thousand Yard Stare, Roxy Blues; A Deadly Legacy; and To Valhalla, prior to his current work, Massacre at Sirte.

He has also written a few works of non-fiction, including Pieces to the Puzzle, which is a collection of personal essays, and Kennedy Homes: An American Tragedy, which is an account of a major Fair Housing case Mr. Kelley was involved in during the years 2004 and 2007. Father, I Must Go, published in 2011, is about the immigration issue and an illegal alien who lived in the United States for over twenty years before being deported.

For more information on the author, visit www.piercekelley.com.

Massacre at Sirte is a 288-page paperback with a retail price of $17.95. It is also available in hardcover and e-book. The ISBN is 978-1-49179-655-9. It was published by iUniverse. It is available for purchase at http://bookstore.iuniverse.com and www.amazon.com, or by calling 1-800-AUTHORS.