Historical fiction and memoir

History, told as a story.

From the Germanic tribes who stopped Rome to a young Australian soldier in Vietnam. Books by an engineer and veteran who researches the past in depth.

Cover of His Forefathers and Mick (3rd Edition)

The books

His Forefathers and Mick (3rd Edition)

German architect and engineer Joseph Friedrich (Fritz) Kramer completed building the Shandong Province Railway in China in early January of 1904. He was then promoted by his employer H.D. Schmidt Consulting Architects, Engineers and Surveyors and sent to what is now called Namibia to manage the technical aspects of the company and to set the infrastructure of the port city of Swakopmund. This edition has much more information about him as well as up to twenty (20) additional pages devoted to my grandmother, Anna Arhens. The story goes on to my parents migrating from Germany to Australia and my service with the Australian infantry unit of 1RAR and HQ 1ATF in Vietnam during 1968 and 1969. After having been diagnosed as suffering from chronic PTSD, I was encouraged to complete tertiary studies and now I am an engineer (retired) like my grandfather before me.

Thusnelda & Armin Liberate Germania Book 2

I found great difficulty in researching this novel because the early officials of the Catholic Church regarded all references to gladiators as somehow evil and destroyed many of the records about Thumelicus, the son of Thusnelda and Armin. Eventually, I used the legends and songs about him and his parents which survive in the folklore stories and songs of the German people! As well, the achievements of both of his parents are well documented as a result of the Roman army losing three of its crack legions of heavy infantry plus all supporting units.

Thusnelda & Armin the Younger Years Book 1

A walk through the histories of northern and southern Europe, North Africa, Syria and Egypt. The people you will meet through reading this book include Arminius, Augustus, Segestes, Thusnelda, Caius Marius, Caius Julius Caesar, Octavius, Julia Caesar, Pompey, Brutus, Marcus Antonius, and Cleopatra and her brothers. This book tells you history through the medium of storytelling.

Full Story of the Anglo-Saxon Invasion

The story starts with the historical facts of ancient Germanic tribes amalgamating and two of them becoming dominant. These were the Franks and the Saxons. In the case of the Saxons, they were originally the remnants of the army of Alexander the Great and they dispersed to many parts of the world after his death in Babylon. It is known that the Saxons arrived on the northern coasts of Germania, arriving there in Greek ships. The Saxons amalgamated with the Engel tribe from about midway of the Jutland peninsula. The Engels were fine warriors and sailors. They lived along a fiord with its entrance on the western side of the peninsula. The name of the fiord was Eckenforde. Soon after that, the Saxons again amalgamated, this time with the Kimbern tribe from the north of the peninsula.

His Forefathers and Mick

His Forefathers and Mick traces the riveting saga of the Kramer family across three tumultuous generations. Friedrich Kramer, an intrepid German engineer, revolutionises railway and communications technologies in early 20th century China and Namibia, unknowingly setting the stage for international espionage and warfare. His son, grappling with the shadows of World War Two, seeks redemption and a fresh start in Australia, only for his son, Michael, to confront his own battlefield in Vietnam. Each generation wrestles with the legacies of the past, forging their paths in a world that refuses to forget. This is a gripping tale of ambition, identity, and the relentless pull of heritage.

Isabella - Warrior Queen

This story is about an amazing couple in the 14th century, who actually had a working 'open marriage', such that Queen Isabella even tolerated King Edward II's homosexual activities with his male 'favourites'. Things remained that way until the current favourite of the king, called Piers Gaveston, was killed. He was replaced by Hugh le Despencer the Younger and an intense homosexual affair developed between the king and his chamberlain. After a time, Hugh le Despencer the Younger moved against Isabella by reducing her income markedly as well as taking her lands and other riches from her. Things came to a head when he also took her children from her and she went to France, raised a mercenary army and invaded England. She deposed her husband and installed her son as King Edward III.

A Castle of Doomsday - 2nd Edition

A Castle of Doomsday is historical fiction closely based on fact and it is also the story of the castles inside the city walls of York. William the First built two castles within the walls of York. One was at Bailey Hill and the other was York Castle, which has since become known as "Clifford's Tower". The original castles were constructed of timber. They were burned down by the people around York and their Danish Viking allies. Richard the First was the son of King Henry II and gained fame by his courage, becoming known as Richard the Lionheart, who presided over the apparent massacre of Jews at the keep of York Castle in England. The Normans replaced it with a second timber castle keep, which was destroyed in a storm in 1228. After that, the stone structure was built, and that still stands today. It was built of stone and is called Clifford's Tower because King Edward II had Baron de Clifford hanged from the battlements of the Keep of York Castle for treason in 1322 A.D.

See all 16 books

Reader reviews

What readers say

I've read other Kramer books and love them as I've always had a passion for history. It doesn’t matter so much whether work like this is fiction or non-fiction as the research that has gone into them is so detailed and obviously well researched. A Gracious Enemy is a story about the three Indochina Wars, and it so well written I felt a part of the action. Michael Kramer is a writer who cares for the details in his books. They are believable, full of facts, interesting plots, and characters with real personality and depth. I can recommend this book to anyone who loves history in general or wants to find out more about Indochina colonisation time.

CodeMonkey
A Gracious Enemy · 5.0 on Amazon

You rarely sit down and think about what the people of a nation go through when a war takes place. Often the story is told through the eyes of the oppressor and the oppressed don’t have a voice. This author has given the voice back to the oppressed, this is a heart wrenching rendition of how the lives of the Vietnamese people were affected during the war. This book is not about politics, it is spoken from the heart of those whose lives were invaded and destroyed because of a bitter power struggle. This was a powerful book to read, it has had a lasting effect on me and I think I will carry the memories of what these people went through for the rest of my days.

Christine Lough
A Gracious Enemy · 5.0 on Amazon

A Gracious Enemy takes us through three Indochina Wars. The first war was the Indochinese people against the French and their USA allies. The second war was the Indochina people on one side and the coalition of Australia, USA, New Zealand, and South America on the other. Indochina was composed of Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia. This war is popularly known as the Vietnam War.

Rev. Stephen R. Wilson
A Gracious Enemy · 5.0 on Amazon

The amount of research and passion that went into this book is inspiring. This isn’t the type of book you can read from start to finish in one sitting, and there’s a few errors in grammar/syntax here and there, but overall this is a solid book about the history of the main Germanic tribes.

Grymm
Now What?!! · 5.0 on Amazon

Everybody loves an underdog, and this guy seemed to be one all his life. I loved the kid that he was, getting into fights all the time because he wouldn’t take crap from anyone. I loved that he was loyal to his dad, even though the guy was a jerk. I rooted for him when various people tried to stick it to him, especially that lot at Australian Immigration.

Ikay Moreno
Full Circle for Mick · 5.0 on Amazon

There is a boundary in Europe today between where people prefer to drink beer and where people prefer to drink wine, where the Romance languages based on Latin are spoken and where the Germanic languages are spoken. There is a famous battle largely responsible for this, a battle that halted the expansion of the Roman Empire of Augustus into northernmost Europe.

Mina
For the Love of Armin · 5.0 on Amazon


All Reviews

Mick Kramer
About the author

Enlisted at twenty, writing ever since.

Mick Kramer served with 1RAR in Vietnam, then studied engineering as part of managing PTSD. He now brings that discipline and lived experience to his books.

Read his story