****Book Giveaways****

This week I will be giving away a free copy of my book They Looked West. Simply become a fan of my Facebook page and follow us on Instagram in order to enter the contest. @theylookedwest

A Little Introduction

I am the author of the novel They Looked West. I have many years of time and research into this series of novels. I have brought to the reader a culmination of events that transpired on the frontiers of this nation in 1869. The plot is gripping and the reader can take a trip in time back to the days of old. The stories of the Indians and the scouts were put together from research and folklore collected over time. The characters in the novel were sculpted from real-life heroes and villains of the plains era. I have spent many countless hours in the saddle traversing and riding the windswept plains and badlands of Eastern Wyoming and Western Nebraska. Taking notes on the terrain and conditions that the characters portrayed in the novel must have witnessed and lived. 

The setting for the novel is a vast expanse of prairie, small waterways, and rugged badlands. Even today the areas described in the book are fairly barren of civilization. In writing this book, I used what limited skills I have developed through college and life’s hard lessons. I used my expertise on horses to a vast degree. I have owned and taken stewardship of horses and mules since an early boyhood age. The techniques of trail life with horses as displayed in the novel came from a lifetime of riding and packing these animals in the vast wildernesses of Western America. I have explored the Trader’s Creek area many times in search of the lost gold nuggets only to come away empty-handed. But the lure of the treasure is real and the ghosts of the fallen still haunt the area to this very day. 

My goal in writing this book is to have people from all ages and all walks of life, take a few minutes out of their busy lives and read this novel. It will take them back to a bye gone era of true values and heroes along with a mind witness to the perils that the expanse of civilization brought to those that trespassed nature's course in frontier America.  

I Looked Out the Window and What Did I See?

Like the title says, I did look out the window after hearing a small knock on the screen door and the exhaust roar of a UPS truck leaving my front yard. As I opened the door, I nearly fell over as I knelt next to a set of brown boxes sitting there on our porch steps. I carefully examed the boxes to see that it was clearly marked with a large marker that read, They Looked West.

My heart nearly jumped out of my chest! The feeling brought me back to the days of old when I sat next to the Christmas tree looking at a large present with my name on the tag. That present was a new pair of Tony Lama boots back in 1964 and that was a great present back in the ole days. Little did I realize at the time, but my feet would outgrow those boots in less than six months, but it was the thrill of the moment when I spied that big wrapped box that is important here.

Kneeling on my front porch, I touched the boxes with a firm but careful hand. Nobody was going to lay their mitts on these precious treasures. As I looked around to see if anybody was watching this spectacle of grace, I realized that it was just me and the beautiful Utah morning that was present to witness my actions. Suddenly the door opened and there stood my better half with the phone in hand, ready to snap a picture of the display before her. She knew the importance of the moment and with a beautiful smiling face, the camera came to life.

Now you might ask yourself what is the big fuss over two paper boxes delivered by UPS. Well, the contents of those two boxes are this author's labors for the past 18 months. This whole story started back in 1981 while I was driving down a winding prairie road in the middle of Eastern Nebraska. I was employed by a Metal building manufacturing company in Utah as a Construction services manager. My job was to iron out any and all problems if they arose with buildings that had been shipped to all parts of the United States. This job put me in every state but four, including Canada and Mexico but those stories, are for another post. This particular trip had me driving down a road looking at the vast prairie that had stood the elements of time. Looking to the north that day, I noticed a small gray silhouette about one hundred yards out in the grass on a small hilltop overlooking the valley below. At first, I thought it was a coyote sitting on his back legs watching me from afar, but after looking through my binoculars I realized that it was something man-made.

I decided to have a closer look, so after trudging my way through thick tangles of knee high buffalo grass, I finally reached a place where I could see the gray object. It was a very old marker of sorts. I couldn't see the inscriptions on it because of debris and time that had worn the face down. I went back to my truck and retrieved some water and after washing the facing several times on the monument, I could glean part of what was being marked by the stone. It was a marker for the upper Loup river trail head from Omaha to Fort Laramie. Clear out there in the middle of no man's land, here sat this forgotten marker. Feeling like a fool for the effort, I left the scene and never looked back.

Years later I was in the same area and I tried to find the marker once more only to come away empty-handed. This time I was more mature in age and the little gray stone had my mind racing with questions. I sat down that day and made some watercolor pictures and notes and wondered all about the travelers and things that had wandered through that part of the western plains until my mind was finally worn out. I never returned to that spot but I can still feel the wind and hear the grass as it moves back and forth, along that lonely prairie hilltop.

Many years later, a thought came into my mind and I decided to investigate that lonely little stone, and with that single thought, an avalanche of events turned into two brown boxes on my front porch. That little stone monument led me in a direction I had never before experienced. After many years of research and effort, I finally have a novel that I fashioned after the little gray stone. My heart is happy and my mind is full of thoughts as I post this article this Sunday morning. We are just in the first stages of production and I was sent a primer of 50 copies of the book. Details are being worked out for E-book and other methods. I have neglected to post since the first of the year because I thought the book would arrive any day, but publishers are another story altogether.

This morning I woke up and opened my laptop and went to the website we have constructed. There in big black letters was a reminder that 25,047 views have been taken of our website just since September 22, 2016. I felt a heavy obligation to tell all of you that have supported me in this endeavor thanks for your support and kindly comments. This is why I started the blog. And for all those closer to me like my better half Patty, and daughter Kallie, I could never have done it without you two beautiful people!