The Sequel to SHADOWS ON THE TRAIL released by Mirador Publishing

 


Ghosts of the Heart is now available at Amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com,
and other better booksellers in paperback and e book formats.

The seed for the original story in my prehistoric novel called Shadows on the Trail sprouted on an early summer morning in 2010 on a northern Colorado ranch where I found an Ice Age tool made by prehistoric man from a red and gray striped rock found only in a prehistoric rock quarry in Texas. As I stared at this prehistoric tool made by one of the First Americans, several questions raced through my mind. How did a prehistoric tool made from Texas rock end up in a prehistoric campsite in northern Colorado? Who made this tool? What was he or she like? What happened on the journey from Texas to northern Colorado? Since it was impossible for me to find out the answers to these questions, I wrote my own version of the historical journey in the novel Shadows on the Trail.       

     As the Folsom People began their journey from present-day Texas to the idyllic North Country, they faced much adversity and their adventure quickly outgrew the pages of Shadows on the Trail. The Folsom People’s adventure now continues with the second book in the trilogy called Ghosts of the Heart, which takes place on the prairies and mountains of present-day Colorado at the end of the Ice Age. It was a time of drought, rising temperatures, and mammal extinctions. It was also a time when small bands of humans competed to survive in a harsh and unpredictable world. Here is a brief outtake from Ghosts of the Heart;

 

 

 

The snowstorm caught the hunters halfway down the rocky plateau. It began with a few light snowflakes streaming past the hunters, but soon the snowflakes became heavier and wetter, turning the scattered rocks and tundra into a slippery mess. The winds intensified, pushing the hunters down the plateau. The snowfall increased even further, reducing the hunters’ ability to see as they wound their way through the maze of boulders on the sloppy tundra surface. 

The wind velocity increased and the snowfall escalated, dumping and blowing deep snow across the surface of the plateau. With visibility gone, the two hunters drifted apart, heading in separate directions across the plateau. Avonaco, still hanging onto the deer carcass, continued walking in a direction he thought was east. He finally stopped to make sure Hexaka was still behind him and found he was alone. Leaning into the wind, Avonaco surveyed the whiteout conditions of the plateau.

“HEXAKA! HEXAKA!” Avonaco screamed, his voice lost in the shrieking roar of the howling wind. Unable to locate Hexaka, Avonaco searched for a landmark he recognized. In the midst of the heavy snowfall, he caught a glimpse of something dark in the midst of the blowing snow. He trudged towards it and came to an area of the plateau where humongous limestone blocks surrounded him. He slowly walked forward, confused and not having any idea which direction he was traveling.  

 

                I hope you enjoy Ghosts of the Heart!