Greetings All!

It’s been a busy summer.  Last autumn, when we realized that THE DAWN COUNTRY--published in March of 2011--would be our 50th published novel, we decided to grant ourselves a special holiday. Not every author publishes fifty novels, let alone books requiring the complexity and research that ours do.  Our reward was a cruise that encompassed most of the classic archaeological sites in the Mediterranean. We toured sites beginning with the Cycladian/Minoan civilizations, the Etruscans, Ionian Greek, classical Greek, and the Hellenistic and Roman ruins at Ephesus. 

We walked the streets of ancient Carthage and toured the museum in Tunis, which houses the most extensive collection of Roman mosaics in the world.  It was spectacular.  Being there after the revolution was marvelous and we wish the Tunisian people all the success in building their new democracy. If they pull it off, they will become a beacon for the entire world.

We are delighted to announce!

A SEARING WIND

BOOK THREE OF CONTACT: BATTLE FOR AMERICA
ON SALE
MARCH 6, 2012

     “Had you asked me the morning before the battle of Mabila, I would have told you I was prepared for the horror, the desperation, and the ensuing pain. I would have told you that the chance to kill the Adelantado, Hernando de Soto was worth the coming blood and misery. After all, we were fighting to save our world.”

     “Elder?” The Hopaye’s face swims into her vision, as if through clear water. “Let us help you up.  You’ve had too much sun. We need to move you into the shade...get you something to drink.”

     Hands reach out. She feels her bony body raised; the dank odor of sweaty people who press too close replaces the stench of Mabila.

     Absently, she says, “Black Shell?  Oh, Black Shell, the question still lingers: How many lives is a world worth?”

“I don’t feel my body, just the air cooling as color leaches from the forest, leaving the land strangely gray and shimmering. When the blue sky goes leaden, and the rounded patches of light falling through the trees curve into bladelike crescents, I faintly begin to sense my skin. I have the overwhelming urge to run, but I can’t. My legs do not exist...”

So begins BROKEN LAND, the third book in the PEOPLE OF THE LONGHOUSE series. It has been 12 years since the events you read about in THE DAWN COUNTRY. Odion, Wrass, Zateri, Tutelo, and the others have grown into adulthood. Koracoo has become a Standing Stone matron, taking the title of Jigonsaseh. Cord and Baji have gone back to their people, but the ties forged during the desperate hunt for Gannajero remain. They will become the glue that binds together a small band willing to resist the increasing threat of Atotarho’s brutal attacks.

Greetings All!

It’s been a busy summer.  Last autumn, when we realized that THE DAWN COUNTRY--published in March of 2011--would be our 50th published novel, we decided to grant ourselves a special holiday. Not every author publishes fifty novels, let alone books requiring the complexity and research that ours do.  Our reward was a cruise that encompassed most of the classic archaeological sites in the Mediterranean. We toured sites beginning with the Cycladian/Minoan civilizations, the Etruscans, Ionian Greek, classical Greek, and the Hellenistic and Roman ruins at Ephesus. 

It’s been a cold snowy winter here in northern Wyoming. As we write, the temperature is around zero. The world is soft and still. The red cliffs that surround us are frosted with snow, and each time one of the buffalo exhales, his or her breath hangs in the air like a frozen cloud. One of the best things about winter is that buffalo play a lot when it’s cold. At dawn this morning they were out running across the field, chasing each other, kicking their heels and tossing their heads. We imagine this behavior is shorthand for, “Boy, it feels good to warm up.”

Dear Friends:

What a summer! June was spent on the road, logging over six thousand miles on the BMW as we rode from Wyoming, through Canada, to Maine, where we attended the Gear Family Association’s tri-annual meeting and gave a presentation on writing about prehistory. From there we rode to Washington D.C. for the American Library Association meeting, then home to Wyoming just in time to catch a plane to New York. Yeah, we know. We had just been there. The tickets, however, were non-refundable.