Storm in the Canyon is the story of the relationship between man and woman as well as
humans and the ‘other’ side. Facing the deadliest of foes, nature and spirit
must come together to win the day or see the world change as a new power takes
over.
eBook Novella, 45,000 words,
will be available on Amazon June 17th
Trailer now at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xe0h9H6AoCc
Snippet from when the humans face their first confrontation with what had previously only been known in mythology from Native American tribes:
Quarter
mile ahead, Myra saw the bluff that marked the turnoff to her ranch
road, five cows moving restlessly, shifting their big bodies in the back of the
stock trailer. With a storm building, she felt anxious to get them down to the
corrals and out of the truck.
She
thought then about how odd the Lathams had been about the cattle. They had
stalled on letting her have them back. What was that about? Had Wes or his son
been cutting their barbed wire to cause trouble? If so, what would he gain by
it?
It
wasn’t as though the Damons might not try to bribe someone to cause grief. But
why would Wes go along with it? He’d been a good neighbor ever since he had
bought the ranch ten years earlier. It didn’t make any sense for him
deliberately to stir up trouble. Neighbors helped each other, were there for
brandings, and times where extra hands were needed. In time of injury or
illness, they supported each other. Making an enemy of your neighbor was
foolishness.
The
obstacle in the middle of the road at first made no sense to her. It was at the
turnoff to the ranch and looked like an enormous bear, a bear with only patches
of fur. There had been stories from her childhood of a naked bear monster. The
stories connected to Devil’s Tower with the bear trying to kill frightened
girls as the tower grew taller thereby saving their lives. The bear’s claws
formed the grooves in the tower still visible today.
She
blinked twice sure what was coming toward her had to be imagination stirred up
by those childhood myths. It didn’t go away. It was now only about twenty feet
from her truck. She couldn’t back up fast enough to avoid it and sat praying it
was a mirage.
Then
she saw the dust from their road and knew the truck coming hell bent for
leather had to be Pace. She couldn’t let that bear attack him. She honked her
horn loudly, holding it down, to alert Pace to what she was seeing.
He
had to have seen it, but he kept coming without any attempt to brake until he
careened right into the bear, sending it momentarily sprawling and causing his
own truck to slam to an abrupt stop. Pace leaped out, with the 30.06 up to his
shoulder, as he shot the bear. It didn’t drop.
“God,”
she screamed, “please not him, don’t take him.”
It
was then she became aware another vehicle had come to an abrupt halt and a
beautiful woman was running toward the bear. Was she out of her mind? The woman
was screaming something she couldn’t understand, but the bear responded by
turning toward her.
The
woman leaped in the air, faster and higher than any human should have been able
and slammed out with her right leg, hard against the side of the bear’s head
causing it to stagger back. The bear turned toward the woman as she danced away
smiling and again landed a kick to the bear’s head.
Myra saw what she was trying to do. She was drawing it
away from her and Pace-- proving an annoyance-- if she wasn’t actually hurting
it. It danced up onto its hind feet, batting at her. She nimbly avoided its
paws as she landed another hard kick.
The
fourth vehicle to come to an abrupt halt had the man she recognized as Dirk
Langston leaping from it. He also had a rifle at his shoulder. “Girl, get away
from it!” he yelled. The woman looked toward him, and this time leaped away
from the bear.
Dirk
began firing as she realized Pace was also doing. The bear yowled with pain,
dropping to all fours. It seemed confused as to whom it should attack. Turning
from enemy to enemy, more bullets struck it. Slowly it collapsed to the roadway
and lay in a heap that seemed to dissolve before her eyes.
Myra got out of her truck running to Pace. A wave of
gratitude surged through her-- so strong, she nearly fainted as she saw him
stalking toward her, strong and not harmed. In an instant, he had her in his
arms. “Are you all right?” he asked as she tightened her arms around him.
Not
letting go of her, he turned to look at Dirk “What the hell was that?”
“I
don’t know.” They then looked at the woman who had moved back to her car and
was standing beside a tall thin man leaning against the hood. The man seemed
the only one uninvolved and to not have a care.
“And
who the hell are you?” Dirk asked them, but neither answered.
The
woman looked strangely familiar to Myra, even as she knew she’d never met her. She had the
kind of dramatic, striking beauty, with dark, gleaming red hair that she’d have
remembered. Had she imagined what the woman had just done? No woman could have
done that, no normal woman. But then no normal bear had attacked them.
