Available Now: TRAIL JUSTICE - The Westward Tide Book #1

This is the beginning of what I believe readers will find to be an exciting new series being done by best-selling author Mel Odom and yours truly (as the guys behind the Jack Tyree byline).

The idea was first pitched to me by Mel. He suggested we do something with lots of action and adventure, but also with plenty of drama, tragedy, romance, and even touches of humor. I recall him saying something to the effect of: "A soap opera on wagon wheels."

So that's what we went for.

I wrote the first two volumes, simply because my schedule permitted it, whereas Mel had other commitments to take care of. Book #2 – TRAIL REVENGE – will be out late this month or very early September. Then Mel will take over for a couple titles.

We see the adventures of this first wagon train lasting for about a six-book arc. If interest from readers is good, we will come up with some other trains to follow --- perhaps with some recurring characters, perhaps not.

For right now, though, I hope readers will give this debut tale a try and, if they like it, spread the word.

The wagons are rolling …

In the spring of 1848, the Culbertson-Barkley company, so named for the Illinois and Missouri counties from which most of its members came, heads out for the promise of new beginnings and new lives in the Oregon Territory. 52 wagons, 233 men, women, and children who have been battered by a seemingly endless string of devastating winters and destructive spring floods. Battered maybe, but not defeated. Instead, toughened and filled with a collective iron resolve to change their fate and their future.
But the Oregon Trail is a challenge, even for the toughest and most strong-willed. It starts out hard and gets progressively harder, every inch of the way. It is a foregone conclusion that not everyone who is there at the beginning will make it to the end. It will take men like Wagon Master Eugene Healy, trail scout Basil St. Irons, and former mountain man Elwood Blake to get as many through as possible. And it will take determined women like Ingrid Healy and Evelyn Harmony to nurture and encourage their men in order to help them find the strength and courage to endure.
From within and without, they will be tested. By the elements, by the threat of Indians, by betrayal … and by secrets from the past.