'Literature and butterflies are the two sweetest passions known to man.' ~ Vladimir Nabokov
About Ava & things
I am passionate about writing and about storytelling, so it's perhaps not surprising that my first romance/mystery is called The Storyteller. I’m also a historian and multi-published under another name.
One of my great loves has been travelling to the beautiful Medicine Bow Mountains in southern Wyoming, which is the setting for The Storyteller. With its breathtaking natural beauty, lively history, friendly people and sense of adventure, this beautiful region of Wyoming provides profound inspiration for writing.
Medicine Bow
Medicine Bow is at once three things... the town of Medicine Bow in Wyoming made famous in the classic novel 'The Virginian' by Owen Wister (1902); the Medicine Bow National Forest and Medicine Bow Mountains with its own Medicine Bow Peak (elev. 12,013 feet) in southern Wyoming; and the name of a imprint from Tank & Ferry Entertainment under which I write - Medicine Bow Books, named for this region of south-east Wyoming.
What is The Storyteller about?
The back cover blurb tells us that 'the power of the written word will change her town forever...'
We live in an age when we feel we have the right to say and do as we please; it's a long bow we draw before someone draws the line and says enough. Our laws are constantly being tested. The Storyteller is set in an era - 1890 to be precise - when certain things were taboo. No, not tattoo - and there certainly wasn't a lot of that going on either - the word is taboo; forbidden. Certain topics and practices were not deemed permissible to be discussed in polite society. This is one basic premise of The Storyteller.
When does taboo encroach on freedom of speech; when is taboo really censorship, which has always been the enemy of free speech. Do we have the right to impose our morals on other people at the cost of our basic freedoms and safety?
In the era in which the novel is set, crimes against women were treated very differently than they are today. The female victim was held to account, which is appalling by today's standards.
The Storyteller explores these ideas while the reader follows the romance between a passionate young writer who is determined to make a difference and a young man trying to step out of his grief and find a new life. Their journey is about being the person you need to be, living the life you are meant to live, finding the courage and the means to make it happen.
The Storyteller is also a mystery. Who is the red-letter phantom? What dark secret needs to be uncovered in Feather Ridge? Who is creating the danger that places Vicki and Will in peril?
The novel also has warmth and humor, is full of family life, as well as the shadowy serious aspects, because life is not separated into boxes of this and that, it's all interconnected. There is a lot going on in this cherished novel.
Boys from the Bunkhouse
Dressed by Storyteller
