Running Fox

About the Book

A novel of the Anasazi Indian cliff dwellers taking place in 1230 AD.  It chronicles their struggles to survive during a terrible thirty seven year drought.  Running Fox, just entering manhood, is given the great responsibility as the Guardian of the dams.  The story follows his efforts to gain the trust of the tribal elders in his fight to save the dams and the tribe´s water supply for their crops. The plot is woven around his discovery of love and the rivalry by Lame Duck for the hand of Cactus Flower.  When savages abduct Cactus Flower, Running Fox sets out on a months long effort to rescue his lover.  He suffers great hardships while bringing death and destruction to those who dared to keep his lover in bondage.  A great battle with the savages under the leadership of Running Fox, wherein the women play a significant role in the combat, brings a measure of security to the tribe.  His rise to Chief of The People is compounded by intertribal politics, secular and religious strife and the attacks of bands of wandering savages.  The struggle between Running Fox and the evil Shaman Howling Wolf for control of the tribe complicates the already difficult survival efforts of Running Fox and the tribe.  The fibnal chapters provide the ultimate fate of Running Fox and a hint of the probable fate of the Anasazi Look for my new novel, "On The Terror Trail" here in late February or early March, 2001

About the Author

Born in 1926, I am a product of the Great Depression, my experiences in WWII and my life’s work as a forest ranger. The stories handed down generation to generation in my family, provided a basis for writing about the pioneers who by moving westward over the decades, built this great nation. How they lived, what they believed in and the manner in which they responded to threats by others to themselves, their loved ones and neighbors is the way in which my ancestors lived, loved, fought and died. My experiences as a forest ranger in the wild lands of California and camping and hiking in the primitive areas, provided an understanding of the unforgiving aspect of nature toward the mistakes made by men who dare to intrude upon her domain.