THOUGHTS FROM REID
ABOUT BOOK THREE

I am often asked why I have “tightened the cinch” on this immense story of America set in the West. True, I love to write, and yes, I am vested in these characters. Their personalities are compilations of people both you and I have met. Each carries a part of me. They are my friends.

I am infatuated with America’s people—the hands, hearts, feelings, origins, personalities and spirit that built the United States, but my enthusiasm is also fueled by my love of country, and my bond with the land. I have always believed that a nation’s essential elements are its people and its lands. It is the interaction with, and between, each that determines the direction and, eventually, the destination of society—its freedom, values and exceptional qualities. The trail behind leads to the path ahead.

I am delighted and humbled that this epic saga is being avidly devoured by readers from ages thirteen to ninety-six, with readership almost evenly split between male and female book lovers. I am told this is highly funusual. Perhaps it is due in part to the affinity readers develop for the unique, distinctive personalities of the men and women who live in these pages. Some brave, others cowardly, all independent, the viscious offset by the kind, conflicted yet resolute, laced with fears yet persevering. All are passionate, though the passions of some are infused with bitter thoughts and dark actions.

Perhaps many of you turn these pages because you feel as I do—the touchstones of the past are the guideposts to the future. Uncompahgre-where water turns rock red, is the continuation of this tale of America, her people and the West—new lineages join the many threads of uncommon cultures, differing origins and competing ambitions that entwine into the American spirit; lives and generations woven on the loom of history, propelled by fate and freedom to form the tapestry that becomes the whole cloth of the nation. It is uniquely American, this meld of the mosaic.

My life has been spent on the lands of the West. I am fortunate to have felt the ancient energies of sunwarmed canyons. My soul has heard the whispers of Spirit carried on mountain breezes that once caressed the leathery, bronzed skin of ancestors. Logs hewn by hands long before our time have shared their energy of history, hope and courage of years long past. I’m compelled and honored to tell this tale—driven to capture the visual and memorialize the singular passions of our individual paths merging to form the shared trail of our American spirit.

I am gratified your eyes see these words and your fingers touch and linger on these pages. I hope your American soul is as touched by the reading as mine was by the writing. Feel the spirit. Think of the history. Remember the struggles. Be proud—we are America and this is our story.

Thank you for reading Uncompahgre, Book Three of the Threads West series.

 

 

Reid Lance Rosenthal
Author