A veteran of the Battle of Chancellorsville must come to terms with torments, both past and present, in this story by Western author Mackey Murdock.
“Bones” Malone earned his moniker collecting buffalo bones on the plains. Even in 1881 Bones is still haunted by his role in the war eighteen years earlier. Now his cousin, Wade, has started a big ranch in the area. Bones cannot escape the past, or the idea that he is the designated protector of the Malone family. He will have to reconcile his past and the conflicts of the present, including his relationships with Wade and his wife, Sassy—the woman Bones had once loved.
Mackey Murdock (1932–2012) grew up on a stock farm sandwiched between four of Texas’ larger ranches. In tune to the rhythm of horses, livestock, and the people who nurse them, his writing echoes that early beat. Later, he served in the Korean War, taught school, and spent thirty-three years in industrial management. Although Murdock crosses the line between fiction and nonfiction, the Southwest typically provides the setting for his work. Murdock was a member of the Dallas–Fort Worth Writers’ Workshop and an active member of the Western Writers of America.
Traber Burns worked for thirty-five years in regional theater, including the New York, Oregon, and Alabama Shakespeare festivals. He also spent five years in Los Angeles appearing in many television productions and commercials, including Lost, Close to Home, Without a Trace, Boston Legal, Grey’s Anatomy, Cold Case, Gilmore Girls, and others.
Overview
A veteran of the Battle of Chancellorsville must come to terms with torments, both past and present, in this story by Western author Mackey Murdock.
“Bones” Malone earned his moniker collecting buffalo bones on the plains. Even in 1881 Bones is still haunted by his role in the war eighteen years earlier. Now his cousin, Wade, has started a big ranch in the area. Bones cannot escape the past, or the idea that he is the designated protector of the Malone family. He will have to reconcile his past and the conflicts of the present, including his relationships with Wade and his wife, Sassy—the woman Bones had once loved.
