I’ve been really fortunate to see “A Debt to Pay” rank high on Amazon and achieve a bestseller “orange tag” in the Western short stories category.
Obviously, I’m grateful to the readers who have jumped into this book so fast.
While I’ve had some orange tags for “Hot New Releases,” I think this is the first time I’ve had a bestseller in a category, so I’m thrilled with that. It was a short-lived “bestseller.” I had just enough time to take a screenshot before the book slipped to #2 in the category. But I’m happy to take what I can get.
Like my novel “Too Long the Winter,” this new one is a mountain trail story.
I find myself drawn to these mountain trail stories in part because of the time I’ve spent hiking in the mountains.
I’ll be honest, I’m too lazy to really think of myself as a backpacker. Toting all my food, water, clothes, and equipment on my back for two or three days is hard work. I really think of myself more as a river paddler. If I can stow my gear in the front of the boat and let the current do the work, that’s my preference.
But having said that, I have always enjoyed the times I’ve gone backpacking in the mountains.
Hiking a trail to a waterfall or a big view at the top of a mountain or down into a valley beside a mountain creek has a way of making the work worth the while.
When I was in college, I had a favorite trail that I hiked a few times on my own. It’s a different feeling to be up in the mountains, completely alone with just your own thoughts. That was in the days before smart phones, and there was nothing to entertain me except the sound of a creek and the birds in the trees.
I’ve taken my sons on that same trail a few times, and been disappointed by the way a trail that I once cherished for its solitude had been overrun in recent years with population.
Someone over the years “improved” the trail. They cut out a path that avoided some of the most difficult parts, and in doing so they opened the trail up to day hikers.
It’s selfish on my part, I admit, but I hate to see a trail become a popular spot like that. A place I used to go for solitude is now more heavily populated than the sidewalk in my neighborhood.
It’s also trashy.
The last time my sons and I hiked the trail, we had trouble finding a spot in our favorite campsite that was not polluted with the evidence of someone else’s digestive distress. It was disgusting and disappointing because we had to abandon the spot I’ve camped in since the mid-1980s.
Those lonely mountain trails in my novels are like a refuge to me. If not in reality, then in my imagination I can transport myself to a time and place where population did not interrupt a good campsite.
So next time you’re reading one of my novels and you find yourself setting up camp with my characters, just know that this scene was inspired by a heartfelt (if selfish) desire for folks to stop “improving” trails. A lot of times the improvements just ruin the thing.
Anyway – if you’ve read it, I hope you’ve enjoyed “A Debt to Pay.”
I acknowledge that it’s a little different from most of my other Westerns, and I appreciate the feedback I’ve had so far from readers who (for the most part) embraced the differences.
“A Debt to Pay” is a standalone novel, so if you’ve never read any of my books but are interested in checking them out, it’s an easy entry point. You won’t have to make a commitment to a series, and it’s not particularly long.