MOCASIN TRACKS A Novel about Survival and heroism among a band of crow Indians in the old west (What if a 7 y/o captive with great intelligence and special skills appeared in 1837 at a strategically-located village of Crow Indians; that the boy grew up to manhood living among the people, finding, through serendipitous circumstances, that this Crow village responded positively to his leadership. Could this partnership have enabled this particular band to form an organization, unique among American Indians, powerful enough to survive the dire threats to non-Europeans sweeping across America during the 1800’s?) Rick Ruja August, 2010

The Adventure and Romance of America, her people, her spirit and the West. Fourth novel of the sweeping of Threads West, An American Saga epic saga—compared by reviewers, authors and readers to Lonesome Dove, Centennial, and Louis L'Amour (with steam). Called by some reviewers, the "Gone with the Wind of the West," and “the Sacketts on steroids.” Applauded by others as, "rings true and poignant, as authentic and moving as Dances with Wolves". This multiple #1 bestselling series—winner of thirty-seven National Awards, (including Best Historical Fiction, Best Multi-Cultural, Best Romance, and Best Western)—bursts with the adventure, romance and promise of historical America set in the West. The epic saga of Threads West begins in 1854 with Book One. We meet the first of five richly textured, complex generations of unforgettable characters. The separate lives of these driven men and independent women are drawn to a common destiny that beckons seductively from the wild and remote flanks of the American West. In Book Two, Maps of Fate, they are swept into the dangerous currents of the far-distant frontier by the mysterious rivers of fate, the power of the land and the American spirit. Secret maps, hidden ambitions, and magnetic attractions inherent in lives forged by the fires of love and loss, hope and sorrow, life and death, shape their futures and the destinies of their lineage. In Book Three, Uncompahgre, the men and women of the saga having reached their initial destination: pre-Denver, Cherry Creek, are each faced with life altering decisions. Some must decide to pursue or abandon torrid love affairs that have flowered on the dangerous journey from Europe and across America. An aristocratic vaquero chased north by the Texas Rangers catapults into the tale. The next generation of Threads West characters will soon be born in the wilderness. The elderly slave couple, the Oglala Sioux and Mountain Ute families, and the dark hearted renegade— with his young, traumatized captive introduced in Maps of Fate--are bound ever more tightly to the arc of the tale— their tragedy and triumph-filled tales weaving into the cloth of a collective destiny. In Moccasin Track, Book Four, the brave, passion-filled characters of Uncompahgre struggle in this unknown wilderness, racing against an early, foreboding winter to establish their homestead, some preoccupied with serious pre-birth complications of the next generation of Threads West characters, other's compelled by an inner sense to blaze a separate trail, but all united to fend off ever-present dangers. The different personalities of their surviving offspring begin to manifest, some in disturbing ways. The Sioux family, bewildered by the increasing attack on their culture, is swept unknowingly into the tumultuous vortex of momentous changes shaping the United States and the West as the tidal wave of greed and intolerance inundates their ancestral territory. The Ute Chief makes a decision affecting generations, but his wife faces a fateful dilemma. Land, love, gold, tradition and the burden of family responsibility shape these characters of divergent origin as they love and struggle in the beautifully vibrant but unforgiving landscape of the West. The personal conflicts inherent to these characters of uncommon cultures, differing origins and competing ambitions are exacerbated by a nation in transition, the precipice of Civil War, and both deep bonds and lethal enmities with Native Americans. You will recognize the characters who live in these pages. They are the ancestors of your friends, your neighbors, your co-workers, and your family. They are you. They are us. We are all Americans. This is not only their story. It is our story. It is Threads West, An American Saga