BLOOD AND BOND

Blood and Bond is the dynamic new book from Kae Cheatham. This Novel of the West provides a deft blend of environmental mystery, romance, and surrealistic enlightenment of one man to his family's culture and history.

Determining the source of the water pollution in Lamp Creek Valley provides the backdrop to this contemporary western. Eddie CloudRunner, rancher and teacher, is bothered by hallucinations that seem to parallel the area's sudden environmental problems. His discomfort increases after a call from local businessman, Pete Waldham. Pete wants Eddie to save the Waldham family from an Indian curse that he believes was brought on by illegal hunting in the legendary Spirit Canyon. Eddie had witnessed the trespass twenty-eight years before, yet he dismisses the man as paranoid.

Then Beth Hardemann, Sean Waldham and Martin Bradley (three offspring of the defilers) arrive and spark disasters and revelations. Eddie finally admits his long-denied beliefs--the different reality from what others call objective. While he delves into the mysticism, the capricious Rocky Mountain environment confounds the situation with harsh and unseasonable weather.