ABOUT THIS BOOK
First, I want to explain why I am posting my trilogy Journey to the Midnight Sun for free to read. It is not because it is poorly written. My other two books both have 5 STARS on Amazon. This is my third book and it is my best work so far. I am posting it here for free to read because it is a gift from God. No one I know raises their children and then hands them a bill for $50 an hour. And since I have no children of my own, God said he would share his children with me if I served him. That is my reasoning. Many people have already done their free work for God by raising their children and grandchildren and in other ways. So this is my way.
Secondly, I would like to make clear that none of my creative work or structuring of text is AI assisted. Now with that said, I would like to give a big shout out to Google and say "thank you" because their search engine, including AI, helped me tremendously with my research which was extensive (I'm old enough to remember going to the library and checking out armloads of books). I would also like to thank Google for providing this blog service free of charge. It is no small thing, and it is greatly appreciated!
Thirdly, I would like my readers to know that they will not have to wait long for more chapters to be added. This is because I have completed all three books in this trilogy and most of the polishing work is also complete. So I will be adding chapters regularly until all 95 chapters are posted. However, once book one (subtitle: Love Conquers All) is posted on this website, I may pause to publish all three books of my trilogy as paperbacks at Amazon and other outlets. I will still post all three books here for free to read and share. With regard to the paperbacks and hardbacks available at Amazon and other retailers; I will price them as low as the outlets allow. I will receive no royalties and that is perfectly fine with me. I have nothing against making money. Honest people that work hard deserve rewards. But as I explained, this is different.
With regard to plagiarism and scraping: Unfortunately, there will always be bad apples. But they should think twice before stealing this work. This is because I began with several global platforms already in place from which to launch my book, so it has already been viewed and read across the globe. What I'm saying is, you will be found out. And even if you avoid legal ramifications, it is an unwritten rule in life that such things always come back to haunt a person, sooner or later, in one way or another.
Finally, I would like to explain one thing about my book but first I must give a ‘spoiler alert.’ If you do not want to know about the story beforehand, then please skip this segment and read only the two notes at the bottom of this page. Okay now that I have that out of the way, I would like to explain why the first two chapters bring the hero and heroine together through a tragedy that is as awful as can be imagined. It's about dealing with the sometimes tragic ramifications of being human, and rising above it.
To write this book, I have drawn on exhaustive research plus 68 years of life experience including 5,000 miles of travel by horse, canoe, and foot, staying out-of-doors for long periods of time. For example, the opening scene is inspired by an actual event. I was with my horse Reba. A blizzard was howling. I was looking across an open expanse. I watched as a snow devil whipped up. A wooded area in the distance looked like a dark wall. We were not traveling. It was an early season cold snap followed by a very long Indian summer the same as in this book. Likewise, John’s first campsite in chapter 1 is based on a place that I know well. Another place I know well from Chapter 1 is the Lewis and Clark trail (see photo below). Another experience that lends itself to chapter 1 was an attempted ambush that happened during my travels while camped in a ravine at night. I saved my gear and possibly myself and no one got hurt (the account of this event is in my book about my travels on the Lewis and Clark trail, (American Errand). The fictional ambush in this book (Journey to the Midnight Sun) brings the hero and heroine together as mentioned above.
John’s horse ‘Ellie’ is literally my black and white Clydesdale horse Reba both in appearance and disposition. Reba is not 8ft tall like Ellie, however. Reba is 7ft tall. The hero and heroine are figments of my imagination but initially my wife, Laura, inspired Laureal’s character both in appearance and disposition (Laura blamed [my obsession with] the book for our divorce and there is truth in that. That was long ago. I put the book away after our divorce only to dig it out all these years later. I have lived and learned and I wish Laura nothing but health and happiness). The Matriarch, Emma, is inspired by my late mother, Silvana (originally from Yugoslavia) who suddenly became a widow when I was one year old and found herself at the helm with three small children. And finally, the Emerson clan is inspired by the small town clan that I grew up in, a big kinship with an illustrious history, locally powerful and famous, now scattered to the wind.
Supporting the hero and heroine are a cast of characters including a Matriarch (and a Patriarch that arrives in book two). There are old folks, middle aged folks, young adults, teenagers, children, and even a baby. It’s a big family! And they all go together on a daring adventure!
Author of, Journey to the Midnight Sun
