In this epic and haunting love story set on the Oregon Trail, a family and their unlikely protector find their way through peril, uncertainty, and loss.

The Overland Trail, 1853: Naomi May never expected to be widowed at twenty. Eager to leave her grief behind, she sets off with her family for a life out West. On the trail, she forms an instant connection with John Lowry, a half-Pawnee man straddling two worlds and a stranger in both.

But life in a wagon train is fraught with hardship, fear, and death. Even as John and Naomi are drawn to each other, the trials of the journey and their disparate pasts work to keep them apart. John’s heritage gains them safe passage through hostile territory only to come between them as they seek to build a life together.

When a horrific tragedy strikes, decimating Naomi’s family and separating her from John, the promises they made are all they have left. Ripped apart, they can’t turn back, they can’t go on, and they can’t let go. Both will have to make terrible sacrifices to find each other, save each other, and eventually…make peace with who they are.

It is true that I came to writing late in life – and though I have always made up stories – I had just never thought of writing them down until I was laid off from work five years ago.

I wrote the prologue over a coffee in a café. A freak/stupid accident had stymied my intention to get a new keyboard - I had somehow managed to snap a tendon in my finger – a story for another time – and was reduced to using one hand on my mobile…

The prologue I came up with just created the blank canvas – I had no idea where it would lead. Since I started writing, I just follow the story, and am not committed to any specific genre. I do have a weakness for Sci-fi and Thriller though. The former comes from books read as a kid, the latter from later…

I could spend time talking about the books in general, but I would rather, in this guess post, focus on just a few of the chapters that involve someone struggling with a specific disability.

First, some basics: The MDS series covers the possible implications of humans accessing dimensions that go beyond the four that we inhabit naturally. Up/Down, side to side, back and forward and time. The latter we cannot control, the first three we can.

The central character is thrown into a situation where they have to deal with the extraordinary implications of inadvertently accessing the Multiverse highway – the route to the infinite universes that coexist with our own. She is introduced to unfamiliar and familiar individuals, possessing potent abilities, their malicious objectives, and the implications of accessing this reality. The story is, of course, fiction, but where possible, I attempt to include aspects that are not.

Two of the chapters in Palimpsest focus on a character that, by ill-advised actions, has developed Multiple Sclerosis. Writing these was unusual, as being a fiction writer, I am used to covering areas that I do not necessarily have personal experience of. For some of the sufferings described by the character in this case – Geraldine – I do. I have lived with MS for over thirty years, and so when writing some of her struggles, it was very real to me… Fortunately, I have always been supported by my family, whereas Geraldine has not. Also, I am fortunate not to have a psychopathic sister…

In Winter, the story develops further into the realms of the true implications of the multiverse. In this novel, further characters, histories, and timelines are introduced, covering just four

universes, each with their own objectives. Many revelations and tragedies ensue. This story will be further developed in book three.

My current WIP is the first in a different series – the Caretaker Chronicles – which is scheduled for release next year. This will appeal to those with an interest in alien intervention, with a twist.

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