Buck’s Showdown is a young adult fiction book. How does a middle class kid from Wisconsin end up dodging killers in the mountains of Wyoming? For sixteen year old Jim Taylor it is like being sent to Siberia for the summer. Jim and his horse, Buck, are working in the Wyoming mountains, a thousand miles from home, sent there because his parents are in turmoil. He should be home driving a car, spending time with a certain girl, and playing X-Box. Jim’s complaints are forgotten when he and Buck witness a murder and kidnapping. Tasked by the sheriff to spy on the criminals, boy and horse must thwart six armed men while enduring the worst that nature can throw at them. Pushed to their limits, boy and horse must repeatedly risk their lives. Jim had thought he had outgrown his horse but through this ordeal they become true partners. .
The target readers are teenage boys and it will also appeal to the millions of horse lovers. The horse, Buck, is a participant in the action and the book does include his point of view. I am an experienced horseman and the owner of an accomplished reining horse. The horse’s particular reining skills and training are employed in many of the action scenes just as a human’s martial arts skills would be employed in a fight scene. For examples of what reining horses do see kimdiercksreininghorses.com
The wilderness mountain setting is also a significant element in the book. Both the topography and the weather are factors which the characters must reckon with.
I read a lot of crime fiction. Some of my favorites are John Sandford, Ian Rankin, Kate Atkinson, Ridley Pearson... Several authors advise that one should write what you know. I took that advice to heart. I’m a trial lawyer which means I tell stories (true ones) in court. I live with horses (and love them) and have spent a lot of time in the Wyoming wilderness. So this book, and my adult novels, involve horses and wilderness. So if you love horses or the wilderness, you will love this book.
For more about me please see my web site at leeatterbury.com
With the funds raised, I will publish and market the book. The manuscript is finished. I want to get this book to young people to interest them in these wonderful creatures and get their minds outdoors in the beauty of the wilderness.