"Blood Spirt" went to the publisher today. The short version, so to speak:
Texas was at a pivotal point in 1871. Texans had long sought relief from the devastating raids of Kiowas and Comanches and suffered from cattle rustlers, killers and thieves. It would take the near death of Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman for the Army to answer the call for protection.
Buck Landers, a veteran of the Civil War, settled in Texas in 1865 and earned a reputation as a gunfighter. But he married and settled down to raise a family and make his fortune as a cattleman, hoping never more to use his gun. But the unsettled frontier and his sense of right would play a role in his future.
His sense of right and wrong, his desire for justice and the protection of those without shelter leads him down a trail of danger, one that could mean his death.
The story centers around the astonishing history of 1871 Texas, a time when those who dared faced great hardships. There were fortunes to be made, but the price for many was death.
