This first book in is an intriguing mosaic of images, ideas, and actions across time. There is an Indian that does not belong to an ancient tribe and an old man that challenges him, a foreboding childhood drama and a country radio station that provides comfort, a grandfather's stone and grandmother's poem. There is a midnight close encounter and a beaten child saved by an afternoon home run hit. A coyote teaches a lesson, a tree makes a surprising gesture, and an antelope runs with a man. On a woman's arm is a rose-like scar. There is the sale of the world's greatest guitar. A guitar falls from the sky, and a slavery survivor heals a wounded girl. Two sex-crimes detectives plan to trap a knife-wielding rapist. An ill elderly woman fears she is losing her mind. Two sophisticated women hear a song and fall off their chairs laughing. A grizzled old cowboy and a stoic gray-haired preacher listen and weep. The book asks if there are horses, a Redbone hound, and a stubby-tailed cat in heaven. It explains the apple of a father's eye and shares the country tune Redneck Feminist. It tells of an economy with no money or spoken words. There are spoken words carried by the wind and a nation of clouds that hears them. There are real mysteries and unreal coincidences. There are good reasons to die and better reasons to live. Finally an alien invasion unfolds. Is life measured in time or courageous acts of love? Can little choices fulfill a great destiny? What of discernment and deception, passion and apathy? What of defiance and surrender, blessings and tragedy? is a book of wildly diverse themes. It is also a book of an uncommon love between Grace and her husband Jack, a man fond of pointing out to those who fail to think of it, "Before there were cowboys, there were Indians." May unexpected stories, dear reader, bring you unexpected blessings. --Jeffery Kirkendall