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Set on the frontier plains, Hawkmoon is a story of love versus possession. Abandoned at a circus, orphan Sadie Hawkmoon is abducted by Ice, a brutal horse thief who has run a murderous gang up and down the plains since the end of the Civil War. He claims her for his child, but one dark night, in the most vicious act of betrayal, he makes her his lover, and, over
the course of the next four years, his protégé. Sadie must find a way out or lose herself forever. Escaping Ice’s clutches, she crosses paths with fiery Seth Wilder. While driving a herd of horses to auction in Denver, they clash in their struggle to understand love, and whether they can find it in themselves and for each other. All the while Ice looms like a storm on the horizon, obsessed with getting Hawkmoon back.
The Toronto film company which optioned the film rights for Hawkmoon is currently writing the screenplay. Also, Loon In Balloon, Inc. has signed a contract with Emerald Books, an imprint of Greenleaf Books, which is one of the largest book distributors in the United States. This will make Hawkmoon available to every major retail book outlet in the country, including book clubs and libraries.
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Hawkmoon excerpt
…By the end of the following day they met up with the horses and the wagon. The confluence of the Green River and the Big Sandy was surrounded by lush grass and dense stands of willow. It made a fine place to camp. Carla knew Ice was headed for a trading post not more than a day’s ride away. They had been there before.
He sent Eli on ahead to scout it out. Without a herd of horses to push, Eli could make it there and back in several hours. He questioned the necessity, but Ice made him go anyway.
“I want to know if the same man is still there,” Ice said. “He’s an amiable fellow, if you remember. If it’s somebody different, I need to know.”
Eli left, but returned not a half an hour later, his horse lathered and blowing hard. Eli himself was no less worked up. Ice stood to meet him.
“There’s a mess of Indians camped not a mile down river,” he said breathlessly, dismounting.
“How many?” Ice asked. ...........Read More
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Reviews
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“Hawkmoon is a fast-paced tale of adventure that grabs the reader from the first page and doesn’t let go. The scenes of Western life are so vivid that one can almost smell the sweat of the freshly-groomed horses and see the dry colors of the plains. I recommend this book to anyone interested in a riveting tale of horse rustling, redemption, and life on the run.”---
Joshua Searle-White, author of Magic Wanda’s Travel Emporium: Tales of Love, Hate, and Things in Between
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“A wild, traumatic ride of a novel, featuring a unique, tough female take on the frontier prairie and life on the run. Williams presents the west in new wonder and horror. Hers is a relentless tale of revenge, love and survival — a tale rife with suspense, yearning and fury, enticingly and intricately plotted.”---
Kirk Nesset, author of Mr. Agreeable and Paradise Road
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Review from WATERLOO REGION RECORD Books editor Jon Fear
HAWKMOONby Nancy Williams (Loon In Balloon, 214 pages, $19.95 softcover)
Nancy Williams has hit a home run with her first published work. Hawkmoon is a gripping tale in the adult western genre, one in which there are no white hats or black hats. What she gives us are horse thieves, psychopaths and lots of victims.
The setting is the United States in the post Civil War years. Former soldiers are banding together to make a living stealing
horses. They leave no witnesses. It’s possible they once had honour as soldiers. Time and circumstances have now made
them cold and ruthless.
If life is cruel for their victims, it is just barely less so for the women these men take as their “wives.” Their loyalty is guaranteed by vicious beatings.
As Williams writes: “The passage of time swept them together until there were as tight as a family — tighter even, for though the ties of common blood did not exist between them, a thin line of distrust
and suspicion bonded them into a brotherhood far stronger than blood ever could.”
The head of one such “family” is a psychopath known as Ice. In a break from his own cruel protocol, he abducts a child named Sadie Hawkmoon during a raid. As his adopted daughter, she seems to have a special standing. But the price of being special takes shape when Ice forces her to become his lover.
Hawkmoon is Sadie’s story. She matures to become an expert with both firearms and horses. Bound to the family by Ice’s control of “his girl,” she plans the one unforgivable thing — leaving him.
There would be no story if Sadie had killed Ice on the night she escaped. But that didn’t happen and instead she earns a place on a horse drive with a fiery young man named Seth Wilder who has his own demons to battle. Trailing them in the shadows is Ice, convinced she still loves him and needs to be returned to his possession.
Sadie’s world is simultaneously horrific and hopeful. Whether or not she can tame the damaged Seth is the least of our worries. Can she even keep him alive with a madman coming after them?
Hawkmoon, the eighth novel from publishers Loon in Balloon of Kitchener, has movie potential oozing out of every
scene and Williams has a gift for producing believable dialogue that is never tedious. She has you feeling and smelling
the Old West as you read.
Violent? Often.
Unsuitable for children? Absolutely.
But this story is entirely captivating and believable. Sadie Hawkmoon will be your hero and anti-hero at the same time.
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