Book Spotlight: Along the Trail by Kaci Curtis

A little bit about Author Kaci Curtis…

I’m a military spouse and mom to two kids. We just moved to Virginia after spending the past two years stationed on the island of Guam. Prior to that, we spent four years in southern Mississippi on a 5 acre patch, full of farm animals and visiting wildlife.

I was the kid who read for fun and wrote short stories in elementary school. I wrote my first short story in second grade, and my teacher laminated it for me. She even helped put one of my school pictures on the back, so it could have an ‘about the author’ page. I still have it!

I finished my first novel way back in 2009, and queried it to agents. No one fell in love with it, so I started a new novel, and then queried that one. That cycle happened three more times, and each time, I learned more about researching, editing, and bouncing back from rejection. I had the interest, and a bit of natural talent, but it was my persistence that finally got me here.

This is a spotlight on “Along the Trail” by Kaci Curtis

I grew up in Kansas City, MO, which is only a short distance from Independence, where the westward trails began. I joke that I was raised on two staples: John Wayne, and Rogers & Hammerstein.  My dad and I bonded over westerns, while my mom loved musicals like Oklahoma and South Pacific.

I remember playing the Oregon Trail game in computer lab in elementary school – it was probably second grade. (This was in the 1990’s). Ever since then, the topic fascinated me. I read any middle grade historical fiction that I could find about the frontier, and about survival in the wilderness. Hatchet & Brian’s Winter�(Gary Paulson) were favorite reads that were big influences on me, as were the Little House on the Prairie books (Laura Ingles Wilder).

It seems a bit inevitable that I’d eventually come to write my own novel about a frontier journey, and feel the pull to add some romance into the mix.  Even John Wayne kissed an obstinate woman in most of his films, after all.

Readers can expect my novel to be as accurate as I could make it. Everything, from the most popular trail routes, to the animals they brought with them, the essentials they packed, and the indigenous tribes that they were most likely to encounter… was thoroughly researched so that I could represent it realistically.

In addition to that, readers can expect strong female characters, forming complex relationships while crossing a brutal and beautiful land. They can expect some romance with a cowboy that’s as kind as he is brave and hard-working. Perhaps most of all, I hope that I inspire readers to go experience their own adventure in the wilderness, and to help protect the few wild places that remain.

Along the Trail is my debut novel. I’ve been lucky to publish a few short stories, personal essays, articles, and poems, but this is my first that will be available for purchase.

Along the TrailBlurb

In 1847, Winnie and her family are traveling west to start a new life in the Oregon territory. While many in their wagon train fret over river crossings, disease, and encounters with Native tribes, she relishes the unexpected freedom of life on the trail.

Threatened by storms, wild animals, and outlaws, Winnie must rely on the bonds she’s made, and all she’s learned, in order for them to make it to Oregon alive. She must also decide if she is ready to risk forming an attachment to Hal, the cowhand with a knack for showing up just when help is needed, or whether she will emulate Mae, the free-spirited daughter of their trail guide.

Each footprint in the dust, every broken blister and itching mosquito bite they had suffered, and monotonous chore…it had all been a part of getting to this point, together. Every cross that had been hammered into the dirt, every laugh that had been silenced forever…it couldn’t all have been for nothing. She would not allow it to be for nothing.

Website

Facebook

Instagram