Dave Pratt

Coyote Run Dave Pratt

The spirit of the western novel is embodied in the struggle to survive in a wild country populated by wilder people. It is that willingness to fight against long odds that carries Abraham Chesterfield from a childhood of wealth, through the hopelessness of slavery, and then to a life as an unwilling gun-fighter. The half-Paiute product of a disastrous social experiment in 1840s Boston, young Abe sees his parents murdered, and then is sold into slavery by a grandparent too blinded by racial hatred to recognize his own blood. In spite of his harsh existence, Abe grows strong in body, spirit and character. His natural affinity for horses and hard work brings him to the attention of the owner of Remington Arms, the birthplace of fine frontier weapons. Abe flourishes as a gunsmith and finds love while working at the Remington factory. When Secessionist raiders threaten Remington Arms, Abe must leave to protect the place and people he loves. In the ensuing cross-country gun battle with the Secessionists, Abe must steel himself against his pursuers' lust for revenge, the turmoil of a love lost and re-found, and the unmasking of a deadly betrayer. After spending much of his life on horseback and writing for national and local magazines, Dave Pratt was drawn to write Coyote Run as the natural evolution of his own western interests. Coyote Run is the first of a two-book series that sees Abraham Chesterfield through a life of conflict and gunplay, into maturity as a compassionate man of considerable character and strength. Begin the journey and watch a man grow.