Threads West, An American Saga

Threads West, An American Saga
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This first book and namesake of the thirty three-novel series that is being compared by reviewers and authors to Lonesome Dove and Centennial. The tale bursts with the adventure, romance and promise of historical America and the West.The epic saga of Threads West begins in 1855 with the first of five richly-textured, complex generations of unforgettable characters. The separate lives of these driven men and independent women are drawn to a common destiny that beckons seductively from the wild and remote flanks of the American West. They are swept into the dangerous currents of the far-distant frontier by the mysterious rivers of fate, the power of the land and the American spirit.Their turbulent journeys are heartbreaking quests intertwined with romance and adversity, passions and pathos, despair and triumph.The series has been compared to McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove by Reviewers, Readers, and Authors alike. Some have called it the Gone With the Wind of the West, and others have likened the novel to Michener’s Centennial. It is the adventurous, passionate tale of multi-generational threads of lives of unforgettable, driven men and women from diverse origin. It is the saga of their pathos and triumph, romance and conflict, and the gripping weave of their land forged personalities into the tapestry of an emerging nation.Threads West is the namesake and first of the #1 Bestselling, multiple award winning, thirty three-novel epic series, Threads West, An American Saga. The novel captured long lived #1 Bestselling positions in the major categories of Western, Romance, Historical Fiction, and nine genres, including Historical Romance, Historical Western, Historical Western Romance, Family Saga Pioneers and Homesteaders, Women of the West and Western Romance.Threads West is the beginning of this one hundred and seventy year tale of the adventure and romance of America, her people, her spirit and the west. This is our story.

Threads West, An American Saga
Author: Reid Lance Rosenthal
Published by: Rockin’ SR Publishing
ISBN-10: 0982157614
ISBN-13: 978-0982157619

To me, the basic elements of fiction writing. There is a story, the characters, the plot, and the writing in the story encompasses the arc of the tale, and the ever changing flow of set and theater from beginning to end. The characters are the actors upon the stage of the saga. They precipitate the action of the plot. The plot comprises the building blocks which frame and support the story in various locations, times, and character interaction. Finally, there is the writing. The texture of words, sentences, description, thought and syntax is the glue that binds the other essential elements of the book.

But what do I know? Many authors, virtually all of them far more accomplished than I, have their own opinions of these matters. One thing I am convinced of is that in many genres, including western romance, characters can be stereotypical. Though still enjoyable the “can do no wrong” or “can do no good” personality is fantasy. The reality of human nature is that every person has his or her strengths, weaknesses, shortcomings, strong suits, skeletons, principles or lack thereof, and each has been molded not only by their DNA but by their history and social setting. Complexity. It is the quintessential and most intriguing ingredient of any personality. People are not black or white but varying shades of gray. I have invested heavily in this facet of my characters because it is true and authentic.

The excerpt series on Threads West consists of tidbits pulled from the chapters on each of the primary characters in this first of the novels, the Threads West, An American Saga series. The romance of America, her people, her spirit, and the west. The ongoing story of us.The initial books of the series, beginning with it’s name sake here, are historical Western romance novels. The final book of the series, based in part on a true tale, continue the story in the Contemporary West. The arc of the story that unfolds over the 170 years inhabited by more than thirty eight primary characters spanning four generations, their life threads woven into the rich tapestry of an emerging nation, and forged on the beautiful but unforgiving anvil of the vast lands of the American West.

And one more hint. Just as, in my humble opinion many characters in this genre are stereotypical, so too are many endings. Either she stands sobbing, clutching her heaving bosom in the doorway as her quiet, strong, broad shouldered man rides off silhouetted by the setting sun to pursue his manly quest…or…they walk slowly, happily, hand in hand surrounded by the warmth of love and light into a golden dawn (choose one).

Each of these thirty three books could stand alone. They have their own endings which in some ways brings conclusion and in others leaves the readers hanging, awaiting continuation of the story. When completed the Saga will be well over ten thousand pages. But the end, truly the conclusion in the final pages of Summits, the last of the Threads West, An American Saga series, will not be stereotypical. However, that is yet another tale in the modern west thirty three books from now.