Author of Award Winning Originals

Title: "CURSE OF THE KLONDIKE"

Author: RICK TAYLOR

Publisher: KOEHLER BOOKS

The plan is all mapped out. Shorty and Libby, his true love, will journey to the gold fields and strike it rich together. But a handsome stranger in a tweed suit shakes the original plan to the core when he persuades Libby to stay in Skagway rather than proceed north to the Klondike. Crushed, Shorty finds another partner (a former classmate) and goes north without her. Libby soon discovers that her new love is a master criminal by the name of Jefferson Randolph “Soapy” Smith. Convinced that Soapy has never killed anyone, Libby’s love holds until a shattering discovery is made. In the meantime, Soapy is killed by vigilantes.

Despite their initial difficulties, Libby and Shorty (known to her as Justin) marry and begin to climb the social ladder in San Francisco, soon moving into a luxurious residence on Nob Hill, just in time to experience the devastating 1906 earthquake and fire, which destroys the city and their home. They settle in Elgin, Illinois and try to rebuild their lives. 

Because of a raging temper, Libby's eighteen-year-old son Seth is kicked out of Elgin. Convinced that his thieving biological father, Soapy Smith, has passed on to him a condition known as the "Black Dog," Seth descends into a life of debauchery and murder in New Orleans and Chicago until a single incident turns his life around.  With little money, he heads for New Orleans by boxcar where his adventure begins.

The narrative next shifts to Seth's son Brian whose adventure begins in earnest when he joins the Army Air Corps during World War II. When the B-17 he is co-piloting crashes over enemy territory, Brian has an opportunity to meet Phoebe, a brave member of the French Resistance who helps him to escape over the Freedom Line into Gibraltar and finally London. He returns to Belgium after the war only to discover that Phoebe is reluctant to marry because of ugly facial scars given to her by the Nazis during torture. 

The narrative shifts again. This time to Brian's young son Stephen who encounters the Manson family during a trip to LA to accept a summer construction job. That horrendous experience stays with him like a persistent nightmare after he turns his back on Dotty, a disciple of Manson who will probably be killed when Brian, Stephen’s father, refuses to comply with Manson's demands after Stephen returns safely home. 

Is Stephen the last in line? Will he escape the Black Dog? Presumably because of his guilt after deserting Dotty, Stephen turns to the ministry. His father goes in the opposite direction after Phoebe is killed in an auto accident. He dies bitterly and relatively alone. One of the highlights in the narrative is Stephen's impersonation of Mark Twain in the annual church pageant.