9.09.2014

Settler, #Oregon! What a Trip!

My Husband Unit and I took a trip out to Settler, Oregon, this summer.


We were enticed by this awesome ad:



We floated out on the volcanic heated lake with the ducks, despite the mayflies and mosquitoes.

The water is so calm it reflects the sky

Yay, boats!

All those black dots are mosquitoes



All those dots are bubbles from geothermal activity heating the lake
We enjoyed the sights:


Sunrise from Gold Peak
Sunrise from Gold Peak, looking out over East Lake



A nice waterfall in the woods
The Obsidian Flow

Gold Peak


The obligatory selfie with Husband Unit



 The people were awesomely nice. Then things became a little weird. A cloud of fire appeared in the sky and we were rushed into the bomb shelter under the high school. Yeah, they still had one of those. Nothing new has been built since the 1950’s... at least. The next thing we knew, they had whisked us back to Bend, citing volcanic activity. Hmm, so far only Settler has reported the incident in the Caslow Circuit, the county paper they print once a month.

Anything weird ever happen to you like that? How was your summer trip?




The Gold Rush trickles to a fool’s quest and a string of stagecoach heists. In 1888, Earl Blacke decides to make a new start and become a better man. He escapes into the mountains, heading north. In the wilds of Oregon, a rift inside an ancient volcano opens and sends him into the future, into the present day. It also shaves forty years off his age, forty years to live over again and atone for what he’s done.
Starting over is hard to do. In current day New York, Daelin Long’s dream job at a publishing house goes the way of the dinosaurs her sister chases. With no money and nowhere else to go, Daelin accepts the librarian position in her sister’s dinky town in the middle of Oregon. Nestled inside ancient volcanic peaks, the town of Settler holds onto many secrets. Residents roam the streets with weirdly fashioned devices, and odd lights pulse in the night skies. People whisper of a phantom outlaw and start dying, murdered and missing their heads. On top of it all, Daelin’s sister is missing, and Daelin doesn’t know who to trust.
Earl knows more than he’s saying. He shares a notorious history with the phantom, one he’ll see remains buried. Keeping Daelin’s sister’s secrets is his only chance at redemption, and the only way to keep this world safe.


Try book one for free!
Download from: Amazon / AmazonUK / B&N / Smashwords /Googleplay / iTunes / Other





Take advantage of the preorder special on book 2, The Initiate. Only 99 cents via preorder from Amazon, iTunes, B&N, and Googleplay. Preorder








All commenters to this post will be put in a drawing for ebook copies of The Rifters and The Initiate. Visit HERE for more giveaways and events.


25 comments:

  1. Oh my. What a spot.
    And thank you (I think) for inciting my all too active bookie lust.

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  2. Hi Mary .. loved all this - except those mozzies! ... then the quick exit ... I love the idea of the town of Bend - had/probably have an early blogging friend there ... interesting trip and love the Selfie ... cheers Hilary

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    1. I live in Bend :) Settler is about an hour away.

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  3. Awesome setting for The Rifters and gorgeous photos! Maybe your characters could eliminate the mosquitoes while they're at it... :)

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    1. I really have to get some repellent before we go to another lake.

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  4. Gorgeous photos! Though so many mosquitoes would eat me alive!

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  5. Stunning pictures of Settler. I'm tempted to move to Settler, despite all the strange goings on.

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  6. Except for all those mosquitoes and having to cut the vacation short, it looks like your trip there was awesome!

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  7. Awesome pics, Mary! Looks lovely--except for the mosquitoes. They really like me but I dislike them intensely! Little blood suckers...*grumble grumble grumble*

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    1. Yeah, they like me too. I had bites everywhere. Husband Unit had none.

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  8. These pictures are so beautiful-the sunrise is amazing..I wonder if the volcano had something to do with it. Interesting that you had to go to an old bomb shelter. It seems to go hand in hand with the book:) I have not been anywhere where something weird happened this past summer. I do recall a time I was in Toronto with friends and it was around 11pm. we went to the subway and found it strange that nobody was there and the subway car was open. We went in and there was blood everywhere! All over the ceiling, walls floor. It looked like a blood bath but there were no people, no cops not yellow tape...needless to say we got the hell out of there. We never knew what happened

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    1. OK, Birgit, I think you win for creepiest moment during a vacation. That is bizarre.

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  9. What gorgeous photos! Well, except the skeeters. :-O

    I loved reading about your vacation to Settler, Mary. Jim and I went up at the end of August in time for the Caslow County Fair. We had reservations at Blackes Ranch Resort & Spa... ooh la la, it was lovely!! We had a fireplace in our room and everything. I felt so pampered. :-)

    I didn't realize nothing new had been built around there since the '50's... that explains some things. But you're right about the people... so nice! That's the very phrase I used in my sketchbook/journal that I made during our vacation there.

    Well, I'll be posting all about it next week. Can't wait to share my sketchbook with ya'll. So glad Mary clued us in to this amazing little town.

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    1. Can't wait to see your sketches and hear more about your trip :)

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  10. Wow, that looks like a breathtakingly gorgeous place to visit. Yeah, some weird stuff has happened to us on vacations before, but nothing quite as weird as being hustled into a bomb shelter because of an active volcano.

    More new books! You are something else. I'm gonna get that freebie right now... I only have about a thousand books waiting to read... why not 1001? Has a nice ring to it, dontcha think?

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    1. Yes, could be a book title for you, Susan. 1001 something... :)

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  11. Settler sounds and looks awesome. Weird phenomena and all. ;-)

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  12. great photos! Love the waterfall and selfie ones!

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  13. The winner of a set of ebooks is Elephant's Child!

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