Welcome Guest Blogger Paty Jager

Contest! I’m giving away a $5 Amazon gift certificate to one lucky commenter on this post.


Sarah, Thanks for having me here today!

The spirit Trilogy is three books depicting different times in the lives of the Lake Nimiipuu or the Nez Perce band that lived in the Wallowa Valley where I grew up. The idea for the books came to me after reading a Tony Hillerman mystery. I love the idea of Native American spirits and the stories told my elders that talk of spirits. The good spirits and the bad.

In the first book, Spirit of the Mountain, set before the encroachment of the whiteman on their lands I have the good white wolf spirit battling a bad black wolf spirit. The old good versus evil plays out in the mortal side of the story as well. The first book showed how the Lake Nimiipuu came to love the land of their fathers.

In Spirit of the Lake, the second book, I used a story I’d heard while growing up in the Wallowa Valley and discovered it was a true Nez Perce myth or legend. I put a bull elk spirit living in Wallowa Lake. The legend says that an antlered creature lives in the lake and Nez Perce children were told that if they were bad the creature would come out of the lake and take them away from their families. This legend was one of many that taught children how to behave. This book was set during the time the whiteman was moving into the valley and the Nimiipuu struggled to get along to avoid being placed on a reservation.

 The current release, Spirit of the Sky, is about the third sibling, the younger sister who is a bald eagle. This story takes place along the 1400 mile pursuit of the Army to place the nontreaty Nez Perce on a reservation. Sa-qan, Bald Eagle, watches the battles from the air and tries to help her people but finds it hard to do so as a spirit. When a cavalry officer spares her life and insists he can help her, believing she is a hostage because of her white hair and golden eyes, she is confused by his concern. And later when she returns the favor by saving his life they discover that while they should be enemies, they have a common ground. They both want to stop the slaughter of the Nez Perce.

Spirit of the Sky
by Paty Jager

BUY LINK

To save her from oppression, he must save her whole tribe. To give her his heart, he must desert his career… 

When the US Army forces the Nimiipuu from their land, Sa-qan, the eagle spirit entrusted with watching over her tribe, steps in to save her mortal niece. Challenging the restrictions of the spirit world, Sa-qan assumes human form and finds an unexpected ally in a handsome cavalry officer. 

Certain she is a captive, Lt. Wade Watts, a Civil War veteran, tries to help the blonde woman he finds sheltering a Nez Perce child. While her intelligent eyes reveal she understands his language, she refuses his help. But when Wade is wounded, it is the beautiful Sa-qan who tends him. Wade wishes to stop the killing—Sa-qan will do anything to save her people.

Can their differences save her tribe? Or will their love spell the end of the Nimiipuu?


Excerpt

The plants parted, revealing the contorted face of a soldier squinting down the length of a rifle pointed at them. Girl of Many Hearts squeaked. Sa-qan drew the child behind her, using her body as a shield. As a spirit she could not be killed by a mortal’s bullet.

A man dressed in buckskin pants and a soldier’s shirt with leader markings appeared behind the soldier pointing the rifle at them.

“No, Private! Leave them be!” The command rang with authority. The man’s dark eyes, shaded by the brim of a hat, narrowed, staring at her. “We’re only after the warriors. Go.” He pushed the soldier from the water and stepped closer.

“Are you a captive?” He held out his hand not holding a weapon. “I can help you. Take you from this.” His voiced dropped to a deeper, calming tone.

Sa-qan met his gaze. Should she let him know she spoke his tongue? The compassion in his eyes was a harsh contradiction to the violence still raging through the village. She shook her head and pressed Girl of Many Hearts farther into the river.

He took another step forward. “I can help you. We’re going to keep after these people until they give in. I know the army. They don’t give up.” The sorrow and weariness in his tone puzzled her.

She thought all soldiers thrived on attacking and harassing the Nimiipuu.

“I can get you away from this now, before it gets worse.” He took another step.

His nostrils flared as the stinging scent of burning hide filled the air along with terrified high-pitched screams.

“Damn!” The soldier lunged out of the river and ran toward a group of teepees being lit on fire.

Bio:

Wife, mother, grandmother, and the one who cleans pens and delivers the hay; award winning author Paty Jager and her husband currently ranch 350 acres when not dashing around visiting their children and grandchildren. She not only writes the western lifestyle, she lives it.

She is a member of RWA, EPIC , and COWG. She’s had eleven books and a short story published so far and is venturing into the new world of self-publishing ebooks.

Her contemporary Western, Perfectly Good Nanny won the 2008 Eppie for Best Contemporary Romance and Spirit of the Mountain, a historical paranormal set among the Nez Perce, garnered 1st place in the paranormal category of the Lories Best Published Book Contest. Spirit of the Lake was a finalist in the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence.

You can learn more about her at her blog; www.patyjager.blogspot.com her website; http://www.patyjager.net or on Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/#!/paty.jager and twitter; @patyjag.


Blog Tour Contest! Each blog stop has a picture of an eagle in the post. Follow the tour and send me the number of different pictures you see while following the tour. To learn where I’ll be go to my blog(http://www.patyjager.blogpsot.com) or website(http://www.patyjager.net) If there is more than one correct entry I’ll draw a winner on May 21st to receive a $25 gift certificate to either Barnes and Nobles or Amazon, a handmade custom ereader cover, and chocolate. Send your entry number to: patyjag@gmail.com by May 21st.