Part 2 of Michelle Tanner: Going West is up now. This begs the question, who are these people? Let's start with the living legend (at least in 1864 he was).
Who is Joseph Nathan ‘Sleeps with Bears’ Meeker?
Joseph Nathan Meeker is a fictional character in my Michelle Tanner series of stories. There are several real people the character was modeled after. The first is John Adams, not the 2nd President of the United States of America, but still a New Englander, born in 1812, who became better known as Grizzly Adams. The name Sleeps with Bears comes from Adams’s habit of sometimes cohabiting with a few bears.
Then, there was a western pioneer, Joseph Lafayette “Joe” Meek, who settled in Oregon and became a lawman. Born in Washington County, Virginia, he died in Hillsboro, Oregon. Meek was the Oregon Territorial Federal Marshal. I also threw in a bit of Heck Thomas, a deputy US Marshal who served under Judge Isaac Parker—the infamous ‘Hanging Judge.’ Along with a few other lawmen, mountain men, and pioneers thrown into the mix for good measure.
Much of Meeker is cut from the tapestry of stories I heard about people who are not so famous. People you would have never heard of. His ability to tell a tall yarn is culled from my father and his mischievous brothers. Yes, sir, it is certain that Meeker inherited that tendency toward confabulation inflation from my dad, along with a good-natured manner, a slow-to-anger temperament, and a keen ability to gauge people’s intentions. My father had this way of looking at you, listening to you, and he’d know immediately if you told the truth.
Meeker’s love of the outdoors is mine. I could have been happy living in those days. Nothing is better than climbing high in the Rockies and looking out over God’s handiwork. Alone with just your thoughts, the sounds of the wind in the trees, a babbling brook, and animals all around you, wondering just what the heck you’re doing in their world. It’s pretty much a religious experience.
Joseph Nathan Meeker craves both solitude and companionship. Sounds contradictory, doesn’t it? It isn’t, you know. To him, having those around whom you love for companionship while shutting out the rest of the world would be glorious. Nathan’s first love was a bear. Yeah, a bear. Not in any carnal sense, but he stumbled into her life one cold day, and he was never the same afterward. The bear moved in and out of his life for twenty years.
Oh, so you know, you can call Mr. Joseph Nathan Meeker by any of the following: Deputy US Marshal Meeker, Marshal, Meeker, Nate, Nathan, Sleeps with Bears, or Old Feller. But never, ever call him Joe or Joseph. I’m not sure why, but he just doesn’t like that.
Feel free to check out Michelle Tanner: Going West
Michelle Tanner Going West Part One Ambush at Kansas City
Today, I’ve published the first part of my eight-part novel, Michelle Tanner Going West. I will post the following parts every Monday for the next eight weeks. There will be a link to the Zbookstore/Bookapy purchase page for the full novel at the bottom of each part. No pressure to buy or not to buy is always up to the reader. I haven’t decided whether I’m putting this behind the paywall. I think not, at least not until after the entire book is up, and maybe not then.
Ambush at Kansas City, part one of the novel, is set mainly in Kansas City. Michelle Tanner meets a living legend on a train bound west in 1864, and a friendship blooms. Follow along as a ragtag group of strangers becomes a family.
This is my original story in the Michelle Tanner Series and my first novel under my Ron Lewis pen. I love a good Western. I hope you’ll enjoy this one and consider it a good one.
Michelle Tanner Going West
Ron Lewis
I’m Ron Lewis, a writer of tales, and have done so most of my life. About twenty years ago, I dipped my toe back into the writers’ pool. Using various pen names, I published at SOL to reacquaint myself with the art of putting words on paper. Slowing, honing my skills until I was ready to sell work.
For a period, I bowed out of SOL. And as you can see, I haven’t put up much on SOL or Story Room. I’m going to turn 72 in September this year, and I’ve given my notice to retire to the owners of the business I manage. By now, 20 years with them, I’m betting they’re happy to be shed of me.
Unfortunately, because of events before I took my current position, I no longer have the retirement I had from a previous position. The company I work for doesn’t have a retirement plan. So, I’ll be living off Social Security and my wife’s meager income from her part-time employment. Leaving us scrambling to increase our side income from her online businesses and my writing and editing.
Not your problem, I dug the hole, now I have to climb out of it. One reason I haven’t published much on this site is that I make money from my writing. It seems counterproductive to give away what people pay for.
However, I’ll be publishing stories that have run their course in the sales stream on SOL and Story Room going forward. But I certainly will appreciate every sale made on Bookapy and ZBookStore. I also hope to put up work on those sites, along with Amazon, as often as I can.
I’ve been remiss about posting any kind of blog. I’ll try to do better from now on.
I'm currently posting the eight parts of Michelle Tanner: Going West, here on Story Room one at a time. I expect to post a new parts twice a month.
You can find my work at SOL here, Ron Lewis.
For Story Room, go here, Ron Lewis.
Bookapy, Ron Lewis.
ZBookStore, Ron Lewis.