Book Review of The Dansing Star by Kirby Jonas

This my review of the only book I own which is signed by the author himself. This book is a Western novel entitled The Dansing Star by Kirby Jonas.
The novel starts out with a short Prologue--taking place in the autumn of 1879--in which Odio de Caballos' feelings of inner anger toward the white man and the Mexicans who had both lied to him is expressed. He is known by the white man as Horse Hate and we get to learn a little more about him later. Chapter 1 starts out with our main character Mort Dansing being awoken by the local Puma County, Arizona sheriff with the exclamation of: "We've been robbed! Get out of bed! They robbed the bank!" After which the rugged main character Mort Dansing gruffy and groggily responds to the Sheriff who needs him to gather a posse to try to catch the robbers. It begins to become apparent that Dansing and the sheriff don't get along too well and the sheriff is not the most sympathetic or likeable human being. He doesn't care much for the fact that Dansing was raised by Apaches.
It turns out the only reason the sheriff needs Dansing's help is due to the fact that he was trained by the Apaches to be an excellent tracker. So, our main character sets out with his horse Gent and a posse of men to track to the thieves.
After returning with little success, Dansing later goes out to lunch with Janice Hart and it seems the two have a pretty good friendship going. But when Janice is murdered it's but to Mort Dansing to seek retribution. Along the way many revelations begin to unravel and Mort begins to understand more concerning his friend's death among other things. There's also a showdown between Mort Dansing and a seemingly invincible, but cruel, Apache medicine man. Who is this man? Well, you'll have to buy the book to find out. It's a Western full of twists and turns. Whether you're a huge fan of Westerns or not, I recommend it as a good read.
For more book reviews and other content visit my blog at fantasywriter4.blogspot.com.

What Happened to the Anasazi?

As a resident of the western United States I've had the opportunity to visit some of the pueblos of the Anasazi Indians. The first site I ever visited was in southern Utah.
One of the most enduring mysteries of the ancient America's is what happened to the Anasazi people who built dwelling places much like homes and apartments within ancient caves. Many of these Anasazi dwellings are found in southern Utah and southwestern Colorado. As well as New Mexico and northern Arizona.
These people seem to have vanished from off the face of the earth, leading to many crazy ideas from the idea that there was a huge war that wiped them out to the idea that aliens or interdimensional beings took them away. Although there are many theories on this subject (some less believable or more outlandish than others) the most likely theory is that many of their numbers died out because of drought, famine, and overall lack of resources to sustain a growing population within their societies. There is even some evidence that they were driven out by other Native American people. Some may be members of the Zuni, Hopi, Navajo, and possibly even the Ute tribes of today.
It is alarming, however, that such a large ancient population suddenly declined. Was it merely famine and drought that starved many of them to death and forced them to migrate from their communities or something more?
As archaeology uncovers more facts, hopefully we can piece together more evidence as to the circumstances that led to their disappearance. Even so, tourists will continue to visit these places to be awed and inspired by this great ancient mystery.

For more on the Anasazi there's a book I own that I recommend called House of Rain by Craig Childs. It's an excellent read on the subject.