by Win Blevins
“You’ll see the geysers in a few days,” Sam told him. “They’re crazy, but fun.”
They reached the first of the hot springs that very afternoon. “Colter’s hell,” Beckwourth called it. They sank themselves into the hot water and munched on jerked meat Julia had sent with them. They lounged. They lolled. The water felt very, very good.
“What are you thinking?” Tomás asked Sam. They could see what he meant was, You won, why aren’t you jumping up and down?
“About Esperanza,” Sam told him softly.
Tomás took that in. Then he gave Sam a fine smile. The boy had been beaming all day. “It’s all right, Dad,” he said. “One day we’ll go back and get her.”
Also by Win Blevins
Stone Song
The Rock Child
ravenShadow
Give Your Heart to the Hawks
RENDEZVOUS SERIES
So Wild a Dream
Beauty for Ashes
Dancing with the Golden Bear
Heaven Is a Long Way Off
A Long and Winding Road
Dreams Beneath Your Feet
Acknowledgments
Dennis Copeland, archivist of the Monterey Public Library, provided materials. New Mexico historian Stan Hordes saved me from errors. Three books about Nuevo Mexico were invaluable: Marc Simmons’s Coronado’s Land, L. R. Bailey’s Indian Slave Trade in the Southwest, and Paul Horgan’s The Centuries of Santa Fe.
I couldn’t write without the help of friends and family. Heidi Schulman helped me along. Eric Stone guided me to an 1820s map of the Los Angeles area. Lana Latham was my point woman for inter-library loan. Jan Blevins helped me with the French language. Dick James was my particular advisor about mountain men. As always, Dale Walker, Richard Wheeler, and Clyde Hall were my companions and consultants on the journey. My wife, Meredith, my agent, Nat Sobel, and Dale Walker read the manuscript and steered me toward the truth. I am grateful to all of them.
This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this novel are either fictitious or are used fictitiously.
HEAVEN IS A LONG WAY OFF: A NOVEL OF THE MOUNTAIN MEN
Copyright © 2006 by Win Blevins
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form.
A Forge Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010
www.tor-forge.com
Forge® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Blevins, Winfred.
Heaven is a long way off: a novel of the mountain men / Win Blevins.—1st ed.
p. cm.
“A Tom Doherty Associates book.”
ISBN: 978-1-4668-0332-9
1. Smith, Jedediah Strong, 1799–1831—Fiction. 2. Fur trade—Fiction. 3. Explorers—Fiction. 4. Trappers—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3552.L45H3 2006
813'.54—dc22
2006003300
