THE CAPTIVE BOY
by
JULIA ROBB
Genre: Historical Fiction
Date of Publication: December 20, 2015
Date of Publication: December 20, 2015
Number of Pages: 170
Scroll down for the giveaway!
Scroll down for the giveaway!
Colonel Mac McKenna's Fourth Cavalry recaptures white captive August Shiltz from the Comanche, only to find August is determined to return to the Indians. McKenna attempts to civilize August to nineteenth century American standards and becomes the boy's foster father. But when August kills another boy in a fight, McKenna rejects him, and August escapes from Fort Richards (Texas). When war with the Comanche breaks out, McKenna discovers August is a war leader – and his greatest enemy.
PRAISE FOR THE CAPTIVE BOY:
"THE CAPTIVE BOY by Julia Robb is a story told in a unique way – through journal entries by several different characters, and a novel within the novel. Robb is masterful in her depiction of each character, bringing to life an intriguing tale of the Old West."
-- Writer's Digest competition judge
"It will capture you and keep you engaged from the beginning all the way through the end and also give you insights into the difficulties faced by those who fought on both sides of the Indian Wars in Texas after the Civil War. Buy this book. You will not be disappointed."
-- Steve Mathisen
"Ms. Robb's research is evident on every page. Without becoming bogged down in detail, she employs just enough of it to paint an accurate picture of a dangerous and unforgiving time."
-- Samuel L. Robinson
CHECK OUT THE TRAILER!
Excerpt from
The Captive Boy
By Julia Robb
“I do not believe your vision,” Mac said. “You are August Shiltz, and your parents and sisters were murdered by Comanches on Christmas Day, 1864. If you surrender and go to the reserve, I will personally make sure you are released. You will not be forced to live at Fort Sill. I will help you buy your own land. You do not have to continue fighting and be killed.”
All this was translated, you understand.
At this offer from McKenna, the other Comanches turned their heads and looked at each other. They were obviously being left out of this deal, not that they necessarily wanted in it.
In offering this to August and not the others, I believe Mac was deliberately separating him from the real Comanches.
August knew it. He leaned forward and said, with un-Indian-like passion, and in English, “McKenna, you are coyote, trickster, I know. I not surrender.”
August picked up a parfleche, took out a scalp and threw it at the colonel, hitting Mac’s soldier-blue greatcoat.
“This for you,” August said, “Here Billy.”
Billy’s hair had lost its shine and looked like a dead rat, as if it had never topped a living person, much less a vital young boy.
Mac casually swept the scalp off his coat and said, as if he were asking about the weather, “Did you dig Billy up?”
“We dig Billy I chop take scalp.”
“When did you do this, last night?”
“Why you keep Asha in you house?”
This time, Mac did blink. “To keep her safe for you.”
“You touch my wife I make fire on you head. I kill all white persons in your fort. We come in night and you be afraid.”
“Alright August, let’s conclude our business and you can have your wife back. Where are the captives?”
Tabernacle rose and pushed back the buffalo skin hanging in the opening and an Indian hand pushed a small white girl inside. It was apparent this must be Margaret Newman, four years old, whom the Comanche had taken two months previously.
Margaret wore a once-red calico dress, obviously the one she was captured in, as it was caked with dirt, and torn in the shoulders and hem, and her face, legs and hair were caked with dirt. She whimpered when she saw white men and tottered toward us.
Mac put his arm around the girl and she put her thumb in her mouth.
“Are you Margaret?” Mac asked the girl, but she just pulled harder on her thumb.
“Where are the other captives?” Mac asked, handing the little girl off to Sam Brennan.
Again, Tabernacle pulled the flap back and two Mexican boys, perhaps six and seven, stumbled in.
These kids wore nothing but once-white cotton pants, their noses were running, snot caked their faces, their hair was spiked from their head with dirt and their eyes were wild, as if they were terrified and had been beaten until they were past reason.
“These boys are Mexican. Where are the white captives?” Mac said.
“We have one white captive, this girl, and she is yours. Now we will take our families,” Tabernacle said, through Ben.
Mac rose and stared at the Comanches: “I told you to bring all your captives. We will not give your families back until you do so,” he said.
At that, the Comanches jumped to their feet and August pulled a knife from his leggings and leaped over the fire toward Mac.
After that, it was chaos.
Julia grew up on the lower Great Plains of Texas, eventually became a reporter, and lived in every corner of the Lone Star State, from the Rio Grande to the East Texas swamps. She couldn’t shake images and experiences and began writing them down.
A priest once disappeared on the Mexican border and that inspired parts of Saint of the Burning Heart. She discovered a hypnotic seducer, who she turned into Ray Cortez, the bad guy in Del Norte. Reading about child Comanche captives and their fates made her want to write about a cavalry colonel who attempts to heal a rescued boy, and that turned into The Captive Boy. Finally, what happens to a man who is in love with another man, in a time and place where the only answer is death? That became Scalp Mountain.
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