A Brave New Tomorrow

Fort Owen is closed and as its people prepare to head to Canada, they interact with the people of Missoula when they go for supplies. The owners of the Bluebird Saloon find themselves stalked and shot at as they deal with their father's murder. Find out what happens to these courageous frontier souls in "A Brave New Tomorrow."When the order came from Washington to shut down Fort Owen, the people found themselves in a whirlwind of activity as they prepared to leave the old fort forever. It had been a rough, turbulent ride throughout the years, yet for those leaving, it was an especially sad time, too. Captain Paul Thompson was mustered out of the army so that he could prepare to lead a wagon train toward Canada. Sent out with him were four other men. Two of those men, Nataka Hanson and Daniel Peters, would be their scouts.Sheriff Zachariah Hill and his wife, Mattie took in two sisters, Eleanor (Ellie), and Lillian (Lil) Marrow. After their father's death, Ellie inherited the Bluebird Saloon, a white elephant that hung around their necks. Neither wanted to work there, but did so only to prevent their father's murderer from possessing it. It was only after one of them was attacked by the son of the late Major Carl Thornton of Fort Owens that Ellie realized that there were more important things in life than preventing the suspected murderer from obtaining the saloon. The man suspected of murdering the girls' father, Chester Wakefield, was a greedy, crafty, insane man, who took great delight in bilking the people of Missoula out of what he wanted. Selling the Bluebird Saloon to Wakefield didn't solve their problems at all. In fact it intensified things. They found themselves stalked, as well as shot at.Thompson was forced to make several trips back to Missoula for the supplies the people would need to undertake this momentous task. During these trips they faced many difficulties as well as battled, brutal determined men. Thompson wondered if they would be able to reach the desired destination in time to build the necessary cabins needed to shield them from nature's brutal elements. Having visited Montana for years from her nearby home in Idaho, Mabel G. Ebner has developed love and reverence for the state's scenic beauty and wildlife. She has expressed these feeling through her multiple talents and creativity.One can appreciate this in her acrylic paintings of mountains, waterfalls, moose, and elk as well as through her Montana book series.She is self-educated in creative writing and poetry, and has demonstrated a love of playing with words and a talent for painting pictures with them."Montana: Echoes of the Past" is Mabel's first novel, but not her first published work. Previously she published a book of poetry titled "Reflections of the Soul." Her poem, Grandeur, from that work, was included in "Of Diamonds and Rust," an international poetry publication.Her poem, Silent Killer (about cancer), was published first on the Internet at poetry.com, and it received an Editor's Choice certificate from the International Poetry contest and was published in "Poet's Elite 2000." She has also written stories for adults and children, songs, plays, and other poems not yet published.Drawing upon real life experiences has helped Mabel portray the characters, the drama, and the emotions accompanying each story in this novel. She says that the Heavenly Father provides her talent and inspiration.She and her husband, Maurice, have one daughter and have recently become grandparents. Mabel has sometimes paused during health challenges, but "quit" is not in her vocabulary.Mabel has written sequels to her first novel and hopes to eventually publish them as ebooks. They are: MONTANA: A Brave New Tomorrow, MONTANA: Autumn's Lengthening Shadows, MONTANA: In The Hands of Time and MONTANA: Whispers From the Future.