Many of you have asked about the locations used in Heartland Heroes. Here are two important ones. Above is the field where I imagined Max and Charlie playing 1000 baseball games. You can just see the outline of the lines but that's all the boys would have needed. Below is a very different photo. This is where I imaged Cougar's body was found. In reality, it was a place that my boyhood friends and I lurked around and maybe sneaked a cigarette or two if truth be told.
A number of you have also asked me about the ending when Charlie meets Schumann again. This was part of a sequel I have thought long and hard about but not yet written. It involves Max and Charlie as they graduate from high school. One goes off to college and one to Vietnam. The details are based on letters that my family got from American soldiers in Vietnam. It's rolling around in my head and I may take some time to write it next summer.
In the meantime, I have been busy with Native Fate, book 10 of the ZEB HANKS series. It's about 80% done. Native Fate brings Sheriff Zeb Hanks to some truths that he never thought he would have to face. The complexities of his past come forward to haunt him and make him see the world in a whole new light. I just need one last story arc to take it home and then start the long but important job of editing and re-writing. Thanks for your patience.
From Amazon: "Heartland Heroes is a coming-of-age tale wrapped around a mystery that harkens back to the time of long summers, best friends and adventure at every turn. It’s the summer of 1966 in idyllic, rural Minnesota. Thirteen-year-olds Max Scanlan and Charlie Scerbiak are planning on a summer of baseball and goofing off when one suspicious death followed by a murder turns them into amateur sleuths." Fans of Stand by Me will love HEARTLAND HEROES, now only $2.99 on Amazon.
Thanks for your interest, enjoy your summer (or winter) reading and I look forward to hearing from you.
--Mark Reps
Author, ZEB HANKS: Small Town Sheriff Big Time Trouble Series