Ice

RUNNING FROM HIS PAST Yahto is a Lakotan man trying to escape the sins of his past by throwing himself headlong into a forced solitude in the Canadian Rockies. Haunted by the memories of bloodshed at Little Big Horn, he is trying desperately to forget the violence he knows lies within him. A WOMAN OUT OF TIME Yoko is found freezing and pregnant in the snow. Yahto helps her to shelter and safety and as the two spend a long hard winter together, their bond becomes stronger and stronger. Yoko tells him of where she comes from, a place of machines and tests, while Yahto fills her with Lakotan folklore, both trying to forget the past and focus on what's to come, namely Yoko's baby, which will be due very soon. But what Yoko didn't tell him, what he found out only when he saw her dragging the frozen body out of their cabin, into the woods, is that the people she escaped from will most likely stop at nothing to get her back. And no matter how much experience the old warrior has, it's nothing compared to the weapons at their disposal. The winter snow gets harder to survive with few resources, no allies, and an army from another world tracking them. AN UNBREAKABLE BOND Despite the obstacles facing them, Yahto vows no harm will come to Yoko and the baby, a vow he'll do anything to keep, even when the lightening flashes and a squad of armed men emerges from the trees around their cabin. Horror writer C. Dennis Moore (author of the Angel Hill novels) weaves a unique tale of fantasy and science fiction wrapped up on a blanket of myth and folklore from another time in this 12,000 word novella, one of his most accomplished works of fiction. "Epoch Winter" is a harsh story, told in such detail you can feel the chill in your bones as you share space with the characters, and with an ending so twisted your brain will be left in knots.