Man from Boston
2 primary works
Book 1
During the winter of 1825, Richard Hamilton--a timid Harvard philosophy student--arrives in St. Louis on business for his father. Robbed and beaten, desperate to save his life, he reluctantly joins the crew of the Maria, a fur trader's keelboat. Bound for the beautiful, wild, and dangerous Indian country of the Upper Yellowstone River, the native Bostonian begins the education and adventure of a lifetime.
On a converging path is Packrat, a Pawnee warrior who captures a beautiful young Shoshone medicine woman named Heals Like a Willow. But slaves with ties to the spirit world can--and do--fight back.
As the Maria struggles deeper into the wilderness, Richard and Willow are cast together: seekers of knowledge and spirit, unwitting adversaries separated by time, space, and birthright. As inevitable as the collision of their two worlds, their love begins to unfold--and with it the terrible consequences of a forbidden consummation.
"Morning River" is the first novel in W. Michael Gear's Man from Boston series--a historical fiction saga of the dangers and possibilities of the American frontier.
Book 2
Upper Missouri River, 1825
Against the wild grandeur of the Rocky mountains and a richly woven tapestry of Indian cultures--Sioux, Mandan, Crow, Shoshoni--Coyote Summer unfolds into an unforgettable tale of love and reconciliation, destiny, and the indomitable spirit.
No two people could be more different: Heals Like A Willow, a beautiful young Shoshoni medicine woman, and Richard Hamilton, a Harvard philosophy student new to the frontier. Though they come from worlds apart, hindered by vastly different cultures, their souls have met and will not be denied.
But Willow has ties to the Spirit world and a responsibility to her people. In visions she has seen the coming White Storm brewing in the East--the endless stream of settlers overrunning the land, pouring ever westward. She must leave the trading posts, the river, and the company of white men. Even if it means leaving behind the one who has taken her heart.
Armed only with his philosophy, meaningless in the harsh reality of the Rockies, Richard sets out after her. Facing the endless expanse of mountains and snow, a new understanding dawns on Richard--that his desperate search for love and illumination may bear the ultimate price.